Im pretty sure it’s not my job to make you keep the QC, but I can answer a bit nevertheless.
For the durability, I don’t have statistics, but I personally have my QC for 4 years now and never had any issue.
For the power supply topic:
Using a C13 connector only works for devices with an internal power supply. The QC has the external one. It’s better if you use the QC on a powered pedalboard, but not so nice if you use it standalone. And the external power supply probably also helped to make the unit smaller. So I guess these are the reasons.
If you’re curious about upgrading to a different power supply, be sure to run a search in this forum to find the dozens (or hundreds) of solutions that work for other people. I can personally attest that you can do this for under $50. I have commented extensively on this elsewhere here.
Not that your concerns are invalid, but it seems you’ve been misinformed here: Just because people are cautious of the power jack doesn’t mean there is a real problem. Those anxious about it have found many creative ways to find peace of mind for their use case.
Many don’t even use the PSU but opt for another power source; battery packs, powerbanks, pedalboard power units, even LED light power supplies, nuclear power plants − naaarh just kidding.
Have yet to see some real problems with the PSU other than what can happen with any type. The new power supply coming with devises newly produced also has a better, more sturdy cable too.
You would be advised to use the search bar here to find out more. Fx on this power topic, feature requests and so on…
Thanks for the fast reply!!
I cant wait to test it out friday..
hopefully atleast 6 or more years without any problems with your quad cortex!
i see.. so the power supply is not inside the unit.. ok got ya!
But the mini haave a locking type setting with the power supply.. thats very nice.. but the normal verison doenst.. thats really stupid tbh.. i dont know why they nit doing that on the normal quad cortexzz
Oh it’s solid alright. Two men can stand on it. Never heard of a screen cracking either. Here’s a short fun vid I posted where you can see what a touring QC may look like (around the 2:16 mark):
You’re talking about plug-in compatibility (PCOM). There’s a lot going on with it:
If you look at the plug-ins on the NDSP website, they will tell you whether or not they are “PCOM Compatible”. This means that if you have a Quad Cortex, and if you have a paid license for that plug-in, you can access the plug-in’s sounds on the QC. You would need to sign in to your QC with your NDSP account.
Notice how some plug-in names have an ‘X’. This means that the plug-in is built, or re-built, to be ready for PCOM. Older plug-ins that don’t have the X are not ready for PCOM, yet. They need to be updated to an X version before they can be ported over to the QC.
Finally, the QC’s firmware needs to be updated to release PCOM for X plug-ins. The releases have come in batches of 2 or 3 plug-ins at a time. We have 7 at the time of this writing (March 2026). It is taking a very long to get these plug-ins out to QC, but the results so far have been incredible.
The current plan is to make all guitar plug-ins comptatible with the QC. We do not have any clue on which plug-ins will be released next, or their schedule. The best place to keep up with that info, if NDSP decides to share it, is on the News page of their website.
In your case, since you have licenses for Cory Wong X and Plini X, you would be able to use them on your QC.
Haha, not me neither, but think it looks cool busted up.
About plugin compatibility, called PCOM: Well, then you are again, yet again only partly, misinformed. Most plugins, except the Mantra, are supposed to be implemented to work with the QC. Two (Plini & Cory Wong) of the one’s you’ve purchased have been reprogrammed to work with the QC for Now. They are in a very different form factor than the PC versions tho, true to the simple QC’s setup with blocks.
For a personal reference I too wanted the plugins when I bought mine, but @Andyjcp here convinced me otherwise, so I stopped feeling the “needing”. Learning to use it without have been much more educating and rewarding for me.
About them sounding the same there’s different opinions here too. It’s not something I care about − at all.
To be open about it, and I speak only for myself, the reason why I chose to answer at once was not only to help, but also to some extent that some of the things you brought up (triggers) have historically started heated discussions and I didn’t wanna see that trivial rocking horse gettin’ spurred.
Not that I’m exempt from having my share of consciousness gaps here and there, yet historically complainers [for my part] have sucked the juice out of the possibilities of this forum being primarily a place for creativity sharing. Too much energy from those enthusiasts with the good ideas have gone into trying to explain the obvious abundance of upsides to those who had loud complaints only because their own little wants wasn’t available or limited. Reasonably or not. Often entitled demands, all while the QC fast became the overwhelmingly by far most popular modeler on the market, with an outnumbering amount of satisfied and happy hikers.
And Now with the QC Mini only to top that further I ask only of humility for this major accomplishment − from the major hurdles of putting the vision into form; through component crisis during the pandemic; security warnings; expectations; PCOM setbacks; “overpromising”; PR stunt outcries; pros and cons … and anything I missed.
With due respect for all the debaters (hot heads or not) who in the end has contributed to this and all the other awesome modelers out there. What an amazing space we thus live in ay’? It’s been one hell of a (bronco rocking horse?) ride.
My QC has be rock solid for 4 years and all my other Neural products, too. I have a mini and a Nano, too.
I played many gigs with the QC (mostly guitar) and the Nano (mostly for Bass) and I had no problems in any way or form.
From my experience their products where 100% reliable and with the Nano I would have a backup, if something went wrong, but so far I never had problems once during a live performance or a recording situation.
At the very beginning I once had a problem with the QC and I wrote them, that I have a gig coming and they repaired it and sent it back to me in 4 days, so that I could use it. That was very fast and very nice, so a good start to an absolute reliable experience for me.
In my (and some other users) the SD card died after 2 or 3 years, when I slightly dropped QC and it bounced.
My unit was a very first lot, so it might be the cause, but I think we have to avoid any shocks to the unit. These kind of guitar processors are almost small computers that run UNIX.
Anyway I love QC, and I’m waiting for my new QC mini…(when ir arrives??
Pretty cool being a first mover on this innovation. These things are prone to happen thus. Was hot on it from the start, just didn’t have the means. Got one second hand early 2022 (almost new, only a month old). Later it got some sound issues and later again it broke. Neural changed the motherboard, no charge. That one broke too (much later), couldn’t boot and got the whole unit replaced, brand new, again for free. Super service.
Hi, the power supply that comes with the QC is indeed pretty mediocre. To make sure there won’t be any issues on that front, I bought the Cioks DC7 and the Cioks Crux. And yes, that’s a significant investment. It cost me €317.00, which is a huge amount. The upside is that I’m now certain there won’t be any issues with the power supply.
(coming this friday)
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