Headrush Pedalboard/Gigboard/MX5

[MichaelDean]

I was wondering if anyone has used/is using a Headrush effects pedal? I did have a search and couldn't find anything. I read the thread on TalkBass too, but it's not nearly as involved as the Helix one.

 

After watching some YouTube comparisons, there does seem to be a bit of a difference sound wise between these and Helix devices, with the Headrush stuff doing distortion a bit better to my ears, which is where a lot of my interest lies. It was nearly all guitar stuff though, very limited demos for bass.

 

I think I'm mainly interested in the MX5 due to the built in expression pedal and I like the look of the touchscreen for editing the patches as a theme across their products.

Pros:

• It has parallell processing
• It's useful having the expression pedal built in, I really like having a volume pedal on my current board
• Could potentially do away with the need for other pedals/a pedal board or I could get away with a much smaller and lighter pedalboard

Cons:

• Potentially the touchscreen, but a screen protector wouldn't be too expensive
• No synth sounds, but I don't use them much anyway, could do without them
• Not many bass specific effects, but I hear more are coming in future updates

 

Anyone have any opinions?

[MrDinsdale]

My mate got the MX5 for guitar and loves it. It’s a very neat package with a very usable ui and some amazing tones. Honestly I think with any of the modern higher end multi fx offerings you can’t go wrong.

 

Personally I opted for the BOSS GT1000 core and I’m super happy with it, so many options at your fingertips. I think I’d have been pretty happy with either the Helix or Headrush equivalent though.

[MrDinsdale]

Ps I was so blown away by the sounds I was getting out of my GT1k that I came very close to selling my amp and replacing with a little baby sumo power amp. In the end i decided I’m not quite ready to part ways but realistically there’s no reason I couldn’t get away with just the pedal and an FRFR speaker for gigs.

[vmaxblues]

I have done the last few gigs with a Preamp pedal snd FRFR speaker, works a treat!

[MichaelDean]

I ended up with a Boss GX-100 in the end. I realised I wanted more footswitches than the MX5 offered and I got an ex-demo unit for £420. I've been really happy with it, but have recently added back in an overdrive and fuzz in the effects loop.

 

I didn't end up liking the in-built amp models as much as a real amp though.