Hi there. I’m considering purchasing a Quad Cortex and I would love some input from current users.
Some background on me:
For home recording I use several of the Neural DSP plugins and absolutely love them. They sound every bit as good as a high end tube amp to my ears.
I don’t tour, but I play live gigs anywhere from 6 to 10 times per year with a jazz fusion band. I currently use a small Fuchs ODS Deluxe amp that weighs under 40 lbs and I love its tone. I would say on half of the gigs, my amp is mic’ed up and the other half are smaller venues where I’m not going through a PA.
As I’m getting older, I love the idea of not having to lug an amp to gigs, but the fact that I’m not going through a PA on half my gigs is why I’m I’m on the fence. If I’m not going through the PA, I would need to bring along a FRFR cab, and it seems to me that most of these weigh the same (or more) than my current Fuchs amp.
I would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks in advance.
Hello… Well for me I sold my amps and was convinced I’ll go all digital look for the best frfr cab or build one, and well I built one…and I still miss my amps so for the small pub gigs I’ll use my QC and for studio stuff and when playing online… I also use plugins which to me sound abit nicer than the QC personally…
But for in the room sound amp sound I’m buying an amp again nice juicy valve amp and just use the QC as an fx unit
Get a powerstage 700 and a proper cab. An FRFR is basically a big loud studio monitor, playing back the mic signal from your cab in the other room.
(I tried to edit above to include the quote, accidentally hit delete, and can’t find a way to bring it back)
Same advice for OP. There’s no getting around how much speakers weigh, but a QC and PS700 fit in a backpack and weigh less than 5kg combined…but will also give you the headroom and punch that you’d expect from a tube amp. You’d just have to pair it with whatever cab suits. A tiny lightweight 1x12 maybe, although then the PS700 will be huge overkill…
Hi wolfy,
I had the same goal as you -minimizing the effort playing gigs- and tried every possible alternative. Now I play the QC for about two years and gladly share my experience with you.
For me the QC is perfect if you have a real good amp that you can capture, because you then are able to play with exactly your sound and are not depending on someone elses taste. You have to keep in mind that captures are a snapshot of exactly one configuration of your amp, and if you need another sound you need another capture. And the capture process is much easier as with Kemper or Tonex, I tried both and was not as fast and as exact as with QC.
One very important finding was for me, that you should not use a FRFR cab if you are used to listen to your amp on stage and if you do not use an in ear system. The difference to your original amp sound is drastic and my band colleages strictly forbid me to play the QC through my monitors. The only way to really have fun is to get a tube power amp -I use the Fryette PS 100 and the Mooer Tube engine, the Seymour Duncan Class D Power amps have less dynamics, at least for me- and a Guitar cab and then the QC comes to 99,9% of the original, which I can confirm because I use a cab switching system and have compared Original and QC through the same cab and at the same volume.
For me this is the perfect solution because I can have three virtual amps and all the FX I need and all is set up and tore down in about five minutes. Plus, I am able to adapt to almost any volume levels and still have my sound.
Therefore, if I were you I would check if there is any advantage to your setup with your Fuchs (a fantastic superdynamic amp, I had a ODS 100 some years before and although it was not perfect for me I loved the sounds it could deliver) against the solution with a tube power amp. I am pretty sure that you would not have too much fun playing through a FRFR cab, because you lose dynamics and depth because of the way the cab works, that has nothing to do with the QC.
Yes but the OP wondering should he buy a QC and I gave him my opinion on what I did and what I found… He has an amp that he is happy with from what I can tell… The powerstage and QC will still not not sound or feel like a real amp /or the amp I’d want to play through, and have tried, but I like combos… Anyway I’d say for his use case it seems like an unnecessary investment. I just bought mine to have one cause I like Neural stuff…
I can agree to what Gunter has said and will get you close… But still it’s not exactly the same to me… But all these are opinions and based on one’s taste and what there ears hear and we all hear differently… The only way you are really going to know if it’s for you is too bite the bullet and get one and go down the rabbit hole in trying out a variety of things…
As good as these things sound on recordings in your headfones they are still not the same as a real amp…
Just my opinion… But I still have one and still enjoy using it
Thank you for your reply. Wow, great idea, and I had not considered that at all.
So I can have QC and Powerstage mounted on my pedal board and then bring a lightweight 1x12 standard guitar cab.
One more question for you: Will the QC allow me to cut down on the # of pedals on my board? Right now my board has delay, reverb, chorus and several o/d pedals. I’m guessing I won’t need any more dirt pedals with the QC.
Thanks again DDguitars. I agree, that investing in a QC might be overkill for my use case given the infrequency of my live gigs with not all going through a PA. Right now I port a 40 lb amp and 30 lb pedal board to a gig. Using the approach suggested of QC → PowerStage → 1x12 guitar cab the weight savings isn’t huge. I’ll still be lugging a pedal board (which might weigh more), but I’ll be saving some weight by losing the 40 lb amp and replacing with a 20 lb speaker cab.
Your point about not liking the live tone as much as an amp is probably my biggest concern. Thank you again!
GunterGnu, thanks so much for your detailed response and advise. That is intriguing to capture tube amp tone. I actually own 3 tube amps (Suhr Badger 30 head, Victoria Victorilux 1x15 and the Fuchs ODS). I’m hearing a really cool possibility then of capturing 1 or more sounds from each amp and potentially switching between them live. That really does sound like another huge advantage that I had not considered.
When I read your amp list I would definitely go for a tube power amp, because the response of a Class D Power amp as far as my experience goes is much more saggy or less dynamic than for instance my Fryette.
Almost certainly. Definitely drive pedals. Unless your delay/reverb are Strymon, and you use their unique complex settings, you’ll be able to replicate most ‘regular’ stuff.
Which SS amps did you try, out of interest? I swear I see so many people who’ve made up their minds, but only tried some anaemic little 200W thing, and expect it to compete with a 100W valve amp. I forget the exact numbers, but don’t you need something like 4x SS power to get the equivalent valve, so a 100W valve head = 400W SS.
I had and gigged an Engl Powerball for 15 years. I spent a good while A/B testing it against the powerstage before eventually selling the Engl.
You have to keep in mind that captures are a snapshot of exactly one configuration of your amp, and if you need another sound you need another capture. And the capture process is much easier as with Kemper or Tonex, I tried both and was not as fast and as exact as with QC.
@GunterGnu does capturing amps at home require an investment in high end mics? The only mic I own is an inexpensive Sennheiser e609.
I use the Fryette PS 100 and the Mooer Tube engine
I did a quick search for the the Mooer Tube engine. It seems reasonably priced and super light weight. Question: Does the 20 watts provide enough volume / headroom for live shows? The Fryette looks really great, but is way more expensive.
If getting high quality captures in my home is doable, I might just buy a QC and capture various configs of my 3 tube amps, and then maybe sell off 1 or 2 of them (keeping the Fuchs of course!). For live use, I already have an external 1x12 cab, so I’ll just need a tube power amp.
The 20 watt solid state power amp does not provide enough volume for a live show. I would at least look into the Seymour Duncan Powerstage 170.
Capturing an amp at home doesn’t require high end mics. An E609 is a great guitar microphone. SM57 is the all time standard and that’s only $100. Just requires that you have a setup that you think sounds good.
If you’re planning to use a real guitar cab with the QC, you’ll need to take direct captures, either from an FX send, or the main amp out via a loadbox.
For captures you just need a decent reactive load like the two notes captor or the suhr reactive load, then it works really well at home. I did captures at home and in the rehearsal room with a speaker connected, and it was not that much difference, if at all. You just need to keep sure that the levels are allright, but the QC leads you through the process really easy.
I have not yet tried the Mooer with the band (I got it for playing at home) but I tried it in the rehearsal room, and it seems to be real loud, that means you have presumably enough headroom at lower levels. And one of my amps is a Friedman PT 20 which has 20 watts and is absolutely loud enough, so I would suppose this would be ok. But it depends how loud you play, of course.
By the way: the Seamour Duncan Powerstage I had called 170 watts which is loud but not beautiful and by no means louder than my 20 watt Friedman PT 20. For me it just lacks the warmth and strength of a tube amp.
The Fryette has 100 watts and of course enough headroom, but at our last gig I had to turn it down to about 25% and it was still very loud, because we are a rather loud playing band. At 50% it would have been a guitar solo gig (which was a nice thought ). This is an amp for playing really really loud.
I had various ss amps, the last was a Seymour Duncan Powerstage with 170 Watts which was loud enough (although we play loud but not at deafening levels) but not good sounding at all, and I had the powered Kemper amp which was not bad but there was also just something lacking soundwise. The Fryette is really loud, for a power amp this means a nice headroom and for me the QC Captures of my Friedmans just sound perfect.
But according to my experience 15w or 20w tube amps are definitely loud enough for most situations if they have a good transformer like my Friedmann PT 20. And the little Mooer tube engine obviously also has a rather heavy transformer and makes a really good impression concerning sound and headroom, although I had not the opportunity to test it with the band.
so for the small pub gigs I’ll use my QC and for studio stuff and when playing online… I also use plugins which to me sound abit nicer than the QC personally…
). This is an amp for playing really really loud.