Yep, eq’ing it helps for each particular rig… what it’s weird is that same presets with almost same rig through headphones, straight from the unit, sounds totally opposite. For example the “Classic Guit Chime” and the “Nice & Crispy” that Rabea made sounds awesome on youtube, with all the details of the highs and crispiness, and in my unit it sounds like if someone had turned down all the highs… and same with some other factory presets that sound really good on YT and not even clear here.
Thanks, i’m already in touch with neural support trying to fix this issue.
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Hi @Alezalles , what is your complete signal chain and output(s) being used? Also, what is your input gain configured for?
I had exactly this problem with my first QC. Straight out of the box I thought it sounded muddy like my guitar’s tone control was rolled off. I tried different guitars, setting the input impedance to 10m, but whatever I tried nothing seemed to fix it. I also tested it by downloading shared captures from YouTube videos and comparing them to how it sounded on mine, but it was obvious something was wrong.
I contacted support and they asked me to provide a recording via USB of the dry and wet signal of preset 1A to compare with their test units. I did this and after their tests they told me the results came out sounding the same and therefore my unit was normal.
Luckily (as it turned out) my QC developed 2 other faults shortly after this so I returned it and bought another once they were back in stock.
On plugging into the replacement unit it was immediately obvious that the previous one had definitely been faulty, everything sounded open and clear like I felt it should and I didn’t even need to change the input impedance.
So why would Neural say there was nothing wrong with the first unit when clearly there was?
I think the test they had me do doesn’t actually test the tonal impact of the whole unit and only proves that there’s no fault with the onboard audio processing. If the dry audio I provided was already muddy due to a fault with the unit’s inputs (which is what I suspect the problem was) then running that dry recorded audio into another unit would yield the same results since the “dry” signal was already muddy.
With this in mind if anyone else is having this issue I would definitely try and compare yours to another QC if you can. In my instance it proved there was definitely something wrong with the first one I had (and the fact it had 2 other faults forcing me to return it turned out to be a blessing in disguise).
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I thought I might chime in with maybe some help if I can. I find some SERIOUS eq’ing works wonders. Usually the 10-band to really dig in there. I use my ENGL Loud Clean capture for all my cleans. I’ve shared it if anyone is interested along with my other Engl captures. I only use my amp sounds, but my ears are partial. 
I also captured an Xotic EP Booster that I used to sparkle up my chain. That helps quite a bit too. It sort of works like an exciter, but more subtle.
I’ve had my unit a year and still love it, but I find I am still tweaking my tone a little closer to bliss every day. I sold my Engl if that means anything.
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Did you also try using input 2 and does it sound muddy too?
I’m wondering if input 1 is especially prone to being damaged because there is risk that people connect their amp’s speaker out to it during capturing. The unit displays some warnings to avoid this, but who knows what happened with your QC before you bought it.
Hey @Alezalles , my situation here is that i play 6 gigs per week so i can’t send back the unit and get another one, so i had to get used to the issue. Removing the ribbon mic and positioning the 57 or the condenser all the way to the center of the cab it helped to sound better. I also captured my King of Tone and that changed the game too. It’s a shame because i was super excited about this unit and then got disappointed… but in live situation at least it works well this way.
Just in addition to my previous comments:
When I was having the same problem I found this thread and saw people’s recommendations to add EQ. I had to really boost the treble on everything but it worked to some extent and I made a bunch of presets I was reasonably happy with before the unit was returned.
When I received the replacement I downloaded my previously created presets from the cloud and on the new QC they all sounded really harsh by comparison. I had to drastically reduce the treble or remove the EQ block completely to get it to sound right again, so that clearly demonstrated just how much the first unit was rolling off the treble.
So yes you can counteract the problem with EQ to some extent, but it’s just masking the problem.
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Just chiming in here to agree that many of the factory presets sound pretty muffled, but it’s kinda hard to say whether it’s outside the scope of what’s “acceptable” versus just being darker than my preference. I will say they sound much, much darker and boxier on average than the Neural plugins, especially the high gain sounds. Not sure if it’s the amp models on the unit, the presets, or something else.
I don’t think it’s anything to do with my unit though. I downloaded the Rabea presets in his video and they sound pretty much exactly alike when I play the same riffs and licks he’s playing (a little different because I’m not using a Telecaster and whatever high gain monster he’s got, but pretty dang close).
One thing I did notice is that things sound muddier to my ears when the QC unit volume is turned below 100. I don’t know if it’s just placebo effect or what, but I found it to be muddier when I turn the QC dial below 100 and turn the headphone volume up rather than vice versa.
I will say though that I hope Neural looks into the muddiness/darkness of many of the presets/amp models specifically. There are so many community created presets and captures that sound absolutely stellar, including the ones that Rabea put in that video, that I’d hate for people’s first impression of the QC to be “ew, the QC sounds muddy”. Some of the presets and amp models sound great to my ears, but many of them are very congested sounding.
Regarding the volume knob, NDSP has recommended to leave at 100% for the best SNR as it behaves as an attenuator then tweak presets as needed. If anyone continues to experience tone anomalies, please reach out to support@neuraldsp.com and they will get you sorted.
Not trying to be a troublemaker, but what is the purpose of the volume knob, if it’s recommended to keep it turned all the way up?
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You are fine.
As paraphrased from the manual, the volume wheel simply controls the output level, and it affects all the outputs. You need a quick method of reducing volume if and when necessary, hence the volume wheel etc. The I/O Settings output controls allow you to control the levels of each output independently combined with the preset/signal grid levels.
I can see the reason why it’s recommended to leave the volume knob at full while gigging. But when QC is used in a studio environment, especially as an audio interface, it seems quite natural to control the monitor volume by the QC volume knob instead of controlling it on each monitor separately.
Therefore it would be quite surprising if turning the knob changed the sound in another way than reducing the output level in the I/O pane.
And yet that is what it does by reducing the signal to noise ratio. Or does making changes in the I/O pane also suffer that fate?
it doesn’t change the sound. This is a misconception based on the advice that “it sounds best at max”, meaning it will have the best signal to noise ratio - not that it actually sounds better.
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I guess it depends on how you define “changing the sound.” My point was that if the S/N ratio changes using the knob, but not using the I/O panel, then that’s good to know so you can choose appropriately based on your specific task at hand.
I leave my volume around 80-85, because I prefer to have some wiggle room.
Do what works for you.
Me, too. Hopefully, the S/N ratio, though technically lower, is still nothing to worry about.
It sounds fine. The idea of levels in the presets is way too time consuming live when there is a giant knob on top of the device.
Hi Ryan, I have had my Quad Cortex for a while now, and I ready your post about how it sounded, like the tone control was rolled off. Well I have the exact same problem. Most of my gain rigs tend to sound muddy, no matter what I do with EQ’s. Now you kind of get used to it and I found myself always tweaking. My most recent test was A/B with my Kemper Stage, I found a great profile and have been using this a while. I compared both the Stage and the QS through an FRFR speaker and The QS just sounded like it was in a box. Since you had your new one, I presume all is well?