Headrush FRFR 108 - what am I doing wrong?

  • Hello,


    first things first, I really don’t know much about the fine tunings and intricacies of the Kemper, but I picked up the profiler after years and years of tube amps and big ass wood cabs. I have been running it through Dynaudio BM5a’s and it’s been fine for all this time of apartment playing. But now I’m ready to go loud again!


    so I picked up the head rush 108 and I’m just blown away by how bad it sounds and can’t figure out why it would sound SO different from the studio monitors. The monitors sound crisp and clean where as the HR sounds like a blanket is on it. I find myself having to drop the mids to 0 and blast the treble just to get a decent ish tone.


    I feel like I have to be doing something wrong. Here is a quick clip of a tele into the kemper first into the HR and then the dynaudio monitor.


    https://youtube.com/shorts/PQzN090Yzbo?feature=share

  • How are you powering the BM5s? They are passive, right?


    I think the Headrush is closer to a PA then it is to a guitar cab, and may be why it doesn't sound the way you want. You just have to EQ it to taste. If you bought two different types of studio monitors they would sound different too. You can't really compare FRFR speakers as being equal across manufactures. All have different tone.

    Larry Mar @ Lonegun Studios. Neither one famous yet.

  • How are you powering the BM5s? They are passive, right?


    I think the Headrush is closer to a PA then it is to a guitar cab, and may be why it doesn't sound the way you want. You just have to EQ it to taste. If you bought two different types of studio monitors they would sound different too. You can't really compare FRFR speakers as being equal across manufactures. All have different tone.

    they are powered.


    as for EQ’ing, this is going to sound stupid but is there a “universal” eq vs having to eq every single rig?

  • Wild. I've had the complete opposite experience with the HR 108 that I bought a couple of months ago. Wished your experience was better! Things I've learned/done so far:


    - Headrush is up off the floor, on a table beside me. Helps kill that bottom end thump.

    - Kemper Low Cut @80hz & High Cut @11k.

    - HR is in Flat mode.

    - Profiles tend to need a bit of increased top end EQ for the HR.

  • Speakers are very hard to make flat. Between the crossover network and the mechanics of the drivers they could be all over the place. So that would explain a major difference between two types of speakers that have similar drivers 7" vs 8" and a tweeter.


    If a person is making a cab with a 7" speaker it may not meet the low end it needs to be flat. This may make the tweeter sound too bright. So maybe they lowered the high end a touch so your ears think the cab is flat overall.


    Tweeters do not like high power high gain guitar. The tweeter may be blown. I would get my ear down on it and make sure it is making sound. Could run Room EQ Wizard on the speaker to see what it is really doing.


    Tweeters are very directional. When in your studio you may have the tweeters firing right at you. But you may have the Headrush pointed at your knees on stage. So all of the highs are never going to reach your ears.


    Just some thoughts. hopefully it is something stupid and you get it sorted.

  • You possibly have a defective FRFR-108. Maybe a bad tweeter? I've used one for several years with my Kemper, and I've never experienced any muffled sound. I use both channels of the FRFR-108. Kemper main outs go to FOH mixer in stereo. Kemper monitor out goes to my powered Atomic FRFR cab, in the usual guitar cab position behind me on stage. And a pass through from the Atomic goes to channel 1 of my FRFR-108 which is in the usual floor monitor position in front of me. I also run an aux send from our mixer to channel 2 of the FRFR-108, in case I need to blend in some vocals or other elements of the band. The Headrush always sounds great. At lower volume gigs, I've used the Headrush alone, and it also sounds good in the room. You just need to treat it like the 8" monitor that it is. It's not going to fill up a large area with big sound. that little plastic cab, sounds crappy at the extremes.