Team Quad Cortex here. They're just so good. Only other piece of gear I use with it is a volume pedal for those swells. I don't see myself ever going back to an amp.
When I'm at a concert, I go there to enjoy the music, even though I care as much about the guitars and amps being used, and the beauty of it all is that it mostly doesn't matter what the musician or band uses, because it's all in the player, of course if there's no instrument at all, there will be no music. It's all abozut making magic with what you have, and of course if you there is a certain gear that you tried out and you feel you need it, by all means feel free to get it.
Me; who plays everything, including guitar, using free VST synths / samplers and a 150 dollar MIDI controller, (and I mean this with love, not malice): All videos of guitarists talking about their gear buying journey sound like drug addicts justifying addiction. This is one of the better videos like that though, and this guy is really likeable to listen to. It's like a friend sitting down and justifying his addiction to you.
I will get a “real” amp when I get the $$ for staff to carry it out for me. In the meantime, 2008 iPhone SE, BIAS FX2, iRig 2. Boom! The poor’s man portable rig!
I will never go back to a small tube amp for practice after finding Tonex it is just amazing for low volume late night practice but it still won't replace my tube amp in a band situation.
Hey there! First time checking out your vids, but loved this one. As a guitarist of over 35 years, I've gone through the huge cabs and racks and have tried to downsize my tube amps and effects throughout the many incarnations of "technology" over the years... All to no real success. The early digital methods just didn't cut it and the feel and interaction with the guitar was very underwhelming. My last venture in was with the Fractal Audio Axe FX II. I had such high hopes, but after downsizing my cabs and getting a lightweight amp and all the FRFR stuff to make it sound "amazing", I was left scrolling through millions of menus and sitting at my computer for months and never finding anything inspiring in it at all. It took away the traditional amp interaction from me and made me more than frustrated and I didn't even want to pick up the guitar anymore, sadly. I really was SO tired of lugging around SO much gear and breaking my back for even simple gigs. So, now we move another 5 years ahead and the QC comes into play and I'm hearing about how it's much easier than the Fractal to build really great sounding amps and still has a great base of FX. Something like this would definitely downsize my rig and make it portable for all types of small to large gigs, all without lugging in hundreds of pounds of gear. Could this be the solution that I've been waiting for? Could this offer the tones and flexibility I have been looking for?? Well, I do hope so and I may definitely give it a try. I just hope that this isn't a let down for me, as so many have been in the past. I see you're using an RJM Midi controller... I have the MMGT. Can you use this to control your QC??
Hey Jeff! I'm glad you stopped by! I think your experience with Fractal is the criticism I see most often. The tones are incredible, but the learning curve is steep. The QC was the first modeler I ever purchased, and it took me about 3 weeks to get the hang of it. About 7 months to get the sounds how I wanted them. Granted, you can skip the line there with presets haha. Now, I can say I'm at least the same speed, if not faster in the QC as I am on my pedalboard. And yes, you could control it with a midi controller like the RJM, but I don't. I actually just use the Quad Cortex by itself for gigs. I build out scenes for each preset and just change through my patches with the 8 built in foot switches. Hope to see you here again soon!
Sorry, I'm making comments as I watch your video. I find Multi-FX to be really good for things that are often digital in pedal form anyway. I put an ME-90 in the effects loop of tube amps for things like delay, reverb, chorus, volume pedal etc.
I do prefer the sound of an "amp in a room." The sound of a modeler through a FRFR JUST isn't the same. It doesn't feel, sound, or hit you the same. It's like the difference between being in the same room as someone who is playing a grand piano and singing vs hearing a recording of the same over a speaker. It's just. not. the. same. While I've been fortunate to own a number of nice heads and cabinets, I also find the Katana 100 MKII gives a very good amp in the room sound and is perfectly fine! I would choose it over a modeler any day. I don't really think it's very large or heavy.
Oh hey - that Tele has a channel bound neck! Is that about a 2013-2014 American standard? If so, did you replace the bridge? I bet it has a twisted tele in the neck and a broadcaster in the bridge. Compound radius, too, I bet.
I hope not! Maybe they’ll shift into the digital space a little bit. It would be cool if they started making official versions of their amps to throw in modeling units. Kind of like how there’s a NDSP Morgan Amp plugin.
It's weird but I've gone the other way. I dabbled with modelers for a couple of years but I prefer my current 4 channel amp, both for practice and jamming. The modeler's are good for recording though but I have no interest in that.
I mean, if you’re not on in-ears, playing live with a modeler would be terrible haha!! But you know, there is still something to the experience of playing on an amp. I still use my amp from time to time at home for that reason- that totally makes sense.