Any experiences with repairing HX Stomp out of warranty?

[mbenigni]

So, apparently I held on to my HX Stomp a few months longer than I should have. I've been meaning to sell it for a while, but I tested before boxing it up and it wasn't making any output. The user interface works fine, and I could have sworn the last time I tested that the tuner was working (indicating signal at the input). But I've since done a factory reset and now even the tuner is kaput. No audio whatsoever.

Has anyone experienced this and found a fix? Google did turn up a few threads, but all of them were pretty ancient. Has anyone ever sent a dead HX Stomp to Line 6 out of warranty, and do you remember what it wound up costing you? The flashing lights are pretty and all, but I don't need another door stop.

 

[burningyen]

Sorry to ask a basic question, but have you tried all the inputs and outputs? It would be nice if the problem were just a jack rather than an entire PCB.

 

[dbagchee]

Wow what timing! My Helix finally bit the dust yesterday - looks like power supply is failing and I am well out of warranty (2017!). I'll most likely send it in to HQ but also curious how much it will cost in parts/time (it's $90/hr + parts/shipping). Honestly don't want to deal with local authorized repair (tried that with my Roland MC101 that was under warranty and they kept the thing for 4 months and didn't even fix the problem )

 

[mbenigni]

Sorry to ask a basic question, but have you tried all the inputs and outputs? It would be nice if the problem were just a jack rather than an entire PCB.

No problem re: basic questions; I'm really hoping I've overlooked something obvious here. But yes, I've tried both inputs and all the outputs. No audio.

BREAKING NEWS: It seems to be deteriorating rapidly. This time when I turned it on, it started making "farting noises" out of Main L/R. Which is really funny, because someone just posted yesterday about a QC doing the same, and I ridiculed them (naturally). But there's no two ways about it, these are farting noises.

 

[mbenigni]

Wow what timing! My Helix finally bit the dust yesterday - looks like power supply is failing and I am well out of warranty (2017!). I'll most likely send it in to HQ but also curious how much it will cost in parts/time (it's $90/hr + parts/shipping). Honestly don't want to deal with local authorized repair (tried that with my Roland MC101 that was under warranty and they kept the thing for 4 months and didn't even fix the problem )

Sorry to hear it.

Yeah, the last time I went into a local Line 6 repair shop (Variax repair) it was a complete disaster. Had to fight to get the guitar back; the guy hadn't even touched it after sitting on it for months. It was all I could do to convince him he had it, and when he finally dug it out and gave it to me, he wanted me to pay him! (I politely declined LOL.)

 

[newpedals]

I am neither an HX user, nor a multifx one. But I adore all sorts of pedals.

This is from 2021 I think:

ZERO SOUND OUTPUT on HX STOMP

read a thread way back from 2019 of an annoying bug which produces NO SOUND OUTPUT via USB or Direct Out> THIS PROBLEM STILL PERSISTS in Helix/HX Firmware 3.11 - ZERO SOUND OUTPUT on guitars [which I always run through my HX STOMP] in my recording studio, spent four hours pulling apart cable b...

line6.com

 

[dbagchee]

Sorry to hear it.

Yeah, the last time I went into a local Line 6 repair shop (Variax repair) it was a complete disaster. Had to fight to get the guitar back, and the guy hadn't even touched it. It was all I could do to convince him he had it, and when he finally dug it out and gave it to me, he wanted me to pay him! (I politely declined LOL.)

Sounds eerily familiar

Even if it will be a little pricey, I trust Line 6 100% in the service and customer service area. I will probably have them fix/clean some of the dodgy switches and leds that have gone out while it's there to get it back to "factory new".

 

[Dom Mcsweeney]

Have you tried a different power supply?

 

[mbenigni]

Have you tried a different power supply?

Right now I'm using the stock HX Stomp power supply. Previously I was using a BoxKing BK1 battery. I'm not sure which I was running when the Stomp first failed. Neither have ever given me any trouble, and I don't think I have anything else that's compatible in terms of barrel jack size and polarity.

Another possibly relevant tidbit: it passes audio just fine (i.e. true bypass) when it's powered down.

 

[mbenigni]

I am neither an HX user, nor a multifx one. But I adore all sorts of pedals.

This is from 2021 I think:

ZERO SOUND OUTPUT on HX STOMP

read a thread way back from 2019 of an annoying bug which produces NO SOUND OUTPUT via USB or Direct Out> THIS PROBLEM STILL PERSISTS in Helix/HX Firmware 3.11 - ZERO SOUND OUTPUT on guitars [which I always run through my HX STOMP] in my recording studio, spent four hours pulling apart cable b...

line6.com

I've seen this thread before, but I don't really understand what the guy is getting at. It's not immediately clear to me what he means by "direct" output, or why everyone starts to treat it like a bug when it sounds more like a hardware failure.

Also weird to me that - in this thread and others like it - people recommend flashing to newer f/w. If you have a box that works, then it suddenly doesn't, the last thing I'd recommend is introducing more variables.

 

[dbagchee]

Also weird to me that - in this thread and others like it - people recommend flashing to newer f/w. If you have a box that works, then it suddenly doesn't, the last thing I'd recommend is introducing more variables.

I understand that logic, but seems like worth a shot to see if it makes a difference before going the repair route.

 

[burningyen]

Also weird to me that - in this thread and others like it - people recommend flashing to newer f/w. If you have a box that works, then it suddenly doesn't, the last thing I'd recommend is introducing more variables.

I understand that logic, but seems like worth a shot to see if it makes a difference before going the repair route.

Yeah, normally I'd agree that the FW is unlikely to be related. But people have reported weird issues when leaving their units on for long periods of time. Not saying that's the case here, but I also don't see much risk of making things worse by updating.

 

[Byrdman]

Yeah, at this point, what do you have to lose?

FYI, My data/USB jack on my unit is pretty weak and moves so I'm real careful with it and only use it when necessary. That will probably be the first issue I have with mine.

 

[mbenigni]

FYI, My data/USB jack on my unit is pretty weak and moves so I'm real careful with it and only use it when necessary. That will probably be the first issue I have with mine.

My USB port broke within the first few months of owning the HX Stomp (which was shorty after the product launched.) Frank Ritchotte and/or DI swept in and saved the day, of course. :)

 

[Byrdman]

My USB port broke within the first few months of owning the HX Stomp (which was shorty after the product launched.) Frank Ritchotte and/or DI swept in and saved the day, of course. :)

If mine messes up, I'll take it to my local amp tech and he will re-solder it. BTW, it has helped me learn to edit shit on the unit though

 

[mbenigni]

Decided to take a look inside to see if there was some simple explanation or an easy remedy - like a loose ribbon connector or something. Holy hell, this is what the main PCB looks like right near the Send jack. I do recall now that I was running it in the FX loop of my TA30 a couple of months ago and it made a very loud popping sound (40W of power on the wrong side of the MV, ouch.) This looks like an expensive repair (i.e. replacement.)

 

[Mongillo19]

Decided to take a look inside to see if there was some simple explanation or an easy remedy - like a loose ribbon connector or something. Holy hell, this is what the main PCB looks like right near the Send jack. I do recall now that I was running it in the FX loop of my TA30 a couple of months ago and it made a very loud popping sound (40W of power on the wrong side of the MV, ouch.) This looks like an expensive repair (i.e. replacement.)

Hey we can use this gif for non QC purposes now!

 

[Alex Kenivel]

Decided to take a look inside to see if there was some simple explanation or an easy remedy - like a loose ribbon connector or something. Holy hell, this is what the main PCB looks like right near the Send jack. I do recall now that I was running it in the FX loop of my TA30 a couple of months ago and it made a very loud popping sound (40W of power on the wrong side of the MV, ouch.) This looks like an expensive repair (i.e. replacement.)

Yeah, I bet a firmware update will fix that right up

 

[mbenigni]

Yeah, I bet a firmware update will fix that right up

I actually did flash to 3.8 last night, just to rule that out. Maybe that’s what melted the DAC (or whatever used to be in that blackened crater)?

 

[the swede]

chances are something more is toast.

If you’re really cruel, send it to me so that I can stare at a broken stomp to remind me that I sold my stomp three times