It’s amazing to me how far guitar processors have come these days. There are several very competitive brands out there, and I had the amazing opportunity to review the HeadRush Pedalboard. I’ve seen musicians using it for recording sessions, jams, and gigs, and I wanted to see what it was all about. There are so many features in this amazing piece of gear—too many to list them all in this gear review, so I will highlight the ones I felt were most noteworthy.
I had the opportunity to use the HeadRush Pedalboard for gigs and recording sessions. From my experience so far, I am impressed with the many features this pedalboard has to offer, and am still discovering other features that amaze me.
On firing up the HeadRush and playing through some of the pre-programmed sounds, I was amazed at how many classic amp sounds are included. Some rigs were modeled after certain popular guitarists, and they were spot on. The internals include a quad-core processor powered by exclusive Eleven HD expanded DSP software. This software brings to life some of the most realistic effects, amplifiers, microphones, and virtual cabinet sounds in the industry. Each aspect of the pre-programmed sounds can be edited and saved, as well as the ability to build a rig from scratch. It features a seven-inch touch display that allows for all your editing to be done. Whether you are editing a sound, drag-and-dropping a virtual amp, cab or pedal into a specific spot in your signal chain, editing is made easy by this full-color display.
One of the coolest features I found is you can create a setlist of sounds for your gig. You can save numerous ones into the setlist library. On the gig, you have the hands-free editing feature, so you can make changes easily in the moment. The pedal also features a footswitch that can be programmed for functions such as volume, wah, or both. It has an onboard looper that has twenty minutes of recording time. The USB jack can be used to hook your HeadRush into your computer for recording, re-amping, updating for your pedalboard, as well as uploading new amps and effects to your unit.
Changing from one effect to the other was seamless and easy. Each footswitch has LED and OLED scribble strips that can be assigned by color and show you what effects are assigned to them at the time.
The HeadRush Pedalboard is ready for the studio, stage, or tour with its durable steel chassis. It features XLR and 1/4” inputs and outputs for direct lines in or for use with your favorite amp. It also has a 1/8” aux in and a 1/4” headphone jack for doing some late night practicing.
To really grasp the full potential of this piece of gear, please check out the videos on the headrushfx.com website. HeadRush also offers two other units called the GigBoard, and LooperBoard as well, so be sure to check their website for more details and pricing on those.
With the HeadRush Pedalboard selling for around $999, it’s a bargain considering all the amps and tones that are at your disposal. It has the best of all classic, modern, and experimental sounds out there. The ability to update the sounds means that you can always add more over the years. I highly recommend giving this pedalboard a look if you are in the market for an FX processor with realistic sounds and ease of use.
Price: $999.00
For more information and full specifications, visit headrushfx.com/products/pedalboard
Disclaimer: We were loaned the product from the manufacturer for an honest review. We received no payment or other compensation for the review of this product.