My First Time Trying A Quad Cortex - My Reaction

[@gravyblue]

I'm a recording engineer, I've worked with allsorts over the years, in every genre, obscure to famous up to and including Beck himself. The vanity that guitarists afford ' their sound' ( I'm also a guitarist) is shocking. The gulf that exists between the racket we make and what people hear is vast. What ends up in the mix is nothing but a distant relative to what you walked into the room with. I made enough records in the excessive 90's to have sat and squinted at speakers while every pick in the building was tried, every microphone, every hairband, every expensive directional cable, while elusive 'special' amps and guitars and fx were rented, borrowed or blagged. None of it mattered. None of it matters. Make a good sound, write a good tune, play it with conviction and don't get lost in the weeds. No one ever bought a record because YOU can tell the difference between evereadys and duracells.

[@joejohnson8966]

And that is how it will always be. We do this FOR US. So we should realise it, understand that it's about our love for tone and understand how it works, have fun, earn enough money to buy what we need and then understand that it will never be enough. It isn't supposed to be enough. Women don't just stop buying clothes. Guitarists don't just stop chasing tone. But a woman still has to choose her daily outfit when she goes out and a guitarist needs to provide the necessary tone for a song. When we do the work and have fun on the way, we win.

[@gravyblue]

@Joe Johnson you hit the nail on the head with ' tone for a song'. This is the element that seems most lacking. Context. We need good sounds, but unless they've got a place they're worthless.

[@joejohnson8966]

@@gravyblue It's an addiction. It's called "chasing the dragon". It FEELS much better to buy something new or endlessly tweak songs since there is no negative feedback than to practice a solo for 6 hours and doing 300 attempts and still not getting it down after all that work. Not really complex, just basic human nature. If you have a bad sound and a crappy performance, it's still a good performance. If you have an incredible sound and the performance is shit, it's still shit.

[@Diax1324]

I mean, people always say this, but then they praise Eric Johnson's tone. He believes in a lot of nuanced details in sound, and I do too. 2% here, 2% there eventually adds up.

[@joejohnson8966]

@@Diax1324 Absolutely, but the problem the majority of guitar players is not spending too much time practicing and getting to the level of Eric Johnson. The problem is they spend too much time on tone thinking it will make up for the time needed to develop skills because it's harder to work. That's all there is to it. Idea is to play as well as possible and still focusing on getting the best tone. But it's 95% focus on skill, 5% on tone that provides the best result, not the other way around.

[@jo_krach]

Gotta tell you, seeing you and rabea in the same room and hearing you play these first few riffs with him right beside you made me have goosebumps. There is such a magic in the air between you two.

[@johnavon3467]

Hi Rob. I’m just happy to see you always happy! Your a positive and ‘up’ energy and love the way your open and transparent. Love the look n vibe of the new geetars. Greetings from merry Brighton mate

[@RobChappers]

Hey John, tons of love your way bro, kind regards to Brighton

[@benrobinson3438]

I can't... Take my eyes.... Off that guitar.... Winter Sky is a BEAUTIFUL color!

[@johnconnearnmusic]

You sound great with it man!! The digital side of the force is strong in you

[@RobChappers]

Ha ha I must resist- see you soon bro

[@shredding51]

I had one for awhile. It wasn’t to bad, but found myself going back to plugins, so i sold it. There is a sharpness in it I didn’t care for. It wasn’t terrible, but was there and bothered me

[@joshualumley143]

Look at that guitar!!!! Beautiful!!!….. congrats on the new shop. Ready to see some more awesome stuff come out of there in the future

[@RandyWillcox]

KUDOS! I got my Quad Cortex from Lee last Christmas Eve and I absolutely love it. It's the first multi anything I ever got that I didn't have to download presets other people spent time making. Usually I would try making sounds and just get meh. But with the QC, I started making patches and loved it! My first patch was with a Plexi and I never looked back. I use it every day. Every. Day. And it fits in my fucking gig bag! 🤯 I took it to a private gig and ran my laptop, a mic and my guitar through it. I even captured some of my Kemper profiles in it, including an acoustic patch. So I used it for electric, acoustic, backing tracks and PA. Dude...and yeah, it's coming to NAMM with me!

[@RobChappers]

Awesome man, can’t wait to hang 🤘🏽

[@RandyWillcox]

@@RobChappers me too, man! Me too! 🤘🏻

[@EasyHeat]

Born in 76. We are older than Star Wars Chappers! Hahaha! Blimey.

[@SteveHatzman]

You know Rob, Megadeth use the QC live including Dave and I think that’s awesome. I saw them live recently and they sounded great of course. I’m just jealous you have the case too. I can’t get one.

[@ethanaubrey858]

Just saw them on the same tour and they did indeed sound excellent

[@brucerawsthorne1338]

The case is lovely 🤓

[@Rikamortis6stringer]

Sounds thick chewy and creamy. I will try 1 sooner rather than later! Thanks Chappers!!!

[@craigreynolds5562]

I'm saving up for a QC for the fact I can capture the pedals I want to use without expanding my pedal board and my amps I don't take gigging ie my head's and cabs it opens up alot more options for me on stage

[@craigreynolds5562]

I agree but the only reservation I have is it would end up like kemper you couldn't put it in a bag and take it with you on a train or plane it would be to cumbersome that is one of the factors that puts me off kemper is its size but again that is personal choice what doesn't fit me doesn't mean it won't fit you

[@Chord_The_Seeker]

I still remember the Andertons video where you did a blindfolded comparison between the Kemper and valve amps, and you couldn’t tell which was which. You told Bea that you and he were getting a Kemper.

[@guitartoneSA]

Rob got a Kemper Rack the next day. 🙂

[@joergenviking]

Sounding amazing do you use stock cabs or ir in this patch Would you share that preset. Would be just great to try this out. Regards

[@Michaeltucker999]

to be fair.. Rabea sounds great in any scenario or through any amp....

[@romainbousquet5770]

Hey! What capture do you use for each scene?? Thanks a lot!

[@mattw.6726]

Rabea: "Come to the Dark Side; we have cookies!" Rob: "YUMMMM!" Seriously, though, awesome stuff. As the saying goes, if it sounds good, it *is* good!

[@hanshol5399]

yip...the same...i always wanted valve amps!...but recently bought a fractal..love it!!

[@pino_7428]

The Qc is the best sounding unit I tried

[@JeremyMcCant]

Let’s gooo!!!

[@RonynLoneWolf]

Love the guitar and the the QC. Well done Rob. 👏

[@mrblues1981]

im using helix floor ,love it but bought last year then discover quad cortex after but only problem helix floor is way too big to carry around ,thinking to sell my helix and get cortex :)

[@ArtyShat]

OMG did Rob finally get rid of the infinite logo on the neck? I might finally consider one guitar.

[@guitartoneSA]

"Cam the Kemper save Chappers" KZbin video...the best Andertons video of all time....I think it still irritates Lee Anderton to this day 😂

[@GearStuffandThings]

Did you play a Boy Hits Car riff for a sec?

[@bryanfarless9579]

Love it

[@ericgreenemusic]

Which amplifier is your go to? Silverback? Red dwarf? Other?

[@RobChappers]

Red Dwarf normally:-)

[@dustinthiessen]

guess the "quad cortex killer" from a couple weeks ago, didn't quite finish the job :P

[@Paul-D]

Nobody has ever raised the point of the physical looks beyond practical sense. I get what you mean about wishing it was more gear like, for sure we want our money turned into gear that gives us that feeling haha

[@craigreynolds5562]

From a personal point of view does it really matter what it looks like I've had some awful looking guitars in my time but they have sounded the way I wanted them to I actually don't find QC that ugly the info panel is bright so you can see it in a dark stage is t has all the ticks In an the right boxes for me (except price as it's taking me forever to save for one 😊)

[@Paul-D]

@@craigreynolds5562 My reply wasn't about the QC in particular I dont mind the way it looks, but it would be cool if it was more amp like. For the longest time I said it doesn't matter at all what gear looks like.... Until I realised one day it really does. It's not THE most important. But it matters. We spend our hard earn money on it, We have the things we love and if something visually represents that, it's better.

[@jasonb2916]

I see the chapman guitar line and they look awesome but I have yet to find one that feels like its worth buying... wish I could find one as I like the sound they provide but I need to have the sound and the feel come together in order for me to pull the trigger and justify spending 1k$ or more.

[@neighbourhoodmusician]

The best feeling and most stable one I had was the ML1 Pro X 10th Anniversary.

[@Bunter1815]

Want to borrow a Two Rock Sensor 22 to train into the QC?

[@allendean9807]

I love plug ins for thier ability to DI tracks and shape tones during mixdown. But due to the processing needs of so many plugins, I’m heading toward QC, and hardware for guitars…

[@TheCoronaMortis]

Best thing i ever bought was the QC.

[@Utube-s8m]

Besides a great amp and pedals it is the best feeling and sounding modeler out there imo and the best UI.

[@MsGuitarman1911]

I programed my QC to change through scenes and presets Via Midi, Both guitars in my band go in and auto change with Laptop. its soo Nice. don't have to worry about a thing.

[@pjmtry7]

It's all the SpongeBob an Mr. Potato Head in conjunction With the QUAD!!!!!

[@michaelmitchell5909]

Shit dude I was born in 75 also. Cheers from Pittsburgh, PA.....USA Love to see an English made ghost fret

[@BFHPET]

is it right to use 2 xlr output and on my direct monitor set it up stereo?

[@JesseLeeKing]

Sounds killer to my ears ... I liked the EH one

[@vhcxhbvg]

God damn I love y'all's dorje shit

[@michaelpal7641]

I may be late to the Quad Core game-but I have been using Neural DSP plugins in my DAW. I'd like to start using the Plugins in a live setting-so I am forced to purchase a Mac Book and use the Neural DSP plugins in a stand alone mode. I thought with a purchase of the Quad Core-I would be able to use existing plugins I purchased-just found out you can not port your existing plugins to the Quad Core-Is this true?

[@chriscalvert4625]

You can capture your plug in. But they just released a beta to use plug ins as well

[@aragorn767]

Is the Chapman logo not on the twelfth fret anymore?

[@RobChappers]

Not on the Workshop models

[@carldavies6890]

Could you share your presets?

[@joergenviking]

Yes it would be just great Rob. Sounding killer

[@paulomiguel_]

Can you use it without an amp? Can you just plug it to a PA or speaker? Thnx

[@neildeakin4454]

Yes. It has XLR outs for Front of house, your own PA speaker or FRFR and studio monitors.

[@fraenkiboii]

Trick? That one cut? Rob, one question. I own a QC and I started to feel disconnected from it. Did the QC feel different than an actual amp to you? I made a blindfold challenge between the QC and a Plexi. Couldn’t tell the difference sound wise. But when I play my SV20 mini Plexi, it feels different. And I don’t even think it’s latency, because there is basically none with the QC. It’s weird.

[@neilweir-smith8228]

Pretty sure the trick was that he didn't retune the guitar for the last track which he mentioned he tracked on a baritone but rather put a down tune block in front of the signal chain and let the QC drop tune the guitar for him.

[@damasterkarej]

Will you do a giveaway like Captain does when you reach 750k subscribers? :D

[@RobChappers]

Ha ha I’ll never reach 750k subs mate… but if for some miracle I did reach that then of course, yes :-)

[@nickbellinger1047]

i'm pretty happy with my sound ....i spose i'd use it if there wasn't anything else, maybe

[@sean7193]

how does fractal stuff stack up against the quad cortex?

[@John-e4p1x]

Fractal sounds better, has a ton more effects QC will NEVER catch up with. However it is not analog dry through.

[@John-e4p1x]

QC works by "capturing" a "picture" of the amp. Fractal works by the inventor who was an EE and an amp tech, he modeled every COMPONENT of the amp digitally, so its like he built the amp/s for real in a digital way.

[@neildeakin4454]

@@John-e4p1x QC will never catch up? QC has a large touchscreen display, to date, no fractal offering has had a large touch screen. You have to do any complex editing on a laptop. Also... How long has fractal been going and how many versions of hardware have fractal released?

[@neildeakin4454]

@@John-e4p1x QC can capture/profile amps, Fractal cannot. The QC also uses models components of real amps, for their amp models with the QC. Neural DSP also model real amps for their plugins and effects. Neural are working on bringing their plugins to the QC.

[@John-e4p1x]

@@neildeakin4454 I owned a Fractal FM3 it had a great screen, great FAST controls. Fractal has been around for a LONG time and is owned by one man basically, Fractal sometimes updates "every Friday" and im talking big updates and things that people ask for. Check out the Fractal forum.

[@elkuervojuarez1890]

I have no idea why im so reluctant to let this alien for of tecnología into my world other than for recording as its such a good "fake'" ... but you have got me thinking a bit rob... this heathen technology its starting to tempt my pure and untainted valve soul...

[@danielsaturnino5715]

We've lost another one guys! Anyway, more valve stock left for the rest of us.

[@neildeakin4454]

QC and others like it do not replace Valve in my eyes. They just enable us to have access to many more amps than we could ever afford to actually own. Think of something like the QC allowing you to get great tones through headphones or monitors that allow you to virtually audition amps before you go and buy the real thing. Also, most of us dont have somewhere to crank a real valve amp to get the best sound from it.

[@Utube-s8m]

No you can have both.

[@JesseLeeKing]

So you bought my guitar lol

[@JesseLeeKing]

So wtf is this new Chapman line if British made guitars called? English workshop guitars?

[@chrisnaishguitar]

Ten Fails Stronger! LOL...just kidding! I did enjoy that video all those years ago though.

[@NO-TALK-GuitarPlugin]

Quad cortex is always a little bit too harsh compared to an AxefxIII. ToneX is also a lot better at capturing. Kemper is totally out now.

[@guitartoneSA]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/f3-tkHtrhc6oiqc

[@truthfactreality6814]

I have real amps and pedals etc. but I just use the quad cortex mainly for live and recording. It’s sounds so good it’s unreal !

[@Glenn-tj3fk]

andertons crew and friends hyping the QC is really becoming disturbing

[@neildeakin4454]

What would you prefer them to hype?

[@Utube-s8m]

I hype it and get nothing out of it. It’s what we do. We talk about great gear. Out of all the modelers I’ve had there’s two that feel and sound the most like an amp. The quad and the overlooked Yamaha 100HD it’s a double modeler and the Yamaha comes with its own power and footswitch with some fx. I don’t need thousands of fx. Mostly meaning modulation. I think they cover the sound of the guitar sounding like a guitar. It seems you get disturbed easily. Idk why that should even affect you. There’s much more really disturbing things going on in the world. Geez.

[@Emi4Rock]

we need fucking dorje, right now

[@gab_ale]

Sexy, sexy, very sexy guitar. No wonder you had to take it home with you.

[@joshwinzinger8644]

Doesn’t matter the guitar or much else when everything is gained that high, it all sounds bad and all sounds the same.

[@Utube-s8m]

It doesn’t sound bad. That’s your opinion. You can get beautiful cleans as well. There’s top top singers’ guitarists using them. You just don’t know it because they bought them themselves. They’re endorsed by another company but they switched on their own. Don’t believe me? I don’t care. I know for a fact they’re using the quad. They sound great. Amps and pedals will always come first. But this is the best feeling and sounding modeler and the best UI I’ve dealt with. Kemper sold. Helix gone. Btw I love the way it looks. So I don’t agree with Rob on that but I know what he means. He likes the look and feel of actual amps and I assume pedals. I do too. But sorry this thing is great.

[@CyberneticArgumentCreator]

I think if you want to sound like it was recorded on an amp, the modelers are great. But if you want to be able to use the amp as an instrument and play off of it, they just can't do it. If I slam a Dark Boost at full volume into my amp's clean channel, it does insane things and sounds incredible. If I slam that same pedal into a modeling computer, it just becomes a gross mess. The way a tube amp responds to transients, how it can be manipulated, and how it fails when pushed are about more than just the bone stock clean/crunch/high gain sounds. The modelers are fantastic mimics but they aren't a nuanced instrument in and of themselves.

[@guitartoneSA]

Rabea and Rob. 😂 kzbin.info/www/bejne/f3-tkHtrhc6oiqc

[@brianj05]

chappers mush

[@ayanchatterjee6650]

2nd comment

[@TheBluesine]

WAY WAY TOO EXPENSIVE COMPARED TO OTHER UNITS OUT THERE.... My Headrush is a third of the price and even though this might sound slightly better, its not $2000 better!

[@neildeakin4454]

The headrush cannot capture amps and is much bigger than a QC for a start