MX5 - Electric Guitar Multi Effects Pedal and Amp Modeling Processor with Touch Screen, Expression Pedal, Looper, and Audio Interface

I love the tones I hear on recordings of my favorite guitarists. THOSE are the sounds I want to hear when I’m playing. So my new ‘rig’ is a powered FRFR cabinet being fed by a digital modeler front end. I tried the $399 Tonex unit and found it mostly excellent except that it isn’t a true modeling amp but rather a unit built around specific tone samples. Some were fantastic, others much less so. The unit also had a handful of basic effects to complement those samples. In contrast, and for only $100 more, the HeadRush Flex Prime uses meticulously crafted models of LOTS and LOTS of actual popular amps, effects, cabinets and IRs too. I finally have the full spectrum of guitar tones spanning from the 50s through today, accurately and faithfully reproduced, right down to the feel of how the tones respond to my fingers, pick, dynamics and note muting techniques.I am currently feeding it into my Spark FRFR cabinet and it sounds terrific, and ay all volume levels too. Getting satisfying, album-like tones at low volume levels is one of the benefits of using a FRFR based system. A conventional tube amp has to be cranked to ear-splitting levels to get the tones we crave, but that our wives and neighbors hate to also have to listen to. This unit supposedly has the exact same technical innards and sound models as the bigger, more expensive HeadRush units, and each tonal patch allow up to fifteen ‘blocks’ including an amp and cab, and are almost endlessly tweakable, but easily and in instantly musically ways. I’ve had it now for about a month and have already created the dozen or so patches I need to cover 90% of what I need. The learning curve is about an hour, but the combinations of tonal elements near infinite, and so I’ve barely scratched the surface. But the results are accurate, satisfying and most importantly, INSPIRING! You just want to play for hours!But it doesn’t stop there. Included is their ‘Revalver 5.0’ software, a program where you can modify amp models’ internal circuitry and build rigs that can ultimately be transferred to your physical unit. There’s also their ‘Amp Cloner’ software for capturing your own amps’ tones should you have a specific amp sound you’d like to take everywhere you go without having to lug your heavy tube amp head/combo and half/full stack. I’m just getting into these so look for a follow-up review in another few months.Is the experience the same as standing in front of a raging stack blasting at 120 db while your pant legs flutter? No. But in my mind it’s better. You get to hear the tones you’re actually chasing, like you hear on the albums, at any volume you want. And they sound right because this little box has accurate models of the amps that created them, not just the one or two tones your stack provides.

I am a 50 yr old guitar dork who has been playing out locally in various bands for the last 20 something yrs. Play a bunch of styles/genres. mostly standard tuning, slide and hybrid picking stuff...I ordered a few digital pedals ($400 or less range), recently for my birthday, and this was the one I didn't send back. Hard to find much to bitch about. I have had several digital boards over the years, but this is the first that isn't consumer level merch. The other boards I returned all had convincing reviews online that looked comparable but upon trying them out in real life - there was a clear winner.Cons: I guess the worst thing is just taking the time to figure out how to get the patch levels evened out. There is preamp input & output gain, rig volume in global, and a master volume, and that doesn't even get into amp and cab models which each have their own gain levels as well, so you got at least 4 volumes to deal with. Amps all respond like the original (very differently from each other), which puts another layer of gain response into the formula depending on what flavors of dirt you like. It's a deep board. A lot to learn..... A LOT.But... it sounds friggin great. The most obvious difference, I can hear and feel, is just the huge improvement of A/D & D/A conversion and overall tracking. The less expensive consumer grade stuff is sooo much less responsive. The dynamics are crazy, and a little hard to tame if you're used to a little digital compression from cheaper converters. Super touch sensitive, super dynamic, super responsive. Noise filter, and gate on input are per-patch programable and work very well to filter out hiss and get a dead quiet amp when not playing and still maintain a natural feel/sound and release. Makes my old Crate Palamino V30 (30 watt el84 driven tube amp) sound freakin' huge and dynamic before I turn anything on - just the converters sound awesome. Once I add one of the many luxurious reverbs the sound sweetens to a sumptuous clean with miles of headroom. My amps cleans have never sounded so good. Amp models are very, very good. Sound great in my amp or my headphones. I haven't gotten into using any of the amp models (through my amp with the band) yet, it's a little jaring for me... I like to stay in my comfort zone I guess. I run mine in the effects send/return, so I can still push my amp's front end with analog goodness and get the response from my amp's preamp that I am used to. Overall, the clean and dirty amp models are all very good, they are detailed and breathe with your playing dynamics. Great sounding everything. Not a ton to choose from in the dirt box category. I like to have my old analog pedals for that part of my chain anyway - so definitely not a deal breaker for me. Regardless, it covers the basic distortion bases and does it pretty convincingly for a digital board. Reverbs, modulations, delays sound really great. especially the reverbs. The tiny expression pedal is very responsive/programmable and the onboard wah sounds are really good as well. Got a few whacky effect patches I have crafted that add a nice ocean of ambience when it's called for. Looking forward to recording with this little beast. I think this pedal hit it's demographic with me... This little guy is the gateway-pedal. I already am eyeing its' big brother...