what's the take on the akai headrush? the eh 16 second delay? I've kerbled these already, just want some more information.

looking for the ability to layer guitar/keyboard sounds 3-4 samples deep. ease of use is also important... (I can do it on a computer, put would prefer not to..)

AKAI Headrush: depends what you use it for..

i bought one with the same intent as you (to layer guitar parts) and was kinda disappointed in it. the sound turns to shit pretty fast once you loop more than one part. it's also impossible to use it this way in a band context (keeping the drummer in sync with the sample, and vice versa).

however, you can create some truly interesting sounds with these things. a few neat tricks:

-record a high pitch screeching sound really quicky (you need a bit of foot coordination) and you have a 'raygun' sound. the last song on 'American Don' uses this effect on the bass.

-better yet, leave that split second loop in record mode so it keeps building split second samples on top of each other. to hear this effect, click here and drag to the last 15 seconds of the song that automatically loads.

-i like to set a long-ish loop (the longest you can set and record over is 9 seconds), unplug the guitar, tap the 1/4" jack with the end of your cable and just let it build. now you're in Whitehouse..

the pedal also has some pretty cool delay settings that i've also used to split the signal into 2 amps.

p.s. as far as "ease of use", it takes a little bit of practice to learn how to punch in/out of loops seamlessly, but it's not a huge deal.

For what it's worth:

The Headrush, in my experience, is easier to use and more rugged than the Line 6 Green Guy. DL-4 or something, I just always call them "green dude" or "green friend", because it certainly is a "friend" especially, when you're writing songs at practice.

The thing about the Green Guy is it's got much better delays than the Headrush, if that's your bag.

The Boss Loop Station looks really difficult to use, lots of knobs and buttons and shit. The Headrush has 2 buttons, and in loop mode, you don't need any knobs.

Green Friends will break if you look at them sideways. Seriously, 6 months of regular use is about all they got innem.

If you wanna drop some coin, check out the Echoplex. It looks like the most rugged, most flexible option.

How about a Boss DD 20?
It has 23 seconds of looping, which is useful, but i always seem to want more! The delays sound pretty good, although I've not really compared it to many other pedals. I was considering getting the Line 6 DL4 myself but heard a lot of things about the switches dieing after 6 months...
Have fun,
Matt

wiggins wrote:
Green Friends will break if you look at them sideways. Seriously, 6 months of regular use is about all they got innem.

seriously, i have a broken one in my closet.

something blew out on the main board or something. a guy i talked to said it was about $150 to fix or something.

cheaper than getting a new one. i dunno what their warranty situation is.

the EH 16 second digital delay actually loops over a minute of audio. it's called the 16 second because it is a reissue of a much older effect that was limited to that amount of time. i've never played with any of these loopers so i don't know what's good, but i've heard nice things about the 16 sec. EH also makes something called the 2880 multitrack looper which is pretty new, i don't know much about it either other than it's more expensive. i have a dealership with these guys but i dont usually sell stuff i just buy them for use in my studio but if you have a hard time finding something EH i could hook you up.

Boss RC20XL is easy as hell to use. Kind of limiting, though, depending what you're using it for. Really good for layering and layering guitar parts live because of it's auto-sync thing if you're alittle off on the punches.

skatingbasser wrote:Boss RC20XL is easy as hell to use. Kind of limiting, though, depending what you're using it for. Really good for layering and layering guitar parts live because of it's auto-sync thing if you're alittle off on the punches.

I second this. Also, there's two quarter-inch inputs so you can record stuff with a microphone as well. I think the pedal has 16 minutes of total sample time and 11 "channels" for recording stuff, which is great for climbing out of bed and recording a riff before you forget it.

I get on really well with the Headrush, I don't know which one these guys are talking about but mine is a Akai Headrush 2. When i have used it, the quality is fine, and even though its not true bypass, it has a reasonable ohm input which gives low noise when not being used in the signal chain. I use it live with no problems in a 'Band' situation You just have to take time to get used to it, and learn how to change your pickup positions and other pedals when overdubbing to maintain a clear sound. After all, layering on the same pickup selection would be like 2 exact same guitars (same settings) playing at a gig, which is awfull as they fill up the same frequencies in the spectrum and this causes alot of crap sound. The tape echo is good fun and the HF knob works nice. Ian Williams used 2 Headrushes in Don Cab, which is a good idea if you like the pedal and want more options.

for the price I think its a great pedal, their are certainly a lot of worse delay/loop pedals out there.

Although, it fits my sound perfectly so i may be biased. aI have spent ages and ages working out how to use it to a very finite detail.

Akai Headrush 2

Maximum time Delay 23.8 seconds
Tape Echo 5.9 seconds
Looping Normal : 23.8 seconds, 11.9 seconds overdub
Extend: 35.6 seconds, 17.8 seconds overdub

I find that is enough for my purpose/

For extended delay it goes from 44.1 to 22.05 or whatever, splits the bitrate.

I bought a Headrush 2 about a year ago and I'm pretty happy with it. I use it to layer a lot of guitar parts, play counterpoint-type stuff, and what not. The tape echo and delay are pretty good, too. The things I dislike about the Headrush 2 is that when you erase overlay it erases them all at once and you're just left with the original track -- I wish it could be a bit more selective than this. Also, it has no memory, so if you switch from Looping to Delay and want to go back to Looping, you'll have to re-record the main track and start looping from scratch again (obviously, therefore, if the power is removed from it, you'll have to start over again too). I wish it had the ability to keep the loop you have stored, even it was only the single one you were last working with.

This is my main delay pedal, although I often pair it with a Boss Pitchshifter/Delay (PS-3) model. I have not played the EH 16s, but I would like to, nor the Line 6 Delay Modeler, but I have heard good things. I have a digitech JamMan also, which came highly recommended to me (moreso even than the new BOSS RC-50, believe it or not), but to tell you the truth I haven't gotten much into using it. It can obviously hold a lot more if you upgrade the card in it(unlike ones with internal drives), only two buttons to worry about, and you can get a switch pedal for channel switching. Now I just need to incorporate it more.

Good luck.