Headrush Prime

  • The real concern withe the Headrush is the latency. 14ms, which stacks as you add captures/clones/profiles.


    No bueno.

    14ms is when you use a "clone", not with a built-in amp. How they released it with that glaring of an issue is beyond me. Will they fix it, who the heck knows with their history.


    I do really like the "practice" based features, though. On device loading of backing tracks with slowdown and pitch change abilities! That alone makes me interested. Also they've shown drawings of a "tablet" connected, which is crucial for this older guy so I don't have to reach down to the floor 100000 times for tweaking. If they actually activate the "tablet" feature and fix the "clone" latency, I may start to gas.

  • 14ms is when you use a "clone", not with a built-in amp. How they released it with that glaring of an issue is beyond me. Will they fix it, who the heck knows with their history.


    I do really like the "practice" based features, though. On device loading of backing tracks with slowdown and pitch change abilities! That alone makes me interested. Also they've shown drawings of a "tablet" connected, which is crucial for this older guy so I don't have to reach down to the floor 100000 times for tweaking. If they actually activate the "tablet" feature and fix the "clone" latency, I may start to gas.

    Yep - the models included should work fine.


    The feature set isn't pointed towards live performance - where the Profiler clearly is. You're never going to see a slow-downer, backing track support etc. in the Kemper. They could - but its not what they built it for.


    The Prime is intriguing, though.

    “Without music, life would be a mistake.” - Friedrich Nietzsche

  • First impressions:


    I was curious so...

    The unit arrived an hour ago. I started everything up, connected to WiFi, updated the firmware and played around with the features, the cloud functionality and that beeeaaautiful heavenly touch screen. Lovely. I would love that screen on my Kempers. Then I plugged in my guitar and played through the factory presets, tried some amps and downloaded some clones. The sounds are totally fine and usable, some are really good. The tweakability is very easy and intuitive...but there is that...


    L A T E N C Y.


    No matter what I do, I cannot get rid of it, it just does not feel right and I cannot just ignore it. I feel no big differences in that amount of latency (very little) between amp models, clones, simple or complex chains. Latency. I'm in an epic bad mood. It annoys me, I cannot focus on the otherwise good sound and keep going. If I cannot find the "bug" or if I cannot get rid of it, soon (or at least "lower" it), it is going back. Maybe I'm missing something but my suspicion is... it's what it is. A latencyophile unit. Different experiences, anybody?

    Better have it and not need it, than need it and not have it! - Michael Angelo Batio