How many playing on Headrush 108’s?

cragginshred said:
The big question is -does it sound like a pa speaker???
My Xitone and CLR are waaay better than my high end RCF which I used to use years ago. Remind me is the Headrush made for IR's or just a compact pa speaker?
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It looks exactly like an Alto TS308 with a name badge that says Headrush. Same specs on the amp and driver. The thing that could 'maybe' be different is the internal setting of the DSP, but I can't find any source to confirm or deny. It's technically possible that the HR DSP is tuned to somehow sound better for guitar IRs, but so far I've found nothing but marketing words. Understandable the HR marketing skews to guitar players while the Alto skews to general purpose PA.

Edit: surely someone on the internet somewhere will eventually put both the HR and the Alto side by side and compare to see if they both sound exactly the same.
 
@Robboman it is FRFR too right? Just clarifying that. Anything not made for IR's is going to sound like a pa speaker -most don't know that and wonder why their tone is not that great
 
Genghis said:
No, talking about the latest firmware for Axe-fx iii. Been so busy with work i haven't had a chance to play with it, so figured I'd install it and crank the monitor. Got as far as the firmware through the mains last night, but today is another day.
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Oh yeah, I haven’t caught up yet either.
 
cragginshred said:
@Robboman it is FRFR too right? Just clarifying that. Anything not made for IR's is going to sound like a pa speaker -most don't know that and wonder why their tone is not that great
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Ok, but what is the point in dialing in by using something made for IRs and then going direct to PA for mains. I dial in things so that the audience hears things as close to what I want them to hear as possible. So i dial in with mains at reasonably close to the volume we will use, then add in monitor system around that so that I can hear myself onstage.

I know a lot of guys get super meticulous about trying to get their personal sound onstage to work exactly like they want and spend a lot of extra cash to try to do that, but I figure if the audience i hearing the mains, i want that to be my main reference point. Monitors are then tailored for what I want to hear. Something of a compromise, but my PA in full didn't cost a lot more than some people spend on the "ideal" personal monitoring setup for just guitar.
 
cragginshred said:
@Robboman it is FRFR too right? Just clarifying that. Anything not made for IR's is going to sound like a pa speaker -most don't know that and wonder why their tone is not that great
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The same company makes a pedalboard that runs on IR's ...so...

I have had a full day with the HR FRFR108 now and I can say that it sounds less like a PA speaker (playing guitar through it) than my Turbosound IQ10 speaker does...the 108 gives more an amp in the room feeling at higher volumes....it sounded good enough to keep me happily playing for 4-5 hours...so that is worth a few stars right there.

I used it in stereo with a Laney IRT-X and they sound very similar at low to medium volumes and I like the slightly different color that each provides ...so the mix of the 2 is working for me.

The 108 has more kahouna's though and at 2/3rds volume it is pushing some air but remains tight even on the low end and the mids seemed to get a bit smoother after a few hours playing...so breaking in this speaker is necessary for the mids.

The 2 together gets me plenty of juice for our classic rock band (the other guitarist has a nice Wizard 50 watt half stack)...but I can add a PRS Archon to the mix if I want more air moving...and all 3 together weigh less than some tube combo's.

The wattage of the 108 (2000 watts) is Peak to Peak rating so it is likely about 500 watts RMS and the Laney is 250 watts RMS, if I remember right, so for the price of admission I would have to go with the HR-108.

The Laney by itself did not have enough power for a loud drummer but the Turbosound at 2500 Watts did have enough but of course it didn't sound like an amp in the room.

The HR by itself has enough if positioned correctly...I have mine on a mini stand at 4' high.

I hope that helps someone decide.
 
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I played for about an hour this evening by myself in the rehearsal studio. Mains on, but the Head Rush 108 mixed just so I could hear it a bit more since it is close to me. Sounded great. Even cranked it almost up full for a bit, just to see how it felt, and it was awesome. Definitely has a bit more of a cabinet sound than the the PA, although the way we mix, I get pretty good full range sound out of the PA. This just has a bit more rawness or something about it. Very happy with it, and if we weren't doing such small stages I'd happily add one more for stereo. But that would be more than I need in this band situation.
 
I have two HR108’s, at $200 each the price was right. I’ve used one at rehearsal, plenty loud for that application. I sat it on top of a combo amp, so about 2ft. above the floor. The unit has great definition between amp models, from Fender cleans to Friedman and EVH high gain sounds.

I plan on using both as monitors in front of my board along with the HR112 as backline at my show this weekend. It is an outdoor stage so I need to beef up a little on the stage volume. I am confident they will work like a charm.
 
I got to try my 108’s for a while today. I must say, they do not suck. I left very pleased after just me playing in my studio. I set up a preset to play with at my dad’s house. He mostly plays a lot of old country and blues. It’s not a Marshall kinda set list if you know what I mean. I set it up so I could play clean through a Super Reverb with my JP15. The JP15 has a boost switch that can put a little hair on the Super Reverb. I also made a second path via input 2 for the piezo and got a pretty convincing acoustic sound.

At first A/Bing the 108’s to my Adam AX7’s, the 108’s came off a little dark and lacking the highs. Also, a little rumble. They either broke in a bit, the global eq/low cut did the trick, or I got accustomed to it because I decided it really sounded good. I should have tried the contour switch before putting in eq but they put it in the back and “out of sight, out of mind”. I can’t wait to fire them up again.
 
Dunconia said:
Who is playing on Headrush frfr’s and liking them? I ordered a pair of 108’s off Reverb to check out. I’ve heard decent things. Also, has anyone tried to play bass through them? I get that a bigger speaker would be better, but I decided to try for the size and price.
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Using a pair of them , just got them and was blown away with how tight and guitar sounding they were, no top end fizz you'd expect with a pa style horn, good for small gigs on there own at 7 but go up to 11 which I thought was nice and axe fx sounds the way they should.
 
BobbyLeckie said:
Using a pair of them , just got them and was blown away with how tight and guitar sounding they were, no top end fizz you'd expect with a pa style horn, good for small gigs on there own at 7 but go up to 11 which I thought was nice and axe fx sounds the way they should.
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I think they are great for the money. I normally add some high end that missing and cut some low that is boomy. Works pretty good and sounds like a guitar.
 
Dunconia said:
I think they are great for the money. I normally add some high end that missing and cut some low that is boomy. Works pretty good and sounds like a guitar.
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100% being so compact just makes them insane, tried one at GG and we ordered 4 for some duo stuff. Put them on a shelf behind us and had enough clarity to fill a room/ small bar still being able to hear our own FOH. Weighs a lot less than boogie tri and 290 with 4x12s 2x12 s or 1x12s still have velocity 300 in rack for backline situation but think the two 108s will cover the raw stuff too. I'm still in shock lol
 
Just get it. For the weight and price, total no brainer. Such a game changer for me to not be lugging around a 33 lb CLR. What you give up in clarity, most wont be able to notice in a full band mix.
 
I bought a 108 a while back out of curiosity. Some gigs don’t have room for back line or extra guitar monitors, so the low price, size, weight and description aroused my curiosity. Our floor monitors are Presonus air 12, and QSC K12. When I plugged up the 108 I immediately thought, not bad, I was quite surprised! Mind you, it doesn’t compete with my CLR’s, but is quite useable as guitar fr monitor. Where I was really surprised was when I put it in place of one of the floor monitors we use! It works! Sounds noticeably better than either the QSC or Presonus, I can tolerate running only my monitor mix without a Dedicated guitar monitor and be happy. My Main vocalist and Keyboard Player hit one chord and vocal test the first time I used it, her immediate response was, ”Wow! I’m selling that QSC and getting one of those”! Everyone in the band had the same response. Some of you may not have the same experience, but for me it’s working great! And I’m a stickler when it comes to sound! If you’re concerned about an 8 inch monitor being anemic on low end like I was, it has plenty of bottom!
 
I have a pair of the 108's.
Like them for price, light weight and volume.
At 85DB and above they have a bit of bass, so I adjust to taste, all good.
Pleased with them.
 
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