NDSP Quad Cortex

[SillyOctpuss]

The Lethal Weapon soundtrack being played ond 16 broken ghetto blasters at once, in the middle of Harlem.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Nameless probably my favourite NDSP sim, but not with the stock IR’s.

I dig the SLO too but it’s slightly on the dark/bloated side. It’s basically the only NDSP plugin where I like using the built in EQ to add a bit more sizzle back.

 

[Jynx]

Another Radiohead tune made with QC.

 

[eggpl@nt]

I'd love if they added the Mezz. Also need some Orange amps on there. A Bad Cat Lynx would be great. And this...

In lieu of a model, there are some decent Prometheus captures on the cloud.

 

[Warmart]

There's a learning curve to dialing it in but Gain 2 seems to have a bright switch/cap that's always engaged so the trick to dialing in the "thinness" is to push Gain 2 past ~ 2 o'clock. Gain1 acts more as an overall saturation (traditional gain pot) afterwards. I usually adjust Gain2 to shape how fat or sharp I need to amp to sound and the use Gain1 to get close to the amount of saturation I need.
Cranking the Bass dial all the way up also helps on this amp as it doesn't get flubby even when dialed in like this. This amp takes a lot of "weird" EQ moves pretty well (like Bass full tilt, Mids @ 2 o'clock, treble back at 9 o'clock and Presence @ 3 o'clock).
I like it a lot.

Yeah man, your tips helped even me dial it in, like fast! Thank you!

 

[wharf rat]

? Please do elaborate...

I recently bought a QC, and also recently got a pretty decent deal on a Kemper Player. I think I’m going to keep them both, as they both have kind of unique niche use cases.

 

[norminal]

 

[Elric]

Good point I would love them to do some new stuff that maybe the other players don’t have

Zwrecked
Mezzabarba Zero
Mesa Badlander

Obviously they won’t do any Marks or Toneking

In modeling land, an MZero is going to be indistinguishable from an SLO. IMHO. Other two would be awesome…

 

[hblu22]

Nameless probably my favourite NDSP sim, but not with the stock IR’s.

I dig the SLO too but it’s slightly on the dark/bloated side. It’s basically the only NDSP plugin where I like using the built in EQ to add a bit more sizzle back.

Agree 100%! I found the amalgam audio (especially the newer Marshall greenback that comes with the higher gain qc DI caps) sounded incredible paired with the nameless amp and made nameless effortless to dial in.

 

[Jarick]

New Soldano is solid, not sure it's worth it for anyone outside Soldano junkies. It sounds a little better than the other one but not that much IMO.

The effects are a laugh...those early Archetypes had generic effects that all sounded the same. Maybe that's why some of these early ones are getting converted...

New Deluxe is nice though, it's got more grit and snap to it. I like the channel switching of these newer amps and would like to see them do that with other models.

Harmonic Trem is really nice sounding but why didn't they do a stereo model? That's a bummer.

I'll also add, I spent a good chunk of time A/B-ing the QC and Axe 3 with the Blackstar Amped 1 and Orange cab. I found the Axe 3 just had a richer sound with more depth in the low end. It was more satisfying to play from that standpoint. However on the flip side, I really like how easy the QC cabs are to setup when you are running the direct. They are much more plug and play where the Axe ones need all kinds of fuss. It's like they are too hifi or something.

 

[Mongillo19]

New Soldano is solid, not sure it's worth it for anyone outside Soldano junkies. It sounds a little better than the other one but not that much IMO.

By new Soldano do you mean the SLO plugin?

 

[Jarick]

By new Soldano do you mean the SLO plugin?

Yes. I had this plugin from a couple years ago.

 

[Mongillo19]

Yes. I had this plugin from a couple years ago.

Dang it's a few years old already

 

[Orvillain]

Nameless is sick guise.

Turn the mids down to 2.0. You'll get betterer toan.

 

[Orvillain]

Meris LVX reverse structure versus Quad Cortex reverse.... I just don't understand how the Meris kinda sucks in reverse mode... it is glitchy and not smooth sounding at all... on a blank preset this is. I think the core reverse algorithm is "flip" mode, because when you switch the QC to flip it sounds closer but still better than the LVX.

If you set the overlap parameter on the QC to 0% then it sounds like the LVX - glitchy and crap.

 

[wharf rat]

Meris LVX reverse structure versus Quad Cortex reverse.... I just don't understand how the Meris kinda sucks in reverse mode... it is glitchy and not smooth sounding at all... on a blank preset this is. I think the core reverse algorithm is "flip" mode, because when you switch the QC to flip it sounds closer but still better than the LVX.

If you set the overlap parameter on the QC to 0% then it sounds like the LVX - glitchy and crap.

I recently had both Meris LVX and MercuryX and ended up sending them back because for just a little bit more money, you can buy the quad cortex and get infinitely more possibilities. That Meris stuff is cool as an idea but entirely too complicated in practice and just not worth it for a normal guy like myself. It was entirely too much.

 

[Orvillain]

I recently had both Meris LVX and MercuryX and ended up sending them back because for just a little bit more money, you can buy the quad cortex and get infinitely more possibilities. That Meris stuff is cool as an idea but entirely too complicated in practice and just not worth it for a normal guy like myself. It was entirely too much.

Yeah, I dig the pedals a lot, but I totally get what you mean. They're quite a bit of faff versus just throwing in reverse delay, digital delay, and mind hall, on the QC... tweaking 4 or 5 things and getting a really nice ambient tone.

FWIW, I also think the QC reverse algorithm sounds better than the Axe FX III one. I've not tried the Helix yet, but I loved the reverse on the DL-4 and so I've always used the legacy reverse model on Helix for that, and it sorta sets the standard for me.

 

[wharf rat]

Yeah, I dig the pedals a lot, but I totally get what you mean. They're quite a bit of faff versus just throwing in reverse delay, digital delay, and mind hall, on the QC... tweaking 4 or 5 things and getting a really nice ambient tone.

FWIW, I also think the QC reverse algorithm sounds better than the Axe FX III one. I've not tried the Helix yet, but I loved the reverse on the DL-4 and so I've always used the legacy reverse model on Helix for that, and it sorta sets the standard for me.

I’m gonna compare to the Kemper stuff later. I also have Helix Native so I’ll check it out as well. My issue with the Helix stuff was always that the amps themselves sounded kind of flat and you had to EQ to extremes to inject some life into the sound. I don’t feel like that about the QC, and the Kemper sounds even better (just got a Player).

 

[2dor]

Nameless is sick guise.

Turn the mids down to 2.0. You'll get betterer toan.

That amp is silly good. I can get by with it and just a Neural Capture for cleans.

 

[nightlight]

Picked up the Nameless and SLO plugins, adding to the Nolly and Parallax presets I picked up during the Black Friday sales this year.

I like the idea of mixing and matching stuff on the Quad Cortex, which was impossible with just the plugins. Given the comments about the Nameless having bad IRs, I’d be keen to try the amp with the Gojira cabs.

Also keen to A/B the SLO model on the QC versus the one on the Axe FX, I have a really nice preset I built on the Fractal device.

Notably, I was talking to someone about picking up a Hexdrive pedal the other day, and this was a lot cheaper than the physical pedal. Guy also had a Fortin Blade that I was eyeing, would be great if Neural DSP adds that to the plugin in future.

Now looking at picking up the Archetype Petrucci and Mark IIC+ in a future sale, maybe the Morello plugin, and then I’ll probably stop picking up Neural DSP plugins for a while.

My main concern is that they are so focused on the business sense of selling plugins on top of the Quad Cortex that they forget that they need to start upping the quality of the standard FX that come with the device. The Axe FX and Kemper have it beat in that department.

Not a huge concern to a guy who pretty much just uses an overdrive for FX. But it should be a concern for anyone who is looking for a class-leading solution in the modeller world. And I really want this to be that.