Headrush Pedalboard from InMusic

[junkgear]

It has been shipping for a little bit now and you can find some demos and reviews popping up.

Here is a good one by the talented Pete Thorn
https://youtu.be/cwEgbPjipdQ

[Darryl Ramm]

I'd be interested to see a side by side comparison with the Eleven Rack if anybody has played with it or knows of a review that does that.

Something that might have been smart for InMusic to do is have the headrush act as a pedalboard for the Eleven Rack. A way to get reticent Eleven Rack owners to move over and prove to them this is actually better. I had a quick scan of the manual and it does not look like there is a way just to have it act as a MIDI controller.

[nst7]

I recently got to try this at my local Guitar Center where it is on display to try. I think it's amazing. It truly seems like a lot of what people would be looking for in an Eleven Rack II, or Eleven Rack Pro, etc.

It's going to be hard right now to compare the new "HD" upgraded versions of the amps, because there is no digital I/O. This is a bit frustrating, but I mention this because the overall sound quality seems noticeably better, in terms of the analog components and digital conversion. For that reason, it will be hard to do a direct comparison because you will likely be biased to the improved sound quality of this unit. Whereas if it had digital I/O, you could send your dry tracks through both units, taking the hardware out of the equation, and actually listen just to the new improved coding or whatever they did. (EDIT: you may be able to do something similar by routing through the USB port, but it would be a little more work).

Anyway, regardless, it sounds great. I listened through an amp, and through the headphones. I brought in my own headphones that I previously used with the Eleven Rack. This headphone output is much fuller, better, and gets really loud.

As for features, one exciting thing is that you can set up dual paths. This can be two amps, two cabs, or one amp through two cabs (you can set it up to be the same cab with two different mics to simulate having two mics on a cab). You may even be able to do two amps, two cabs, and two mics on each cab, but I'm not totally sure about that one.

Another great feature is the ability to place any of your effects right in between the amp and cab, to truly emulate an effects loop. This makes a really nice difference especially when using reverb, delay, or chorus.

What's more, you can also place the hardware effects loop I/O between the amp and cab and use your hardware the same way.

Another huge thing to me was the input stage. It's not the True-Z, but to me this one is even better, because you can adjust the gain somewhat, making it easier to calibrate to behave like a real amp. For example, in real life I can plug in a les paul with pretty hot 498T pickup (found on most LP Studios, etc.) at full volume into a Fender Twin Reverb and get a nice clean sound with no distortion. With the Eleven Rack, going through the Twin reverb sim it would be too hot and I'd be getting a little distortion. That meant that it was too hot with all the other amps, causing them to be more distorted than they otherwise would be at the same settings in real life. That made it harder to get just the slightly dirty breakup sounds on the AC30 or Matchless or things like that. I could back off the guitar's volume, but again, I don't need to do that in real life with these amps. With this unit, at the default setting of 0 on the input gain, it's just about right as is, and I have the choice to back it down even more. Or I can increase it, making it act as a booster.

But for those who like the True-Z, there does not seem to be a similar function. It sounds to me like a standard 1 Megaohm input, which is probably the most common setting used anyway.

It also gives flexibility on the output stage, both for rig volume, and for master volume. I didn't play with that too much but it seemed easier to deal with than I remember on the Eleven Rack.

Not only that, but with the dual path setup, you can actually set the rig volume (and maybe master volume as well) independently for each path. This might come in handy for a situation where perhaps you want to set up two paths exactly the same, but have them go to two different XLR outputs into two channels of your house mixer in a live setup, allowing you to switch between rythym at one volume, and lead at another, or something like that.

You also have the possibility to load your own impulse responses. In fact, they provide some for you to download.

Overall, it seems very user friendly, with a really well thought out design with the touch screen and all that. It also seems built very very sturdy.

The only real shortcomings are things that could easily be remedied if they made a rackmount version. One, I would like them to make a rackmount version with a floor controller. If they do, it should have digital I/O, as well as analog line inputs, which this also does not have.

Note that the USB port does allow some functions of recording and reamping digitally, but you would need to select this unit as your Protools interface when using it this way. Not a big deal, but I would rather have actual digital I/O.

Anyway, if you like the Eleven Rack I think you'll absolutely love this.

You can check out the Quick Start guide and the User guide on their website and get some idea how it works.

I would think that many Guitar Centers would have this on display, as they tend to similarity from store to store, so you guys may want to check it out.

EDIT: I forgot to mention, though it is mentioned in the other thread someone linked to, that they have included some new models of amps and effects. Of particular interest to me was the dedicated Tremolo pedal. Nice to have, although some of the amp models have tremolo built in. There also seems to be more in the way of rotary effects, and I think a new reverb (the AIR reverb) that I don't think was there before.

[Jay_uk]

^^ thanks for taking the time to post this review/experience.Very helpful.
+1 on the rack and foot controller idea

[Darryl Ramm]

Yes, thanks for posting.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[PoodlePuncher]

The Captain & Chappers just released a demo video of it yesterday.

https://youtu.be/6k1EbdNmD4Q

[wpawley]

Originally Posted by PoodlePuncher

The Captain & Chappers just released a demo video of it yesterday.

https://youtu.be/6k1EbdNmD4Q

I liked the demo they did. There was a mention of setting up "Set List" and having "Rigs" (more than one) contained within it. I'd like to see how that is done and how someone would go into and out of different set up's like that. The more I watch and hear of this board, the more I am liking it (for the most part). For the price of it, yeah, I know it isn't an AX or full blown Helix, but, it sounds good and if someone broke this unit out and played a live gig with it (or studio gig), I would be hard pressed to be able to know what it was as compared to other units.

[nst7]

Originally Posted by wpawley

I liked the demo they did. There was a mention of setting up "Set List" and having "Rigs" (more than one) contained within it. I'd like to see how that is done and how someone would go into and out of different set up's like that. The more I watch and hear of this board, the more I am liking it (for the most part). For the price of it, yeah, I know it isn't an AX or full blown Helix, but, it sounds good and if someone broke this unit out and played a live gig with it (or studio gig), I would be hard pressed to be able to know what it was as compared to other units.

I don't know if this answers your question, but the basic idea of setlists (a very cool feature) is that you can organize various presets in a certain order, regardless of where they are at in the banks. So you can pull up your presets in a certain order and use the footswitches to click to the next one.

For example, scrolling through presets normally might be Bank A, number 19, then number 20, then 21, etc. If you're clicking the arrow footswitch it just goes through by number in order.

With a setlist, you can store Bank A, number 45, then Bank B, number 12, then Bank B, number 32, etc.

So you can group your presets in a certain order, then use the arrow footswitch to go to the next one in your setlist, rather than the next numerical one in order.

This is handy for a gig where perhaps you're playing 10 songs in a row, you can pick the presets you want for those songs, and put them in order, and then using the footswitch just click to the next one, and the next one, and so on.

It's basically another way to organize your presets, sort of like file folders on a computer. You can have your master folder (all your presets), and then make subfolders with only the presets you want, and name it. Then make another subfolder with certain presets, and name that different, and so on.

[Jay_uk]

Originally Posted by junkgear

It has been shipping for a little bit now and you can find some demos and reviews popping up.

Here is a good one by the talented Pete Thorn
https://youtu.be/cwEgbPjipdQ

Marshall Amp head > load box > Headrush effect loop

I like Pete Thorns style, very melodic and always interesting.

This Headrush is very appealing, would be more appealing at £799 rather than £899 though.

[MLGuitarPick]

Originally Posted by nst7

As for features, one exciting thing is that you can set up dual paths. This can be two amps, two cabs, or one amp through two cabs (you can set it up to be the same cab with two different mics to simulate having two mics on a cab). You may even be able to do two amps, two cabs, and two mics on each cab, but I'm not totally sure about that one.


Not only that, but with the dual path setup, you can actually set the rig volume (and maybe master volume as well) independently for each path. This might come in handy for a situation where perhaps you want to set up two paths exactly the same, but have them go to two different XLR outputs into two channels of your house mixer in a live setup, allowing you to switch between rythym at one volume, and lead at another, or something like that.

Great review nst7!

If I may ask, or confirm, with the dual path setup you could have 2 rigs that are the same or 2 different rigs.

Can this dual path setup, (in a live setting) be assigned 1 rig left output, and the other rig right output?

Thanks!