HeadRush 5.1 Just Opened the Floodgates for NAM Captures

HeadRush Just Blew the Doors Off NAM

If you own a HeadRush Prime, Core, or Flex Prime, you just got a massive free upgrade. And if you've been on the fence about jumping into the NAM capture ecosystem, the fence just disappeared.

HeadRush dropped their 5.1 firmware update on August 1st, and it's a big one. We're talking native Neural Amp Modeler support and direct TONE3000 integration, built right into your pedal's touchscreen. No computer. No file conversion. No USB cable dangling off your pedalboard like some kind of sad tech umbilical cord. Just scroll, tap, and play.

This is the kind of update that changes how you think about your rig.

What Actually Changed

Here's the deal. Before this update, loading NAM captures onto a HeadRush meant jumping through hoops. Download files to your computer, convert formats, transfer via USB, hope nothing breaks. It worked, but it wasn't exactly fun. Now? You connect to Wi-Fi, open HeadRush Cloud on your touchscreen, browse TONE3000's library of over 500,000 captures, and load them straight into your signal chain. Done.

And this isn't some watered-down, converted-to-proprietary-format situation. HeadRush runs NAM natively. That means full NAM A2 quality with zero degradation. The same accuracy that demolished every other capture technology in TONE3000's 1,000-person blind listening test. Your NAM captures sound exactly the way they're supposed to sound.

That matters more than you might think. Some hardware companies claim NAM support but quietly convert captures into their own proprietary format behind the scenes. That conversion introduces artifacts and kills the accuracy that makes NAM special in the first place. HeadRush isn't doing that. They're running the real thing.

Why This Is a Huge Deal for Your Tone

Let's talk about what this actually means for your playing. TONE3000 has over half a million captures. We're talking everything from vintage Marshall JCM800s and Vox AC30s to obscure boutique amps that most of us will never see in person, let alone afford. Rare Dumbles, modded Plexis, one-of-a-kind studio signal chains that engineers spent decades building. All of it, accessible from your pedalboard.

And the community adds more every single day. So your HeadRush literally gets better over time without you doing anything except connecting to Wi-Fi occasionally. That's pretty wild when you think about it.

If you're already rocking HeadRush clones from Six String Lab, this update opens up a whole new dimension. You can now load our NAM captures alongside your existing clones and build rigs that pull from both worlds. Want a Six String Lab high-gain NAM capture running into a HeadRush clone's cab section? Go for it. The flexibility is nuts.

Which HeadRush Pedals Got the Update?

All three current models. Every single one.

The Flex Prime is the entry point at $499. Compact, 4-inch touchscreen, built-in expression pedal, and the same processing engine as its bigger siblings. If you've been looking for an affordable way to get into NAM captures on hardware (without running a plugin in your DAW), this is now the cheapest legit option on the market.

The Core steps up to $699 with a 7-inch touchscreen, guitar/bass/vocal processing, XLR mic input with phantom power, and five footswitches. It's a full stage and studio rig in one box.

The Prime is the flagship at $999 with 12 footswitches, OLED scribble strips, Antares Auto-Tune, and basically everything HeadRush knows how to build crammed into one pedalboard. If you're gigging seriously and want maximum control, this is the one.

The update is free for all existing owners. Just connect to Wi-Fi and update. No subscription. No premium tier. Just free.

The Bigger Picture: NAM Is Winning

Take a step back and look at what's happening in the capture/modeling space right now. NAM went from "cool open-source project that nerds run in their DAWs" to "the technology that hardware manufacturers are racing to support." Darkglass put native NAM A2 in the Anagram. Sonulab integrated TONE3000 into StompStation. And now HeadRush has gone all-in across their entire lineup.

Meanwhile, Kemper profiles still sound incredible and the MK2 with Profiling 2.0 is no joke. Tonex captures have their own massive community. NeuralDSP captures on the Quad Cortex (and now the Quad Cortex Mini) remain studio-grade. And Line 6 just added Proxy cloning to the Helix Stadium.

Every single platform is pushing hard right now, and that's fantastic for us as players. More competition means better tech, more options, and cheaper prices. The real winner in all of this? You. The person who just wants to plug in and sound amazing.

How to Get the Best NAM Captures on Your HeadRush

TONE3000's library is massive, which is great but also means you can spend hours scrolling through captures instead of actually playing guitar. Here are some tips to find the good stuff fast.

First, know what you're looking for. If you want high-gain metal tones, search for Peavey 5150s, Rectifiers, or Friedman captures. For blues and classic rock, look for Marshall Plexi, JCM800, or Fender Deluxe Reverb captures. For sparkly cleans, chase down Fender Twin Reverbs and Vox AC30s.

Second, check download counts. Captures with thousands of downloads got there for a reason. The cream rises.

Third (and this is the move), grab some free packs from Six String Lab to get started. We've dialed in captures of iconic amps that are ready to gig with right out of the box. No tweaking required. Load them up, plug in, and let it rip.

And if you want to go deeper, our full NAM capture collection covers everything from pristine Fender cleans to face-melting high gain. Every capture is made from real amps, real cabs, and real mics in a real studio. Not modeled. Not approximated. Captured.

What About Other Platforms?

Look, we love all the platforms here at Six String Lab. That's kind of our whole thing. We make Kemper profiles, Tonex captures, NAM captures, HeadRush clones, and NeuralDSP captures because we believe you should sound killer no matter what hardware you're running.

The HeadRush 5.1 update is exciting because it removes barriers. It makes great tone more accessible to more people. And that's always worth celebrating, regardless of which platform you call home.

If you're running a Kemper, a Tonex, a Quad Cortex, or anything else, we've got you covered too. Check out our full collection and find something that makes you want to play until 3am on a work night. Because that's what great tone does. It makes you forget about everything else and just play.

Go Update Your HeadRush

Seriously, if you own a Prime, Core, or Flex Prime and you haven't updated to 5.1 yet, stop reading this and go do it. Connect to Wi-Fi, run the update, and start exploring. Load up some NAM captures from Six String Lab, crank the volume on your HeadRush, and see what all the fuss is about.

And if you don't own a HeadRush but you've been curious? The Flex Prime at $499 with native NAM support just became one of the best deals in guitar. Pair it with our free amp packs and you've got a professional-grade rig for less than the cost of a decent used tube amp.

The future of guitar tone keeps getting more fun. We're here for it.