Full range: how Headrush’s new FRFR-8 and FRFR-12 cabs let you lose the headphones at home, and bring studio-quality tones to life on stages of any size
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So, you’ve embraced the world of digital modelling. Maybe you’ve been using it since the early 2000s, or maybe you’ve only just jumped from real amps – either way, it’s an exciting time for the digitally-minded guitarist! Modelling and capture technology has progressed to the point where you really don’t need to compromise on sound to access the flexibility you get from going digital. But there are some things that 1s and 0s cannot replicate, and at some point your digital tone does need to enter the analogue world of actual sound – and for that, FRFR cabinets might be the most flexible and powerful solution.
HeadRush’s new FRFR-8 and FRFR-12 units will be pretty familiar to anyone who’s used a guitar combo before, at least aesthetically – they’re smart looking things that won’t look out of place in a living room or on a stage. But their amp-like stylings are hiding some serious FRFR power – quite literally. The 8 houses an 8-inch woofer alongside a 1-inch compression driver and horn, and boasts a whopping 450 watts of peak power – while the 12 houses a 12-inch woofer, a 1-inch compression driver, and delivers 750 watts of peak power. Let’s dive into how they could transform how you interact with your digital tones.
FRFR cabs – what are they, and when do you need one?
FRFR stands for Full Range, Flat Response, describing a powered speaker that’s designed to amplify the full range of human hearing (around 20hz to 20Khz) as evenly as possible. This makes FRFR speakers very distinct from traditional guitar speaker cabinets, which have a drastically uneven response. Traditional guitar speakers – and by extension virtual cabinets and IRs – focus most on the midrange, where the sound of an electric guitar is most present and articulate, and generally roll off extreme highs and lows, given them their characteristic sound, and, importantly, getting rid of fizzy overtones from a raw amplifier signal.
So why might you need an FRFR cabinet? Well, they give you a ‘best of both worlds’ proposition. Like headphones or studio monitors, you can use all of a virtual signal chain found in modelling units such as the HeadRush Flex Prime without worry. You can switch between virtual cabinets without being chained to the character of a real set of 12” guitar speakers, and embrace wild synth-based patches and shimmering, full-range ambient effects, without having all of that extra sonic information bottle-necked by the more limited response of a traditional guitar-speaker.
At home
It’s a lot easier to get a usable at-home sound with an FRFR than a lot of traditional guitar amp/cab setups. Sure, tube amps add that all-important power-amp saturation when you really gun them, but, unless you live on a remote farm this does involve playing at rather unneighbourly volumes. Even if you use an attenuator, guitar speakers like being driven a bit – but a modeller combined with an FRFR cabs will be far more volume-agnostic, meaning you can play at perfect conversational levels without waking up the whole street.
And even if you are already converted to the church of the digital, there’s a benefit to a FRFR cabinet over, say, headphones or studio monitors. You don’t need to be chained to your desk setup, stuck staring at a computer screen with headphones on. You can plug away at scale exercises or engage in ambient noodling wherever you please, be that in stood up, wandering freely around your dedicated practice space, or plonked on the sofa half-watching reruns of Gardeners’ World. Want to practice to a track? In-built Bluetooth functionality makes that easy – just load it up on your phone, and get playing.
On stage
Let’s turn the volume up. Playing live with a modeller can be great for sonic flexibility, of course – but if you’re used to the sheer trouser-shaking excitement of a real amp behind you, the experience can be quite different. Maybe you rely on a bit of feedback as part of your sound. Or, maybe you’re playing a range of venues, and you don’t want to take a gamble on whether the PA or monitor wedges will let your modelled guitar tones actually compete with your drummer.
So HeadRush’s new FRFR-8 and FRFR-12 can bring the two experiences of playing digital and playing real amps much closer together, without compromise. You get the excitement and impact of real air moving behind you, without having to lose the flexibility of sound that modelling can afford.
And thanks to the I/O of the new HeadRush FRFR range, you also don’t have to worry about running out of outputs – line-outs mean that even if you’re running a dual-speaker stereo setup, you can chain from your modeller to the FRFR cabs, to the front-of-house – ideal if you’re playing a larger stage and don’t want to just rely on the sound of your cabinet.
But no matter what stage we’re on, us guitarists are an image-conscious bunch. While you might want your FRFR speaker to have a neutral look, there’s still a bit of romance in tolex and grill-cloth. The new FRFR’s range from headrush won’t harsh your stage-dress, with classy vintage looks. They do still bring modern functionality to the familiar form – for instance, a sturdy kickstand lets you angle the cabs back for ideal monitoring performance, and the three-band EQ and variable high-cut filter allow for powerful sonic adjustments on the fly.
Best of both worlds
2026 has been a great year for fans of digital guitar sounds. HeadRush’s latest range of modelling units – Prime, Flex Prime and Core, now support NAM A2, the latest and greatest in open-source amplifier capture technology, while still offering a flexible signal chain, extensive I/O and a fantastic price to performance ratio. If you’re worried about how to bring this new world of sounds to home practices or to stages of any size, HeadRush’s FRFR-8 and FRFR-12 cabs make the process a breeze.
Find out more about the HeadRush FRFR-8 and FRFR-12 at headrushfx.com.
The post Full range: how Headrush’s new FRFR-8 and FRFR-12 cabs let you lose the headphones at home, and bring studio-quality tones to life on stages of any size appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Source: www.guitar-bass.net
