HX Stomp with headphones

[VoodooFlossing]

Just went to the store and tried the HX Stomp. I was pretty hyped about the product but I was disappointed with the sounds. Context : I must play with headphones where I live and figured the HX Stomp was a good product for that.

 

Went and tried it, played with the presets and was very disappointed with anything with distortion. Everything was thin and fuzzy (In a bad way). I used some beyerdynamic DT 990 PRO for the headphones.

 

Is it normal that the presets were maybe not meant for this application? or distortion just sounds bad with headphones?

 

Thanks,

[silverhead]

The HX Stomp does sound great with those headphones. I have exactly those phones and my Helix Rack is great with them. So something else is going on here.

 

Was the HX Stomp brand new, and were you playing with the factory presets? If not, and if you were playing someone else’s custom presets, it’s entirely possible that it sounded bad using headphones of any type. The preset may have been designed to be monitored through an external guitar cab and may contain no Cab or IR block. In fact, the store may have things set up that way with the Stomp normally connected to a physical guitar amp for test purposes. That will, indeed, sound ‘thin and fuzzy in a bad way’.

 

You might try returning to the store and make sure you are using the factory presets.

[Schmalle]

Some points that might have contributed to your experience:

• bright / thin guitar
• volume while playing
• no reverb / ambience
• Global EQ engaged
• different taste
• imprint of the DT990 to the sound

 

[cruisinon2]

On 5/19/2024 at 4:36 PM, VoodooFlossing said:

Just went to the store and tried the HX Stomp. I was pretty hyped about the product but I was disappointed with the sounds. Context : I must play with headphones where I live and figured the HX Stomp was a good product for that.

 

Went and tried it, played with the presets and was very disappointed with anything with distortion. Everything was thin and fuzzy (In a bad way). I used some beyerdynamic DT 990 PRO for the headphones.

 

Is it normal that the presets were maybe not meant for this application? or distortion just sounds bad with headphones?

 

Thanks,

 

Factory presets are useless... now and forever, Amen ;). Honestly, if sales were dependent upon 10 minutes of fiddling with them on a demo unit in a music store, I doubt they'd ever sell a single one, lol.

 

There seems to be a general assumption out there that modelers are plug-and- play devices. Just fire it up, and it's instant tonal bliss. I assure you from years of experience... that ain't how it works. Whatever sounds you're after are in there, but they're not gonna jump up and bite you on the a$$. And they definitely won't be found amongst the factory presets.  You gotta build what you need from the ground up, and it'll take a while before you're comfortable doing that. It's just the nature of the beast.

[MusicLaw]

@VoodooFlossingThere is also no way of knowing how the unit may have been adjusted or the factory presets resaved with any variety of user or store employee settings. So unless you did a Factory Reset of the unit before using it, there are any number of variables that might have contributed to what you heard. Even with that being said, as @cruisinon2just posted, the best way is to create your own preset from scratch. Only that way can you experience adding and adjusting each block you choose to the signal chain. Plus, if all you place in the signal chain is an FX block without an Amp and Cab, the resulting audio can sound odd.