Do you need Pedals and Amps to make the Quad Cortex sound Good?

[@JustinMuncy]

Are you guys using your QC with external pedals and amps, or do you use the effects and modules it came with?

[@oscarpauly]

Hey Justin! This is Oscar from Costa Rica. Great content! I have been using my QC for a few months and I think I am finally “getting there” since it was not love at first sight. I am in the process of comparing my drive pedals against captures. There is a slight difference in sound (which in the end is not that evident when playing in a band) but they are amazing. I am happy that I am not carrying a huge pedalboard and not dealing with broken jumpers in the middle of a song. So far, I think that the portability of the QC makes it a great choice for musicians that constantly play live. Are you using external drive pedals with your QC while on tour?

[@JustinMuncy]

@@oscarpauly Hey Oscar!! Thank you so much for the kind words! I know what you mean, I feel like the captures on the drives seem like they’re maybe slightly more mid focused? Not quite sure what it is, but like you said, the difference is negligible. And I just use the QC by itself. I’ve never gigged with it any other way. Although, I did use it with an external expression last weekend at church haha!! I was doing some slide swells and didn’t want to try and do that with my guitar volume knob hahaha!!

[@DToneQuest]

ultimately i ended up going with the qc with expression and wah only, keep the content coming thanks

[@StupidGuitar]

Nope: the whole point of the QC is to shrink my rig. Pedals just break that model and aren’t necessary

[@JustinMuncy]

@@DToneQuest nice!! That’s pretty similar to what I’ve done lately, except, no wah. Haha!

[@debrincatj]

I do sometimes. For church - straight QC. I have a Suhr PT-15 for more rock stuff, and I use it like Pete Thorn does live with the QC in front of it when I do that.

[@JustinMuncy]

@@debrincatj Nice man!! I’ve definitely toyed with the idea of making a mini board with the QC and running it into an amp. It would be cool, but inconvenient for me to remove it every time I want to make a video hahaha!!

[@davesmusicgearbox892]

Love the comparison! Obviously, a slight tonal difference, and I don't think you could really say one sounds better than the other. I love the QC at home but have really been struggling with it live. I don't think it's the tone either, video playbacks or even audience members it sounds great! It's that dreaded under the fingers feel that in the excitement of on stage with people dancing and cutting up I can't feel it the same as when I have any of my Marshall amps there and direct pedal signals going into it!

[@JustinMuncy]

Thank you so much!! Maybe it's that phrase that I hate so much: "pushing air." LOL! If you're used to playing with a big old Marshall behind you, then having a soundless stage would definitely be a huge adjustment! I've been playing on IEMs most of my time as a guitarist, so it doesn't feel that different to me. But, there is maybe a little bit of a bounce to playing on a tube amp that I'm not sure any modeler has fully replicated. It could be a little bit of that too?

[@davesmusicgearbox892]

@@JustinMuncy I like that, 'bounce' sounds exactly right! In my determination to use the QC I'm working towards a wet/dry/wet setup with QC tackling wet signals going stereo straight the board and then clean signal with choice pedals (two OD pedals and UniVibe) going straight to on stage amp also mic'd but centered in mix. Fun stuff! Looking forward to the next vid!

[@shadrackperez7325]

I use a Cloudburst to do things that the QC can't do like ensemble. My next addition will be H90. Sometimes use a Double Barrel V4 and I kind of like the results, but is a preference thing 🤷🏻‍♂

[@JustinMuncy]

@@shadrackperez7325 nice! The Cloudburst seems awesome!! It has a cool form factor too.

[@komobabo]

I only have a handful of weeks on the unit so I am still all-in-one to get used to that workflow but I do plan on using external pedals to make a hybrid situation.

[@JustinMuncy]

Nice!! I'm sure that'll be epic!

[@EJH-jn6mo]

Funny. Using the QC and axeFX3 drove me to want to use pedals because I found them to be more authentic. Although to be fair, I really never used them much for amp/cab modeling.

[@JustinMuncy]

@@EJH-jn6mo Interesting!! One of the top features for me about the Quad Cortex was the amp modeling and capturing. Haha!

[@EJH-jn6mo]

@@JustinMuncymodeling/capturing is great. I have a few different ones I use but 99% of the time I’m going with a real amp/cab and individual pedals. Cannot beat WDW with the real deal.

[@EJH-jn6mo]

Sure it does that fine. I just don’t enjoy hearing and feeling guitar out of my monitors, even as good as they are.

[@trevv5886]

I think the QC sounded better. Less organic but better

[@JustinMuncy]

@@trevv5886 interesting!! I can kind of hear what you are saying.

[@kabzooj88]

Pedals have more contrast and brightness to the sound. And yes, it is a very similar sound.

[@JustinMuncy]

Yup! A little more top end on the pedals and the ACS1. Although, I think that has more to do with the ACS1 than the pedals.

[@StupidGuitar]

That’s such a ridiculous statement. Pedals will sound largely the same. That’s not to say there aren’t pedals that won’t sound brighter but that’s true petal to pedal as well

[@kabzooj88]

@StupidGuitar I can clearly hear the difference between pedal board and cortex. And I guess you are talking about all guitar pedals in general?? By the way, there are no statements they're opinions.

[@StupidGuitar]

@@kabzooj88 my bad. It’s a ridiculous opinion…. Except you didn’t write it as an opinion. You wrote it like an objective statement. If you’re going to be the um actually guy, at least be accurate. You might hear a difference but to blanket say pedals have more contrast and brightness is just plain silly and entirely subjective.

[@kabzooj88]

@StupidGuitar )))))) I like your sense of humor

[@musicafteroldage]

Us poor people say: No. Nothing external! haha Money (or lack there of) is a pretty strong dissuasive

[@JustinMuncy]

@@musicafteroldage Hahaha!! I mean, if money and practicality were no object, then I’d probably have a super board with a stereo amp setup, and a QC with a couple of favorites with a stereo amp setup. But the QC alone does just fine.

[@musicafteroldage]

@@JustinMuncy if money were no option, i’d rather go for staff to carry my things!

[@JustinMuncy]

@@musicafteroldage Haha, now that's the move!

[@musicafteroldage]

@@JustinMuncy I guess I am definitely showing my age lol

[@JustinMuncy]

@@musicafteroldage I’m 31, and would love to have a tech! Hahaha