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Greetings:
After playing with my new Headrush pedal for a couple of days,
I can say with confidence that it was worth the investment of $207 (including
tax and shipping). As I stated earlier, it is a better looping tool than my DOD
Dimension 12, which was $40 more (the shortcomings of the D-12 are well
documented on the Loopers Delight web site). Akai seems to be marketing the
Headrush accurately. Its a powerful stomp box, nothing more and nothing less.
The Headrush has 3 modes: Tape Echo, Normal Echo, and Loop Recording. I'll
comment on each mode individually.
Loop Recording:
- The Headrush can record a single loop up to 23.8 seconds long
or an overdubbed loop up to 11.9 seconds. The interface is nice and simple for
creating the length of the loop on the fly. There are two foot switches. The
left switch activates the function and the right switch is used to determine
the length of the loop. If you want to overdub a loop, click the left switch
to activate the looping function and start playing. Then click the right
button once to start recording. Clicking the right button a second time will
close the loop. Click the right button a third time will allow you to record
infinite layers on the original loop. To erase overdub loops, click the right
button again to erase all but the original loop. If the original loop goes
over 11.9 seconds, then you are committed to only one loop; you will not be
able to overdub. An LED light above the right pedal will begin to flash a few
seconds before you reach 11.9 seconds, notifying you to either close the loop
or live with the consequences. The LED light will flash again a few seconds
before reaching 23.8 seconds, letting you know that the loop will
automatically repeat. One drawback is that you can't tell the exact length of
the loop. I find it helpful to know exact lengths for syncing drum tracks and
such. However, unlike my D-12, I can determine with ease the length of a loop
by feel which is cool. I don't have a foot pedal for the D-12 so I have to be
quick with the hands. The Headrush is built like a good ol' stomp
box.
Normal Echo:
- The maximum tap tempo delay time is 23.8. Again, the left
switch activates the function and the right switch is used to determine delay
time. Click once then click a second time. The time between clicks is your
delay time. There are course and fine Time dials to manually manipulate delay
time. The sound quality is pretty good. The sampling rate and resolution are
the same for all three functions: sampling rate = 44.1 kHZ; resolution = 16
bit.
Tape Echo:
- This is the coolest function of the three. The Tape Echo
function is designed to simulate a 4 head analog tape delay. Each head has its
own output so that you can send multiple signals from the Headrush to multiple
amps or mixer channels. I plugged all 4 into my 8 track recorder and was
impressed. There is a Head-Gap dial where you can sync up the delay times of
the heads or stagger them. When they are staggered and you use the individual
head outputs, you get some cool quadraphonic echo. Maximum delay time in the
Tape Echo mode is only 5.9 seconds which kind of sucks but I'm not
complaining. There is a HF Damp function where you can dampen the frequency of
the delay feedback. This is supposedly designed to replicate the lo-fi
qualities of the old analog tape delays. It may be a useful tool but the sound
quality is too good to be mistaken for old tape heads.
There is a three stage switch to change the modes. The pedal
was quiet enough for me to run direct to my 8 track recorder. All in all, a cool
tool.
I know I'm forgetting something but this e-mail is getting
lengthy. I'll be happy to answer any questions and provide further updates as I
get more familiar with my new toy.
Best Regards,
Alan Imberg
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