I had some issues with my QC shutting down mid-gig so am looking for a backup option in case it happens again, as the boot up time is now 70 seconds, which is way too long to be stuck without sound mid-song.
What I’m thinking of doing is running my guitar into a tuner, followed by an A/B switcher, with one (selected) path going into the Quad Cortex and another path going into a backup of a 2 channel preamp pedal and reverb. Both paths would then need to converge back into one, presumably using an ABY switch in reverse, with the output from that going to my power amp / cabinet.
This would mean if the Quad shut itself down, I can switch to the backup rig and have access to a basic 2 channels (clean and crunch) with reverb, which should be enough to get me through most of what I need to play whilst the Quad reboots.
Does anyone have any experience of running a setup like this and if so, can you give any recommendations for the second ABY that would need to be run in reverse. It doesn’t even need to be switchable tbh as the switching would take place on the first splitter.
All it needs to do is combine both outputs into one, with no degradation of sound quality.
Reliability and build quality more important than other features.
Or if anyone has any other recommendations for how they run a backup rig? I did hear of one guy who ran 2 x Quad Cortex units at gigs, but that’s a bit much for my budget!!
I have an ABC by Morley, which works both ways. It is pretty solid and works well. It can also be used to merge as you can select 1, 2, or all 3 In/Out.
If you want to go for a redundant setup, you won’t be on a budget or at least if you want to go for a safe, redundant setup.
I have some good experiences with two QCs and a Radial JX42.
The JX42 allows you to switch four Instruments and two “Amps” to one Output.
I use it with two wireless systems and one “emergency cable” at the shows. It’s a great device, but it’s not cheap. You can also control the JX42 by MIDI.
I control the QC’s with an MC6Pro / a backing track player.
Midi is split/merged with a CME U7 Midi Pro.
For merging the Output singaels you could choose something like the Radial SW44.
One thing that I love about this solution is that the processing is done on the side stage or in the back of the stage, where the QCs are protected from weather and other things.
or at least if you want to go for a safe, redundant setup.