bjelkeman

Nobody else got it yet? Or just can’t tear yourself away from it?

I did have an HX Stomp for a while and I really didn't think the bass presets and sounds were as easy to dial in for me as with the QC. Maybe it just comes down to the fact that it is easier in the QC UI and I enjoy doing the work. Not navigating a myriad of multifunction buttons and dials to try to get the result I am after. In the end, lots of people are happy with the Fractals/Helixes/Kempers and more power to them, that is great! I don't think I can hear the difference when they play anyway. But I wouldn't swap the QC for either of them or even all of them.

Today I spent some more time with it. So, some more impressions. The Quad Cortex has a very good user interface for a floor model. There are some restrictions, based on the size of the screen, for example it is fiddly with the 32 banks of presets, was you don't know in which bank the stuff you are looking for is residing. Eventually you learn where it is. And once you have found it you can favourite it and also look at the "last accessed". But overall I would say that I am very happy how they have put it together. Once you learn a few user interface tricks, then it is quite easy to work with it. Like what I said before, rename/delete/copy/move a preset or a capture, swipe left and the icons for the tools show up. I captured one bass pedal, the Harmonic Booster and several capture of a guitar amp, a Hughes & Kettner Tubmeister 18. There are some minute differences on the gain and high frequencies, especially for guitar, but there is no way I could actually hear that if I didn't A/B tested them directly. And just by tweaking the gain and the treble on the resulting capture, you seem to end up with a software version of my tube amp. Very nice. (The Captures are shared, search for Bjelkeman) There are plenty of models for guitar and lots of effects, for me. The effects sound pretty good to me. Not everyone agree about that, but I am of the opinion that is very pleasing. There aren't enough bass amps and effects models. It is clear that the market is much bigger for guitar players. They focused first on that. There are quite some nice captures of amps I like, and I ended up preferring the Mesa Carbine M6 capture 8. It is quite some time since I played on an M6, so can't vouch for how it compares, and I haven't taken it to practice yet. I plan to start running it through the power amp on a Darkglass M900, but later getting a stereo power amp and run one cab high/mid frequencies and one low frequencies. I created a preset with one lane with as above, Noise gate - DG Harmonic Booster - B3K - Carbine M6 - DG 212 cab, and added a paralell lane with a Mesa 400 Channel 1, with a compressor and Ampeg 810 cab, low passfilter, for that extra girth. Sounds good, but I need to test it with the band. Build quality is outstanding and so was the box it comes in. The box is one of these things you don't really want to throw away and worry it gets dented. The twistable foot switches are great and the precision is very nice, at slow speeds it will step 0.1 dB and if you turn it quicker you can go fast through the full range. I ended up putting it on a sturdy music stand, like I have seen a numbers of reviewers doing. Easier to work with when you are setting up stuff and adjusting it all the time. I added rubber feat and I think it will be great on the floor. The touch screen isn't as good as an iPhone or iPad for touching, but similar to many Android phones. I was a bit too heavy handed on it initially. A lighter touch with the fingers works better. It has a software keyboard for entering names etc. none of that twisting nobs to find a letter. Phew. It is great with the Cloud app for publishing, downloading, doing backups, sharing presets and captures. The app is a first release, so there are some things that doesn't work great with the UI yet. There is a bug in that Captures will not upload the tags you enter on the QC. There are other niggles with the UI as well, but overall it is good enough for a first release. I think they have done a really good job with the Quad Cortex and I am looking forward to both getting software upgrades and using it a lot in the future. No regrets!

So UPS manage to get it to me today. Yay. Well, I spent 4-5 hours noodling, trying presets, setting up a signal chain I have wanted since I realised I shouldn’t have sold my Carbine M6. Captured the DG HB. Etc. Noise gate - DG Harmonic Booster - B3K - Carbine M6 - DG 212 cab There is quite a lot of user interface to get used to, but most of it intuitive. I had to look up how to rename a preset (slide the preset to left and menu items appear). The power is amazing. Hoocked it up to my Mac and Logic and started using it to record something. Very easy. I think I am going to love this thing. I ended up just playing quite a lot, because it just sounded good. My previous experience was an HX Stomp. I didn’t like the form factor, to much stuff crammed into to few buttons and a screen that was too small. (A standard Helix or LT was way to big, never an option) I never really liked the bass presets or amps. Maybe my expectations have changed, but I like the QC a lot better already. Spent some time noodling on guitar with high gain presets. I never need anything else for guitar again, ever. I think it is a winner.

As I have a Darkglass M900 it is going to be interesting comparing that with the B3K effect. I have very good experience with the Neural implementation of the Darkglass Ultra B3K/VMT. I will definitely also capture the Harmonic Booster, as I find it essential for my clean tone.

Mine has shipped. May arrive tomorrow.

They have said the manual will be coming out shortly before shipping product.

https://neuraldsp.com/news/quad-cortex-user-manual-1-0-0 The Quad Cortex manual is out.

I don't think we now that yet.

They are nine more Quad Cortex to win in the next nine days, one each day, in this giveaway by Neural DSP. Can be found here (referral). Quad Cortex Daily Giveaway - Black Friday 2020

I am probably the exception, but time will tell. I have been stripping my pedal supply down to a few, a Darkglass B7KU and a Harmonic Booster. The Booster will probably go as well when the Quad Cortex arrives. Keeping the B7KU for the "oh stinky poo" moments when you must have something that works when stinky poo hits the fan. No more compressor, other distortions, octave, EQ etc. The quality of the B7KU/VMTU plugin and the Parallax, which I have both for recording, tells me that the QC will be enough for me. I think.

I am definitely partial to Ibanez basses. From left - Ibanez: SR700 (-11) [upper], RB850 (-87) [stolen], RB960 [sold], RB760, MC924, RB850, RB650 [sold] (-84), MC900 (-79), MC800 (-78). AX50 (-85) [bottom]. I also have one RS800, sold an MC824, sold another RB850.

I mainly play on a Warwick Corvette $$ and have a Corvette STD, but always have been gassing for a Mayones Patriot. But since I don’t want to buy before trying it is hard to buy a Mayones. Oh well, the wallet approves I suppose.

I am, but that is essentially been combined with the second now as I understand it, because of supply chain issues (Covid induced). But that is ok. I think it will be worth the wait.