Greetings all, new user here with a brand new Quad Cortex! I’ve been a fan of Neural’s plug-ins for a couple of years and was looking forward to the QC. I’ve played through modelers but never owned one until now. My initial thoughts after a couple of hours of noodling:
The UI and ease of use can’t be stressed enough. It’s SO easy to use and pretty ingenious with WiFi connectivity. Lots of people spoke about this so I won’t say too much more
Form factor is incredible. Wish the foot switches were spaced out a little more but still usable. Easy to transport is why I got it over an AxeFX 3
Sounds tremendous. I’ve mostly just stuck to my meat & potatoes - amp & cab. The models are great and are quite dynamic for low gain/edge of breakup. The high gain amps are KILLER. I’ve got about 15 models left (no bass yet) to try and I’m excited. I’ve read a lot about how some players prefer captures over models but I managed to get 95% there to a recording tone by just following what I always do in the studio (used to be a full time engineer too): amp, cab…tweak the amp…change cabs…fine tune with mic placement and mic selection. Oh and change picks if necessary!
Captures are great. Some user ones are better than others, to be expected.
Messed with about 20 presets. The FX sound great and this has a LOT of power
I haven’t tried it as a USB interface yet, that’s coming soon. All in all I’m very happy with it. I look at the unit as an investment in the future. I’m sure Neural’s gonna continue to upgrade and improve everything about the unit, from FX, more models, modeling technology, UI improvements, etc.
I’ve been a Fractal user for many years … from Axe FX Ultra to FM9 Turbo.
I must say that Fractal can do it all also the community and service is amazing…can fault them.
Now…what I love about the Quad Cortex …
It’s super easy to use and within an hour I was creating presets
It’s tiny, so I can have a small gig bag
It’s powerful … I can add multiple amps, cabs, effects and it doesn’t suffer
The forum community is very helpful
Sounds great
Great for recording
Makes me play … the touch screen makes it just simple to change / try stuff…it’s great.
I just hope that they listen to us and keep us updated otherwise people will start selling…this happened to me with atomic amplifire … sounds ok but no updates, information etc…so I sold it.
I won’t! The QC does everything I need right now. We all love the dopamine rush of new firmware, but I’m not selling the QC just because I’m not getting my weekly placebo fix.
We have monthly updates to let us know new features are being developed.
Love this comment “We all love the dopamine rush of new firmware, but I’m not selling the QC just because I’m not getting my weekly placebo fix.”
Being an ‘old-timer’ (playing 40 years) I’ve seen a lot of changes. From the TS9/Peavey Backstage days - to the POD ‘bean’ - to Axe Fx - it’s been quite a ride. I’ve owned the QC for about a month now. I’ll never go back to amps - never go back to the Fractal tweak-fest.
The way I look at firmware updates is that they are bonuses. How many updates do you get when you buy an amp? Reinhold doesn’t come to your house to update your Ecstasy. You get what you get when you buy it.
The QC is perfect as it is for me. If they want to throw me an extra amp or delay every now-and-again …great. We are living in the greatest time to be guitar players. I’m grateful.
Yuuup!!! Also, I think the guitar community forgets at times that other companies, like Fractal, have many years of development behind their products. It took them a loooong time to develop all the amp models and get the sound & feel where it is today. For Neural’s first hardware unit they did an outstanding job. And guess what? It’s likely only going to get BETTER!!!
You all got me wrong there…I don’t expect neuraldsp to have as many amps of stuff as the FM9 for example. All I was trying to say is that products like the Amplifire where left to die. Still a good product but I won’t keep a product that never gets updated.
Also, I’m new here so I didn’t know that they give you monthly updates (which is great).
It’s a great product, but still got bugs which I’m sure will get sorted.
Oh no I wasn’t talking about you, more about criticisms I’ve heard from YouTubers and other guitarists about the QC and comparisons vs other modelers, especially Fractal, in general. You bring up good points. Welcome aboard! Good to see the forum getting more active too, that always helps
Interesting! I dabbled with Fractal FM3 and FM9, and frankly found the forum to be quite toxic. Every feature request seemed to devolve into technical arguments as to why the original poster was wrong, and God help someone who made a statement critical of any Fractal product. This forum seems to be much more pleasant and positive. But of course just my experience and 2 cents.
Hey frankvhalen!
I know this is an old thread, but what do you think of the QC now, one year down the road? I am in a similar position to you when you made this original post. I have used a Helix & several Fractal products in the past (Ax8, Fm3), and currently am using a Fractal FM9.
I do like the FM9 - it can get some great sounds and it has a very well developed set of effects & a very configurable switching system. I gig with it routinely but it’s definitely not small or light, and I really want to have a smaller more compact & portable rig, without losing too much capability.
I ordered a QC and I am waiting for it to come in so I can begin the process of getting used to it and hopefully get ready to use it instead of the FM9.
I still love it as much as I did last year! I’ve got a rehearsal coming up Friday and guess what? Tossing it in a backpack with a few cables and I’m GOOD! Still love the interface and the sounds keep improving with the updates. No regrets at all, despite development being a bit slow. It’s only improving from here which is even more exciting.
Tip for footswitches. The top
Ones are raised a bit. But try Solutek buttons on top row. Theyre on Amazon come in a case of 12 that I ordered in grey. They have rubber inserts and 3 screws. A lot less $$ than barefoot buttons. I paid about $23 for all of them. Give them a try. I love the quad’s UI the feel and the sound. Enjoy it!!!
Well I’ve had a couple of days (really only a few hours of actual use) with my newly arrived QC and so far I am very happy with it. There are some really great tones in this little box & a lot more to be discovered on the cloud so lots to absorb. I’m still trying to find my way around and get to know how it all works. Lots to learn, but getting there is half the fun!
A couple of things regarding the power supply/grounding/noise issues I have heard so much about:
I can plug in a single guitar and a set of headphones with nothing else attached and I am not hearing hum or noise - at least not anything you wouldn’t hear normally. If you crank up a super gainy amp, you get noise but that’s pretty much universal to all modelers and real amps.
If I have it connected to powered speakers via XLR’s and I power down the QC, I get hum through the speakers. This doesn’t happen if I just put the QC on standby.
Anyway so for, so good! Looking forward to figuring out all the little tips & tricks to the QC and building up a set of usable gigging presets.
sounds good! What you describe is normal behavior. That’s great that you don’t have extraneous noise; for many that do it’s the environment and there’s not always a lot you can do.
Most users either shut down their speakers first, or leave the QC in standby because of the hum you describe, that’s normal because of the floating grounds lifting on the XLRs when the QC powers off.
