Best Guitar Impulse Responses (2024 Update)

I looked everywhere for an amp, pedal, anything to make my acoustic sound natural. Finally LRBaggs did it with this pedal. I can't express enough if you play acoustic guitar you need this voice print di. I use mine straight to the mixer with the handy XLR out it has. The anti feedback works great, seems to take some of the thickness away though, but I probably just don't know how to fix it yet. I paid 400. Worth every penny.Craig W.

The Headrush gig board boasts great sound in a affordable and smaller package. With every amp, cab and effect on the market at your fingertips, you can’t help but find the tone your looking for. You can’t go wrong when choosing the head rush gig board, or any Headrush product really. You will never find an end to the possibilities this rig can produce.Joseph

After having this for a few weeks I have to say that I am fairly disappointed in it, but not enough to return it. The touchscreen is awesome and really is the single best feature this pedal has to offer, and the ease of use and variety of signal chain is great, and these are the reasons that I am keeping it. The amp modeling is okay, certainly miles better than my old GNX2 from the early 2000s, but still miles away from the real thing. For me the real let down was seeing just how limited the number of models is. The listed number of amp models in deceptive in my opinion because there is quite a bit of redundancy. How many different vintage Fender tones do they think we need? The effects also seemed incredibly limited in this price range as well. There are more rotary models than reverb and delay put together,… how does that make any sense? To be fair though the rotary models sound REALLY good compared even to many standalone rotary pedals. Some of the models are really bad too, like the Whammy pedal,… it is practically useless. The spring reverb is horrible as well. Like most multi-effects units it does clean fine, ultra heavy passable, and struggles horribly with anything in between. I hope they come out with some firmware updates that add some more models and effects to the unit soon, but I am not too optimistic. If your main concerns are ease of use, this IS the multi-effects pedal for you, hands down,…. but if sound quality and variety are of greater concern,… keep looking.Livinginthewoods

Love it. Clean sounding, versatile (Aux in, DI Out, ability to load new IR's) and small footprint. I've been using it in pratice, live and studio situations and it does what it says it does. Sure, some extra features (dry/wet mix function), would be useful, but at this price range it's hard to beat. I've purchased 2 units so far.tiste9680

This is excellent for home recording. I like to run this in my amplifiers FX Loop, and the change in tone is great. Works as it should.carliset

Ok, so I get a ton of "review your purchase" emails every day, and pretty much ignore them. But THIS little tool is OUTSTANDING. Do some research on IR loaders, then buy this one. Sonicate also promptly processed and shipped the order. I'm still barely scratching the surface of its abilities, but I'm loving it so far. BTW, I'm a part time pro musician with over 40 years' experience. About the best hundred bucks I ever spent…byte_1

I've been looking for this for years and I didn't even know it. Putting this in your effects loop let's you heat up the preamp tubes without shaking the walls. Being in a band with three guitarists, it's really helped my tone cut through the mix, hitting that natural break up by running my hot rod at about 2 o'clock, the sweet spot in my opinion. There's lots of options out there, or you can make a single pot volume box, but I love JHS' stuff and it's inexpensive. Buy it.Chris

This box is perfect for managing your stage volume on any amp with an effects loop. I use several different guitars during a gig. These guitars do not have the same output, but I manage my volume with the box … it also allows me to make overall volume changes without having to make adjustments to my amp. The manual says not to use with other pedals in the loop; however, I put it at the end of my effects chain and have had no problems at all.Curtis

More sounds than I could possibly use which is brilliant. Came with basic user manual but there is a full manual online. It did take a few days to get the hang of it. The default sounds are really good and you can move the patches to the different banks to suit your set list. I have banks 1 & 2 set up with 10 different patches so far. I must admit moving the patches initially wasnt easy as it's not in the manual. Found it on web and it was actually very easy to do. You dont move them, you exchange them. Each user patch can also be altered to suit you song but I hsvent tried that yet. All in all a great bit of kit which may seem expensive but my pedalboard, power pack and 12 pedals must be around same price. I will ebay them now.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

Very extensive onboard collection of permanent tone patches for every music genre. Top notch effects. The patches can be easily modified, and saved, to get just the tone you're looking for. Easy to create your own patches from scratch, too. The patch and effect editing process, and the controls, are very similar to those of the Boss GT100; so, if you're upgrading from a GT100, the learning curve is not steep, at all. If you've never used a GT100, then your learning curve will be a bit steeper. But, I found the instructions fairly easy to navigate and understand. There is a ton of documentation. The GT1000 is deep. Almost every parameter is tweakable. So, if you're a tone junkie, like me, you'll appreciate that. Also, like the GT 100, the GT 1000 is built like a tank, like most, if not all of BOSS products.3bgww

Good stuff – I've been waiting for years for Boss to follow up the GT-100, and I held back from the Helix (which was too expensive) and he LT version, and the Headrush, hoping that the GT-1000 would be released, and my patience was rewarded tenfold; you cannot get better than this, it's the best modeller on the market by far. It doesn't model actual amps (well, a few but not many) but instead debuts Boss's own AIRD amps which sound incredible, AIRD being jargon for incorporating IRs into the actual model and having them react with the amp model rather than passively acting as a separate effect. The modulation is stellar, the delays and reverbs are to die for, the drives are punch in the face awesome and the amps can get you anywhere from sparkling clean to chainsaw heavy and every station in between. I haven't tried it in 4cm with the katana yet (actually it's capable of a 7cm which I'd like to try) or most of the functionality, which extends way beyond my needs. At first it looks a bit daunting to edit a patch , but when you get used to it it's quick and easy to edit in the fly. The learning curve is steep but once you're used to it it's fairly straightforward and intuitive If you don't need a plethora of real amps modelled, and you need a pro modelling unit, this one is a no-brainer. You never know, they may even add more real world amp models in the future. I hope so but even if they don't, this thing still breasts the competition by a country mile.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

I compared it to Mesa Boogie's cab clone and it sounded just as good if not better and it has so many options for different tones you can't beat it.yarber86

When I purchased this I didn't have my hopes up. I've been recording for many years and I've never been happy with my recorded guitar sounds. For the first time I'm satisfied with my sound. I really had to play with it for a while to dial in the right tone…..but once I found it I was very pleased. Just so you know, this thing can sound horrible. You really have to have some patience and try different combinations of amps and cabs. But there's some juicy tone in there if you take the time. Miles better than a Line 6 pod.Mojo Ryson

Bought this on Amazon and it burned up about a month into having it. Flipped the ground switch and it started smoking. Was a freaking nightmare because I had it hooked up to some very pricey Universal Audio stomp boxes (3) Finally sent it to their recommended service center where I was informed that they would not fix it because I did not buy it at a Guitar Center Sam Ash etc. That was before Christmas…. they got the box never heard back, box has disappeared. AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE !!!! 300 BUCKS DOWN THE DRAINFelix Reyes

Helix is fantastic for all studio musicians. You can construct so many different sounds with it. Since 3.0, the Helix is a complete package as far as guitar processors go: you have all different amps, cabs, effects, acoustic sim, synths, polyphonic transposition, harmonization, oversampling. Lots of in/outs, lots of ways to route it. The workflow is great: you have the computer editor. You can back up/restore your Helix, email the backup to yourself, etc. The Helix can absolutely replace your entire signal chain and be used as the only piece of gear to process your guitar sounds. The same could not be said about the Helix when it was on earlier firmware versions. Now, the Helix itself is very cheaply made. I thought I'd purchase one and never need to use anything ever again– wrong! After about a year of light use, the buttons stopped working reliably, then an LED stopped working. Helix is assembled using cheap Chinese parts that are tiny! For example, the footswitches are not what they appear to be–there are tiny tactile microswitches underneath. The Helix will not withstand nonstop gigging for more than a year, unless it's regularly serviced/cleaned, etc. It's a real shame because it can sound great, but something is always failing, or about to fail.Dimitri

Overall: I just received the Helix Rack yesterday so I only have a few hours in the drivers seat but that's enough to learn how truly awesome this thing is. I've owned a lot of Line 6 products over the last 20 years, in fact I still have a spider V240 and a POD HD Pro X but the Helix is so far out of their league they will probably never get used again in my studio. The design is sleek, easy to navigate, user friendly and just all around beautifully designed. The large full color screen is not only eye catching but makes navigating the menus effortless. Even though I'm modeler savvy, I've had no previous experience with Impulse Responses, in fact, I hadn't even heard of them until I started researching the Helix Rack and quite honestly I didn't think that I would care to use them… Well… I was wrong. It's amazing what these things do for the quality and authenticity of my tones when recording. As I mentioned earlier I only have 2 days under my belt at this point but most of that has been recording scratch tracks just to hear the result of these I.R's. I also love the fact that Line 6 still adds all of the necessary physical knobs and controls to their equipment in the days of everything being digital. The idea that I can play almost uninterrupted while tweaking many different parameters on the unit itself without a pedal is always a selling point for me. Not taking anything away from the foot controller but when I'm seated in front of my rack, using my hands to adjust the unit itself is just somewhat more convenient at times. Next, the user space… I thought that my POD HD Pro X had a lot of space for user presets but It has nothing on the Helix. I will probably never fill all of the user List's or even come close to it but It's always better to have something and not need it than to need something and not have it. Also, let me jump back to the large screen again, I have a laptop on which I keep all of my editing software for my studio equipment. I always plug in my Spider V240 and POD and use the Spider V Remote and POD HD Pro X edit software respectfully because in most cases sitting behind my recording console and tweaking my sound is just much easier to do with the computer apps than the equipment. The Helix is the first and only piece of equipment I've owned where the display is laid out and organized in a way that is very similar to a computer or tablet app and so even though I have the Helix Edit app running on my computer right next to me, making adjustments on the front of the Helix Rack in many cases is actually easier and faster than grabbing a mouse and using the comp app. I could write much more describing my total satisfaction thus far but I will wait 'till I have used it for another month or so and update my review at that time. I will leave you with this thought. While conveying my total happiness to my brother last night regarding the Helix Rack, I went so far as to say that I feel that this could be the last guitar processer I ever buy and if not it's pretty close.Fred

Nothing is perfect so a 5-star rating on most anything isn’t very useful without critical review when trying to make a purchase decision so I would give it 2.5 stars if I could. The Trio+ concept was a good idea but in my view poorly executed and way over priced. Like many have already said, it is not generally easy to get a good result from the Trio+ Even after a few weeks of getting to grips with its functions. It’s hit and miss mostly when using it and mostly miss. “Sometimes” you can get “fairly decent“ results after multiple attempts but often the result is unusable. Their SDRUM product while not a looper provides better drum/bass accompaniment with much less fuss, is much easier to use and less expensive. The SDRUM coupled with their JamMan looper is far more intuitive and provides usable good results most of the time. I own both products and I use the SDRUM almost always instead of the Trio+. The trio+ just doesn’t live up to its cost or hype. Sometimes it works ok but just ok. If you get the results you want then maybe it’s for you but in my view I couldn’t in good faith recommend it to a friend so I definitely would not rec to a stranger. My advice is to get an SDRUM and if you need it get Digitech’s stand alone Looper to sync with it. That combo isn’t perfect either but far more satisfying and predictable to use. I do not recommend the Trio+ to anyone.Dennie

Wanna jam? No other players around? This dingus provides a competent backing band to solo or compose over. This gizmo does it all. Loop a phrase, play over it, start the band, and start on your extended musical forays. As satisfying a pedal as I've ever encountered. I've coveted owning this since the product debuted many years ago.Lou P.

Fantastic! If you already have an amp you love, the HX Effects is a great companion. I upgraded from a Line 6 M9 to the HX Effects, and was able to get rid of some of my auxiliary pedals in the process. My pedalboard now consists of the HX Effects, an expression pedal, and the channel switch footpedal for my amp (Hughes & Kettner Tubemeister 36). I'm running it into the amp via the four cable method, and it sounds great. The vast majority of the effects sound very natural and analog-ish, even the drive effects. There's no amp/cabinet modeling, but Line 6 offers other options with amp modeling if that's where your interests lie. Most of the built-in scenes aren't particularly useful – they mostly serve to illustrate what the HX Effects is capable of. But it's easy to start from scratch and quickly get to some nice workable tones. Then you can tweak to your heart's content. The HX Edit software is very useful – while you can edit your patches on the device itself, being able to do so on your computer and have them updated on the device in real time is convenient. The only area that might be a bit lacking is the reverb patches. Most are carryovers from the M9 – which are fine – but if this is an area that's important to you, you'll probably want to stick with a separate reverb unit. Overall though, it's a whole lot of options in an attractive package that sounds great.Lane Denson

I have a Helix that I've been using for a couple years now, but I don't think that the amp models feel "tubey" enough to my hands on the guitar (though they sound just fine, and my audiences say they love the sound of them), so to make myself happy, I had the Helix configured in 4 cable method, with some Helix effects, thru 2 Mesa preamps in one of the FX Loops, then stereo effects (delay, etc) then out to a Mesa 2:90 power amp and speakers. Realizing that I'm not using the amp models, I bought two HX Effects units, one for before the preamps and one for after, saved myself some weight, and gained 4 effects stomp buttons and one more expression pedal jack! (and, if HX Effects had been available when I bought the Helix early on, I could have saved hundreds of dollars to boot) One of my biggest peeves with the Helix was that you can put maybe 30 effects into your signal chain, but then you only have 8 stomp buttons (configurable to 10 if you don't need bank up/down) to access them without constantly switching presets or snapshots. with two HX effects, you get 12 buttons and 4 expression pedal jacks. AND the expression pedals don't need switches (heel position automatically switches them off) which is something I really love. I'm not aware of the Helix doing this, but I'll look into it. I use an outboard switchless Morley wah pedal (thru another FX loop) because I prefer switchless wah for what I do with it, then I have a couple expression pedals for Helix volume and pitch-shift (whammy pedal). Last weekend, I did a festival gig debuting the HX Effects pair vs the whole Helix, and my 10+ year old faithful Morley wah failed on me during soundcheck! Well, with a few easy button presses, I simply changed the whammy pedal into a Crybaby Wah and the gig was saved! Technically, I could have just as easily done the exact same thing with the Helix, but in either case, a life saver. Who brings a backup wah to a gig? Downside of the HX Effects vs Helix is # of slotsRad

This pedal may be cheap, but it is one of the most flexible pedals ive seen. Fuzz 1 and Fuzz 2 are an octave style fuzz, Fuzz 1 being very dark and warm, whereas Fuzz 2 is shrill and cold, great for Electric Wizard style riffing. It doesnt have noise in ANY of the modes, even with the gain maxed, and it sounds completely identical to the Boss FZ-2 Hyperfuzz. Though i believe the best thing about this pedal is the boost mode. I personally use it with the bass dimed to 11, and it sounds amazing into the front of my valve amp, pushing the tubes exactly the way i want it. The ONLY downside is the fact that it is made out of plastic, which is why i didnt value the quality at 5 stars. For the price, this pedal is a must have. Just don't go stomping on it like your other metal-made pedals, and it will last you a long time.Samuel M.

Cons: The casing is plastic,so I'm not sure how gig-survivable it would be over time. Whoever came up with the procedure for changing the battery would make the Marquis de Sade weep with jealousy. Pros: It does a -perfect- facsimile of the crushing DOOM TONE Electric Wizard have on the 'Dopethrone' album; put a 7-string through this and watch your garden die. It does a bunch of other seriously fun fuzz sounds and is actually quite versatile, given the 3 modes it has, the range of the tone knobs and the sheer amount of fuzz available. While the casing feels cheap, the knobs are nice and solid. It's ridiculously cheap given how good the actual sound it produces is. Why are you still reading this…? BUY ONE!varghellhammer

Sturdy unit full of good quality effects. This is the first "cheap" unit that has impressed me with its pre amps. It even manages a passable vox sound that others at this price point fail to achieve. My favourite things about this unit are as follows : 1. The amount of usable presets out the box. Even the more whacky ones can generally be quickly tweaked into something usable. Other brands tend to fill their presets with ridiculous over the top high gain, and what I would call low budget sci-fi sound effects. Boss have done a good job with the GT1. 2. Ease of editing. While you can access the effects chain easily through the menu system, the buttons along the top physically represent a typical effects chain. Press and hold for a second on any one and you are straight into the effect behind it for easy editing or changing to a different effect. Negatives: lack of an on/off switch. It switches on by plugging in an instrument cable – minor annoyance but that's just me. Only other thing is no battery indicator, and I seriously doubt the 7hr battery life claim. The supplied ones died after about 2-3 hrs and the duracells I replaced them with haven't fared much better. I do have a power supply but wanted to see how the battery's would hold up if I had to do a gig on them. Probably wouldn't trust them and would carry two sets as backup rather than one.David B.

This is overall a great pedal. This will give you a wide variety of tones and effects that you can personalize for whatever music you play. Other pedals will offer maybe one tone and you may have to try different ones and might not be happy with them or have to buy multiple ones and spend lots of money to have a well set up pedal board. You can literally spend all day picking out distortion pedals and feel lost on where to go. With this you can go through a wide variety and set it up however you want and save the settings. This isn't some plug and play kinda pedal. You will need to spend time with it and get to know it. It is kinda confusing and there are YouTube videos that help as well. I got more e set up with a clean tone and then a click over to distortion and and anther click on and of for a wha effectErik

The sounds are decent for the price. I downloaded all three pdfs are they are basically useless when it comes to setting up patches, adding an external pedal and the overall operation. I gave up on trying to assign functions to the FS-6 I bought with it. There are no real explications how to use the 6 assignment functions. I think the headphone output is mono as I can only hear in one ear. You can get some decent patches off of tone exchange I'll probably sell it .Kenneth

Overall: Looking at the G5n as ONLY a guitar multi-effects pedal still makes it well worth the price, but that would be selling it WAY short in terms of what this self-contained digital beast can do. For those of us who also play keyboards, synths, drum machines, and bass, think of this as an entire rack of beautiful effects processing options that open up a whole world of pro tone sculpting possibility. Yes, these effects by themselves do sound digital (because they ARE), but if you start with a good analog sound source and finish with a mic’d up tube amp or quality tube DI, you can capture some serious pro quality sounds with beautifully complex depth and texture. Line6 and Boss both charge significantly more for products that do absolutely NOTHING better than the G5n. So why dump any more money than absolutely necessary into a digital effects unit that you know will become a doorstop eventually anyway? The Zoom G5n delivers every last nuance of the best effects units available on the market today, and it does it all at a price you can afford to replace in a few years. PROS * Equal or better sound quality than competing products from Line6 and Boss, all at a much lower price. * Better and more intuitive user interface than Line6 and Boss competition. * The “ZNR” noise reduction effect performs amazingly well, and can be tweaked perfectly for any application. Especially for those of us who hate unnecessary pickup and amp noise in our recordings, this is worth the price of the entire unit alone. I’ve actually paid the same price as this unit for a Waves noise reduction plugin that I don’t like as much as the one inside the G5n. * No wimpy 12AX7 tube output that everybody knows won't make much difference, and which just becomes a maintenance liability over time. The old G5 had one of these, and Zoom should be applauded for ditching the gimmick. * Takes a huge load off of your DAW in terms of effects plugins. Also, unlike your DAW, you can monitor any instrument through the G5n without any noticeable latency. * The two tone booster dials are great for when you’ve been crafting new patches through headphones, but then you want to plug the G5n into your amp and you’re frustrated because you don’t hear the same frequency balance out of your amp that you did in your headphones (coming directly out of the G5n headphone jack). The two tone booster dials let you tweak the EQ of your frequency response (in a pleasant and natural/analog sounding way) so that your amp sounds accurate tonally to what you were hearing in the headphones. This keeps you from having to save two differently tweaked patches of the same effects chain just so you can hear the correct frequency balance through either your headphones or your amp. CONS * USB recording interface is convenient for recording rough ideas, but not realistic as a pro DI/converter. Luckily the stereo ¼” analog out jacks do a good job of letting you use your tube preamps for DI recording anyway, but it would be nice not to have to pass through an extra layer of D/A conversion if not absolutely necessary. * Amp & cabinet models are excellent tools for tone shaping, but no they don’t sound like the real deal (and no digital emulation ever will if you're listening back through quality DAC). Nonetheless, that doesn’t mean running reasonable gain settings on these amps and cabs into the clean channel of your tube amp can’t still create very impressively detailed recording tones. * Some people have reported that too many effects in a chain causes the DSP chip in the G5n to overload, but I’ve found the only time that happens is when you’re trying to chain multiple amps and cabinet models altogether, and it’s not something you (sonically) should want to attempt anyway. With one amp and one cabinet selected, you can still add a compressor, delay, reverb, and chorus, etc. There's plenty of DSP here to get you into trouble (in a good way). TIP: The modeled amp "heads" ften don’t sound as good as simply running one of the distortion pedals directly into a modeled cabinet. Requires less DSP too.Christopher

When i started looking for a replacement to many analogue fx processors I didn't expect to find anything asa a combo that had good clean output. I tested the GT100,GS80, Line-6 and a few lower level competitors to calibrate usefulness and reliability versus audio clarity using a set of AE-1 Studio Monitors routed through a Fender 100 Series Tube Amp. The results came down to either the Gt100 (which I found a little shallow) versus this Zoom G5n (btw -the G3xn is identical but doesnt have capacity). The thing that sold me on the G5n is its user interface. Simply the best and easiest to program on the fly. It is a lot of fun but you have to discipline what you want to achieve. It comes with a stack of patches but I suggest buyers to check and do the firmware update and get the latest patches (released monthly plus there is an Artist list of User Patches) = 1000's but you'll make your own. It isn't hard. The audio output on this G5n is a lot deeper and if you run the Boost you can get rich warm tone from a digital amp like the Vox 30 I tested. When using a digital combo amp you need turn off all the FX and use the default Amp or find an amp that doesn't distort the clarity from G5n. The Amp FX on the G5n are better through a clean digital setup. Analogues need to make sure head is also clean setup except where you just use G5n for FX and remove Amps from bank. Either way the device is very user friendly for harmony with getting the job done quickly and move on to playing guitar as this is a tool not an instrument.3times3times

The Zoom G5n is an excellent choice for those seeking a multi effect platform or even those wishing to add pedal effects to their guitar tone and who are on a tight budget. Your pedal chain is easily customisable with all parameters visible and tweekable at the turn of a knob. With 5 descent amp Sims which already sound fairly authentic, when edited you can get pretty close to the amps which they are emulating. Purists, or gear snobs will always argue that "you can't beat a real tube amp" or " Kemper, Helix, Axe fx are better" they may offer more but I doubt if they sound 5, 10 or even 20 times better in line with there cost!! For the price of a "boutique" pedal you can have nearly every pedal your ever likely to need, without the need for a bucket load of patch cables!! Several talented guitarists have posted customised patches on YouTube, covering every genre and the most popular/sought after artists tones. Sure I fancied some of its more expensive competitors but I really don't need the ability, nor do I have the time to deep edit such things as individual components within a particular amp or pedal. I simply wanted something which offered the range of tones and could replicate the sounds of my favourite guitarists, then just plug in and play and the G5n does thatand does it very well!! Great value, great layout, sturdy construction!! Highly recommended!!mgl080659

This pedal is incredible!! Definitely exceeds my expectations. I have had this pedal almost a month and am still having fun discovering all the different ways it can manipulate the guitar signal! Very compact, in fact, that may be its only downfall. It comes with a power supply so you never have to worry about batteries (unless you want to)! Simple to use – one selector knob for the 11 effects and 3 adjustment knobs for Level, Time, and Tone. If you are looking for a GREAT Reverb pedal, this should be your Number 1 choice!! EHX does it again!!Neal G

I've been searching for the right reverb pedal for months now. I was using an audio interface and Ableton and a MIDI pedalboard to control reverb before and I wanted something more compact that wouldn't require me to pull out my laptop every time I want to play. After all this time I came to the determination that I needed a Strymon Big Sky, however the close to $500 price tag kept me looking at other pedals for the time being until I could save up for this. In steps this amazing pedal. I've been a fan of Electro-Harmonix for a while now, having their Canyon, Freeze, and Superego pedal, I have found them to be superb in every way. I had tried the slightly lower cost Holy Grail a while ago, and even though it sounded great, the lack of choice made it a little lackluster. I was pretty certain I should go with the Hall of Fame by TC Electronic, and was actually in the store to purchase that, when I saw the Oceans 11, and thought "I need to try that." The design of it was gorgeous. Strong metal build, with an amazing ocean-esqe image on it. I pull it out, plug it into the test rig they have set up, and immediately was blown away. The sound is as close to a Big Sky as I have seen from any other pedal. With 11 different styles of reverb, including a mix of delay and reverb in some cases, this pedal is just as versatile in my opinion. The reverse reverb is stellar, while the shimmer and poly effect give this big beautiful heavenly sound. On top of having your standard Hall/Plate/Spring settings. This thing really crosses from basic reverb to a shoegaze dream. This is THE BEST reverb pedal at this price point. If you've been wandering aimlessly like I was, wander no further my friend.College Try

As someone who prefers the "flavor" of vintage acoustics I have been using LR Baggs M1A pickups for some time because they sound great and they don't seem to cause as much feedback live as an internal style pickup… that said, there has always been something missing I couldn't put my finger on when plugged in… I happened across a video of the Align Session pedal by Justin Weaver and saw how it worked… and it did not disappoint me! Very simple design and adds "a little bit" of what's missing with the saturation knob and the compression knob is pre-configured only to work on the most common issue frequencies of acoustic guitars. I just used it at an intimate songwriter show and it sounded great! …. only downside is it doesn't come with a power cable 🙁Jeff

I think I would have preferred the DI version so it could be the last pedal on my board. otherwise does warm up the sound of my acoustic.vistadelmare

I was looking for a good multi-effects pedal option and found this Flamma FM10. It's loaded with a bunch of different amp models and effects. I was able to dial and EQ everything. The expression pedal can also be put to use as a volume pedal, wah, gain control, and several other things. I was able to create several personal patches and have used them all in live settings. They sounded great. Which means a lot coming from me because I am EXTREMELY picky about gear and tone. Other benefits are that it functions as an audio interface, it has stereo outs, a headphone out, and aux in. It fits in a backpack and a gig bag. Depending on where the show is and how a musician needs to get there, this effects unit is going to travel well in all circumstances. Seems like a really great option for any musician (especially traveling musicians) who need a small multi-effects unit. I like it and I'm going to be using this quite often moving forward.Paul

The footswitches are finicky. The overdrive models are sub par. The touch screen works well and the IR workflow is excellent. In the end, it was not for me. While the amp tones have a pleasant midrange quality, the character itself felt restrictive. The reverbs are glorious but do not warrant the price of admission. My first one had footswitch issues, where they would activate on their own. The replacement did it once or twice. I ran at that point, and do not miss this sub par productEC

For me the MX5 is exactly what I have been looking for many years. Intuitive, compact and priced right. I owned the original Line 6 Pod, the Boss GT-10 and recently the Line 6 Pod Go. The frustrating thing for me with the Boss GT-10 and Line 6 Pod Go is if I did not consistently use them I would forget how to go in and tweak the sounds. Sometimes I don't play for weeks even months and when I got the urge to play again I had to fiddle or re read the manual on how to make certain adjustments. I ended up spending more time on the darn effects unit than actually playing the guitar. With the MX5 it's very intuitive via the touch screen to just make changes or create a new rig. I don't think I'll succumb to use it or lose it affect. The compact size means it can be tucked away easily in my office. And the fact that it has a built in expression pedal is really nice. I don't typically do reviews but I felt this is the first time in a while that a product has met all of my needs. I think Headrush really nailed it for many of us older, part time weekend warrior guitarists out there that just want something easy and ready to use. Whether at home practicing, recording or take to a quick jam session or gig.Steve

The MX5 is the third modeler/multi effects processor that I have used for recording and playing live. In my opinion the overall sound quality is a bit underwhelming. On the positive side, the clean tones are excellent. On the negative side, the overdrive tones are satisfactory at best. To be completely honest, I'm very disappointed with the overdrive/distortion tones. It will take a lot of tweaking to get a desirable crunch tone if you are a True Tone chaser. I am not alone with this opinion. Check out the YouTube reviews of the MX5 and the reviews from those who are not affiliated with HR marketing. There are some honest reviews that point out the good, the bad, and the ugly. I unfortunately did not pay attention to those before I purchased this pedal. If you are not a tone chaser and you are new to modeling, this may be a good pedal. It has a great looper. It is easy to use. And it gives the user plenty of options for exploring different pedal tones (not to mention the ability to split the signal chain). But if you are serious about high quality sound, compare this with others before you buy. Not to mention, this pedal has had its share of firmware bugs. The good news is that HR is pretty good about fixing them with firmware updates. Good customer service too.Jesse

Overall: I agree with the last review, this pedal definitely stands on its own and keeps up with the other Big blue Box! It's algorithms are top notch, with a lot of them only found on this pedal. I've had mine since the first week it came out and couldn't be happier! I've owned tons of $300 plus verb pedals and this is my favorite so far.Doug

As soon as I heard the first preset I was hooked. Lush reverbs and shimmering tones makes this one of the most fun reverb pedals I have played. I love that you also get a plug in version fro amplitude and can save presets on you computer and download them to your pedal. also, did I mention its a USB interface as well that you can use with any DAW?Mark P.

This budget pedal does the job. No bypass switch, other than that it's great. Haven't got round to dropping in other IRs yet. Seems happiest at the end of chain in amps fx loop.bradheadmetal

I really am enjoying Boss IR-200. I can't get over how much sound is packed into this small package. Highly recommend this for anyone looking for Amp and IR effects pedal that does a really nice job modeling amps and cabs that are great for a wide variety of genres.ZC

I bought this pedal primarily as an IR loader and have no interest in the amp modeling (which I just disable). So I have a valve amp head running into a captor reactive load which runs into the IR200. Then I'm using the stereo outs through delay and reverb pedals and a bit of compression/saturation before hitting the mixer. Having access to so many IRs and being able to load and store even more of my own via USB is total luxury. I can mix and match the stereo pairs and apply two types of EQ. I have been able to achieve a very realistic sounding cabinet simulations which I can quickly step through. There is some shallow menu diving but the layout is logical and intuitive and presets can be named. Additional features like the noise gate, fx loop, midi control, expression control and ambience fx (reverb) are welcome too. 5 stars from me!David J.

Just Amazing! More of what I spect ! If I knew about this pedal before for sure I did not bought the helix floor.. I don’t know between Kemper or Axe but for me sounds better than HelixGabriel P.

I was really surprised at how good this amp sounds. Years ago I tried Line 6 and was not at all happy with the tone; but this is another story. It does take me awhile to dial in a specific classic rock tone, but when I do, it sounds better than any other amp that I've tried. I have tried the Marshall Code, Blackstar id Core, Vox Valvetronix, Boss Katana; as well as some all tube amps. The only other amp that is a close 2nd is the Fender Mustang GTX; also a great amp. The Spider V is fairly easy to operate. It offers lots of choices for amp models and cabinets. I like that it has variations of a mic'd cabinet. The parametric eq is a plus. I haven't played around too much with the effects yet, so I can't comment on that. The only negative thing I could say is that when you're editing a preset and want to hear how it sounds before you save it, you only have a short time before it goes back to the Home Screen. This really is a small price to pay for the quality of the amp and all the versatility it has. I like the App too. Musicians Friend got me a great on this as well; and their agent is following up making sure that I'm satisfied. The funny thing is that I came across this by accident. I placed an order for a Peavey amp that was on back order. I called Peavey multiple times, but they never returned my call. I also emailed them, but they didn't respond to that either. As far as I'm concerned, Peavey doesn't have any customer support.crrkr

Been playing about a year, so my review is from the perspective of a complete newbie. The things I like- Lots of presets, mobile app functions, computer interface, and loads of user created effects available. Nice and loud, but no real basis of comparison to say if clarity is better or worse than other comparable amps. Don't likes- The micro-usb interface. I had to get an adapter and it's just not as good a connection as nearly anything else would be. IMHO, micro-usb is far too flimsy. Connecting to PC is far more problematic than just using the spider mobile app. It's probably a little more complicated than it should be for a beginner, but it's feature rich for the money.Nic T

I had a Line 6 120w amp for years that I regrettably sold a while ago and was looking for another amp. I looked at all the amp reviews I could find and decided that the new Katana was the way to go. I got the Katana home and absolutely loved it but the second day I had it it started a really loud buzzing that I couldn't stop. It probably was an easy fix but the fact is the amp was way too powerful for my purposes and their software wasn't compatible with the new Catalina OS. I returned and started looking again. I saw the 60w Spider V and the price was excellent so I made an on the spot decision to buy another Line 6 and I'm really glad I did. The tones this amp can get are incredible. There are so many amp models and cabs that you can dial in pretty much any tone you want from a crispy snapback country clean to the most vicious heavy metal and everything in between. You can use the presets as they are or you can use them as a baseline and tweak to your own liking or you can start from scratch and build your own rig from the ground up. The controls are intuitive and easy to use but there are some features where you'd have to be a professional to really know how to use or even care to use. The software and the mobile app are so easy to use and give you all the options at your fingertips. The amp comes with a lot of presets that I find are completely useless but there are a lot that are excellent as I already talked about. There are only four empty slots for your own custom presets and I wish there were more but if you use the mobile app you can have your own tone library on there. I bought the FBV3 foot controller so that gives me a lot of flexibility to have various effects. One of the limitations is the lack of good effects though. There's enough that if you work at it you can get a decent sound but there could be some better ones. Overall I would recommend the amp. Don't listen to the naysayers or the amp snobs, it's a quality amp and extremely versatile.Just Plain Joe