Small form factor amp modellers

[000 000 0000]

Any good recommendations for small form factor (roughly hx stomp size) amp modelling units? I’ve been looking into amp modelling units, and while I could probably get a good deal on a used helix LT, or something to that effect, its just too big for my use case really. I’m looking for something small and portable, yet powerful.

edit: It doesn’t have to be a line 6 product, I realise I may not have made that clear. I am considering any brand/solution.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thank you

 

[Choop]

The HX Stomp would be a good one haha, or the Stomp XL if you want some additional switches. Also the Fractal FM3 would probably be my pick, albeit for a bit more money.

 

[000 000 0000]

The HX Stomp would be a good one haha, or the Stomp XL if you want some additional switches. Also the Fractal FM3 would probably be my pick, albeit for a bit more money.

How does the HX Stomp do in terms of DSP? I wouldn’t think my signal chain would be hugely complex usually, but I do like to have room to mess around etc.

How do you think it compares to something like the Ampero II Stomp?

Thank you

 

[Choop]

How does the HX Stomp do in terms of DSP? I wouldn’t think my signal chain would be hugely complex usually, but I do like to have room to mess around etc.

How do you think it compares to something like the Ampero II Stomp?

Thank you

I honestly am not sure -- I only have experience using the full sized Helix. What I see a lot of people do is have one or two separate effects pedals on the board and use a midi controller so that takes some of the DSP load off of the Stomp, but I guess that depends on how big you want the board to be and what effects you use.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

How does the HX Stomp do in terms of DSP? I wouldn’t think my signal chain would be hugely complex usually, but I do like to have room to mess around etc.

How do you think it compares to something like the Ampero II Stomp?

Thank you

The ampero 2 probably has more dsp to work with but from what I've heard it not super optimized so it has its own DSP issues. Apparently they did a firmware update to kinda remedy that.

 

[000 000 0000]

How does the FM3 fare in terms of DSP? I’m imagining that its probably more powerful, but I think I read somewhere that It can’t run high-res impulse responses (I’m not sure whether the other units mentioned so far can too, or what even defines a “high-res” IR).

Thanks again

 

[4Eyes]

How does the HX Stomp do in terms of DSP? I wouldn’t think my signal chain would be hugely complex usually, but I do like to have room to mess around etc.

Try Helix Native and switch it to HX stomp compatibility mode and see if 8 or so FX blocks will limit you.

 

[Shask]

I love the FM3 for this. It is not as tiny as some units, but it sounds and feels much better.

 

[budda]

How does the FM3 fare in terms of DSP? I’m imagining that its probably more powerful, but I think I read somewhere that It can’t run high-res impulse responses (I’m not sure whether the other units mentioned so far can too, or what even defines a “high-res” IR).

Thanks again

DSP is too vague a metric - how its used is what counts and there isnt really a measurement besides how many blocks the modeller can run and what types it has (ex. Helix you can do as many drive blocks as you want til you run out, axefx3 you get 4 (with 4 channels each and modifiers availalable so 16+ sounds easy).

What exactly do you want to run?

 

[000 000 0000]

DSP is too vague a metric - how its used is what counts and there isnt really a measurement besides how many blocks the modeller can run and what types it has (ex. Helix you can do as many drive blocks as you want til you run out, axefx3 you get 4 (with 4 channels each and modifiers availalable so 16+ sounds easy).

What exactly do you want to run?

I think part of my problem is that I’m not exactly sure. I know I probably don’t really something as powerful as an axe fx 3, but I don’t want to spend money on something that I don’t know will be sufficient. I have never used digital amp modellers before, so I am not hugely aware of their limitations, what they commonly struggle to run etc. I currently use Neural DSP plugins (which I am not looking to replace, just looking for a more portable solution), so I suppose that could be something to measure it’s performance/limitations against.

Hopefully that helps

Thanks again

 

[Kosthrash]

The Tonex pedal is small form factor, but it depends in which use case you're after...

TONEX Pedal

AmpliTube TONEX - a complete ecosystem based on new AI Machine Modeling™ technology that lets you experience thousands of ultra-realistic Tone Models of guitar amps and pedals.

www.ikmultimedia.com

 

[budda]

I think part of my problem is that I’m not exactly sure. I know I probably don’t really something as powerful as an axe fx 3, but I don’t want to spend money on something that I don’t know will be sufficient. I have never used digital amp modellers before, so I am not hugely aware of their limitations, what they commonly struggle to run etc. I currently use Neural DSP plugins (which I am not looking to replace, just looking for a more portable solution), so I suppose that could be something to measure it’s performance/limitations against.

Hopefully that helps

Thanks again

I’ll rephrase: what does your ideal signal chain look like?

 

[000 000 0000]

I’ll rephrase: what does your ideal signal chain look like?

I guess it would go something like this:

gate -> compressor (maybe) -> drive-> amp -> cab/ir -> reverb and/or delay.

Thats mostly what I use at the moment. Occasionally I’ll use something like a chorus or other modulation effect, but that is largely what I use.

Thanks for helping me out

 

[TheWarAgainstTime]

I guess it would go something like this:

gate -> compressor (maybe) -> drive-> amp -> cab/ir -> reverb and/or delay.

Thats mostly what I use at the moment. Occasionally I’ll use something like a chorus or other modulation effect, but that is largely what I use.

Thanks for helping me out

The Stomp/Stomp XL would handle that easily you can also save blocks by using the gate that's built into the input stage and/or using the gate in the Precision Drive model as well as using an Amp & Cab block instead of separate amp and cab blocks. This would free up some extra space for other effects, modulations, or additional drives that you could turn on/off between snapshots of a given preset.

 

[budda]

I guess it would go something like this:

gate -> compressor (maybe) -> drive-> amp -> cab/ir -> reverb and/or delay.

Thats mostly what I use at the moment. Occasionally I’ll use something like a chorus or other modulation effect, but that is largely what I use.

Thanks for helping me out

I think just about anything on the market can handle that. My preference is fractal (former helix owner) personally.

 

[BurningRome]

Smallest amp profiler with IRs that sounds good, to me, has been the mooer preamp x2.

You can download tons of user profiles and IRs.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

I guess it would go something like this:

gate -> compressor (maybe) -> drive-> amp -> cab/ir -> reverb and/or delay.

Thats mostly what I use at the moment. Occasionally I’ll use something like a chorus or other modulation effect, but that is largely what I use.

Thanks for helping me out

The HX stomp can do that no problem. Luckily there's a nose gate built into the input section. You should be within the DSP limit unless you use some of the crazier reverbs and delays. Also the most recent HX update optimized the fuck out of the IR loader so you save a bit of DSP there.

 

[Sir_Shreddington]

I LOVE my fractal FM3. It has enough horsepower to run what you want. Fractal recently did a firmware update which really optimizes the CPU and allows for more room on your patches.

Before the patch some of the functions were kind of limiting, like a good reverb and delay would eat up most of the processing power; but now I can run a patch like you listed above with everything the highest res and I still have like 10-20% of CPU space available.

Here are a couple screenshots of some patches I have. When available I always try to use the highest resolution IRs, reverbs, etc. The last patch is pretty much the only patch where I had to make compromises, but look at it...it's a wild one lol

 

[imyourpriest]

The ampero 2 probably has more dsp to work with but from what I've heard it not super optimized so it has its own DSP issues. Apparently they did a firmware update to kinda remedy that.

I'll throw in another recommendation for the Ampero II Stomp, it is a good deal cheaper than the FM3, the amp models sound better than the hx stomp (imo) and I have yet to run out of dsp using it in 4CM or as a complete model platform for recording via usb (post v1.1 update at least). The software is awesome and better than any other I have used, really lets you see what you are editing. The one downside is recording is locked at 44.1k if that matters to you. You can checkout community.hotoneaudio.com to see other's patches, most of the youtube videos don't really go in depth or cover the features (they also get some things incorrect.) I use a 4-switch midi pedal (also by Hotone) that lets me emulate the scene feature on the hx stuff.

 

[000 000 0000]

Great! Thanks to everyone who has helped, this has been really useful