Headrush & Eleven Rack... Anyone played both?

[FenderBluesAAA]

A lot of people tend to bring up the arguments that the headrush sounds the same as the eleven rack (same technology, tones, etc.) So I'm curious if anyone here has actually tried both units and what your thoughts are? Is this true? I'm aware that the headrush is more flexible with more tones due to that flexibility but is the modeling really the same?

I haven't been able to find a comparison video so I thought I'd see if anyone here has tried both.

 

[spudmunkey]

The Headrush uses a sort of Gen 2.0 of the Eleven rack's "engine" called "Eleven HD" so the modelling is a bit different...but from what I understand, the big thing is being able to import IRs on the Headrush, which the Eleven Rack can't do (again, "from what I understand").

 

[GunpointMetal]

From my limited experience with both the Headrush and 11R have the same character to the amp tones, the Headrush is a little "cleaner" sounding, probably due to higher resolution processing, and can sound better because of the IR features. My limited experience also showed me two different floor units with major functionality issues (one the screen would freeze between pages/FX for upwards of 20-30 seconds on occasion, and the other one had some calibration issues because the screen would start noting adjustments when you were about a 1/4" away from touching it resulting in some major jumps in parameters). The base sounds were fine, if not a little "plasticky", at least compared to the Helix and the GT-1000 sitting right next to it. The Gigboard format is pretty dope, though.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

From my limited experience with both the Headrush and 11R have the same character to the amp tones, the Headrush is a little "cleaner" sounding, probably due to higher resolution processing, and can sound better because of the IR features. My limited experience also showed me two different floor units with major functionality issues (one the screen would freeze between pages/FX for upwards of 20-30 seconds on occasion, and the other one had some calibration issues because the screen would start noting adjustments when you were about a 1/4" away from touching it resulting in some major jumps in parameters). The base sounds were fine, if not a little "plasticky", at least compared to the Helix and the GT-1000 sitting right next to it. The Gigboard format is pretty dope, though.

Damn, I didn't expect anything to out-"plastic" a Boss unit.

 

[GunpointMetal]

Damn, I didn't expect anything to out-"plastic" a Boss unit.

Whatever voodoo they've added to the output settings on the GT-1000 has made it feel a lot better to play through, even with a FRFR monitor. I'm still not a fan of how Boss voices a lot of their high gain models, but some of the Boss original amps were pretty decent. Not even close to the Helix as far as I'm concerned, and overpriced by about $400, but better than previous generations.

 

[FenderBluesAAA]

I was considering a headrush gigboard but thought i might as well save money and get an eleven rack. I currently have a POD hd500x which I really don't like the feel of. But maybe I might just stick with it for now.

 

[GunpointMetal]

I was considering a headrush gigboard but thought i might as well save money and get an eleven rack. I currently have a POD hd500x which I really don't like the feel of. But maybe I might just stick with it for now.

If you were going for the 11R you'd be running it into IRs in your DAW for the best sound anyways (assuming you're using it for recording), so you might as well run the HD500X through some IRs and see how you like that before you spend any money. Maybe spend even LESS money on an external IR cab pedal and put it after the output or in the loop of the HD500X? I thought the HD amp tones were fine, it was the cabinet models that were fuckity.

 

[FenderBluesAAA]

That's a good idea actually! That thought occurred to me a while back but I forgot about it. I think I will do that. What I like about the new units and the 11r is that I can reamp so I don't have to get the perfect tone the first time. But I think I will hold off. I'm trying to skip a generation of modeling before upgrading.