Headrush Effects Pedalboard

I’ve been a big analog pedal guy for years. Vintage big muffs, MIJ Boss pedals, typical Gilmour-ish signal chain. I recently started playing with a very active cover band and was looking for something that was more universal and easier to setup and lug around than all my pedals plus a stack tube amp, microphones, etc. I never thought I would ever buy a digital multi-fix unit like this, I’m not a snob and try to give everything an honest listen, I just never thought digital would come this close to the real deal. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not the same thing and you shouldn’t expect it to be, but it’s very close. The dynamics are about 50% to the real deal. Dial in a good crunch and you can pick clean or strum hard for that added overdrive and although it’s not as ... MoreI’ve been a big analog pedal guy for years. Vintage big muffs, MIJ Boss pedals, typical Gilmour-ish signal chain. I recently started playing with a very active cover band and was looking for something that was more universal and easier to setup and lug around than all my pedals plus a stack tube amp, microphones, etc. I never thought I would ever buy a digital multi-fix unit like this, I’m not a snob and try to give everything an honest listen, I just never thought digital would come this close to the real deal. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not the same thing and you shouldn’t expect it to be, but it’s very close. The dynamics are about 50% to the real deal. Dial in a good crunch and you can pick clean or strum hard for that added overdrive and although it’s not as extreme, it does respond quite well to it. I.R.’s will be necessary to the very critical ear, as the presets are mostly terrible. But all in all, in a live setting, blasting through the PA, I doubt anyone could discern a difference. Being able to plug straight in to the P.A. and not have to fiddle with mic placement or anything is a real bonus. I’m completely setup and ready in ten minutes. I have every song saved into a setlist and I can go from each song with a single click. Rage Against the Machine with a Whammy pedal and next click I’m setup up with two delays for Pink Floyd’s Run Like Hell. It’s simply a matter of convenience vs. sound quality and I think digital has finally come close enough to make it worth the compromise. I would not plan on recording with it, bedroom playing or otherwise I am not a fan of it. I can hear the digital element right away but like I said, in a live environment I can’t hear the difference. The only thing that I have an issue with on the stage is it’s extremely hard to create feedback with it. I don’t know if it’s the speaker or what but I’m used to just turning slightly when I want that sustaining feedback and with The Headrush, I literally bend down and point my guitar right into the speaker and I barely get any swell at all. Kind of a bummer but not enough to be a deal breaker. So yeah, for live playing, it’s been a life saver. No more messing with pedals in between every song, no more hauling pedalboards and stacks and mics, just plug n play. For the really picky ears, plan on buying an IR pack or some 3rd party scenes for a really accurate patch, but other than that it’s great. I give it 4 stars instead of 5 because switch on the back for the effects loop broke off almost right away. It’s a steel housing and built like a tank but the switches are cheap plastic. A total contradiction in design but not a huge deal I guess. Hope this info helps, cheers!

Awesome product!! I love this board. Awesome sound and Tails are great!

Awesome product and easy to use. Team is constantly improving the product and they keep on adding new features and models. To me the models sound warmer and more realistic than the Line 6, but again, this is all subjective. I would definitely recommend this product, its an amazing value, at the moment I am sure that as the product get more features and models you will probably not find it at the current market price. Same this happened with the Helix from initial release to the current price. Its easy to fall into the quantity of models and effects, I end up only using a few that I enjoy as my primary tone. Its better to have what you need with great quality. Great Build quality, awesome screen and scribble strips are OLED. Just cutting edge technology that is still ... MoreAwesome product and easy to use. Team is constantly improving the product and they keep on adding new features and models. To me the models sound warmer and more realistic than the Line 6, but again, this is all subjective. I would definitely recommend this product, its an amazing value, at the moment I am sure that as the product get more features and models you will probably not find it at the current market price. Same this happened with the Helix from initial release to the current price. Its easy to fall into the quantity of models and effects, I end up only using a few that I enjoy as my primary tone. Its better to have what you need with great quality. Great Build quality, awesome screen and scribble strips are OLED. Just cutting edge technology that is still growing!!

Better than the 11rack

Overall:Okay, I have had the Avid 11r for years, and it was great, even with the annoyances, like having to have a separate midi board for foot control among other things, they were fixed in the Headrush.On the 11r the tuner was always a touch twitchy, the Headrush is solid and can be seen from outer space. Another improvement, if you can count to ten while walking, you can operate a lot of the functions without reading the manual (but I do recomend it).Pedals and cab sims, they added a few, but, the old ones are still there if you have rigs you already like and want to transfer over. Volume, another improvement, the 11r you had to watch your settings or it disabled the volume controls, you had to go into menus and it sucked. Headrush, volume control right on top, ... MoreOverall:Okay, I have had the Avid 11r for years, and it was great, even with the annoyances, like having to have a separate midi board for foot control among other things, they were fixed in the Headrush.On the 11r the tuner was always a touch twitchy, the Headrush is solid and can be seen from outer space. Another improvement, if you can count to ten while walking, you can operate a lot of the functions without reading the manual (but I do recomend it).Pedals and cab sims, they added a few, but, the old ones are still there if you have rigs you already like and want to transfer over. Volume, another improvement, the 11r you had to watch your settings or it disabled the volume controls, you had to go into menus and it sucked. Headrush, volume control right on top, so you can raise your amp volume and still control from the HeadrushThe presets, well, they suck, but, they suck less than the 11r, there is probably 150 or so that with a few adjustments are decent and useable.Outputs, so many, from 1/4 to XLR and USB. I have the 4 cable (suggest it highly, but dont forget to add a FX loop into your rig), I am using the XLR straight to the AMP and the USB for recordingIf you are thinking this will be a cooler Boss ME50 or 80, you are dead wrong, that would be like comparing the options in a 1970 car to a 2020 fully loaded, it can be easy, and you can develop into more intricate.So the sound, love it, some adjustments to my amp and cab, blows everything away. I have my main guitar, and amp I have zero intention of upgrading, this now made the list, something would have to be totally beyond belief, this thing is fantastic,If you are on the fence, but it, portable enough for a blues jam instead of carrying a bunch of pedals, and good enough if you are a live band.One feature I left out, you can organize a set list in an order you want to simply click up and down

Cheap Foot Switches. Very Cheap!

Overall:I have had this unit less than a year, take very good care of my gear and I have to say the foot switches are junk. Two broken switches in less than a year. Because Headrush support is reportedly so terrible, which I tend to agree with, I took it upon myself to replace the faulty switches on my own successfully with higher quality switches. Then I noticed this board is constructed around a very inexpensive Raspberry Pi computer. That is a whole other story. Word to the wise. Ho for a Helix or AX8. These things look and feel like quality on the outside, sound pretty darn good, but the inner workings are low quality, and this pedal won't last 2 years in a gigging environment.

Glad I chose THIS modeler

Overall:First of all, I am pretty sold school when it comes to amps and effects. A simple tube amp pushed with a couple of tube screamers, the on board reverb from the amp itself, and some modulation like delay and chorus. I joined a band a few years back that was about to go into the studio to record an album the year before covid struck. As a result, I ended up buying a Pod HD500X as a way to try to consolidate the effects that I might need all in one unit. I used it mainly as a "pedal board" in front of the [tube] amp as if it were my old analog board full of individual pedals. Needless to say, the recording project got pushed back because of the pandemic, and I was stuck at home, with a lot of time to play around with the processor. It was "good" but it left me ... MoreOverall:First of all, I am pretty sold school when it comes to amps and effects. A simple tube amp pushed with a couple of tube screamers, the on board reverb from the amp itself, and some modulation like delay and chorus. I joined a band a few years back that was about to go into the studio to record an album the year before covid struck. As a result, I ended up buying a Pod HD500X as a way to try to consolidate the effects that I might need all in one unit. I used it mainly as a "pedal board" in front of the [tube] amp as if it were my old analog board full of individual pedals. Needless to say, the recording project got pushed back because of the pandemic, and I was stuck at home, with a lot of time to play around with the processor. It was "good" but it left me wanting an easier to use option. As you could imagine, what that kind of time on my hands, I did a lot of floating around the internet just looking at possible modelers. All of the names. Kemper, Helix, Axe FX, Fractal, and this HeadRush board. Out of everything that was out there, the HeadRush board seemed to be VASTLY easier to try to figure out. Pushing my late 40s now, I don't really 'enjoy' learning new technology the way I did in my teens and twenties, so I didn't want a steep learning curve just to be able to use this thing. I spent a day while it was being shipped looking over youtube tutorials as to how to use it. Only took me a few hours of messing around with it once it got here to dial in the tone that I had on the HD500X. If you can use your cell phone, you can figure this board out. The effects sound convincing and the amp models really seem as good as the competition's offerings (even if this board doesn't have quite as many jammed into it). We are about three weeks out from going in to start laying down the guide tracks for this LP [finally], and this will make things much easier to navigate when each little tone will be more heavily scrutinized. The ability to tweak it on the fly will save time (and thus MONEY) in that studio environment. No deep dives into large menus to try to make a minor adjustment. Gives me a lot more freedom to just try to play my parts instead of worrying about the setup itself. I think this board is a bit underrated as far as the amps and cabs as well. I still will be running it to my amplifier and mic-ing it up as I do still like the "feel" that tubes give when playing. But who knows, I may use some of the sims as well. Built like a tank. A bit heavier than I had expected. Should hold up well under live applications (though that was actually not a problem with the 500X either). I highly recommend this unit if you want to get something that doesn't take a degree from Berklee in sound engineering to get started making music.

Great User Interface, Flexible & Logical

First of all I have to give major kudos to Alan Carter. He has been my SW rep. for 12 years, and I not only admire his product knowledge but also his experience as a performing musician. Alan's experience, ideas AND patience with my many questions are the reasons I make purchases such as the HeadRush Pedalboard. In addition to the variety of models and parameter controls, the HeadRush allows me to organize my rigs and songs for Live use in an efficient and seamless way. I like to plan and be prepared for gigs with minimal gear distractions, and the HeadRush gives me instant control. I can create rigs for specific songs and go-to rigs for general rock, blues or clean ballads. I even mix my Line 6 HX Stomp into HeadRush effects loop for additional presets that I have ... MoreFirst of all I have to give major kudos to Alan Carter. He has been my SW rep. for 12 years, and I not only admire his product knowledge but also his experience as a performing musician. Alan's experience, ideas AND patience with my many questions are the reasons I make purchases such as the HeadRush Pedalboard. In addition to the variety of models and parameter controls, the HeadRush allows me to organize my rigs and songs for Live use in an efficient and seamless way. I like to plan and be prepared for gigs with minimal gear distractions, and the HeadRush gives me instant control. I can create rigs for specific songs and go-to rigs for general rock, blues or clean ballads. I even mix my Line 6 HX Stomp into HeadRush effects loop for additional presets that I have not yet had the time to dial in. I plan to transition these HX Stomp presets into the HeadRush Pedalboard over time, but it's great that I can take my time getting my rigs' setup just right. My HeadRush Pedalboard sounds amazing through my QSC K.10.2 (the K.10.2s are my PA mains), but I will be using a QSC CP8 on a short stand in the future depending on the venue and whether I am playing in a trio, duo or band. My HeadRush also works well with my Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue amp. I'm excited to have the HeadRush as my sonic tool to keep the variety of songs/sounds organized like never before.

Last piece of gear I'll ever need to buy

Overall:I've only had it a week now and I'm still learning the ins and outs of it. I was able to create a rig from scratch within the first 30 minutes I had it. It is super simple to get started but there's a lot of stuff in this thing. It's heavier than I expected it to be and some sort of handle to pick it up would be nice. Lose a star on features there. Other wise the sounds are rich and convincing after some tweaking. Don't expect to plug in and have great tone right off the bat. These modeling units take time and patience. The large 7" touchscreen is very helpful indeed and sold me on this over the Helix.

Takes a little to create sounds, but well worth it.

Overall:Holy cow, I'm so glad I purchased this. Was looking to lighten my load without losing my tone. Been playing through peavey 5150's & recently EVH 5150iii, but they're so heavy. Watched a few videos on the Headrush pedalboard & decided to risk it. Purchased the FRFR112 too. After a few days I actually called to get an RA# to send back, but then see a Facebook page discussing this & decided to try a few it's. Night & day. Not only have I copied my amp sound I have copied all kinds of different amps. So glad I gave it a second chance. I have used it at 50+ shows now & am very satisfied. If you're on the fence about this, just do it. You'll love it. Really easy to navigate, bright lcd screen, easy set up.

This thing is amazing

Sound:The sound on this board is amazing, I fee it’s also very responsive to your playing and you get that responsive feedback. Makes me feel like it’s easier and more joyful to play my guitar. I will say this you have to tweak settings to get your sound typically the pre made ones aren’t the best.Overall:Ok so first off I’m new to this thing, I never thought I get away from tube amps, but....this headrush caught my attention and I love it! I like the simplicity of it and it produces great models plus sounds really authentic for what it does. I will recommend pairing with headrush frfr108 or frfr 12 or a frfr (Full range flat response) speaker instead of an amp. That way you get the absolute most out of this. I got the headrush frfr108 and it’s sounds amazing! ... MoreSound:The sound on this board is amazing, I fee it’s also very responsive to your playing and you get that responsive feedback. Makes me feel like it’s easier and more joyful to play my guitar. I will say this you have to tweak settings to get your sound typically the pre made ones aren’t the best.Overall:Ok so first off I’m new to this thing, I never thought I get away from tube amps, but....this headrush caught my attention and I love it! I like the simplicity of it and it produces great models plus sounds really authentic for what it does. I will recommend pairing with headrush frfr108 or frfr 12 or a frfr (Full range flat response) speaker instead of an amp. That way you get the absolute most out of this. I got the headrush frfr108 and it’s sounds amazing! too. As far as the headrush’s competition I haven’t used them yet. But end of the day it’s all personal preference. Pros..Easy to use Touchscreen is vibrant and responsive Great models and sounds Effects are easy to map Creating rigs is fun!Easy to carry than those heavy ampsWell built durable The oled switch labels with color choice is niceCons...There is a little bit of a learning curve but plenty of resources to learn fromNot the most portable but they do have a smaller more gig friendly version just no built in pedalNot exactly ideal for hooking into a tube amp (even a 4 cable method) just seems I don’t know extra ...Overall this thing is a beast of a board. For the price definitely a quality choice ! May not have all the sounds and models others do. But I don’t think that was their aim. Quality over quantity if you ask me. Highly recommend

What crap I bought this last August begged the factory who don't have any clue .

Sound:I have even offered to pay for a better operating manual and got no help. I have tried everything I know to solve this and all of the support I was supposed to get I received Nothing or it was wrong do not trust this store or Headrush.Overall:Trying for almost a year for help from Headrush for help. I called many times. No one there had a clue. Was always told we will email you they did not help. Also contacted zZounds gave wrong info. I'm a disabled VET so sad they would cheat me. Poor instructions even the stuff from YouTube those people were super knowledgeable but during adjustment they did not explain it would have been ok if a had a year experience SAD/ Thieves.