Freezes during a performance are a pain. They ruin your sound, cause embarrassment, and are just generally annoying. While nobody knows exactly when they're going to happen, and in a best-case scenario they're eating up your time and motivation when you're feeling creative. We get that. If you're in a situation where your Headrush is Freezing mid-performance, here are some simple steps to walk through to try and fix what's going on.


Article Contents

  1. Back up your unit
  2. Turn on your Tails
  3. Perform a Factory Reset.
  4. Perform a Fresh Firmware Update
  5. If a Factory Reset Did Fix Your Issues


Back up your unit


They say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and it really applies here. While the unit is still working, connect up to your computer via a USB cable and then tap the 3 dots in the top right corner. From there go to Global Settings, tap the 3 dots in there, and then tap "USB Transfer". That will allow your computer to access your Headrush, and on most modern computers the contents will open in a new window on your desktop. Some older computers may ask if you want to do this. From there, just highlight all the folders and copy them straight onto your desktop. You can organize them afterward, but getting to this point is crucial: any work you put into the board is now saved for you.


Turn on your Tails


A minor amount of lag or pause between changing Rigs is completely normal, as there's a point where one rig ends and the new one begins. For users who are using multiple Rigs for a song, making sure your Tails are on is crucial: this allows the end of one Rig's sound to taper off and crossfade as the new one begins, and should eliminate the pause for you. To turn this on, tap the TAIL icon on your touch screen in the top right-hand corner of your screen. If this isn't what you're experiencing, please continue on.


Perform a Factory Reset.


The first thing we're going to want to check is if anything that was put on the board is causing any kind of issue-

  • IR or Rigs that were put on without being unzipped
  • Loops that have become corrupted because the drive was not disengaged before syncing
  • Files that have been disorganized into other folders
  • WAVs in the IR folder that are not IRs

Start with the unit in the off position, then hold down the last two switches on whichever board you're using(11+12 on Pedalboard, 2+3 on MX5)


This will delete everything that did not come stock with the unit and potentially any file that is causing a problem(Good thing we backed up the unit before this). This should also eliminate the board's boot-up count if you have experienced that. From here, we're going to want to try the same actions that were causing problems before, only now using the stock rigs. If the unit is still freezing, then let's continue on.


Perform a Fresh Firmware Update


Try downloading a fresh firmware update file from the website and please make sure it gets unzipped if you're on Windows. From here, go into the Global Settings as we had before and then select the Firmware Update. Run the firmware updater application for your device from the unzipped folder, and then let the firmware update take. From there, run the stock rigs again and see if we can avoid the freezing and lagging. If you are still having issues from here, please feel free to shoot us a message and let us know what's going on.


If a Factory Reset Did Fix Your Issues


Please note that sifting out exactly what file is causing your issue is going to be groundwork from here.

  • Loops are going to need to be played one by one on your computer until you find which one refuses to play
  • Your custom Rigs and Setlist files are going to need to go straight into the respective folders, from outside the folders they came in. More folders to dig into are going to be more work for the board. Please obtain fresh downloads of this from your source so as not to load from the same folder or file that potentially had issues.
  • Your IR files need to go directly into the USER folder of the IR folder. Please do not copy the folders into the IR Folder. Rigs that did not originally link to the IR>USER folder can be linked up from inside the effect edit menu of your IR(double tap the IR).
  • IR Files that aren't IR files should not be used. IR files are typically not large, and if you're seeing a WAV file that's over 60 KB it may not be an IR at all. Please consult the source of your IR if you have any questions about it.

If you are still having trouble with your Headrush Freezing or Lagging, please use the New Support Ticket button at the top to contact our support team for further assistance.