NMD: NDSP Quad Cortex

The volume is such a tricky part of it. I'll let you know!

Mine are all high gain but feel free to check out my profile. Same username on the cloud 😎

Will do!

Also, I just searched for some Orange captures and the second one I tried was absolutely killer, an Orange 80 crunch tone from amalgamaudio.
 
Will do!

Also, I just searched for some Orange captures and the second one I tried was absolutely killer, an Orange 80 crunch tone from almalgamaudio.
Almalgam Audio makes some of the best captures imo. They are great. They do have a site with paid captures if it so interests you
 
Finally had some extended time to play guitar today!

Was a bit worried that after having a break from the QC, I'd come back and be underwhelmed/disappointed.

Well..

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I love this thing. :love :love :love

Spent the afternoon using it in 4cm with the Dyne, loved it. Having captures of my two long-favourite drive pedals is just so damn cool. Found the analog delay and like it (near) as much as my long-favourite HX Transistor Tape delay, was also able to get the modulation setting pretty close. Very happy with 4cm and how sleek and light my board is now.

Love the UI and how fast it is to get around, especially the preset menu and I/O settings. Also, accessing and quickly editing a specific block is super fast.

Just spent the last hour re-checking my Electra Dyne capture. Again, particularly with this one, I was wondering if I'd be like, after not trying it for a few days, "I thought THAT sounded good!?!" but again, nope. Super happy and actually still quite blown away with how accurate the capture is, both in sound and feel. It's crazy, really. By far the happiest I've been with any capture/profile/model, on any platform (have owned the Helix Floor, Stomp, FM3, FM9, and Kemper Stage).

Do I have some concerns/reservations that the QC might inexplicably have a problem some day? Yes, somewhat. But overall, I'm having a blast with it, both in 4cm and using captures and models with a power amp and cab. Haven't even tried it with "FRFR" or direct to FOH yet, looking forward to that.

(Also I've set up another SS power amp to try tomorrow, stay tuned. :D)
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I’m actually thinking about flipping my HX Stomp and FM3 and buying a 2nd QC. The QC just gets me from 0 to happy and playing guitar so much more effortlessly than anything else.
 
For the record, I did extensive AB testing between a Boss CE-2W pedal and the one in the QC and they're ridiculously close to the point of not having a preference between them!
Same experience with the QC RAT. I had an OG ‘80s ProCo RAT in the house, and was goimg to make some captures. After comparing it to the QC model at a bunch of knob settings, I decided it was a waste of time. I couldn’t tell the model apart from the real pedal.
 
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Also, not quite sure if the Dyne capture’s volume level is ok?
I recommend just making a few captures with the same settings and playing with the level controls on the QC capture screen. I found that had the most effect on how the capture turned out but I can't remember what was a good setting and it might have changed since I had the QC. It was definitely not intuitive to find the best setting.
 
I recommend just making a few captures with the same settings and playing with the level controls on the QC capture screen. I found that had the most effect on how the capture turned out but I can't remember what was a good setting and it might have changed since I had the QC. It was definitely not intuitive to find the best setting.

Yes, it’s a balance between getting clipping in the “sanity check” part and not having the level high enough on Input 2, if I remember right.
 
Yes, it’s a balance between getting clipping in the “sanity check” part and not having the level high enough on Input 2, if I remember right.
I think even when nothing is clipping I got a bit different results, so it's definitely worth playing around. You'd think it would be a simple "aim for the highest output without clipping" but that didn't seem to be quite the case.

It's been 3 years so my memory is a bit hazy on this tho.
 
Do you have any other mesa caps or just the one?

I wasn't sure if that was the crunch one you were referring to!

Just the one for now, and yes, that's the one I use the Fuzz Head with. With humbuckers it adds a nice fuzzy character + mids to to the crunch tone, good for Sabbath-ish rhythms or early Clapton-y leads, at least with my guitars and setup.

Oh wait, I did make a capture of the Dyne clean channel, I'll put that up, too. (I'm now wishing I had the QC when I recently had a Fillmore 100, it would have been great to get a cap of that amp.)

Also, about the Dyne cap: it's basically my at-home settings, with the master around 8 o'clock, which is still fairly loud with this amp. :grin The Dyne does open up more with the master around 9-9:30, but at that point it's crazy loud AF.:rofl

I'm using the Dyne's Slave Out to make the capture, which still requires connecting the Recto cab, so the capture sounds are coming out of the cab quite loud, which makes me hesitant to try a cap with the Dyne master set higher until I'm at my band's practice space. So these were made at “loud home theatre” levels and not “Mesa Electra Dyne Earthquake” volumes.
 
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