Why You Need An FRFR Speaker For Your Multi-Effects Unit! 

I use the the 12" Head Rush cabinet with my Pod Go. Sounds fucking amazing. I like alot low end. But tweak your lows and this combo sounds incredible.

"You pick the one right tool." - Anton Chigurh

What;s the difference between an 'FRFR' speaker liek the headrush, and a standard powered PA speaker like the Yamaha DXR12?

Absolutely brilliant thank you Tony , cheers from New Zealand 🇳🇿

Great video man! There are always so many question with FRFR stuff, especially with the increase in pedals and amps with impulse response built in.

I guess I'll have to just try this idea of just using a normal PA speaker.. but eq'd within the floor modeler to remove those frequencies too high and too low so it's similar to the FRFR guitar cabinet specs. Or look at the PA speaker's specs where it enhances certain band widths and then compensate in the global settings within the floor modeler to flatten it out. I mean these modelers have so much depth in their ability to "model" sound, so why not use it? Then you're not compelled to spend more shrinking dollars on more price inflated gear. Just my 2 cents 🤑 ( pun). The big plus for FRFR is the Direct Out to front of house or to a mixer, but the PA speaker won't do that, I THINK. Or what about using the 4 cable method on your regular guitar amp, but I'd guess you'd have to remove all cabinet sims in your patches. The guitar amp is your cabinet and that's it. The amplifier is used just the supply power but all effects come from the modeler. Which option is best it's so confusing?

im used to a marshal 4x12 chugging. how would this speaker with my me90 compare?

I watch your video's all the time and own the same Headrush 8" you have here. I also own the Ampero One. Should I upgrade to the model Ampero you have with the XLR's. Is it really that important to have XLR's when hooking up to a FRFR? thanks

Anyone tried one of these with a Helix?

How will vocals sound going into these? I'm looking for a speaker to go with my looper - so that all my signals go into the same speaker

Not sure I should trust you man, you’re an addict apparently 😉 Cool video ☺️👑

I'm new to this conversation but a vet in playing live shows.I always like when I play on big venues stages,because 95% of the time we have a back line and a wedge monitor in front of me for vocals and to hear the other musicians as well as my guitar.I wanted to find a small personnel monitor so I could hear my guitar in front.Without it I need to find that sweet spot on stage to hear what I'm playing. In the past few years I start seeing keyboard players using these PA system like monitors and it got me wondering what if.Then I saw the Headrush FR FR 112 and108 amp monitors.I bought the FR FR 108 and now I use the amp as a back line amp and the 108 as my personnel up front monitor.I know I can come direct out of my pedal board Boss ME80 and more but I come out of the line out on the amp into the FR FR 108,it works for me. Now my sweet spot is up in front at the mic, my pedal board, and the Headrush FR FR 108.

Great review. I use the Headrush FRFR 108 along with a Boss ME-80 and it's perfect for me. I play jazz, fusion, rock, etc. in church and outdoor venues. With having a back and neck issue; you are right... the portability is perfect for me. Thank you.

good video but the part about the PA speakers vs FRFR is wrong. The PA speakers are also flat response full range. only real difference is their sound cone difference (how they project the sound).

These are cool and sound pretty good. But it’s extremely far from flat. The low end is extreme, I had to redo all of my presets on my axe fx and lower the bass on all of them.

I had a FRFR cabinet custom built in 1997 - it used four wide band speakers (a speaker with in integrated tweeter). I used it both with a guitar amp and Zoom 4040. The guitar sounded great.

Basically, these multi fx pedals are already programmed to have some sort of amp cab emulation so if you plug it into a normal amp, it’s like you’re plugging an amp into an amp. That’s what I’m understanding at least

Hi Tony. Thank you for the great video. Very helpful and professional as always. Please, what’s the difference between frfr and an active monitor (eg Adam or Alto). I heard great things about both technics. Thanks in advance!

2000W Pmpo is a totally undefined marketing number. Realistically a speaker of this size can handle maybe around 50W RMS - and that is the only power rating that counts. So don't let them fool you with these exaggerated marketing power figures ....

Thanks for the explanation! Very useful.

Awesome video and very informative! I'm considering buying an FRFR system in the future and trying to decide between two of the Headrush cabinets or a Line6 Powercab Plus 212. Its not really an apples-to-apples comparison at all and there's also a big price difference between the two. I can see pros and cons of either approach but your video really helped to answer some of the questions I'd had concerning loudness, low end, and overall gig-worthiness of the Headrush cabinets. These seem like a great option and very reasonably priced. Have you tried the Line6 Powercab Plus 212? Just curious what your impressions are of that as an option.

I never even knew about these speakers with multi effects units. This is so helpful.

Can this be used as a speaker for my digital (desktop) amp connected trough Scarlett 2i2?

great vid clarified some things for me and I ordered one of those headrush units after.

Hi! i bought this unit to play with my gt10. Is it normal that the sound is synthetic and thin? I have 2 weeks left to take my decision to keep it.. I used to play the gt10 with my traynor and the sound is much fuller. Do you have some advices? Thanks you very much!

Lmao!!! 2000watts 😂

I'm glad to have found your channel. I was already considering getting an Ampero, which led me to your channel, when the tech at my local MusicGoRound told me about using a Headrush with a multifx pedal which led me back to your channel. Keep up the great work! 👍🏻

What is the difference between these frfr speakers and studio monitors? Are they the same thing?

Gonna sound stupid but what cable would I need for a Tonex connected straight to Headrush frfr?

I purchased a thr-100 head, and thought if I got the headrush 1x12, it would be great as I could model the 5 amp sims and all of the cabinet sims (10 combos)that came along with it. After a few days, I found the sound to be really off, kinda thin, kinda hollow. I tweaked my eq and no luck. On a lark I plugged into a ampeg 2x10 cab I have for my micro bass head, and voila my modeling amp sounded amazing. So I returned the Headrush. Fast forward a few months after getting my nux- mg 30 I tried playing that through the headrush 1x8 cab at a GC, and it still didn't sound good, even the sales person agreed it was not good and he was trying to sell me the headrush. Perhaps you need other gear to tweak tones and what not, but for plug and play aspect of this frfr it left me searching for other options for my mg-30, most people on yt play though studio monitors.

Hello Tony, I watch your show all the time. Now the question: What is the RMS value of the FRFR-108? 2000W PEAK?... Can't find info anywhere. Thanks. Be safe.

I use my headrush as a PA along with my cab sim modeler. Of course I’m just a bedroom musician and I’m happy.

Great Video! Very Informative. I will say you brought a very good point, if it is your first time in Modeling game then start with the mid range FRFR. You very may well be back to your pedals and tube/solid state amps. Thank You!

Thanks you! I been on the search for a amp that would sound good with my Digitech RP-1000, and I saw your other video, and decided to buy two of them to run in stereo. Do I just use regular guitar cords from multi-effects pedal to speaker, and use a XLR from output in speaker to to input in other speaker to run in stereo? Or do I run both speakers direct to the muli-effects pedal? I think I know the answer, but not 100% Thanks for your great video`s!

Really really good video, you answered every question i had on this subject, thank you, excellent job!

I did a gig with the FRFR Headrush speaker system with a Tech21 RK5 v2. It sounded incredible.

Thank you so much for this overview!

Excellent video, thanks a lot!!! Cheers from germany.

Thank you my friend

What a bloody awesome video! Cheers man!! Love the work, effort and info wrapped up in this video!

Thank you for that - you explained things very clearly :)

If I’m using the modeling cabinet and not an IR can I still use a regular guitar cabinet? And does the use of an FrFr speaker in a cabinet need to have a port and not be sealed?

How is different than all full range speakers like the thousands of normal p.a. speakers powered or passive?

i have a helix floor and as a beginner what speaker would you recommend to go with it

Can i use it for vocal?

I'm honestly looking for a bad review right now on the headrush 108. i use one on a pole with the new mx5 pedal and i like it. Pushes some air too. i want someone to tell me I'm crazy, but these are just great speakers.

I looked at these, but since I a went with the Hotone Ampero, I decided to go with 2 - 8" studio monitors to take advantage of the stereo output of my Multi-Effects unit.

I am using a Pod Go in the HeadRush. Could I use the xlr out on the back to run out to “house” at my church? Any recommendations?

Thanks for the review...very informative!

I have my GT-100 output signal going out to the RETURN of my Marshall JMD:1 - would I sound the same after going direct to PA?

I use the unit s shipping box as a sound shield to record with a mic. Very simple and sounds awesome.

Great explanation Tony. Do you still use this ?

Is there an advantage to getting the 112 over the 108?

Great Presentation, Very informative. Thanks

Good review - bought one to go with my Boss GT 100 - Sounds fab with some messing! - thanks

I use a line 6 pod 2.0 into the Headrush 108 and I got waaaaayyyyyy too much Bass in it but my pod is almost completely dialed down to 0 does anyone havy Ideas how J can get rid of that?

anyone tried this with neural dsp plugins?

So this with a headrush into the pa and into one of these would be a good choice vs lugging marshall stack?

Four screws off will tell you where the speaker cones are.

you don;t

Thanks for the thorough review. In addition to using this for my amp modeling unit (GE300), I’d like to use the second input for backing tracks and / vocals out of a little Beringer Xynyx mixer. Would that work?

I've used mine with a Helix and I still have not been able to dial a good tone, it's extremely bassy, also the led indicator is always green idk if that's good or not.

That was exceptional!

Thanks ... all very clear ... great video!!

You Sir made a very good explanation of frfr ..thank you so much.Be blessed!

So for recording you would just want to B plug your multi-effects unit into your computer?

so not only for multi effects but PLUG INS as well?

Great informative video. Still confused about the difference between Power cab (Line 6) and FRFR. Some say it’s the same. Or is it just marketing tricks?

I have a "TC-Helicon Perform-VG Vocal and Acoustic Guitar Processor"...would this work well with an FRFR headrush?

I have a couple of the same headrush wedges and love them. My question is, instead of buying a set of recording monitors, I wonder how well these would work for mixing since they're frfr as well?

I use a traditional pedalboard with the Walrus ACS1 pedal amp and use one of these Headarush powered 8" speakers when I want a little stage volume (we are ampless and use only IEMs typically) and find it sounds great. I also use it to set my pedal settings without using my IEMs it sounds realistic. Very frustrating to set all your pedals using IEMs, only to fire the board up through FOH and find it sounds crappy.

Do I have this right? If I'm using this at a gig with my headrush pedal, the speaker is my stage monitor and there is an output on the back of the speaker that will connect to the front of house? Probably via a direct box?

Would you recommend using headrush 12 and hotone ampero to play bass guitar with a metal band? I'm really considering that coice. Thanks in advance.

Thank you for the informative video. Can i connect the CAB Sim DI Out of an Amp Head directly to the XLR input of a Headrush FRFR speaker ? Thanks.

Is that too loud for bedroom practice? Or will it sound good at low volumes?

Headrush pedalboard owner here, and going direct to PA mixing console when playing live. Want to dial in your live sound? Ditch the FRFR stuff and buy a powered PA monitor with a small built-in mixer and connect via XLR just like using a PA (keep mix eq flat/neutral). I much prefer dialing in my rigs through something like the audience is going to hear me through anyway and the sound tech will thank you for it. And if you sing like I do, you are going to have a monitor in front of you anyway unless using IEMs. House PA’s for the audience are not made up of FRFR’s nor headphones. Hope that helps someone. Cheers!

I think your assuming the headrush is not a pa speaker. It is. PA speakers by design should all be a flat response curve and have the best off axis as possible. Depending the frequency range a speaker plays and how far off in DB it is shows the quality of the speaker. Something with a -3db variation is actually 6 DB shifts. They are to recreate a source signal as accurately as possible. Generally speaking most PA speakers have a HPF of 10khz thats designed to prevent hearing damage and generally speaker guitars wouldn't be making notes much higher than that. Look at the measurements of the speaker to determine its actual sound characteristics. JBL is one of the few companies that list its off axis response. You would also be suited to play through studio monitors or studio headphones to have the same effect but at lower volume.

I read a recent review from a user claiming the 112 to have extensive bottom end...waaaay tooo much of it, also mentioning that the 112 unit had pretty scooped mids and very gentle highs lacking proper distinction...which busts the idea of FULL RANGE FLAT RESPONSE. I know that sometimes users might get wrong impressions listening in acoustlically improper environments...but still it makes you think about how honest is the response from these units. The guy giving the review of the 112 used it with BOSS gt 1000 and used a lot of global eq tweaks to get it to some kind of balance (which ideally should be right off the bat). I also have BOSS GT 1000 and I'm very unhappy with the way it sounds through my boss katana mk2 100 watt amp. It really colors the sound. What I hear from the headphones sounds much better than what I get from the KATANA speaker and it just keeps me frustrated, so I started looking for a solution and bumped into this video.

Thanks for this video!

I use one of these (bought used for a ridiculous price) with a Yamaha THR30ii. It sounds incredible and this is now my rig pretty much along with a wah wah pedal. Can easily keep up with a very loud band.

Cool speaker and good explanation Tony. I use a PA system in combination with my tube amp . There are 2 DI outputs on my pedal board and I also mix in the amp sound before and after the effect loop . It's nice to have all the connections . Not very portable though . LOL

Is it better to turn off the internal speakers from the GX100 while connected to the Eurolive activé PARA/monitor?

I want to tweak HX Stomp programs in my headphones first before tweaking in the FRFR. Which headphones do you recommend. My in ear monitors sound way different than the bassier headrush

I have a Boss Singer Pro Amp & I wonder if I could plug it into the back directly & use it like a monitor? If so can these be looped or chained together (don't know if I'm saying that right?)

Hi! Question please. If I split two signals from my bass and use each of the line on one FRFR 112, would that cause a problem? Thanks in advance.

Why does your modeler sound great in the front of house and not nearly as good through the frfr. I've been there. Is it because you run right to the frfr. I think so. I tried running straight to the house speakers. Not so good. Trying running to your frfr from A aux send or a interface with a preamp. Makes a big difference

Great review. Straightforward factual information thank you

I can not thank you enough for this video. I have an old Line 6 Spider combo amp, and i just picked up a Zoom G5n multeffects board. I bypassed the amp to where i am just getting the sound but it stil does not sound good. Having you explain this really helps . I was thinking of getting a new amp, but after this, i rhink i will be going with an frfr, possibly the Headrush model.

Hi Tony, great explanation of FRFR speakers. I know you mentioned they are designed a little differently than PA speakers, but I'm curious if in addition to using these for guitar monitors/amps, could a pair of the FRFR-108s be used as PA speakers for small outdoor gigs and such (e.g. a couple of acoustic/electric guitars, vocalists and a bass guitar routed through a mixer)? Thinking about getting a pair and potentially having them do double-duty as PA speakers. Thanks.

Thanks Tony for another great video. You explained everything very well but I am a bit thick and naive about these matters as I have always just plugged into a combo for my gigs that are just in small pubs/clubs. My question is just so I'm clear, would I be able to just use a FRFR like the Headrush or Line 6 Powercab with a Helix plugged into it and do my gigs with nothing else, not even going through the PA? Sorry again for asking what may appear to a lot of others a stupid question.

Is this the samething thats used to amplify electronic drums?

Which multieffects or modelers are the best to play with it? Fractal Axe Fx or what else?

Great vid, thanks. Would you need an (audio) amplifier/poweramp to boost signal from the ampero into an frfr system for home use? Say 2 fairly small monitor speakers.

What about an acoustic guitar amp? They are clean and can reproduce those higher frequencies.

What type of cable are you using from your multi effects pedal to the Headrush?

hello sir,im using two trs cable (L/R) from my multi effect guitar output to my L/R input Yamaha Mixer..and i only have a turbosound milan 10 powered speaker.mixer output to my speaker im using only one xlr cable.. is the resulting sound stereo? or do I need two xlr cables to my speaker? because my speaker has two inputs...

2000 watts?

Great video, you answered all the questions I had.

Hi, great Video. Do you turn off the cabs of the multi effects unit, or they are left on, like on a normal patch? I have this speaker with a GT1000.... It sounds wrong, too bassy.....I use it with FX unit cabs on.... should they be off? Thank you

Just bought ge200 I am waiting for it. Now I will buy this thank you for this video!