I’m kind of in a similar situation; I have my QC (which is attached to a pedalboard with 2 expression pedals) hooked up to my studio monitors or Mac and at times when that room is being used by my wife, I just want to practice/jam for a bit in another room, without unplugging stuff etc. I have a Line 6 Powercab in the other room, which can be refreshing to play though after just playing through studio monitors.
From time to time I also jam at a mate’s house and having something a bit lighter (which isn’t attached to my pedal board) to chuck in a bag and go appeals to me (I don’t drive, so even my pedalboard with flight case is a bit of a ballache to transport without a taxi). I also like messing with gear, so was curious how something else might compare to the QC (which so far have 99% of the time used at home for practicing and recording - it’s sounded awesome on recordings so far).
So I ended up getting a Tone X pedal and plan to either;
(a) use this as my clean/dirty amp in conjunction with the small collection of analogue pedals I have left (the Univibe and Octavia sounds on the QC are currently a little lacking to my ears). Downside here without a switcher, is I’d be tap dancing switcing on/off various pedals at a time for some tunes, which is one of the main reasons I bought the QC (to avoid that)
(b) us the Tone X as my amp as above and see if I can find a good deal on a used HX Effects for all my affects + use a real wah or an the extra expression pedal I have (this would solve the tap dancing problem)
From using the QC at rehearsal studios etc a couple of times, I have found the switches a bit too close together to be switching whilst playing/singing and so the idea of having the Tone X as my amp channels and analogue effects separate (and easily seen on a dark stage) appeals to me. I’d imagine with practice I’d get used to the QC though; especially if I always keep my amp channels assigned to the same switches etc (I could also probably use the mushroom switch tips a bit more effectively; only have them on my amp channel switches etc.
Time will tell, but there might be a time where I leave the QC at home and take my “B rig”/Tone X rig to gigs etc.
Re; how the Tone X sounds, I’ve only had time to try it out once (with factory loaded sounds) since I bought it and I thought it sounded and felt (re; real amp feel) great.
If the OP just wants to switch between 1 or 2 amp sounds, prob can’t go wrong with the Tone X mini pedal (to have something like that and so affordable when I was a kid would’ve been incredible - same for the QC, although when I was a kid, no way I would’ve had the money to get one) . I got the Tone X pedal, as I got a good deal on one/saw value in the full software it came with and prefer having 3 switches on there.
UPDATE: Reading up on the HX Effects with Tone X idea, I’m not thinking it might not be a great idea, due to potential latency being added from the HX effects?
I also ready that using the Tone X in the effects loops of the HX effects and using the HX to change between amps on the Tone X produces a strange temporary audio bump when changing amps (apparently due to the way the HX works re; processing or something).
I might try a HX effects in to my Tone X one day, but I think for now Analogues pedals in to the front of the Tone X should be be pretty nice (although tap dancing needed at times). Just need to sort out a board to put everything on and a power supply for the pedals.
I’d imagine unless you are using a lot of delay and such, most people for a Rock gig say could get by pretty well with a Tone X, Wah and a tuner. With A, B and C on the Tone X set to (Captures of) Dirty Rythm amp, Clean Amp and Dirty with Overdrive or whichever order you like. The Reverb sounds good on the Tone X, so that’s at least one pedal covered.
Do love my QC though (mainly for the ease of moving stuff around in the chain and turning things on/off within scenes or whatever) - I’m sure as I start using it for gigging (when I have a new band together) I’ll love it even more
