Headrush MX5: A new compact modelling rig with 4″ colour touch display
4,0 / 5,0 | 
The new Headrush MX5 is a compact guitar effects and amp modelling processor that matches the company’s proprietary tone-generating technology with a 4” high-resolution colour touch display and an onboard expression pedal.
Headrush MX5 overview
If you are looking for a powerful, easy-to-edit solution, and one that is also compact, then the new Headrush MX5 is definitely worth a look. It features all the Headrush classic, standard and boutique amps, along with effects, and cabinet IRs, letting you model virtually any rig you require. You can also load an almost unlimited number of your own custom impulse responses, so it is pretty open-ended for cabinet simulation. You also get a looper with save and load functionality, along with a very handy USB audio interface.
Headrush MX5 offers a compact setup
Specifications
Out of the box, the Headrush MX5 offers you 50 guitar and bass amplifier models, 15 speaker cabinet models with 10 microphone emulations, a whopping 300 impulse responses, and 66 premium FX models. You can make a patch using a combination of 9 individual effects, with 2 amp models and 2 cab models in a single preset. That is a pretty reasonable amount of options for one preset, and should be enough for most users. I also like its gapless preset switching with reverb and delay tail spillover.
Headrush MX5 floor system
Features
The controls consist of three footswitches equipped with individual RGB LEDs, plus an assignable expression pedal. These, I would imagine, should be easy to assign with that 4″ high-resolution colour touch display. The hands-free edit mode, for quick on-the-fly live editing, uses that screen combined with the expression pedal, letting you concentrate on playing.
Headrush MX5 rear panel
I/O
Connections include a 1/4” guitar input, along with a stereo pair of 1/4” balanced outputs, an 1/8” aux input, an 1/8” headphone output, MIDI I/O, and a 1/4” stereo FX loop. That should give you enough flexibility to handle most situations. You can also do the four-cable method with this setup.
The USB can be used to record or re-amp with, with up to 24-bit 96kHz. It is a nice inclusion and certainly very handy to have.
The Competition
At this price point, the new Headrush MX5 will be competing against products in the Line 6 range, especially the Stomp XL and the POD Go Wireless. It will also be up against the Boss GT-1000CORE and the Zoom G6. Headrush has its work cut out! There’s some tough competition there, with various options each with a slightly different focus.
Ultimately, it is a great time to be a guitarist on a budget though, as all these units are very useable tools to create music with.
More Information on Headrush
Headrush MX5 Videos
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- Headrush MX5 offers a compact setup: Headrush
- Headrush MX5 floor system: Headrush
- Headrush MX5 rear panel: Headrush
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