Bought a HeadRush FRFR

  • I ordered a HeadRush FRFR and it was delivered earlier in the week.


    Finally got around to opening the HeadRush FRFR. Put it outside on my deck, along with my strat and my Zoom Lynch Pedal. Took longer to find a extra decent surge protector in my house than it did to unbox and plug everything in.


    I started with a clean patch, just to see how the minimal settings were. I was happy to see that you can get some no-ear-splitting room level settings between 0 and 1 rather easily. Now it came time to push it a little. First up to 2, which is a nice decent level for screwing around on the deck.


    But, why stop there. I tried 3, then 4. Level 4 was loud enough that the garbage men, who were on the next street noticed me immediately. It also gave an excellent amount of feedback on the guitar, without needing to put the guitar right next to it. Granted, I was only about 4 feet away, but it was loud enough for the neighbors to hear it at least 6 houses down.


    At that point, I had to bail. It's expected to be around 100 degrees today, and it felt every bit of it around 11:30. I'll push it some more another time. Definitely going to crank it on July 4th for the Star Spangled Banner.


    One thing really made me laugh. I didn't notice it before, but the levels go to 11. It's one more better than 10 :D


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    So far, I'm really liking it. I'll be doing many more tests, and then do a comparison between my studio monitors and the HeadRush mic'd into my DAW to see if there are any tonal differences. Eventually, I'll do a full review. Right now, it's just too new, and any (honest) reviews would be skewed.

  • I got mine a couple of weeks ago and I must say it sounds really good...I actually like it better than my dxr10..more like a real cab ..probably because of the size (12inch instead of the yamaha 10inch)
    haven't used it live yet, only at home but very loud (between 5-6)
    I can recommend it...at least try one if you get a chance

  • I was going to wait until I did an EQ levels of my monitors vs the HeadRush, but why wait. On July 4th, I brought the HeadRush out and played the Star Spangled Banner at around 7. Everybody heard it for many houses away (maybe blocks). I then put it up to 11, and hit an E power chord with distortion. My deck shook. You could actually feel it when you have it on 11. I was thrilled to find that it maintained it's clean tone, even at 11. So far, I haven't found anything that I can complain about.

  • This evening, I hooked the HeadRush up to my system, replacing the left monitor with it. It's about 9 feet from me, where the monitors are about 3 feet away. The HeadRush sounded very close to the monitor sound, but with more low end. This is to be expected, since the monitors have a 6" speaker and the HeadRush has a 12". I set the HeadRush at around 2 and used my Focusrite to handle the volume level of it and the monitor, I started nice and low, and started edging it up. I got a really nice loud tone and played Deep Purple's Burn along with a video from Jon Lord's memorial concert. Wow, this thing is fantastic. Held together beautifully.


    I am very happy with it. I don't have a single complaint about it.......other than I wish it was out last year when I had to use an in-house amp at the studio and fight to get a good tone. Coupling the Kemper with the HeadRush FRFR is a dream rig. I really wish I had it back then.

  • I'm thinking about selling my orange 2x12 to get the headrush FRFR. Either that or get a power amp for my unpowered kemper. I play mostly metal and alternative. Which would solution would you recommend? And do you think the Headrush will handle bass? I would like to get rid of my Hartke bass rig if possible.

  • Anyone else had a chance to try out the Headrush FRFR-112?
    I've been waiting for this to come out as a affordable solution for an FRFR speaker for my Kemper. I was not quite willing to invest $1000-$2000 for the FRFR speakers currently on the market and have been using EV ZLX-12 PA speaker.
    I've been playing through the Kemper exclusively since I bought it 9 month's ago but recently plugged into my Marshall combo. And man, what I'm missing so much is that feel of that speaker pushing air! Which is what, from I understand, a FRFR speaker is supposed to give you.

  • I put it in the "good enough" category. Just like the Kemper, if you get too analytical about it and compare it to a Boogie 2x12 (which is what I had) you will question your decision. But, for me, the benefits outweigh the detriments. The Boogie weighs a million pounds, is totally non-ergonomic compared to the FRFR, and doesn't work with studio profiles (or at least doesn't sound as good.)


    I bought the Alto TS312 first and then the Headrush.


    One thing that I didn't anticipate is the extra cables I would need. My Kemper bag is getting pretty heavy now. It contains the powered lunchbox, remote, remote cable, 2 moog expression pedals, 2 tsr cables, guitar cable, 3 power cables (1 for kemper, 2 for speakers,) extension cord and a little surge suppressor. I'm working on trying to get the weight down and the setup streamlined. One of the reasons I bought the Kemper was because I envisioned a super-fast setup on stage.

    John Maracich
    SpaceMetalNOLA.com
    facebook.com/spacemetalnola
    spacemetal1.bandcamp.com
    spacemetal.net

  • I put it in the "good enough" category. Just like the Kemper, if you get too analytical about it and compare it to a Boogie 2x12 (which is what I had) you will question your decision. But, for me, the benefits outweigh the detriments. The Boogie weighs a million pounds, is totally non-ergonomic compared to the FRFR, and doesn't work with studio profiles (or at least doesn't sound as good.)


    I bought the Alto TS312 first and then the Headrush.


    One thing that I didn't anticipate is the extra cables I would need. My Kemper bag is getting pretty heavy now. It contains the powered lunchbox, remote, remote cable, 2 moog expression pedals, 2 tsr cables, guitar cable, 3 power cables (1 for kemper, 2 for speakers,) extension cord and a little surge suppressor. I'm working on trying to get the weight down and the setup streamlined. One of the reasons I bought the Kemper was because I envisioned a super-fast setup on stage.

    Hi


    nice to share your impressions here


    hope you can manage to do it well on carrying your gear


    kind regards,
    Claudio

  • I bought one 2 days ago.
    Never tried the Alto so cannot compare, unfortunately.
    I use it as a practice amp at low to med volumes but I cranked it up a few times and this thing is a beast.
    I was mainly using my Kemper with headphones or studio monitors (Rokits) before, so definitely a different vibe, as now the room and speaker position come in the equation at higher volumes. I had to scroll through a few profiles to find some that are a good match with the speaker. I did find some Twin, Matchless and 72 Marshall rigs (M.Britt & Tone Junkie) that sounded absolutely fantastic right off the bat. Some other profiles I had to tweak a little.


    Still on a learning (EQ!) curve, but overall, for the price, great buy.

  • Using two of these in a stereo setup with the band (as backline - one either side of the drummer), and it sounds fantastic. Really fantastic speakers for the money.

    I'd highly recommend them!

  • Just wondering, does anybody notice an increase in noise/hiss when hooking up the KPA to the Headrush? I really have to keep the volume on the Headrush down and set the monitor volume on the KPA at -5db or higher. If I put the volume on the Headrush above 12 o' clock I notice this hiss which is only there when the KPA is engaged, also when the KPA is in Tuner mode and the output is muted. When I power on the Headrush and turn its volume knob fully clockwise it's dead silent. I tried messing with the ground knobs on both the KPA and the Headrush but no success so far.