A HeadRush SuperClone morphs across three to six separate amp captures as you turn the gain knob, and no NAM file can do that. HeadRush calls it the world's first capture system that combines multiple clones into one.
The reason matters. A NAM capture freezes an amp at one setting because that is what the training process records, so the gain control you get afterward is a modeled approximation rather than the amp behaving as it did in the room.
Preset makers build SuperClones by capturing the same EQ settings at several gain stages and stacking them. You end up with a knob that walks through real captured behavior instead of interpolating toward it.
NAM does not work that way. A full-chain capture has the amp and the speaker fused into one neural model, so the cab is not a layer you can peel off later.
That pushes you toward amp-only captures if you want cab control, and the library is split between the two kinds without always labeling which is which. The clone side of the box never makes you guess.
HeadRush runs the capture on what it calls ACT Gen II, an adaptive audio cloning technology, and the on-screen wizard makes the process quick enough that capturing a friend's head during a rehearsal break is realistic.
Flex Prime cannot. Its FX Return mixes back into the guitar signal in a loop, so there is no clean separate path for the capture to travel, and you need a standalone audio interface to do the job.
All three ship with ReValver Amp Cloner, which HeadRush values at 199 dollars and hands over for free once you register the unit. It wants Windows 10 21H2 or macOS 13 or later, 2GB of RAM, 700MB of disk space, and either a plugin host or an ASIO-capable interface.
Compare that with capturing an amp you actually own through NAM, which means training a model on a computer with separate software and no first-party wizard holding your hand. If the amp in question is yours and sitting in the room, the HeadRush route is shorter.
You do not have to capture anything yourself either way. A small commercial scene has grown around HeadRush clone packs, with makers like Tone Junkie and Fremen selling curated sets of clones and SuperClones, which is the paid mirror of what TONE3000 gives away.
Clones do not leave the ecosystem. They run on HeadRush and nowhere else, and they are not even fully portable within it, since clones made on newer firmware will not open on older versions.
So the collection you build tells you which format to lean on. Ten years of captured amps in NAM form follow you to whatever you buy next. Ten years of clones follow you only as far as the next HeadRush.
That gap narrowed with HeadRush opening its boxes to open-format captures, because a single rig can now carry a clone you made yourself alongside a capture somebody else trained and uploaded.
The practical split comes down to whether the amp exists in your room or in somebody else's. Gear you own, with a gain range you care about, is clone territory. Gear you will never touch, sitting in a library of half a million uploads, is what NAM is for.
There is a structural asymmetry underneath all of it. A rig accepts one NAM file and no more, while clones sit in the signal chain as ordinary blocks, so anyone who wants two captured amps running inside a single rig has exactly one format available to them.
The reason matters. A NAM capture freezes an amp at one setting because that is what the training process records, so the gain control you get afterward is a modeled approximation rather than the amp behaving as it did in the room.
Preset makers build SuperClones by capturing the same EQ settings at several gain stages and stacking them. You end up with a knob that walks through real captured behavior instead of interpolating toward it.
Only one of these formats lets you strip the cab
HeadRush clones stay editable after the fact. You can remove the speaker cabinet sound from an amp clone and run it into a different cabinet model or an impulse response, which is a normal part of the workflow rather than a hack.NAM does not work that way. A full-chain capture has the amp and the speaker fused into one neural model, so the cab is not a layer you can peel off later.
That pushes you toward amp-only captures if you want cab control, and the library is split between the two kinds without always labeling which is which. The clone side of the box never makes you guess.
HeadRush runs the capture on what it calls ACT Gen II, an adaptive audio cloning technology, and the on-screen wizard makes the process quick enough that capturing a friend's head during a rehearsal break is realistic.
Capturing an amp you actually own needs different gear per model
This is where the lineup stops being uniform. Prime and Core can run the capture through their own routable inputs and outputs with an on-screen wizard walking you through each step.Flex Prime cannot. Its FX Return mixes back into the guitar signal in a loop, so there is no clean separate path for the capture to travel, and you need a standalone audio interface to do the job.
All three ship with ReValver Amp Cloner, which HeadRush values at 199 dollars and hands over for free once you register the unit. It wants Windows 10 21H2 or macOS 13 or later, 2GB of RAM, 700MB of disk space, and either a plugin host or an ASIO-capable interface.
Compare that with capturing an amp you actually own through NAM, which means training a model on a computer with separate software and no first-party wizard holding your hand. If the amp in question is yours and sitting in the room, the HeadRush route is shorter.
You do not have to capture anything yourself either way. A small commercial scene has grown around HeadRush clone packs, with makers like Tone Junkie and Fremen selling curated sets of clones and SuperClones, which is the paid mirror of what TONE3000 gives away.
NAM files travel, and clones stay home
Portability is the argument running the other way, and it is a strong one. A .nam file is an open format, so the same capture you load on a Prime also runs on Mooer, Hotone, Nux, Darkglass, and Dimehead hardware, and inside any DAW through the free Gateway plugin.Clones do not leave the ecosystem. They run on HeadRush and nowhere else, and they are not even fully portable within it, since clones made on newer firmware will not open on older versions.
So the collection you build tells you which format to lean on. Ten years of captured amps in NAM form follow you to whatever you buy next. Ten years of clones follow you only as far as the next HeadRush.
That gap narrowed with HeadRush opening its boxes to open-format captures, because a single rig can now carry a clone you made yourself alongside a capture somebody else trained and uploaded.
The practical split comes down to whether the amp exists in your room or in somebody else's. Gear you own, with a gain range you care about, is clone territory. Gear you will never touch, sitting in a library of half a million uploads, is what NAM is for.
There is a structural asymmetry underneath all of it. A rig accepts one NAM file and no more, while clones sit in the signal chain as ordinary blocks, so anyone who wants two captured amps running inside a single rig has exactly one format available to them.
