Quad Cortex. Should I buy it?

It applies to most low voltage plastic gadgets. If you look at a phone charger for instance, the ground pin of the mains plug is plastic. There will be no ground connection, and the same goes for laptop chargers. USB is normally isolated from the casing ground even in a desktop PC with a metal case.

Magsafe power supplies did come with two different adapters for the wall side of the supply (my MacBook pro 2015 had one of these). If you are using the grounded one (three prongs / type f plug) the MacBook is grounded to earth. Don’t know if that’s still a thing on the newer MacBooks Pros, but my MacBook Air M2 came only with an ungrounded / floating supply.

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I haven’t had a plastic laptop in 15 years! The power supply certainly looks like it’s grounded. 3 metal prongs on the plug, with two obvous power pins and a big ground nub on the power brick.

I get power through tb4 from my screen now, though. I know old USB didn’t need it, but now it’s carrying 100W over these tiny cables, I figured it must be required for safety…

There is the known issue of occasional bit crush on recordings. I had that every now and then but switching to another interface and back usually fixed it. The guy I sold it to had the same problem, but couldn’t fix it.

If you do get one, I suggest buying brand new with a good return policy, so you can test it thoroughly in your setup.

Welcome to the club! I’m a Gretsch man too so was wondering which amps you are using for cleans? I love the Captain 50 and Mesaboogies. Strangely, the Squid is really good at clean and edge of breakup too.

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Hello, the Deluxe Reverb from tone junkie is pretty good

Once I get a little better I will start to upload a few of my rigs.
I like a tone that plays good rhythm , but also can carry lead fills without any adjustment.
What Messa amps are you using ?

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The CA 1star clean channels. If you’re looking for dark jazzy tones look for some of the polytone brute captures on the cortex cloud.

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Thanks, guys. I’ve placed my order and I’ll let you know my impressions as soon as i get the QC.

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Congratulations, Ale! I think you’ll be impressed. Make sure to download and, at least, skim the manual so you’ll be prepared to dive right in. Let us know what you think.

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Hi! First post on this forum. As OP I’m on the market for a QC, coming from a AX8 which covers all my needs but you know…we always want more, better, newer stuff XD How’s been your experience @Ale ?

Headphones is not a big deal for me , my bigger concerns are quality of effects (rotary, phaser, reverbs, delay and chorus is what I use to use) and gaps when switching between clean/crunch/drive amps as I’m going to use it mainly in live situations. Actually I’m a “one only preset” user and use scenes and stomps so hybrid mode is perfect for me.

Any help enlightening about this will be appreciated, thank you all for all the help you provide through this forum.

@jLupi Since you are coming from an Ax8 (and I’m assuming using it as an all in one), I think you will find the QC interface more modern and intuitive. It will be a quick learn, and you’ll be building a preset in no time.

Effects, amp sims and captures are top notch. Like everything they will require some tweaking to fit your style of music and ear.

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Thanks for the feedback @andycoalter !
Yes, definitely different UI which is one of the things that are making me take the step, together with USB interface feature, Cortex Cloud, captures…

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I finally couldn’t resist and ordered a QC 24h fast shipping lol
I’ll let you know my impressions and how’s compared to my fas ax8 soon.

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Good to hear, looking forward to your thoughts

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Thanks, will check them out

@jLupi did you get it? What’s your impression? Mine gets shipped tomorrow

Hi there! Yes, it arrived this very morning and my first impression is… what a piece of gear!! I mean, I’ve been diving into factory preset 1A Brit 2203 and it’s scenes for like an hour or more and I couldn’t stop! :sweat_smile:
If you want to practice, jam over tracks, study… that’s all you need. It’s appreciated you don’t need to waste hours dialing a tone, you just spend that time playing!

I then spent some time trying the different presets and creating one from blank. What a UI, light years away from what I’m used to. It’s easy, straightforward, intuitive… can’t find more words.
The amps and cabs are organic, responsive to attack, intensity and volume knob.

The only two negative points that I found are:

  • Effects like reverbs, delays, chorus or drives are top notch, but there’s one in particular that I use, Rotary, which is not at the level of the ax8. Also Wah is less tweakable, the possibility of set the frequency range would be a plus. It allowed me to get Cantrell or Perrucci sounds.
  • ⁠Thinking of live situation, a control switch would be appreciated, or more flexibility for the switchs so that I could set three scenes, a control switch that engages a delay and eq for solos and 4 different effects on the switches. I’m aware this is a very popular topic and there are Feature Requests opened for that.

But knowing of Neural commitment and constant updates I’m sure these two points will be solved in a future.

I’ve used it through studio monitors, the return of an old solid state amp I have at home and headphones. I’m glad I didn’t experiment any kind of noise, buzz, hum or anything through the HP, maybe due to my HP are 250 Ohms but not sure this has anything to do with it.

To all this I have to add the possibility of loading captures (and plugins in a future update), usb audio features, portability (just weights 2Kg) and cortex cloud which is an incredible tool when it comes to share content.

So, is it worth? IMHO, definitely YES.
Very happy with the purchase, I’m sure it will provide years of fun and playing. Can’t wait to try it live!

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Got it and played 30 minutes. It’s great, feels great. From the first chord it’s a keeper. Headphones sound great no noises or buzz.
I’m very happy. On heaphones it rivals my slo plugged into the ox box.
I didn’t ger the captures. They sound like there’s no cab. I have to discover but first impression is fantastic!

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Glad you like it. I’ve played HUNDREDS of gigs with my QC and have never had a stutter, glitch or anything unwanted. The QC is unquestionably one of the most rock solid pieces of gear I own.

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Hey jLupi, glad you’re happy with your QC. I loved (and still have) my AX8 but have no regrets with the QC. Is it a perfect guitar processor? No, none are, but it has so many positives and it sounds fantastic. The UI gets you there fast, too. Have fun and welcome to the forum!

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