The reason I ordered a QC was in the strength of the interface, but it seems several of you are not that blown away by QCs interface
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I ordered, UI was the first check on my list.
the UI is THAT good, easy to dial a good tone, easy to manage it.
it takes 2 minute to boot the device, and setup a simple signal chain (amp + cab + reverb+ delay) and play.
close to what it would take with a real tube amp that needs to warm up.
I’m not a ‘‘power tweaker’’ I would say, but I have build some chain (I would class as complex, other would call me newb) with 4-5 amp captures each with effects, assigned to stomp. easy peasy
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I agree with what March stated. Probably the easiest and most intuitive UI in the market. And…it is pretty.
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This is coming from a skeptic and a tube amp user. I have had all kinds of tube amps, Marshalls, Mesa’s, Bogner, 5150 varieties. I have also had a few modelers including the Axe Fx 3 and FM3. I currently use a Caeriatone AH50 I built and a JTM 45. To me the modeling blows away the Helix and is easily equal to Fractal. It is that good. Right from the opening preset. I am very surprised the modeling hasn’t been raved about more. This winter I built a 2204 for a friend and I don’t think I will even bother borrowing it to capture because the Brit 2203 nails it. I am tier 2 USA and having played just a few hours it is well worth the wait. I did become a bit disgruntled about the cloud thing while waiting but that appears to be an over reaction. Thank you NDSP for delivering the goods and I am glad I hung in there.
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Since you are a tube amp user. Does the Cortex capture tube warmness, specific colouring, crunch and feel sufficiently?
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I actually think it does that better than Fractal. Because of that and just like a real amp you have to use a pedal in front and maybe a little eq to really tighten up for high gain. But that also makes the models very usable in all cases. I mean you are never going to fire up a BE100 and play metal with no pedals or EQ. Or a Dual Rect for that matter. I think players coming from other modelers might not like that. But I hope they keep ii just like it is. The modeling is very under rated so far from what I have seen. I have never played a Kemper but this is different than anything else.
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After watching UPS circle my neighborhood for a few hours, the driver finally made his way to my house. The eagle has landed. This weekend should be fun. Thanks for all of the reflections so far, everyone - I’m pretty psyched to play around with this bad boy.
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Received the unit yesterday (The Netherlands), for now it was worth the wait. Still a bit hesitating since this is a 1.0 product (or 0.9?). Hope to capture my tube amps at 75% volume - to capture that specific sound with saturated tubes and crunching speakers… Sorry neighbours, just a one time excercise!
Oh and by the way, the display looks great from all angles, as good as my TV. Is it OLED 120Hz, can’t find that spec?
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Do you mean you have to use an additional physical pedal in front or using a modelled pedal included in the QC?
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Well either will work but the modeled pedals are great
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So, after my first rehearsal with the QC (god I missed playing with people…) I have a few more notes:
- The tones are absolutely brutal, with a capture of my EBS valve drive for the “clean” tone, a factory capture of the B7K and the HPF / LPF blocks I was able to get the best tone I’ve ever had;
- The pitch shifter, octaver, filter all together on multiple lines make for amazing synth noise patches that hit spot on where I want, only comparable to when I had an M9 plus various drive and filter pedals;
- The ability to create “synth strings” like patches in parallel with the instrument is amazing, I can play the intro of a song with both the bass and my feet changing underlying chords;
Now for the not so good:
- The switches are a bit to close… when you have to use the top row it’s very easy to step on the lower row, I’m considering going back to my MIDI switcher or using the FCB1010
- Might be a me problem but I did not really find a way to send a DI signal (completely uneffected) through one of the XLR outs without loosing an entire grid line;
- There is also no way to merge non consecutive outs on the same line, imagine I wanted to send an XLR signal to the board and a Jack signal to my amp, I could not make a grid line output to 1 and 3 just 1&2 or 3&4
- I have to try this out but I imagine that, if I place a cab sim completely panned left and make the output 1&2 I would have cab-sim on 1 and no Cab-sim on 2 but that is likely not an option for people who play stereo
All this being said, I feel this will be an invaluable tool from here on. And I have only just touched the surface.
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Absolutely worth the wait. Sure there are a few things to work out but so far I am having a blast.
With rehearsals starting and shows lined up for June, I just couldn’t wait any longer for this damned QC to come out…so…I pulled the trigger and bought one for a few hundred bucks more on Reverb… SSSSSOOOOOO FREAKIN’ WORTH IT!!!
I’ve been playing with it non-stop all day long since it arrived this morning.
The only thing that is annoying is the lack of global settings for setting outputs, and whatnot…That will come, I know…
It’s a start, and a glorious one at that!
I’m sure I’ll find a few more things that mildly bother me, but for now…I’m blissed out…
Oh, and holy sh*t does it sound great coming out of 2 Headrush FRFR 108s!!! Freakin’ incredible!!!
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Howdy everyone! I also paid just a bit more than retail and snagged one on reverb. I’m hoping to have it next week. Can’t wait!
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Best UI I ever used on a hardware modeller!. I used Pod Pro HD rack, Helix LT, Helix Floor, Headrush Gigboard. Fractal FM3 (still have that one) . The encoders in switches is a brilliant idea. Dislike using computer editors for the hardware. For me the lack of PC editor was the selling point, hahaha
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I just saw a lengthy review on YouTube that was not promising at all. I don’t know though, if the reviewer just did not get it right or if it really was that bad.
- Wobbly switches
- Flanger sounded crap
- Chorus sounded crap
And worst of all … he was using a Friedmann Lead amp at one time and all the dials for tone stack and gain virtually did not respond at all.
I hope it was just the guy who did not know, what he was doing …
Cheers, Todde
Aside from the wobbly switches (mine are sturdy) the rest of these things have been addressed. There were bugs in the flanger and chorus that are set to be fixed very soon with an update.
As far as the Friedman, that’s how that channel actually functions on the tube amp. The clean and rhythm channels are much more tunable, both in the QC and tube versions.
I hope this helps some. I’ve spent a few weeks with my QC now and I’ve been quite happy with it. I think it’s bound to have some growing pains, like the chorus and flanger bugs, but overall, it’s very good.
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Wobbly is subjective. Mine have movement but considering their dual functionality I figure there has to be some ‘play’ included. But ya, that Youtube video is not very accurate at all. The stock chorus and flanger are fine - although not super refined yet. He was doing something wrong.
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Actually, this video Flangers that I made 11 years ago that is specifically about Flangers would suggest that I probably know more about the subject than you give me credit for… nevertheless, if you’re satisfied with the QC flanger then that’s great. The fact is, Doug Castro stated on The Gear Page that after seeing my video they went back and found a bug in the Flanger code and also said that it would be addressed for the next firmware release…
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My apologies.
I went back and re-read and realized it wasn’t you saying they are simply “crap”.
That’s what I was referencing. Again, sorry.