Disclaimer – I own an HX Stomp.  Still, after spending a lot of time with it, I definitely feel like I can give an objective review.  There’s stuff I love about it and stuff I don’t like.  If you are interested, I made not one but TWO videos over on the budgetguitarist.com YouTube channel.  Links:

The Good

When properly tweaked, and when you use some really good IRs, the HX Stomp sounds professional.  It’s so good I’ll probably be using it to record guitar and bass from now on.  Compared to my Floor Pod Plus, it’s brighter, has more detail, and of course is far more flexible.  Snapshots means that there won’t be any silence when I turn on a pedal or change amp settings via MIDI messaging.  This is a huge improvement over the Floor Pod Plus.  It comes with more pedals, amps, and speakers than I know what to do with.  It can be totally controlled via MIDI, which means during my gigs I won’t need to touch it.

You can set it up with two different amps, or two cabs split left and right.  When properly done, it can model almost any amp fairly well.  The software editor is super easy to use and intuitive.  And if I ever need to, I can add a Volume/Wah/Expression pedal.  The small size make it super easy to set up and move.  It’s a wonderful box.

The Bad

Well, if you read my review of the Helix Native, you’ll know I’m not a big fan of the patches that come with the HX Stomp.  In fact, I’m not certain that I’ll actually keep ANY of them.  You CAN get good sounds with the stock cabs, but spend $20 on some Ownhammer IR files and you’ll get better results.  You really do need to understand how everything works to be able to tweak this thing and get the best results out of it.  When I did the firmware update, it wiped out the names of all of the presets.  I found a fix online though.  It’ll be in an upcoming video on the budgetguitarist.com YouTube channel, which is almost ready to be rolled out.  Expect to spend a lot of time tweaking.  A LOT of time.  Fortunately I love tweaking, but it’s not for everyone.

The Ugly

Next to my Floor Pod Plus, my HX Stomp does sound better.  But how much better?  For some amps, like a Marshall Plexi, in my humble opinion, most non-musicians would find the two sounds similar.  It’s better, but it’s not twice as good.  The best way to describe the difference is that there’s more detail in the Helix sounds.  It’s very much like listening to Robert Plant sing into an SM 58, then into a U87.  Same voice, but the detail is way better.

On the other hand, some of the high gain amps ARE actually twice as good.  So I guess it depends on what type of sound you’re looking for.

Conclusion

The HX Stomp is a very cost effective way to get into the modern modeling game.  Assuming you’re willing to put the work in, you’ll get better sounds than anything else in this price range.  I love mine.  I have it sounding really, really good.  Who should get this?  Someone who needs Helix power for less than half the price, someone who needs MIDI, someone who insists on having a ton of different guitar tones.  So people who are in cover bands and people who do a lot of home recording come to mind.  BUT… check out the Pod Go before buying a HX Stomp.  You might find it meets your needs better for less money.