Headrush MX5 - No Amps Required! For real! 

Ola would be proud knowing you're doing this demo with a Solar guitar 🤘

Love that you figured this out. Just bought mine two days ago and felt like my Strat rig (tube screamer, blues driver, fender Princeton) that worked great in the real world sounded a bit noisy. Gonna try reworking the rig without an amp.

Hey man, fantastic job! For the quality and content you deserve much more subscribers! I'm a HR pedalboard user since 2018 and keeping finding new features and forms to create great tones. Thanks for this new way to go in chainsignal.

Holy mackerel, most of those drives sound even better without an amp sim. I just ordered an MX5 so will definitely give these a try. 👍

Preamp pedals were designed to be the “preamp” section of the amps they model, like an “amp in a box.” So it makes sense why you can use preamp pedals with a speaker IR. The pedals simulate amps to begin with, so now we’ve got digital copies of pedal box copies of amps. Great video showing this! Also on the tone knob issue, some pedals’ tone knobs are actually high or low cuts, so they would look like they are operating backwards.

I think you're on to something with using only the preamp gain and IR's. I've been trying to find that happy medium for recording an overdriven rhythm sound directly into an interface/DAW by testing different methods. Starting with my amp's dirty channel and the amp's direct out, a Line 6 Pod Go, and different overdrive/distortion pedals by themselves, I've found there aren't a lot of major differences. IMO, the biggest part of the sound is finding good IR's to use. I've tried a large variety of IR's and my favorite at the moment are the Ownhammer variety. My latest favorite flavor is the EVH 5150 Overdrive pedal and an Ownhammer Mesa V30 412 IR. Keep experimenting and find your favorites. Thanks for the video!

Just received my mx5, really appreciate your commentary and insights..most definitely agree with your question mark icon feedback, it would be a huge enhancement..really am happy and totally satisfied, with the options and capabilities it offers..not to mention, the education I fully expect to gain, through my own progress..your content certainly is enlightening, and highly encouraging..thanks much, glad to be aboard..

Thanks for sharing. I was so disappointed with my MX5 and i was planning to sell it. Now it sounds so better. Thanks

I'm going to check out the SLO-100. I use the MX5 with a Mesa 1x12 cab and an OwnHamer cab sim. A lot of the time, it sounds good at home, but bad at gigs, very thin and sh!tty, esp if I take an output to the PA even with the ca sim. Also, the whole thing of having to use 2 of the same amps to switch between clean & dirty without lag has become a hassle, and the levels never really match. Maybe I need to just use a clean amp and a couple of these overdrives as you show here. Thanks!!

Line6 and amplitube behave in a similar fashion. Sometimes I will pull the speakers cab IR to compare what all is being changed or stripped away.

Great content and quality.

Subscribed! Your vids are outstanding!!

Hi Dave, your MX5 content is fantastic. I have one 4 months and I can’t get a decent amp sound for the life of me, either through an amp or going direct into a 1200 two way QSC! PA, either clean/crunch/or overdrive. I had the original POD and it always sounded perfect clean or with a creamy sustained distortion. With the MX5 at first I assumed the output setting was set to AMP when going to the Desk from a balanced jack with an XLR at the desk end and vice versa when going to an amp through an unbalanced lead into the amp, but alas no, it sounds awful on either output setting. I cannot get my head around the MX5 and how it sounds so atrocious at least in my hands anyway, in yours it sound amazing full and rounded. I was even trying to get a clean funky Nile Rogers style sound and not a chance, I mean I am going into 1,000usd a piece QSC speakers. Overall I am really extremely disappointed in the MX5, it has lots of potential but any time I plugged a Line 6 POD or Line 6 Amp I got a brilliant sound clean or OD in seconds. Even the cleanest amps sound like some big Bassy Juggernaut from the 50s. Appreciate your content you make it look easy, though I do think Headrush need to make it much much more intuitive to quickly setup the 3 basic presets 80% of guitarists use as soon as you switch it on - clean/crunch /OD/Dist. Cheers for the great content

People have been using some gain panels as preamp’s for quite a while with tube amps and also in the effects loop.

nice vid fella just found you subscribed you remind me a bit of pocastpro guy without the coffee cool, great info very usefull for us studio home rats :)

Do a high gain video pls

Thank you

Can I use tone examples people have presented on an older headrush pedalboard and put them on an mx5 headrush?

Seen some people even having amps go into other amps

I wonder how this sounds when connected to an external amp.The Helix doesn’t sound too good when connected to an amp.

You're fucking amazing! Love from Chicago

A swiss army knife of tone. Great for a cover band but will i find my tone and stick with it like Angus SRV EJ etc? Prob not. Is that sig tone a major part of what makes the greats great? Id say so bc would they be greats if they played their hits thru a Roland Jazz Chorus completely clean? No. I pose these thoughts as a hobbyist 10yrs from retirement that will never be a great even though I can cover the greats note for note. Edit..this is a great tool for hobbyists who want to cover the greats and sound like them in a very compact package...its great lol.

If I need to connect the pedal to a real amp, should I just turn off the cabinet or Ir in the headrush mx5 and go directly to the amplifier imput?

what is the quality of its virtual capo? Useless?

I just bought one….stayed up most of the night messing with it….after about 5 hours of frustration.. only finding one clean sound that I liked, cause all the distortions and amps were garbage!!! I boxed it back up and I’m taking it back!!!!

Always wondered what was wrong with the Tri Fuzz.

I bought the mx5 for my Marshall valvstate I didn't want to start buying individual pedals but ....I don't get it....you don't need an amp to use mx5? I wanted it for effects... I'll always have the marshal sound obviously so...should I just not use amplifier modeling?

Can u just plug it into an amp?

The only thing I don't get is why they fit that wah pedal in it. Is so small that is almost useless.

hot garbage would be a bug sound

it would be cool if this video had a little question mark button that when you engaged it would explain what the acronym's are, instead of assuming everyone knows what they are lol

Sorry dude, but I can't take anyone seriously who has a guitar that looks like yours.

great video, but leave the tone knob of the rat alone, its literally one of the most classic dirt pedals, and that knob being reversed is a part of rock history.

I've been shopping multi effects units for about 3 months and have watched dozens and dozens of RU-vid videos as well as spent hours reading reviews and owner manuals over PDF. So I had had my sights set on the boss gx100 for about the past month I'm just saving up money to get it. This takes some time for me because I'm married and so while I'm saving money I'm also gradually trying to pitch and sell the idea to my wife that I'll be spending five to $800 on a guitar pedal. Plus I just bought myself a new guitar(Schecter PT special) a month ago. So when I'm at work and not being productive I like to spend a lot of time watching guitar gear and tech videos and I started debating on reevaluating my decision to go with the boss gx100 and maybe start with something that's a little bit cheaper that way I could get it faster, effectively Expediting my rise to Rock stardom. I'm wondering at this point why exactly I felt the need to disclose that array or irrelevant information just to tell you that I've watched way too many multi-fx videos and about 20 on the HR MX5 alone and yours is in the the 90th percentile as far as usefulness to me. At this point I'm about 81.7% sure I will go with the mx5 over the PodGo. Do you or anyone else have any insight or opinions on these 3 units? My main use/function will be home jammin,practice and recording.