Neural Quad Cortex

[Dood]

 

This set up is from a recent gig but the IEM stuff is on another stand out of view. Pretty lightweight, easy to move and covers pretty much any gig these days.

[tayste_2000]

So not replaced much then.

[attackbass]

What is everyone using to power the QC?

 

Decided to give it another go for the summer of gigs,festivals and wedding gigs this year and want to upgrade the power supply to something a bit more sturdy, that i can hide under the baordand that I can get the whole board down to one plug. I also don't want to go down the insanely costly power supply route at the moment! 

 

 

Has anyone used the Myvolts power supply?

 

I found another one on Farnell which has the standard iec kettle lead input rather than the 2 pin but not sure if that makes much difference.

 

I would say I've found the QC power supply fine other than the awareness of it on my board and haven't experienced any noise from the lack of ground...

 

 

[Killerfridge]

8 minutes ago, attackbass said:

What is everyone using to power the QC?

 

Decided to give it another go for the summer of gigs,festivals and wedding gigs this year and want to upgrade the power supply to something a bit more sturdy, that i can hide under the baordand that I can get the whole board down to one plug. I also don't want to go down the insanely costly power supply route at the moment! 

 

 

Has anyone used the Myvolts power supply?

 

I found another one on Farnell which has the standard iec kettle lead input rather than the 2 pin but not sure if that makes much difference.

 

I would say I've found the QC power supply fine other than the awareness of it on my board and haven't experienced any noise from the lack of ground...

 

 

I am also keen to get an answer on this one. I'm always concerned about the original power supply being the point of failure

[acroxixo]

10 minutes ago, attackbass said:

What is everyone using to power the QC?

 

Decided to give it another go for the summer of gigs,festivals and wedding gigs this year and want to upgrade the power supply to something a bit more sturdy, that i can hide under the baordand that I can get the whole board down to one plug. I also don't want to go down the insanely costly power supply route at the moment! 

 

 

Has anyone used the Myvolts power supply?

 

I found another one on Farnell which has the standard iec kettle lead input rather than the 2 pin but not sure if that makes much difference.

 

I would say I've found the QC power supply fine other than the awareness of it on my board and haven't experienced any noise from the lack of ground...

 

 

I’m using a Cioks DC7 to power the QC, cali76 and a TC Polytune 

[MrDinsdale]

I use a Cioks + Crux, which is a little overkill but really handy as I also have a couple of pedals that benefit from 18v. It's excellent, though.

[Kev]

Cioks user here too, although not forked out for a Crux yet, still using the old doubler cable method.

 

 

[attackbass]

Seems that the Cioks is the way to go, just don't want to spend that amount or money on something like that right now.

 

I think if I decide to keep the QC after the summer I may look at the Canvas HP.

[Dood]

1 hour ago, attackbass said:

What is everyone using to power the QC?

 

Decided to give it another go for the summer of gigs,festivals and wedding gigs this year and want to upgrade the power supply to something a bit more sturdy, that i can hide under the baordand that I can get the whole board down to one plug. I also don't want to go down the insanely costly power supply route at the moment! 

 

 

Has anyone used the Myvolts power supply?

 

I found another one on Farnell which has the standard iec kettle lead input rather than the 2 pin but not sure if that makes much difference.

 

I would say I've found the QC power supply fine other than the awareness of it on my board and haven't experienced any noise from the lack of ground...

 

 

 

 

Yes, I have the MyVolts premium power supply threaded through my desk for when QC is in my studio space. I bought the premium version, though I think it was cheaper when I ordered, a long whiel back now. Seems absolutely fine, no digital noise or interference and plenty of current on tap. 

Edited February 10 by Dood
Edited for clarity

[attackbass]

Thanks Dood, very helpful. Are you using something fancier live?

[Dood]

47 minutes ago, attackbass said:

Thanks Dood, very helpful. Are you using something fancier live?

 

I'm using the supplied PSU 😂 - Frankly, I do agree with the comments that it doesn't appear that roadworthy. I've been meaning to use something decent. The only thing that lets down the MyVolts power supply, is that they don't mention they send a 'polarity changer adaptor' with the unit because the QC uses a centre negative connector and most generic (non-music gear) supplies are centre-positive. The latter making way more sense to me. 

[2pods]

I thought 'twas the other way around.

Most pedals using a Boss mode of centre negative, and the QC using the opposite ?

[attackbass]

Quad cortex is centre negative

[tayste_2000]

Not that I have one to power but when I do (which seems like it will be soon)

 

https://missionengineering.com/shop/529-m/

 

I checked the Neural forums and a few people are using these, some with battery packs to run them with less cables 

[attackbass]

2 hours ago, Dood said:

 

I'm using the supplied PSU 😂 - Frankly, I do agree with the comments that it doesn't appear that roadworthy. I've been meaning to use something decent. The only thing that lets down the MyVolts power supply, is that they don't mention they send a 'polarity changer adaptor' with the unit because the QC uses a centre negative connector and most generic (non-music gear) supplies are centre-positive. The latter making way more sense to me. 

 

Ha yeah! I used the Quad Cortex with the power supply plugged into the wall when a camera man during a session stepped on it and gave me a heart attack! I then set it up on my board so it was fairly protected but it's pretty big sat on my board and I never have totally faith in that cable! 

[attackbass]

1 minute ago, tayste_2000 said:

Not that I have one to power but when I do (which seems like it will be soon)

 

https://missionengineering.com/shop/529-m/

 

I checked the Neural forums and a few people are using these, some with battery packs to run them with less cables 

 

Yeah I've seen those! They look cool but I would never trust it on a big stage or on tour. Once you've set up, gone through soundcheck, accidentally left it on and player a show I think I would be nearing the end of batteries charge. 

 

I actually had one of the old rockboard ones and it just went mid gig, loud bang through the PA, fully charged and the dead as a door nail. 

 

I should really buying a proper £200 power supply but just very skint at the moment! 

[Dood]

48 minutes ago, 2pods said:

I thought 'twas the other way around.

Most pedals using a Boss mode of centre negative, and the QC using the opposite ?

Boss pedals are centre negative, Neural DSP followed suit. iIRC I read that somewhere.  Generic non-music gear stuff is more often centre positive. The MyVolts power supplies appear to be non-music gear specific and thus come with polarity changers. That’s not to say there’s anything wrong with the power supplies. I’m not sure how many in the various ranges are fully isolated though.

[tayste_2000]

Surely a GigRig straight into it would be the best option? IEC and the right polarity.

 

You get those second hand for £60 generally 🤷🏻‍♂️

[attackbass]

Well, a beer and a number of gigs coming in for the year this evening lead to me buying a Cioks Sol and some of the required cables for powering the Quad with an outlet still free to power my sansamp.

 

Figured, once I've messed around buying cheap power supplies and the hassle and time of sorting it all out and sold my true tone cs7 it seemed like a logical solution 😅 

[BigRedX]

So what's wrong with the PSU that comes with the Quad Cortex?

 

Aside from the fact that IMO any multi-effects that doesn't have a built-in PSU is not a gig-proof piece of equipment, it worries me that the supposed weakness of the supplied PSU is actually a known issue.

[WinterMute]

9 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

So what's wrong with the PSU that comes with the Quad Cortex?

 

Aside from the fact that IMO any multi-effects that doesn't have a built-in PSU is not a gig-proof piece of equipment, it worries me that the supposed weakness of the supplied PSU is actually a known issue.

I don’t think there's anything wrong with it except that it's external, large and the connector doesn’t lock. It's not a wall-wart type, which is in it's favour, it has a proper IEC connector.

 

It provides plenty of current and induces no noise as far as I can tell. Mine is studio based mind.

 

I could see why you’d use a 3rd party unit on a pedalboard, just for size, but any decent cable management will secure the connector, it’s the same as a Boss pedal.

Edited February 11 by WinterMute

[tayste_2000]

4 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

So what's wrong with the PSU that comes with the Quad Cortex?

 

Aside from the fact that IMO any multi-effects that doesn't have a built-in PSU is not a gig-proof piece of equipment, it worries me that the supposed weakness of the supplied PSU is actually a known issue.

I think that its just this, its a fairly standard power supply from a build quality point of view but the high drawer and 12v means if it crapped out at a gig its unlikely someones going to have a spare like they would a 9v.

 

Its also its most singularly identifiable point of failure, I don't think its exceptionally crap just its the only thing that stands out as what would break with the unit.

 

As @attackbass said he had a camera man stand on his and it was fine but the worry that next time it won’t will always sit in the back of your mind.

[Dood]

10 hours ago, tayste_2000 said:

Surely a GigRig straight into it would be the best option? IEC and the right polarity.

 

You get those second hand for £60 generally 🤷🏻‍♂️

 

I bought the MyVolts pile for not much over £20 new and, I knew it was only going to be used on my desk, so from a personal use point of view, it didn't warrant the extra for something stage-worthy. It's still a better build than the enclosed power supply.

[Dood]

1 hour ago, BigRedX said:

So what's wrong with the PSU that comes with the Quad Cortex?

 

Aside from the fact that IMO any multi-effects that doesn't have a built-in PSU is not a gig-proof piece of equipment, it worries me that the supposed weakness of the supplied PSU is actually a known issue.

 

{EDIT: See my reply to WinterMute}

 

I agree, its one of the things I miss about Helix LT - straight in with an IEC, no messing about with extra boxes and nonsense. The included QC power supply I have to admit, doesn't fill me with confidence when I see how other poepole treat their gear. The wire alone appears thin, so, I leave it carefully coiled up and bring the mains to the QC rather than have the QC power wire loose. That said, the QC has done a lot of gigs now and the PSU hasn't failed.. so, maybe it's not so bad after all lol.. 

 

I wonder if Neural assumed that users would just opt to get the QC on a pedal board asap and use pedal power instead, the wall wart being a compromise?

Edited February 11 by Dood

[Dood]

1 hour ago, WinterMute said:

I don’t think there's anything wrong with it except that it's external, large and the connector doesn’t lock. It's not a wall-wart type, which is in it's favour, it has a proper IEC connector.

 

It provides plenty of current and induces no noise as far as I can tell. Mine is studio based mind.

 

I could see why you’d use a 3rd party unit on a pedalboard, just for size, but any decent cable management will secure the connector, it’s the same as a Boss pedal.

 

Wait, mine's a wall wart! Are you all saying you have a different power supply than I? I mean, my QC is an early one from the first batch of consumer models. (It might even be a pre-release model!)