# Amalgam Free Cloud Downloads vs. Amalgam Purchased Downloads **URL:** \ **Category:** Quad Cortex\ **Created:** [September 25, 2026, 7:22pm UTC](https://unity.neuraldsp.com/t/amalgam-free-cloud-downloads-vs-amalgam-purchased-downloads/23420 "2026-09-25T19:22:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nathan-Shane](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/unity.neuraldsp.com/nathan-shane/32/10366_2.png) [@Nathan-Shane](https://unity.neuraldsp.com/u/Nathan-Shane)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2026, 7:22pm UTC](https://unity.neuraldsp.com/t/amalgam-free-cloud-downloads-vs-amalgam-purchased-downloads/23420/1 "2026-09-25T19:22:57Z")
Greetings fellow QC users. I’m posting in the forum only because I have yet to receive a reply from Amalgam in regard to my question. This past weekend, I decided to go down the Cortex Cloud rabbit hole and audition some posted Captures. There were many Captures I didn’t bother to save because the volume and tone was just not there while using the bridge pickup (58/15 LT “S”) on my PRS SE Special Semi-Hollow. But then my attention shifted towards the “naming scheme” of some Captures created by Amalgam. I didn’t know if the name was a fellow user or a third party creator, since I had never heard of them. So I go online to search and discover that Amalgam is not just a third party Capture creator, but also considered to be one of the overall best (first place) for QC captures. So I started auditioning the free Captures they have posted on the Cortex Cloud. Almost every Capture I auditioned sounded fantastic with my PRS bridge pickup. I was floored at just how balanced the audio levels and tone sounds were, they seemed dialed in (captured) perfectly. When I started saving these captures, I took greater notice of Amalgam’s naming scheme and realized out of the 20 Captures I saved, almost all ended with “BAL CAB” which I believe stands for Balanced Cabinet. So now that I got that backstory out of the way, I can get into my question. The free Amalgam Captures found on the Cortex Cloud are also found for sale on their website. I might be mistaken in my understanding of things, but is there any notable differences between the posted free Captures and the purchased Captures? Why pay for what is already free, I must be overlooking something. Now, Amalgam’s website offers a lot of Captured amps, many of which I’ve never even heard of. And they also offer some DUAL AMP KIT captures that have caught my attention. I’d just like to hear some experienced users of overall thoughts about Amalgam’s Captures and their captures found here on the Cloud. Thanks for any input you can provide…Nathan ---
**Author:** ![xush](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/unity.neuraldsp.com/xush/32/5100_2.png) [@xush](https://unity.neuraldsp.com/u/xush)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2026, 10:25pm UTC](https://unity.neuraldsp.com/t/amalgam-free-cloud-downloads-vs-amalgam-purchased-downloads/23420/2 "2026-09-25T22:25:08Z")
lately, the ‘free samples’ Amalgam has been sharing are all ‘full rig’ captures, including a cab (and sometimes pedals). When they first started, they shared equal amounts of both full-rig and DI (no cab, head only) caps. So you’ll find an assortment available for free on the Cloud, spanning the last few years. These days, the V2 free captures tend to be a full-rig cap of the amp at what they consider to be its optimal/signature settings. The set you would buy from their site would contain it and captures at all the various settings they feel represents the useful range of that particular amp. (Captures are basically meant to be used at default settings; tweaking them does not generally respond as the actual amp would. Thus, the collection of captures of that same amp at various settings gives you the closest representation of what that amp can do) I find them to be the best quality 3rd party caps I’ve used. I tend to prefer low- to mid-gain vintage amps. Hi-gain has not been their specialty so far, though they have some good offerings in that vein too. ---
**Author:** ![h2loh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/fbc32d/32.png) [@h2loh](https://unity.neuraldsp.com/u/h2loh)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2026, 11:17pm UTC](https://unity.neuraldsp.com/t/amalgam-free-cloud-downloads-vs-amalgam-purchased-downloads/23420/3 "2026-09-25T23:17:06Z")
I agree with @xush . I bought the amalgam Tone King Imperial pack and love it. I own this amp. It comes with 50 separate captures (25 each channel; 5 levels of gain per channel, and 5 eq settings per channel/gain setting). I would be interested in a capture v2 version but I am done chasing gear so I dont particularly care (same with NAM captures). ---
**Author:** ![Nathan-Shane](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/unity.neuraldsp.com/nathan-shane/32/10366_2.png) [@Nathan-Shane](https://unity.neuraldsp.com/u/Nathan-Shane)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2026, 1:06am UTC](https://unity.neuraldsp.com/t/amalgam-free-cloud-downloads-vs-amalgam-purchased-downloads/23420/4 "2026-09-26T01:06:56Z")
Great replies guys, helps me a lot to understand what is what on the Amalgam website. Guess I’ll head over there and make a couple purchases. Thanks.