NMFXD: Headrush Gigboard from an HX FX Perspective

TheBigDipper

Over the past 20 years, I’ve owned and sold on a slew of Line 6 modelling gear. Last year I dumped my cabled pedalboard for an HX FX and I’ve been very happy with it. That coincided with the release of the Headrush Gigboard. I selected the HX FX over it because MIDI support was (and still is) important to me. I  also owned a Boss GT-100 for a while, too, but it also had MIDI limitations that I couldn’t live with.

Anyway, I really like my HX FX and couple it with an AMP1. It works well for me. But…  I’ve found myself taking on another project that requires me to play electric guitar with effects, but in a small, compact format that just plugs into a PA. My AMP1/HX FX pedalboard is physically too big and heavy for this. 

Buy an HX Stomp, I hear you all saying…  But I though I’d try a Gigboard and see how that went. So I bought one a couple of days ago. So far, it’s been interesting to look at their approach compared to that of Line 6. Worth trying to write up, I thought. So here is the first chapter, focusing on some of the differences.

Rigs - is their word for what L6 calls presets. There seems to be an unlimited number - as many as you can fit onto the internal storage. They don’t have the concept of banks. 

Scenes - is their word for what L6 calls snapshots. You can have up to 4 per rig. 

Presets - is their word for something Line 6 doesn’t do on the HX FX, but Boss does do on the GT-100. For every effect or amp or cab model, you can store and recall different versions with your favourite settings. Useful. On the HX FX, I have library presets that I never play, I just use them to store versions of an effect (say the DMM delay) with different parameter values I like and want to recall frequently. The GT-100/Gigboard way of doing this is better.

HX Edit - doesn’t exist for Headrush. You connect the unit with a USB cable and it mounts it as an external storage device on your PC/Mac. You manage it using the OS tools you already use. It seems very easy so far. 

Setlists - is the same thing as L6. You can manage them on the device and don’t need to use a PC/Mac and HX Edit for this. The HX FX only allows one setlist to be loaded onto the device (I don’t use them, TBH). Headrush allows you as many of them as you want, and you just select the one you care about - like a search facility. Defining them is done using drag and drop on the device and one rig can be in as many different setlists as you like. 

Recording/Reamping - the HX FX is not intended to be an audio interface, but the Gigboard is - up to 24bit, 96KHz sampling. I’ve yet to try it, but the manual promises that I’ll be able to use it to play back audio from my Mac and record into my DAW. The record function seems to permit recording the “processed” sound in stereo and simultaneously record the untreated guitar signal. There’s also a reamping function that will send the untreated guitar previously recorded in the DAW back into the device for it to be processed with a different rig or set of values - and recorded.

Looper - the looper can record several hours of loops, store loops you’ve made as WAV or AIFF files and import audio from your computer and store on the device as loops. When you start the looper you can just record from scratch or load a stored loop as your base point. I’ve not tried looping with it yet, I'm not really a looper person, but there’s a lot there that the HX FX doesn’t try to do. 

The touchscreen - is fantastic. The HX FX is easy enough to use, but this is just working at another level of “easy to use”. Double tap, drag-and-drop, hold-and-slide. It’s like using an iPad. Intuitive and fast. All the editing is done on the device. 

Parameters - there is more to control on the HX FX - more effects models, more parameters for those models, and time will tell if I run out of options on the Gigboard. We’ll see. 

So, after 2 days, do I want to get rid of my HX FX? Not at all. It’s still great and the physical connectivity choices are better. The Gigboard does look like it will meet my needs for this new project, though, and in a more stimulating way than just buying a Stomp might have done. 

If people want, I’ll write some more after a couple of weeks when the honeymoon is over.

Oh, and the project is a sort of Open Mic thing, but rearranging some material for an electric guitar and an un-mic’d cello. We’re starting off with King Crimsons  “Red”. 

BintyTwanger77

But how does it sound?

TheBigDipper

BintyTwanger77 said:

But how does it sound?

I've only run it into headphones and monitors, using the amp and cab models. Pretty good, actually. Should be good enough for my little project. I intend to try it as effects-only into an amp at some point soon. 

TheBigDipper

Time to wake this thread up with a bit more info...

I've been working with it as a stand-alone unit into my monitors or headphones. Still liking what it can do.

Input and output blocks - every rig (what L6 calls a preset) has an input block at the front of the signal chain and an output block at the end. It's useful. At the front, you can gain stage different guitars and adjust noise gate parameters. This is on a rig-by-rig basis, so it's easy to have a default preset for your Input block parameters and then have others quickly available for guitars with wildly-different signal levels. 

Amps, Cabs & IRs - it's easy to switch cabinets and speaker models with different amps. I'm still appreciating the facility to have stored presets of models with different, favourite parameter values easily available when you drag it into a rig . It's also easy to load up IRs of cabinets (and anything else, for that matter). But I'm finding that I like the provided cabinet models and I'm not bothering to load cab IRs. I'm getting stuff I like without bothering with it. It's helping me avoid "analysis paralysis" and just get on with playing more.

Just as an MFX - because I'm really starting to prefer the Headrush workflow, and like the sounds I'm getting from the stand-alone unit, I've had a quick go at using it with amps as an MFX. It's fine, basically. If I plug it straight into the guitar input  I can just use it and it sounds good. 

As an MFX using 4 cable method - I only have one amp with an effects loop (Bluguitar AMP1) and I need to spend some time setting it up, I think. The HX FX worked well with this out of the box and continues to sound great. It seems there are a few parameters I've got to play with on both the Gigboard and the AMP1 to get the signal levels right. I've got the AMP1 effects loop running in serial mode, at stomp box signal levels. The HX FX just deals with it and seems to deliver unity gain with no effort on my part - which is just what I want. The Gigboard makes the signal level very low using the Global Settings that are standard in the unit - but there are lots of things to play with to sort it out when I get the time. I'll report back again when I've spent some time with it. But, on the AMP1 at least, 4CM is not just plug-and-play.

thomasw88

How you finding it now?? 

TheBigDipper

thomasw88 said:

How you finding it now?? 

Fair enough question. 

Summary - I think it's a pretty good thing and more than holds it own against Line 6 and Boss modellers that I've used in the past and the one I own now. 

What's really good - the workflow is far superior to the HX FX workflow (I don't own a Helix). The touchscreen is intuitive and easy to drive. You don't need an editor on a computer - which is why Headrush doesn't have one. It's not a flaw, it's a recognition that an editor isn't needed. There are some organisational features (such as presets (favourites) and setlists) that make it more usable than the HX Edit-based way of working which Line 6 offers. The clean and overdrive sounds can be very, very good.  As a "real amp" chap, I'm not so happy with the "edge of breakup" sounds. They're OK, but don't respond to the guitars input in the way a real amp does. Nor has any other modeller I've owned. The effects are very good, but they aren't following the Line 6 approach of modelling famous "real" effects. Their approach is to give you a good effect but not to pretend it sounds like a Prince of Tone (as an example). The best compressor (IMHO) is a studio rack unit that I'd never have on a pedalboard - but it's really good. You can certainly get some fine sounds, but you won't get the experience of "testing out" a bunch of pedals you don't own, which I know many people are keen on. My own experience is that Line 6 does a good job there - their OCD model is similar to the OCD I owned, their DMM model is similar to the DMM I owned. With the Headrush, you get a fine overdrive/distortion and a fine analogue delay which means you get some lovely sounds, but not by copying famous little boxes. It's support for IRs is better than the HX FX. The looper is significantly better than the HX FX - including support for loading/saving WAV files and lots of recording time. The Gigboard is also able to be an audio interface to your computer, which works well but I don't use it, because I've already got an audio interface. The only time I've used it as an interface is when I was experimenting with reamping - it does that well. 

As an amp/cab modeller it's good running into an FRFF speaker or into the effects return of a real amp. Both sound very good. 

What's not so good - MIDI support is not as good as the HX FX. You can send one MIDI command when a rig or a scene is loaded, but not the 6 commands that the HX FX supports. I need 3 commands sometimes, so it doesn't replace the HX FX for me. Also, it took me a while to set it up for unity gain when running in 4CM, when the HX FX just did that from day one without my help. So, if you want to integrate it with a real amp, you need to be happiest with 2CM, as 4CM is a bit harder to get properly sorted regarding levels and gain staging. 

Me and the Gigboard - I bought it for a project that is no longer going to take place. Normally, I use real amps and I'm very happy with the HX FX as an MFX. So that's what I'm going to continue to use. I'm highly likely to be putting it up for sale shortly. (Do PM me if you're interested, anyone!) It's no reflection on the unit itself, just its suitability for me and my needs. I haven't even turned it on for a couple of weeks. If I wanted to commit to modelling and no amps, it would be absolutely fine for me apart from not being quite so convincing on "edge of breakup" tones. An audience wouldn't be able to tell, though. It's a lot better than the Line 6 products I've owned in the past and the Boss GT-100 I had in 2019. 

hollywoodrox

I have been really fascinated by the gig board for ages,thanks for posting up all this info 
  It explains lots of things , especially the rig/preset thing, so no banks so I guess you can switch between presets or make a set list . I think it’s a real cool piece of gear 

TheBigDipper

hollywoodrox said:

I have been really fascinated by the gig board for ages,thanks for posting up all this info 
  It explains lots of things , especially the rig/preset thing, so no banks so I guess you can switch between presets or make a set list . I think it’s a real cool piece of gear 

IMHO, the best approach is to use setlists. You start off with a rig (what everyone else calls a patch or preset). When you're setting up that rig, you can call up a favourite set of parameters for a specific effect/amp/cab by creating/saving a preset for that set of parameters. You can have as many presets of an effect as you have room for. So, one version of a DMM delay could be your slapback settings, called "DMM Slapback" and another might be your Edge impersonation, called "DMM Edge"). In that rig you can have 4 scenes (what Line 6 calls a snapshot) and they work in a similar way. A rig can be included in as many setlists as you like, and when you edit the rig, it will be changed in all your setlists.

Some of the Line 6 concepts we've grown to know and love over the years are clever solutions to legacy features that only make sense because it's the way things have evolved over time with Line 6. The Headrush products don't have that legacy (or old code) to support, so they've had the benefit of a fresh start. And that fantastic touchscreen, obv. 

Even so, I'm still staying with my HX FX and selling the Gigboard. I've invested time in getting the HX FX to be where I need it and just want to play guitar and make nice noises, not test out new gear! :-) 

Oh, and I've even used my iPad to backup the Gigboard (iOS Files app, nothing proprietary is needed) and as a recording device with Garageband iOS - which isn't documented, but all I needed was a camera kit to connect the iPad via USB. 

I can't hep thinking that an HX FX which could be driven like a Headrush would be a truly wonderful thing.

thomasw88

I'm in a bit of dilemma at the moment..

I have 2 boards, one all pedals, one with pedals and an HX effects.     I would like to be able to go to FOH from the board, so the options are use the HX  with IR''s (or cab simulator)  and some kind of preamp for one board. 
Then could use the preamp and cab simulator on the other board.

 I don't need 100's of amps.  As long as I can get a great clean sound, and it takes pedals fantastically well then all is good.

I could get a stomp but I'm not convinced about how it would interact with a line 6 HX & additional pedals.  I actually had a stomp a while ago, but was using it more as a fly rig type thing than what I'm looking to use it for now.   At the time I found it a bit too fiddly for me to use but setting it up as an amp/cab/ could well work fantastically. 

I could replace the HX with a helix, but it's too big and overkill for what I need.  I don't mind the drives/wah's on the line 6 range but I prefer my own.

An Iridium would do what I wanted, and there are other other options such as the two notes le clean, which does look great..

The Gigboard might be able to replace the HX fx, and do the amp simulation side as well as modulations/delays.  I've trawled round various videos and forums on this and I must say its tempting to try.