HX Stomp · HX Stomp XL · NAM A2 Lite Language

Put NAM captures on your HX Stomp

This page walks you through everything: building the firmware from your own Line 6 file, installing it, and turning your .nam captures into files the Stomp can play. It all runs in this browser. Nothing is uploaded anywhere.

Unofficial and experimental. This isn't made or supported by Line 6. Installing modified firmware is at your own risk and may void your warranty. If anything goes wrong, the Recovery steps put the stock firmware back; it has been done on a real unit.

Get ready

About 10 minutes in all. Tick these off as you go.

I have an HX Stomp or an HX Stomp XL. Not the Helix Floor, LT, Rack or HX Effects: their firmware is a different design. The current XL build hasn't run on an XL yet (an earlier one-block build ran from RAM); its DSP code is the HX Stomp build's, byte for byte. HX Edit and Line 6 Updater are installed on this computer. Both are free from Line 6. HX Edit imports the captures; Line 6 Updater installs the firmware. I backed up my presets and IRs in HX Edit. Use Backup in HX Edit. A firmware install normally keeps them, but a backup costs a minute. I have Line 6's own firmware file, version 3.80.0, for my unit. One of the two files below, unchanged. The build checks its fingerprint (MD5) and refuses any other file, so you can't pick the wrong one by accident.

HX StompHX_Stomp_v3.80.0_0x103966115.hxf

HX Stomp XLHX_Stomp_XL_v3.80.0_0x103966115.hxf

Keep this stock file somewhere safe. You also need it for Recovery and to go back to the normal firmware later.

Build your firmware

Drop the stock file here. This page adds NAM A2 Lite to it and gives you a new file to install.

Drop your stock .hxf file here or click to choose it · about 45 MB · it stays on this computer

The first build downloads the build tools (about 15 MB) and takes 20–60 seconds, depending on the computer. Keep this tab open until it finishes.

Install it with Line 6 Updater

The same way as a normal Line 6 update, with your new file.

Optional: try it first, without installing

This page can run the new firmware from the Stomp's memory for one session. Nothing is written to the Stomp: turn it off and on, and it starts what is installed, as before.

Your Stomp has Line 6's stock firmware 3.80.0 installed (or this same NAM build).
Use Chrome or Edge on a computer, and quit HX Edit and Line 6 Updater: they hold the USB connection.
Connect the Stomp with USB, turn it on and click Run from RAM. Pick the HX Stomp in the browser's list. As the Stomp restarts, the browser asks twice more: each time, click Continue and pick the device it lists.
If the Stomp isn't in the list, turn it off, hold Page Right while you turn it on (update mode, dark screen), and click Run from RAM again.

What you change during the run (presets, imported IRs) is gone when you turn the Stomp off, so import your captures with the normal firmware first. Knobs can react slowly in a RAM run; an installed firmware doesn't do that.

This has run NAM A2 Lite on a real HX Stomp, from this page and from the command line (tools/hxf_ram.py), and on a real HX Stomp XL from this page. On Windows the browser may not see the Stomp, because Line 6's driver holds it. On Linux it needs a udev rule for the USB devices.

Install

Close HX Edit, if it's open. Updater can't reach the Stomp while HX Edit is using it.
Connect the Stomp to the computer with USB and turn it on.
Open Line 6 Updater, sign in, and select your Stomp.
Choose Choose File (not the normal update) and pick the file you downloaded in step 2: HX_Stomp_v3.80.0_NAM_A2_Lite.hxf
On an XL, pick the file with _XL_ in its name. Never install the other unit's file.
Let it finish. Don't unplug or switch off the Stomp while it updates. It restarts on its own when done.

Check it worked

On the Stomp, add an amp block and open the model list: there is a new folder, Amp › NAM, with NAM A2 Lite in it. The same amp is also under Distortion › NAM, for a third block. Everything else is the same as stock 3.80.0.

Stuck on the splash screen after the install? Don't worry: follow Recovery.

Convert your captures

The Stomp loads NAM captures from its User IR slots. This turns each .nam into a .wav that HX Edit can import there.

Drop .nam files here or click to choose · several at once is fine

Converted captures appear here. Only the 3-channel A2 Lite size works (on ToneHunt and similar sites, look for “A2 Lite”). A .nam with several sizes in one file works too: its A2 Lite model is used.

The .wav isn't a sound: it carries the capture's 1,871 numbers. Don't load it into a Cab or IR block; it's for the NAM A2 Lite amp only.

Load a capture and play

Import the .wav files with HX Edit, then point the amp at them.

Open HX Edit with the Stomp connected, and open the Impulses list.
Drag a .wav from step 4 onto a free slot. Write down its number, for example 5.
Add an amp block and pick Amp › NAM › NAM A2 Lite.
Turn Model to that slot number. You hear the capture.

Knob	What it does
Model	Which capture plays: the User IR slot (1–128) that holds it. A slot with a normal cab IR, or nothing, is silent.
Input	Level into the capture, −20 to +20 dB. 5.0 is the capture's own level.
Bass Mid Treble Presence	Tone controls after the capture, ±12 dB. 5.0 is flat.
Ch Vol	Output level. 5.0 is unchanged; 10 is +12 dB.
Polarity	Normal or Inverted: Inverted flips the output's polarity (phase).

The Model knob shows slot numbers; the block's title shows the name of the capture in that slot. Presets remember the number, so if you move a capture to another slot, update the presets that use it.
Changing Model, by hand or in a snapshot, switches smoothly with no gap.
Up to three NAM A2 Lite blocks, each with its own capture. The HX Stomp allows two amps in a preset, so add the third from Distortion › NAM: the same NAM A2 Lite, with the same knobs. A fourth passes the sound through unchanged.
Each block uses about a quarter of the Stomp's DSP. With two there is room for more blocks; three nearly fill it, leaving room for a light effect such as a stereo Simple Delay, and the Stomp greys out anything heavier.

Recovery, or going back to stock

If the Stomp stops at the splash screen, or you just want the normal firmware back.

Turn the Stomp off.
Hold the Page Right button while you turn it on. It starts in update mode with a dark screen.
In Line 6 Updater, choose Choose File and pick the stock file from step 1 (HX_Stomp_v3.80.0_0x103966115.hxf).

This works because the build never touches the Stomp's bootloader. It has restored stock 3.80.0 on a real unit after a modified firmware hung at the splash. To go back to stock without any trouble, just install the stock file with Choose File the normal way.

On an XL, use the stock XL file and Line 6's own update-mode procedure for the XL in place of Page Right.

Questions

Why do I need my own firmware file?

The firmware is Line 6's, so this project can't hand it out. This page takes your copy, changes four of its fifteen parts (the amp list, the model tables, the DSP program and its graph library), and fixes every checksum. The bootloader is never changed. Please don't share the file you build.

Is my file uploaded?

No. The build runs inside this browser tab. The only downloads are the page itself and the build tools; your firmware and captures never leave the computer.

How do I know the built file is right?

The build checks every checksum inside the firmware, then compares the result's fingerprint with the build the project tested. When they match, the page says Verified: your file is byte for byte the same as the tested one.

My capture says “No 3-channel A2 Lite model inside”.

NAM captures come in several sizes. The Stomp's DSP can run only the A2 Lite size. Look for the A2 Lite version of the capture, or a multi-size .nam that includes it.

The build says it isn't the right firmware.

It must be version 3.80.0, for your unit, exactly as Line 6 made it. Older or newer versions don't work.
Don't pick a file that was already built here (it ends in _NAM_A2_Lite.hxf).
If the file was renamed, that's fine: only its contents count.