# On the fence about Quad Cortex purchase **URL:** \ **Category:** Quad Cortex\ **Created:** [November 28, 2024, 1:42pm UTC](https://unity.neuraldsp.com/t/on-the-fence-about-quad-cortex-purchase/16325 "2024-11-28T13:42:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![UglyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@UglyBunny](https://unity.neuraldsp.com/u/UglyBunny)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2024, 12:43am UTC](https://unity.neuraldsp.com/t/on-the-fence-about-quad-cortex-purchase/16325/26 "2024-11-30T00:43:49Z")
I still keep my Mark IV combo amp; that’s going to my grave with me, no matter how good modeling gets in the future. It’s fairly rare and lives in a beautiful myrtlewood cabinet, so it’s as much furniture as it is music gear 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Heretolisten](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Heretolisten](https://unity.neuraldsp.com/u/Heretolisten)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2024, 1:07am UTC](https://unity.neuraldsp.com/t/on-the-fence-about-quad-cortex-purchase/16325/27 "2024-11-30T01:07:50Z")
Yea the quad is great but it took yrs to get my amps and I want to enjoy them. There great and there’s no way I just got them and to turn around and sell them is not happening. I used cheap gear for yrs as I was learning and I mean cheap. I only started buying tube amps maybe the last 10 yrs and even recently. Only when I felt I deserved them plus, saved up and traded up. Idk how much longer I’ll even be able to find an amp repair guy. The one I have now is great but there aren’t many good ones around me. They’re staying. I would sell a few I don’t use. But I’m not giving them away on reverb. I’ll do consignment first. Cheers. ---
**Author:** ![PickinPete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/aeb1de/32.png) [@PickinPete](https://unity.neuraldsp.com/u/PickinPete)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2024, 4:55pm UTC](https://unity.neuraldsp.com/t/on-the-fence-about-quad-cortex-purchase/16325/28 "2024-11-30T16:55:23Z")
An other thing you might consider is whether or not you plan to use an acoustic guitar or guitar synth on stage. If so, you’ll need to go FRFR to get good, full-range tones. I play a couple of Kiesels (with piezo bridges) through the QC with a pair of FRFR cabs and I’m super happy with my electric AND acoustic tones. If you’re used to hearing yourself through studio monitors at home, the transition to using a good FRFR (or 2) on stage may not be difficult for you. I used to play through a Line 6 rack set‐up into a 35 watt Brown Note combo and got really good results for electric but I always had to tote a separate PA speaker (FRFRs didn’t exist) for my acoustic. Now days, most gigs, I’m mixing the band from on stage. Our other guitarist uses a traditional pedalboard through a Bad Cat combo and he gets great electric tones but when I step out front to check the mix, my guitar sound is always “better produced” and sits better in the mix. He gave up on acoustic as he didn’t like the sound through his floor wedge and didn’t want to haul more gear. If you always have a sound tech mixing from the house, they can use compression, EQ, and adjust guitar levels on-the-fly to help a standard guitar amp sound good in the mix. Whether you run your QC through a standard guitar amp or go the FRFR route, the QC gives you plenty of options to get good great results. ---
**Author:** ![victorywithin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/unity.neuraldsp.com/victorywithin/32/1904_2.png) [@victorywithin](https://unity.neuraldsp.com/u/victorywithin)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2025, 3:05pm UTC](https://unity.neuraldsp.com/t/on-the-fence-about-quad-cortex-purchase/16325/29 "2025-06-18T15:05:32Z")
I bought the QC coming from Helix but also had a Mesa Rectifier preamp with a Mesa 50/50 power amp. I sold the preamp but kept the power amp and cab. You get the best of both worlds ---
**Author:** ![GianniShreds](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/unity.neuraldsp.com/giannishreds/32/8151_2.png) [@GianniShreds](https://unity.neuraldsp.com/u/GianniShreds)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2025, 3:14pm UTC](https://unity.neuraldsp.com/t/on-the-fence-about-quad-cortex-purchase/16325/30 "2025-06-18T15:14:21Z")
I’ve only owned it for a couple of months. I also have a Fractal FM9 , Kemper Head and Stage. I really love the smaller footprint and quality of sound I at the studio and at gigs. My only gripe is the updates which have us waiting for real long time. [Previous page](https://unity.neuraldsp.com/t/on-the-fence-about-quad-cortex-purchase/16325.md?page=1)