My footswitches are doing the wrong thing
Preset mode rather than Stomp mode
Working as designedStep on MODE. Unlike the small HX Stomp this is a labelled switch, not a hidden button combo.
HX Stomp XL Cheat Sheet (Rev A)Reference
Reference
Troubleshooting
Indexed by what you notice, not by what the subsystem is called — because when something is wrong you know there's no sound, not that it's a routing problem.
8 of the 10 problems below are not faults. They are documented behaviour that looks like a fault, and they are marked working as designed. “Your unit is fine” is a useful answer and nobody publishes it.
I can't work out how to save
There is no save button
Working as designedPress HOME and ACTION together.
HX Stomp XL Cheat Sheet (Rev A)It won't power up, or it cuts out on my board
The supply cannot deliver 3 A
It needs 9 V at 3 A from one output. Use the supplied adapter.
HX Stomp XL Cheat Sheet (Rev A)I've run out of blocks
Stereo blocks cost double
Make anything mono that does not need to be stereo.
Helix 3.80 Owner's ManualSeparate Amp and Cab blocks
Use a single Amp+Cab block — two positions collapsed into one.
Helix 3.80 Owner's ManualIt sounds thin or fizzy
A cab block into a real guitar amp
Bypass the cab. Into a real amp and speaker you want no speaker simulation.
Helix 3.80 Owner's ManualUsing the RIGHT output alone
Working as designedUse L/MONO for a mono rig.
HX Stomp XL Cheat Sheet (Rev A)A parameter I expect isn't there
Three knobs cannot show everything
Working as designedPress ◀ PAGE ▶ in Edit view.
HX Stomp XL Cheat Sheet (Rev A)My snapshot edits vanish when I switch snapshots and come back
Snapshot Edits is set to Discard
Working as designedGlobal Settings > Preferences > Snapshot Edits decides this. Recall (the default) keeps your changes as you left them. Discard returns the snapshot to its last-saved state — which is the behaviour you want live, and the behaviour that eats your work while you are building. Hold BYPASS and press SAVE to flip it at any time; the camera icon on the Home screen is grey for Recall and red for Discard.
HX Stomp XL 3.80 Owner's ManualA snapshot I just selected sounds identical to the last one
Nothing has been changed in it yet
Working as designedThat is exactly what an unedited snapshot does — it carries the state you arrived with. It only becomes its own thing the moment you change something in it. Nothing is broken; you have simply not written it yet.
HX Stomp XL 3.80 Owner's ManualLoading a preset jumps to a snapshot I didn't choose
It recalls whichever snapshot was active when the preset was saved
Working as designedSaving a preset stores all of its snapshots and remembers which one you were on. If a song should always start on the intro sound, select that snapshot and then save — the choice is made at save time, not at load time.
HX Stomp XL 3.80 Owner's ManualMy delay or reverb cuts off the instant I bypass it
Not the same problem as tails cutting off at a preset change, and it has a different answer — this one is a setting inside the block.
That block's Trails setting is Off
Working as designedTrails Off mutes repeats and decays the moment the block is bypassed. Trails On lets them ring out naturally, through a bypass and through a snapshot change. It is set per block, so one delay left wrong is enough to make a whole rig feel abrupt.
HX Stomp XL 3.80 Owner's Manual