Line 6 HX Effects Vs Boss MS-3

Boromedic · March 2021

I'm eyeing up one of these as a pedalboard controller and was wondering if anyone had compared them?

I'd have midi control over all FX Loop pedals so wouldn't need to lose a loop for 4CM. Plus both of them will switch my amp channels. It was more form factor and quality of onboard effects I was thinking. I have a Timeline and an Expanse so happy with delay and reverb, more the other stuff and the esoteric one offs!

Cheers!!

thomasw88 · March 2021

my pal has a ms3 and I had a HX.

We went into a rehearsal studio last year, just to try out bits n bobs of gear so got to hear them both.

Soundwise I thought the HX edged it with regards to all of the fx.
Ease of use - Personally I thought the HX is much easier to use. He said he didn't find the MS3 hard to program.

Formfactor wise the MS3 is much smaller and if you can get your head around the interface might do the job.

I do think there is a bit of tone alteration with both units though.

How many loops do you need? If it's two I'd go for the Boss GT1000core which is by far and away a better all round device than either the HX or MS3 imho. Albeit more pricey. But I would personally say it's worth it as it's a great bit of kit.

EricTheWeary · March 2021

FWIW in my travels I had spotted someone doing a video of this...

https://youtu.be/90iz3npOGkA

...no idea how useful that is.

CarpeDiem · March 2021

I haven't directly compared both units, but I bought an MS3 as a result of form factor, quality, and functionality. I have set mine up so that I can use individual switches to toggle within patches to switch a series of effects on or off, eg clean/clean with modulation, loop 1/loop 1 with delay.

Boromedic · March 2021

thomasw88 said:

my pal has a ms3 and I had a HX.

We went into a rehearsal studio last year, just to try out bits n bobs of gear so got to hear them both.

Soundwise I thought the HX edged it with regards to all of the fx.
Ease of use - Personally I thought the HX is much easier to use. He said he didn't find the MS3 hard to program.

Formfactor wise the MS3 is much smaller and if you can get your head around the interface might do the job.

I do think there is a bit of tone alteration with both units though.

How many loops do you need? If it's two I'd go for the Boss GT1000core which is by far and away a better all round device than either the HX or MS3 imho. Albeit more pricey. But I would personally say it's worth it as it's a great bit of kit.

Interesting stuff, thank you. I'll have a look at the core but it seems bigger than the others. I don't need any amp tones, just FX and amp control. Thank you though.

Boromedic · March 2021

EricTheWeary said:

FWIW in my travels I had spotted someone doing a video of this...

https://youtu.be/90iz3npOGkA

...no idea how useful that is.

That's great, thank you I shall have a watch!

Boromedic · March 2021

CarpeDiem said:

I haven't directly compared both units, but I bought an MS3 as a result of form factor, quality, and functionality. I have set mine up so that I can use individual switches to toggle within patches to switch a series of effects on or off, eg clean/clean with modulation, loop 1/loop 1 with delay.

Yeah, some of the functionality looks pretty cool like that. Thanks

thomasw88 · March 2021

Boromedic said:

thomasw88 said:

my pal has a ms3 and I had a HX.

We went into a rehearsal studio last year, just to try out bits n bobs of gear so got to hear them both.

Soundwise I thought the HX edged it with regards to all of the fx.
Ease of use - Personally I thought the HX is much easier to use. He said he didn't find the MS3 hard to program.

Formfactor wise the MS3 is much smaller and if you can get your head around the interface might do the job.

I do think there is a bit of tone alteration with both units though.

How many loops do you need? If it's two I'd go for the Boss GT1000core which is by far and away a better all round device than either the HX or MS3 imho. Albeit more pricey. But I would personally say it's worth it as it's a great bit of kit.

Interesting stuff, thank you. I'll have a look at the core but it seems bigger than the others. I don't need any amp tones, just FX and amp control. Thank you though.

You can switch the amp tones off.
Sound wise, the GT1000 fx are next generation compared to the MS3 which is based upon the GT100 I believe. I've also had a GT100 in the years gone by and it was ok, but I found it a bit bland soundwise.

I would state that so far I prefer the GT1000 over the HX effects for sounds.

Footprint wise, the GT1000core is a lot smaller than the HX, the MS3 is the smallest

Jota · March 2021

I had the MS-3 and switched to the HX Stomp because I had to go direct.

Still think Boss has way better switching options The interface is not pretty and the small screen can be hard to see but, after I had to program a 4hour show with 10 presets without the PC software that wasn't out yet, I found it quite easy to use.

I also loved the form factor and all the extra inputs for aux switches and expression pedals.
At the time I had a hard time replicating with the Stomp what I did with the MS-3 because I had built the song arragements around the way it worked.
As for effects, I really liked the overdrives/distortions of the MS-3. Although HX has a lot more options, I don't think they are better but they are always adding more stuff.

monquixote · March 2021

I have a GT-1000 CORE and a Helix. I've also owned a GT-100

I think the GT-1000 has the best sounding FX, but all of them are pretty decent.

Boromedic · March 2021

thomasw88 said:

Boromedic said:

thomasw88 said:

my pal has a ms3 and I had a HX.

We went into a rehearsal studio last year, just to try out bits n bobs of gear so got to hear them both.

Soundwise I thought the HX edged it with regards to all of the fx.
Ease of use - Personally I thought the HX is much easier to use. He said he didn't find the MS3 hard to program.

Formfactor wise the MS3 is much smaller and if you can get your head around the interface might do the job.

I do think there is a bit of tone alteration with both units though.

How many loops do you need? If it's two I'd go for the Boss GT1000core which is by far and away a better all round device than either the HX or MS3 imho. Albeit more pricey. But I would personally say it's worth it as it's a great bit of kit.

Interesting stuff, thank you. I'll have a look at the core but it seems bigger than the others. I don't need any amp tones, just FX and amp control. Thank you though.

You can switch the amp tones off.
Sound wise, the GT1000 fx are next generation compared to the MS3 which is based upon the GT100 I believe. I've also had a GT100 in the years gone by and it was ok, but I found it a bit bland soundwise.

I would state that so far I prefer the GT1000 over the HX effects for sounds.

Footprint wise, the GT1000core is a lot smaller than the HX, the MS3 is the smallest

Ahhh, I was confusing the GT1000 Core with the bigger Boss with the built in EXP pedal. Yes it is small actually, although only 3 footswitches, plus it's midi via TRS, not deal breakers though and it's cool that it has the 500 series algorithms. Does it have all of the 500 series Delays, Verbs and Modulations? It's a lot of cash though when I don't need the amp modelling, delays or reverbs. It is cool though, I could be persuaded if it could replace my Expanse (Wet Reverb) or Timeline.

I'm still leaning towards the MS3, as it's cheaper and does what I need, When you say the MS3 and the HX FX change your sound, can you elaborate at all? That bit concerns me a bit.

Thank you for your suggestions and sharing your experiences!

Boromedic · March 2021

Jota said:

I had the MS-3 and switched to the HX Stomp because I had to go direct.
Still think Boss has way better switching options The interface is not pretty and the small screen can be hard to see but, after I had to program a 4hour show with 10 presets without the PC software that wasn't out yet, I found it quite easy to use.
I also loved the form factor and all the extra inputs for aux switches and expression pedals.
At the time I had a hard time replicating with the Stomp what I did with the MS-3 because I had built the song arragements around the way it worked.
As for effects, I really liked the overdrives/distortions of the MS-3. Although HX has a lot more options, I don't think they are better but they are always adding more stuff.

Thanks for the info, yeah the extra switching stuff interests me a lot. I'm leaning MS3 as its cheaper too!

Boromedic · March 2021

monquixote said:

I have a GT-1000 CORE and a Helix. I've also owned a GT-100

I think the GT-1000 has the best sounding FX, but all of them are pretty decent.

Thanks mate, so many choices and no definitive answer!

NelsonP · March 2021

I've considered both of these. My feeling is that HX beats the MS3 by a narrow margin, because ease of use, scribble strips, better pitch shifting (post 3.0 firmware), but the Boss has it beaten on form factor, power options (lower current draw and the line 6 adapter has its own gravity) and maybe the quality of some of the drives.

Both have A/D D/A conversion, so will have some impact on your tone. Probably marginal?

All of the above is based on reviews and Internet wisdom only. Interested to hear more views from those who actually have experience of them.

Jota · March 2021

I also thought the sound of the MS-3 was better. You noticed the buffers but they added something nice. I always struggle with the sound of the HX Stomp and even messed with the Global EQ for a while (still use it with HX amps).
I'm not talking effects here, just the sound of the unit without any effect.

jeztone2 · April 2021

I had the MS-3. I didn’t use much on it apart from the compressor and delays. I had my drives and Fuzz in the loops and an M5 on midi. Aside from the M5 misbehaving with midi it worked a treat. But I decided on an adventure with a Helix LT and sold it on in a moment of madness.

But the thing I like about it is in preset mode it’s 4 switches in a row. So my muscle memory didn’t get confused.

The 2+2 stacked format of the HX in preset mode makes the unit unusable for me. I’d have to buy a midi controller. Then it defeats the whole object of a compact fx unit.

I’m convinced Yamaha/Line 6 force their employees to bind their feet. Because I’m really not sure how someone with size 11’s singing backing vocals operates it. I mean it’s two rows of 4 pedals to acces presets. Surely it’s the most obvious thing to have the bottom row all presets and the top row for utility functions. I mean that’s what Boss do. That’s what my old Digitech RP-1 did. That’s what my TC Nova did.

But no, it’s a hideous design flaw. Yet so obvious.

meltedbuzzbox · April 2021

Does the ms-3 still have a gap between patch changes? That was quite annoying.
The menu was a little finicky on the ms-3 but you do get used to it. I seem to recall loop placement couldn't be moved within the interface, it was fixed to certain switches which wasn't the end of the world for me but it did annoy @impmann ;

The boss did have some unique effects which the hx cannot do and vice versa.

I preferred the drives on the boss unit (surprisingly as I find most single boss drive pedals awful, especially the ds1 and sd1)

Personally I'm not the biggest fan of the line 6 fx in general (I own a helix not a fx). I tend to use the classic fx more than the new ones.

That said I think the boss is awful for phaser and flanger and few other effects were a bit arse

I would recommend you try both. Or possibly look at a selection of pedals and a switcher. Unless it's for bedroom playing, then I'd drop the switcher

kennedydream1980 · April 2021

jeztone2 said:

I had the MS-3. I didn’t use much on it apart from the compressor and delays. I had my drives and Fuzz in the loops and an M5 on midi. Aside from the M5 misbehaving with midi it worked a treat. But I decided on an adventure with a Helix LT and sold it on in a moment of madness.

But the thing I like about it is in preset mode it’s 4 switches in a row. So my muscle memory didn’t get confused.

The 2+2 stacked format of the HX in preset mode makes the unit unusable for me. I’d have to buy a midi controller. Then it defeats the whole object of a compact fx unit.

I’m convinced Yamaha/Line 6 force their employees to bind their feet. Because I’m really not sure how someone with size 11’s singing backing vocals operates it. I mean it’s two rows of 4 pedals to acces presets. Surely it’s the most obvious thing to have the bottom row all presets and the top row for utility functions. I mean that’s what Boss do. That’s what my old Digitech RP-1 did. That’s what my TC Nova did.

But no, it’s a hideous design flaw. Yet so obvious.

You can assign any footswitch to do whatever you want in the command centre.

impmann · April 2021

Cant comment on the Line6 thing, but I thought the Boss was terrible.
The menu system was over complicated, did my nut in and wasn’t as flexible as I wanted. The sounds were in the ‘generic’ category - sorry but Boss can make some wonderful effects but I struggled to get anything out of it that truly wowed me.

I sent mine back under the 30day distance selling thing - honestly I hated it.

For transparency, I spent a king’s ransom on a Gigrig G2 system instead. Imho, best investment I ever made..

thomasw88 · April 2021

Boromedic said:

thomasw88 said:

Boromedic said:

thomasw88 said:

my pal has a ms3 and I had a HX.

We went into a rehearsal studio last year, just to try out bits n bobs of gear so got to hear them both.

Soundwise I thought the HX edged it with regards to all of the fx.
Ease of use - Personally I thought the HX is much easier to use. He said he didn't find the MS3 hard to program.

Formfactor wise the MS3 is much smaller and if you can get your head around the interface might do the job.

I do think there is a bit of tone alteration with both units though.

How many loops do you need? If it's two I'd go for the Boss GT1000core which is by far and away a better all round device than either the HX or MS3 imho. Albeit more pricey. But I would personally say it's worth it as it's a great bit of kit.

Interesting stuff, thank you. I'll have a look at the core but it seems bigger than the others. I don't need any amp tones, just FX and amp control. Thank you though.

You can switch the amp tones off.
Sound wise, the GT1000 fx are next generation compared to the MS3 which is based upon the GT100 I believe. I've also had a GT100 in the years gone by and it was ok, but I found it a bit bland soundwise.

I would state that so far I prefer the GT1000 over the HX effects for sounds.

Footprint wise, the GT1000core is a lot smaller than the HX, the MS3 is the smallest

Ahhh, I was confusing the GT1000 Core with the bigger Boss with the built in EXP pedal. Yes it is small actually, although only 3 footswitches, plus it's midi via TRS, not deal breakers though and it's cool that it has the 500 series algorithms. Does it have all of the 500 series Delays, Verbs and Modulations? It's a lot of cash though when I don't need the amp modelling, delays or reverbs. It is cool though, I could be persuaded if it could replace my Expanse (Wet Reverb) or Timeline.

I'm still leaning towards the MS3, as it's cheaper and does what I need, When you say the MS3 and the HX FX change your sound, can you elaborate at all? That bit concerns me a bit.

Thank you for your suggestions and sharing your experiences!

I had and used an HX for about 2 years with one of the bands I play in. On that board I had external drives and wah (as I preferred them to the HX) and used the HX for everything else. Most of the effects are good enough on the HX but I didn;t like the Trem much and the Reverbs were fairly awful imo. I did originally have the drive pedals in an fx loop but that never sounded quite right for me and I think definitely changed the character of the pedals.

I always seemed to have to fiddle with the HX during a gig to get it sounding how I wanted.
There is a delay in patch changing with the HX although snapshots are instant.
I found the snapshots unusable as they always sounded/felt different in a gig situation than in the house.

I preferred my my other (main) board which had wah, drives, Strymon Mobius (for modulation) and a Boss DD500 for delays.
I still have my main board as is.

on the 2nd board I've replaced the HX and Wah pedal with the Full Fat GT1000 (I did have a core but decided the extra footswitches were worth getting the full fat) and so far absolutely love it. The delays are a bit more limited than the DD500 for sure but does everything I'd want to.
The modulations are also excellent - I probably prefer the mobius a little in comparison but for a multi fx the GT is imho better than the line 6 side. They compare pretty well to a Fractal FX8 I had a few years ago.

I haven't noticed any tone loss with using external pedals and it doesn't seem to my ears to colour the sound despite not being true bypass. I reckon I could use the GT1000 drives rather than my own pedals and I think they're a bit more natural sounding than the HX but I am just a drive pedal junkie so...

I haven't gigged the GT1000 or played it in a band situation due to covid but I'm certainly thinking it will play the part.

For your use case, the core has 2 effects loop so a a core with 1 or 2 footswitches (little vein do a small formfactor FS7 with LED's) would allow you to use it for pretty much everything you want. Patch changing is instant, it's actually easy to program once you get your head around it and it feels/looks/sounds great!

As I said previously the MS3 is based upon the same effects as the GT100, which is around 10 years old now. Having owned the GT100 and GT1000, I'd say the newer GT1000 was a definite upgrade sound wise.

Jota · April 2021

@meltedbuzzbox yes, there's always a gap between presets in almost every multi-fx unit but Boss had so many switching options that there's a great chance you don't need to change presets middle song.

meltedbuzzbox · April 2021

Jota said:

@meltedbuzzbox yes, there's always a gap between presets in almost every multi-fx unit but Boss had so many switching options that there's a great chance you don't need to change presets middle song.

you say that but Zoom have had it down to 2ms for over 10 years.

Boromedic · April 2021

Think I'm going to wait for an MS3 to pop up, I have no desire to make my board bigger than it is already. Especially when the extra FX I may use will be rare so the quality isn't an issue really.

I need to switch amp channels, use 3 midi FX (Timeline/Expanse/EQ), and have a Fat General, Mayo, Treble Booster, TS9 in some config or other. That's it really, then add some FX if needed. I have a DPC5 and it's great, but I like the switching options within patches on the Boss, so momentary switching for a flanger, or turn on a chorus.

Anything else is overkill, especially a G2 which I'm sure is amazing but it doesn't have built in FX and is massive!! Most of the sounds I use are the amp, that's why I bought it, so pedals are for boosts or colour where needed so it would be pointless anyway as I'm not using tons of pedals. I was interested in the HXFX but it's twice the size and has less loops.

Thanks for all the input though, it's appreciated. Mostly folk seem to be confirming that there's not a lot of difference between the HXFX and the Boss. It's down to individual usage.

monquixote · April 2021

Your mileage may vary, but I've worked really well with simple rows of pedals, or multi FX, but I've always found the boards where you have a switcher and a load of pedals controlled by MIDI to be the worst of all worlds.

They are a tedious pain in the arse to build configure and tweak live and when they go wrong at a gig (which they always do) you are basically screwed.

Boromedic · April 2021

I have had that fear mate, I've been okay with my DPC5 though so far. I think one of the plus points with the MS3 is that it's simpler than others. Not gigged in ages so I guess I'll worry about it whenever that happens!!

DrJazzTap · March 2023

Slight necro bump on this. I'm looking to delve into multi fx.
Long story short moving away from a bypass looper with stand alone effects pedals.
I want to get to the point where I can tap one switch and get to a fuzz sound with flange and delay.

The ms3 has peaked my interest as it has reverb and delays included and i could run three pedals in the loops.
Alternatively looking at the es5 and investing in the standalone rv500 and dd500 seems like a huge investment. Thinking I may as well just go for a gt1000

Jota · March 2023

MS-3 effects are pretty good.

onyir · March 2023

I think the MS3 effects sound pretty good, but have in mind that the buffer cannot be bypassed, in case you want to use a fuzz in one of the loops

LionAquaLooper · March 2023

I've had both at the same time. Sold the MS3...mainly because I could sell it for more than the HX. But for your purposes you're better off with the MS3. It has 3 loops while the HX only has 2. It's designed to be a dedicated switcher that can do FX, while the HX is a dedicated FX unit that can do switching.

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Line 6 HX Effects Vs Boss MS-3

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