Intuitive design sets this impressive, powerful multi-effects unit apart from the pack.
Multi-effects that pair with a laptop or iPad can be really flexible and convenient—enabling on-site tweaking and editing. The trade-off is yet another piece of gear to bring to a gig and set up. That’s a deal breaker for a lot of players. This writer included. But the HeadRush Pedalboard is an amp and effects modeler that features an onboard, tablet-style 7" touchscreen, and that puts the HeadRush in an elite league in terms of convenience and ease.
The Pedalboard is from the same team that created Avid’s Eleven Rack, but it’s not just an Eleven Rack in a pedalboard platform. The designers used Eleven Rack’s code to redesign everything from the ground up and create Eleven HD Expanded, the new digital engine that powers the HeadRush.
The Pedalboard is an impressive unit that offers 270 factory presets, 33 amp models, 15 cab models, and 10 microphone models. There’s a looper with up to 20 minutes of recording time that can record as many as 100 layers, and a download card for two Celestion Impulse Response files. There’s also USB connectivity for downloading third-party impulse responses and presets from HeadRush Cloud, where users can share and download presets. This only scratches the surface of what the HeadRush offers, and it would take a review many times the length of this one to cover all of this unit’s capabilities.
Ready for the Road
The HeadRush feels sturdy and roadworthy. It isn’t small, though—its dimensions are comparable to a large pedalboard. With its 12 footswitches, the control panel looks like a pedal switcher. Each footswitch has a color-coded, display strip with a narrow, text-only screen that indicates the model, rig, or list of effects to which the footswitch is assigned. There are four knobs in the upper left corner: three are for volume controls (master, headphone, and aux), and there’s the encoder knob, which lets you scroll through the menu options or adjust settings. On the far right of the unit is an expression pedal.
consulting the manual.
The touch screen is the centerpiece of the HeadRush. There are three knobs to the right of the display that let you manipulate settings for a single virtual pedal—so you can touch a chorus “pedal” onscreen, see displays for rate, depth, and feedback, and control them with the three knobs. Touching the displayed parameters reveals secondary controls for mix width and sync.
Easy Like Sunday Morning
The HeadRush team should get an award for intuitive design. I can’t think of an easier-to-use guitar processor on the market. I was able to get most of what I needed without consulting the manual. And if you’ve used a touchscreen device like an iPad before, you’ll be able to figure out a lot on your own.
A blank “rig” on the HeadRush will have eight empty slots marked by plus signs. Tap on one of these and the model selector menu will come up. Then you’ll see options for amp, cab, custom IR, distortion, dynamics/EQ, modulation, reverb/delay, FX-loop, and expression. In each of these categories are submenus with specific types from the selected category.
You assign pedals to a footswitch and you can move a pedal or amp’s location in the chain by simply dragging its image to the desired location onscreen. (Footswitches aren’t necessarily laid out in the order of the onscreen chain, but you can customize the assignments using the hardware assign function). When you want to save a preset, an onscreen keyboard comes up so you can quickly type in the name. The two footswitches in the leftmost corner let you scroll up or down to different rigs. The rightmost footswitches let you access the looper and tuner. You can also arrange the screen and footswitches to let you work with complete rigs or setlists (a HeadRush setlist organizes rigs into categories like dirty tones, wet-effects tones, etc. for easy recall).
Ratings
Pros:
Incredibly intuitive and easy to use. Killer sounds.
Cons:
Could use a few more effect types.
Tones:
Ease of Use:
Build/Design:
Value:
Street:
$999
HeadRush Pedalboard
headrushfx.com
Look Ma, No Hands
One of the coolest features on the HeadRush is hands-free mode, which lets you adjust parameters using the expression pedal. To get into hands-free mode, you step on, and briefly hold, the switch corresponding to the pedal you’d like to control with the treadle. At that point, the displays and footswitches are assigned to parameters for the selected pedal. For example, when I pressed and held the dynamic delay footswitch, the other footswitches and display strips then became assigned to delay, feedback, mix, sync, ratio, and width. Pressing the feedback switch, then, enables adjustment via the expression pedal. Very cool! The expression pedal can be used to control one of two parameters at a time in classic mode or two sets of parameters in advanced mode.
On every hands-free setting, there’s also one switch dedicated to exit, which gets you back to the main rig display. This sounds like a silly thing to get excited about. But on other multi-effects units, there’s often no indication of how to get back to the main page.
Stellar Sounds
At the end of the day, it comes down to sounds, and the HeadRush delivers. The eight distortion models all sound great. And while you might expect more models, the many possible effect and amp combinations deliver a near-infinite array of tones. (There are also two effects loop on the HeadRush, if you want to patch in favorite pedals.)
The presets are great. “Windy Mary” offered crystalline Hendrix tones and truly dynamic, amp-like response. “Lunar Barking” was a spot-on Randy Rhodes tone. The “OC Ska Punk” preset was tight, punchy, and excellent for palm-muted, power chord riffs. Switching between rigs is smooth. There’s no latency or dropout. You can also have reverb and delay spill over when you change rigs, which keeps continuity intact.
The Verdict
In addition to its fantastic array of sounds, the HeadRush offers unparalleled ease of navigation, for an all-in-one unit. Whether you’re looking for just an effects setup, a complete modeled rig setup, or a self-contained recording unit, it’s hard to do better than the HeadRush.
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Create, layer, and jam with the BOSS RC-1 Loop Station and BIC cable! Enter the I Love Pedals giveaway now and come back daily to increase your odds!
Boss RC-1 Loop Station Looper Pedal
The RC-1 Loop Station is the most intuitive looper pedal from BOSS. Its compact layout provides all the essential functions—record, playback, overdub, and undo/redo—encouraging instant creativity right out of the box.
The BIC 10-A cable from BOSS delivers uncompromising performance that faithfully transfers every nuance of tone and adds a vibrant touch with color options inspired by the brand's most iconic compact pedals.
The National New Yorker lived at the forefront of the emerging electric guitar industry, and in Memphis Minnie’s hands, it came alive.
This National electric is just the tip of the iceberg of electric guitar history.
On a summer day in 1897, a girl named Lizzie Douglas was born on a farm in the middle of nowhere in Mississippi, the first of 13 siblings. When she was seven, her family moved closer to Memphis, Tennessee, and little Lizzie took up the banjo. Banjo led to guitar, guitar led to gigs, and gigs led to dreams. She was a prodigious talent, and “Kid” Douglas ran away from home to play for tips on Beale Street when she was just a teenager. She began touring around the South, adopted the moniker Memphis Minnie, and eventually joined the circus for a few years.
(Are you not totally intrigued by the story of this incredible woman? Why did she run away from home? Why did she fall in love with the guitar? We haven’t even touched on how remarkable her songwriting is. This is a singular pioneer of guitar history, and we beseech you to read Woman with Guitar: Memphis Minnie’s Blues by Beth and Paul Garon.)
Following the end of World War I, Hawaiian music enjoyed a rapid rise in popularity. On their travels around the U.S., musicians like Sol Ho’opi’i became fans of Louis Armstrong and the New Orleans Rhythm Kings, leading to a great cross-pollination of Hawaiian music with jazz and blues. This potent combination proved popular and drew ever-larger audiences, which created a significant problem: How on earth would an audience of thousands hear the sound from a wimpy little acoustic guitar?
This art deco pickguard offers just a bit of pizzazz to an otherwise demure instrument.
In the late 1920s, George Beauchamp, John and Rudy Dopyera, Adolph Rickenbacker, and John Dopyera’s nephew Paul Barth endeavored to answer that question with a mechanically amplified guitar. Working together under Beauchamp and John Dopyera’s National String Instrument Corporation, they designed the first resonator guitar, which, like a Victrola, used a cone-shaped resonator built into the guitar to amplify the sound. It was definitely louder, but not quite loud enough—especially for the Hawaiian slide musicians. With the guitars laid on their laps, much of the sound projected straight up at the ceiling instead of toward the audience.
Barth and Beauchamp tackled this problem in the 1930s by designing a magnetic pickup, and Rickenbacker installed it in the first commercially successful electric instrument: a lap-steel guitar known affectionately as the “Frying Pan” due to its distinctive shape. Suddenly, any stringed instrument could be as loud as your amplifier allowed, setting off a flurry of innovation. Electric guitars were born!
“At the time it was positively futuristic, with its lack of f-holes and way-cool art deco design on the pickup.”
By this time, Memphis Minnie was a bona fide star. She recorded for Columbia, Vocalion, and Decca Records. Her song “Bumble Bee,” featuring her driving guitar technique, became hugely popular and earned her a new nickname: the Queen of Country Blues. She was officially royalty, and her subjects needed to hear her game-changing playing. This is where she crossed paths with our old pals over at National.
National and other companies began adding pickups to so-called Spanish guitars, which they naturally called “Electric Spanish.” (This term was famously abbreviated ES by the Gibson Guitar Corporation and used as a prefix on a wide variety of models.) In 1935, National made its first Electric Spanish guitar, renamed the New Yorker three years later. By today’s standards, it’s modestly appointed. At the time it was positively futuristic, with its lack of f-holes and way-cool art deco design on the pickup.
There’s buckle rash and the finish on the back of the neck is rubbed clean off in spots, but that just goes to show how well-loved this guitar has been.
Memphis Minnie had finally found an axe fit for a Queen. She was among the first blues guitarists to go electric, and the New Yorker fueled her already-upward trajectory. She recorded over 200 songs in her 25-year career, cementing her and the National New Yorker’s place in musical history.
Our National New Yorker was made in 1939 and shows perfect play wear as far as we’re concerned. Sure, there’s buckle rash and the finish on the back of the neck is rubbed clean off in spots, but structurally, this guitar is in great shape. It’s easy to imagine this guitar was lovingly wiped down each time it was put back in the case.
There’s magic in this guitar, y’all. Every time we pick it up, we can feel Memphis Minnie’s spirit enter the room. This guitar sounds fearless. It’s a survivor. This is a guitar that could inspire you to run away and join the circus, transcend genre and gender, and leave your own mark on music history. As a guitar store, watching guitars pass from musician to musician gives us a beautiful physical reminder of how history moves through generations. We can’t wait to see who joins this guitar’s remarkable legacy.
SOURCES: blackpast.org, nps.gov, worldmusic.net, historylink.org, Memphis Music Hall of Fame, “Memphis Minnie’s ‘Scientific Sound’: Afro-Sonic Modernity and the Jukebox Era of the Blues” from American Quarterly, “The History of the Development of Electric Stringed Musical Instruments” by Stephen Errede, Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL.
In our third installment with Santa Cruz Guitar Company founder Richard Hoover, the master luthier shows PG's John Bohlinger how his team of builders assemble and construct guitars like a chef preparing food pairings. Hoover explains that the finer details like binding, headstock size and shape, internal bracing, and adhesives are critical players in shaping an instrument's sound. Finally, Richard explains how SCGC uses every inch of wood for making acoustic guitars or outside ventures like surfboards and art.
Featuring torrefied solid Sitka Spruce tops, mahogany neck, back, and sides, and Fishman Presys VT EQ System, these guitars are designed to deliver quality tone and playability at an affordable price point.
Cort Guitars, acclaimed for creating instruments that exceed in value and quality, introduces the Essence Series. This stunning set of acoustic guitars is designed for musicians looking for the quintessential classic acoustic guitar with fabulous tone all at an exceptional price point. The Essence Series features two distinct body shapes: The Grand Auditorium and the OM Cutaway. Whatever the flavor, the Essence Series has the style to suit.
The Essence-GA-4 is the perfect Grand Auditorium acoustic. Wider than a dreadnought, the Essence-GA-4 features a deep body with a narrower waist and a width of 1 ¾” (45mm) at the nut. The result is an instrument that is ideal for any number of playing styles: Picking… strumming… the Essence GA-4 is completely up for the task.
The Essence-OM-4 features a shallower body creating a closer connection to the player allowing for ease of use on stage. With its 1 11/16’th (43mm) nut width, this Orchestra Model is great for fingerpickers or singer/guitarists looking for better body contact for an overall better playing experience.
Both acoustics are topped with a torrefied solid Sitka Spruce top using Cort’s ATV process. The ATV process or “Aged to Vintage”, “ages” the Spruce top to give it the big and open tone of older, highly-sought-after acoustics. To further enhance those vintage tones, the tops bracing is also made of torrefied spruce. The mahogany neck, back, and sides create a warm, robust midrange and bright highs. A rosewood fingerboard and bridge add for a more balanced sound and sustain. The result is amazing tone at first strum. 18:1 Vintage Open Gear Tuners on the mahogany headstock offer precise tuning with vintage styling. The herringbone rosette & purfling accentuates the aesthetics of these instruments adding to their appeal. Both acoustics come in two choices of finish. Natural Semi-Gloss allows the Sitka spruce’s natural beauty to shine through and classic Black Top Semi-Gloss.
A Fishman® Presys VT EQ System is installed inside the body versus other systems that cut into the body to be installed. This means the instrument keeps its natural resonance and acoustic flair. The Presys VT EQ System keeps it simple with only Volume and Tone controls resulting in a true, crisp acoustic sound. Lastly, Elixir® Nanoweb Phosphor Bronze Light .012-.053 Acoustic Strings round out these acoustics. This Number 1 acoustic guitar string delivers consistent performance and extended tone life with phosphor bronze sparkle and warmth. The Essence Series takes all these elements, combines them, and exceeds in playability, looks, and affordability.
Street Price: $449.00
For more information, please visit cortguitars.com.