NDSP Quad Cortex

[paisleywookiee]

Finished up a QC pedalboard recently and I'm pretty happy with the size and convenience (and tone, of course). I like the ease of setting up Hotone expression pedal with the toe switch to toggle volume/wah pedal function.

View attachment 39689View attachment 39690View attachment 39691View attachment 39692View attachment 39693

That looks fantastic. Cool that Temple came out with the XLR module.

 

[Orvillain]

I just listed mine on eBay. It is a good device, and this second outing was much better than the first, but ultimately, it just isn't a pro device. Plugin support is cool, but it just isn't enough.

 

[Southpaw-DD]

I tend to get hot and cold (love/meh) with a digital device and feel like my ears need a reset. I think it has more to do with IRs and "listening to a mic'd cab" than the models or effects.

I like both Fractal and QC and will probably hang on to them at least until the next generation. The QC will stay for captures and plug-in support as the main reason.

 

[Jarick]

I tend to get hot and cold (love/meh) with a digital device and feel like my ears need a reset. I think it has more to do with IRs and "listening to a mic'd cab" than the models or effects.

I like both Fractal and QC and will probably hang on to them at least until the next generation. The QC will stay for captures and plug-in support as the main reason.

I could not agree with you more!

I've been quite cold on all my modelers lately, but my actual amp doesn't sound great either. So best I can do is run through a different monitor (like the Fender FR-12 instead of my iLoud Precisions).

I will 100% get flamed for this but I stumbled onto this video a few days ago and kind of agree with his "harsh high end" assessment:



There's something in the digital world that seems to have more high end than expected. If I run a modeler into a flat power amp into a speaker cab, there's still a lot of harshness. I have to use high cuts and EQ even though in theory I shouldn't have to as that's how the real amp is supposed to be. Others will keep cab sims on (like John Cordy), and even Cory Wong said he runs the Quad Cortex into the front of clean Fender tube amps.

I think this gets compounded with flat solid state amps too. Here's a measurement I took of a Blackstar guitar amp effects return (power amp) vs a Boss Katana effects return (power amp):

Anyways, to me the Fractal is the brightest of the current amp modelers, Kemper the warmest, and QC somewhere in between. There's less fussing with the sound to fight the high end on the QC to me, but the Fractal effects are so much more varied and richer.

 

[Los-D]

At home, I always use EQ regardless of monitor (or DI) solution, dropping 8K and 16K in my 10-band EQ a lot (I have a bad case of tinnitus). If I am using headphones for practice, I’ll start dropping at 6K or even lower.

When I jam with friends, though, whether through SS amp / cab or PA, I would remove EQ cuts and start adding slight ones (at gig level of course).

In my experience the QC was the worst one before EQ. Fractal/L6 might be brighter for a given tone but found QC harsher. YMMV

 

[GTR37]

At home, I always use EQ regardless of monitor (or DI) solution, dropping 8K and 16K in my 10-band EQ a lot (I have a bad case of tinnitus). If I am using headphones for practice, I’ll start dropping at 6K or even lower.

When I jam with friends, though, whether through amp / cab or PA, I would remove EQ cuts and start adding slight ones (at gig level of course).

In my experience the QC was the worst one before EQ. Fractal/L6 might be brighter but found QC harsher. YMMV

Agreed I personally find QC much brighter than the Fractal or at least prior to the last few. Updates
Fractal to me has always been like the Freidman / Bogner of models where I have to turn up the top end

 

[JiveTurkey]

Bright is the absolute last descriptor I'd use for Fractal. Helix? Absolutely. Boss? Yes.

 

[MTB1973]

“If I run a modeler into a flat power amp into a speaker cab, there's still a lot of harshness. I have to use high cuts and EQ even though in theory I shouldn't have to as that's how the real amp is supposed to be…”

I am struggling with this as well. I often have to cut quite a bit of high end when using power amp and cab.

 

[Southpaw-DD]

I've never meshed with a modeler into a regular guitar cab after trying for years on end. It usually leads me to even more tweaking and trying to compare to a real amp again. I've walled off my gear to separate for digital/full-range and tube/pedals/cabs.

 

[AFKAEjay(retired)]

There's something in the digital world that seems to have more high end than expected. If I run a modeler into a flat power amp into a speaker cab, there's still a lot of harshness. I have to use high cuts and EQ even though in theory I shouldn't have to as that's how the real amp is supposed to be. Others will keep cab sims on (like John Cordy), and even Cory Wong said he runs the Quad Cortex into the front of clean Fender tube amps.

To me full models into to (whatever) poweramp always is on the bright side, and always needs a highshelf.
In my mind that’s cause of doubling up on the poweramp. (Though your graph doesn’t reflect that..impedance curve the root cause?(idnk)
I don’t think it’s the modeling tech itself causing it…captures of preamps are spot on..and work flawlessly into powersections