Confused about Headrush operation

["Scott A. Martin" <scott@morriganrecords.com>]

Greetings!  I'm a guitarist who's interested in getting into looping
(force-feeding myself too much Torn, I guess), and I've been looking around
to find a good entry-level looper.  I'm interested in the Akai Headrush,
but the descriptions I've been able to find about its operation leave me
somewhat confused.  Maybe some of you can help me out.  Here's the 
scenario:

I'm ready to record a loop.  Following along with Alan Imberg's description
of the 'rush on the LD site, I press the left button to activate the
looping function, and then the right button to begin recording.  I play my
initial loop and click the right button a second time to close it.  This is
where I get confused.  Does the 'rush immediately (1) go into overdub mode,
or (2) start to play back my loop in playback mode?  If it's overdubbing,
can I stop overdubbing and then restart?  If it's playing back, how do I
get it to overdub?  How does the "strip back to your initial loop" function
work?  And finally, has anybody had any luck using this in an amp's effects
loop rather than between guitar and amp?

I'd hoped to find the Headrush manual online, but Akai in its infinite
wisdom has apparently decided that anything that doesn't involve MIDI
doesn't need a posted manual. ("It's a stompbox - any idiot guitarist can
operate a stompbox!")  I hope some of you more experienced loopersons can
help me out.  And Mr. Torn, if you're reading - this is all your fault!
Thanks! =)


Scott Martin
Morrigan Records
scott@morriganrecords.com
http://www.morriganrecords.com