Bye Bye and Thank You guys

I wanted to say Bye Bye and Thank You for the good conversations, advice and discussion I encountered on this forum. I sold my QC yesterday - not at all an easy decision since coming from the AX8, Iridium and Helix stomp I found the QC to be the best modeller all around, with unrivalled usability and form factor. The more so when you play both, electric and acoustic guitar. I was on the QC waiting list for more than a year, was so happy with it when it arrived.

Now, after almost two years, I realise I don’t belong to the target group of the QC. I don’t need all the included options , don’t need a hundred of amp versions, and soundwise I am also not a metal guy. I tend to come back to the same ole two Fenders - BF and Tweed - and the bread and butter efx, playing cleanish and low to mid overdrive. Clean stuff with my preferred amps was not always easy with the QC and shure enough I tried the gain staging options.

That said, I was not completely happy with the modelled amp/pedal versions of the QC, that I needed. Also did not want to go down the Kemper rabbit hole in search of the very best capture on the cloud. I also found the reverb (spring!) and delay versions that I would need not 100 % to my liking. Handling the EQs, same thing, I rather prefer a dedicated pedal. All of this happening in the last 10 percent range, audience wouldn‘t care, but I do.

After a daylong shootout with a friends Carr Superbee and many pedals and also with dedicated one amp model pedals I changed my gear radically. I sold my QC and some of my best pedals and bought the dedicated one-amp-models plus reverb and delay from the same company. Plus a preamp and a sound enhancer for acoustic guitar. Crazy, right? Compared to the one solution QC I now ended up with two pedalboards for electric and acoustic, that’s four times of the weight and size of the QC, more than 150 % of the costs, no midi, hardly any presets (this comparison shows already the excellence of the QC), but old school knob turning and excellent sounds. You need to be an old fart and sound gourmet like me who started playing guitar in the 70s to understand that. But I feel more at home now. and there is no excuse for fumbling with gear instead of playing your guitar. Is this final? No, because guitarists are strange animals, hunting for THAT sound forever (which, in my opinion; is a tube amp, but compromising on options, weight and adding a budget for tubes).

End of story. A happy new year to all of you.

14 Likes

Seems like a very well considered decision & post - I hope you have plenty of fun with all the new gear Heinrich. :slightly_smiling_face:

For one, I totally understand your perspective (even if you’ve ultimately made the opposite decision from myself). I too am a tube amp guy at heart; however, I’ve always hated lugging stuff around, how temperamental tubes are & the sheer volumes that I needed to work at in order to obtain sounds that I was happy with. I gave the Axe-FX a go a few years back & absolutely hated it so ran back to tube amps & large pedalboards as fast as my feet could carry me. These days though my tube amp & pedal use is limited exclusively to the studio & I figured I’d try the QC as a portable/live solution for the rare occasion when the need arises. For these purposes it’s been excellent & I would not rule out using it in the studio either to be honest.

From the perspective an old-skill tube amp nut like myself the QC really is head-and-shoulders above all other modellers in terms of sound, feel & responsiveness &; although real amps & pedals will always be king when all of the circumstances & variables happen to line up perfectly, I feel that this coupled with the consistency & practicality of the QC have me totally on-board & embracing the platform going forward.

Again though, totally understand the preference for real amps etc. …you’re back won’ thank you though & I hope you have good hearing protection! :upside_down_face: All the best buddy. :slightly_smiling_face:

4 Likes

I was researching low wattage, small, quality tube amps to save cartage, i.e. carr Super Bee, when I came across the QC. I’m over hauling my Super Reverb around and wanted something more manageable size and volume wise. The QC ticks a lot of boxes but I’m not parting with any of my tube amps or pedals any time soon. Good luck on your tone quest!

2 Likes