In their defense, the british 2203 is a marshall 2203 head, so a JCM 800 :D It's really nice to have the opinion of someone who is a professional but not in the "business", trying to sell stuff. It's a super helpful video, thank you !
Yeah- makes total sense! The day I put this together I had already been working for ten hours so I think I just saw British and ran with it lol. Wouldn’t say it sounded bad. Actually quite good- I just was confused when I first played it since I was expecting something else. Thank you for watching and the kind words. I’m so glad it was helpful :)
I've been gigging with mine for a little over a year now. I just use the QC and an expression pedal for wahs and whammies. I've received a lot of compliments on my tone. Also it's really easy to adjust on the fly.
I love my QC. There are a bunch of stock presets on there that are already routed and pretty solid, so I like to just copy those and swap out the amps/effects. A lot of the work is already done that way.
Thanks for the video! I play E Guitar at church. I have a Boss GX100. Great feel, touch screen plenty of effects and it's $600! I only mention it for those who want to serve the Lord but are on a budget.
Nice video! As a church player myself, I recommend the AC-15 model with the 1x12” blue cab. I don’t know what it is, but it has something special and sounds better than the AC-30 model with 2x12”. Give it a try! It’s good.
Interesting! It’s all preference cause I actually tried the 15 and didn’t like it much at all! Haha- which matched my experience in real life: I’ve always found the 15 to sound thinner than the 30. But none of that matters, I’m really glad it’s doing the thing you need it to! I think that’s how it goes with most of these things: you just have to find the right combo for your rig and your style. However, that “alnico blue cab” is pretty cool. I paid an upgrade fee to have one of those in my real amp cab. I’m a big fan of that speaker!! I thought the 30 and the 30 top boost into it sounded great-
Thanks so much for watching!! For those who have asked, my go-to Quad Cortex Preset can be found here: www.etsy.com/listing/1508694232/quad-cortex-jm-template-preset?ref=listings_manager_grid
@@JustinMuncy I think it's about never knowing when you're going to need the original box. I finally got rid of all of our TV boxes, that was hard to do lol
@@diarrhea_splatter that’s probably it!! I find I hold to packaging for a whileeeee cause in the back of my mind I’m thinking, well what if I have to return it or get it repaired? Or sell it! Haha
@@JustinMuncy All that or if you have to move. BTW, If you stick with the QC, you'll find some patches are extremely well made. I found one that let finally let me bond with a strat I had owned for 10 years. Glad I held onto it 👍
Oh, yeah I don't doubt it!! I haven't been spending much time with their presets, but I've finally started to get the amps and effects to sound the way I was hoping. It's a cool product, good for what I bought it for-
I switched to a Helix LT a few years ago. I don’t see me going back! It’s so convenient! And because of my home situation (2 young kids) I’ve been able to practice WAY more AND set up pedals and tones for the songs much better! Felt like guitar heresy for a while. But I love it. Especially for my LP.
i sold my helix floor yesterday to buy quad cortex ,i love my helix but my issue was 2 kids playing in the evening ,set it up every night and put it away after , never able to take the helix out as big and heavy , cortex can fit in your bag pack and easy to put it away ,
@@mrblues1981 Makes sense to me! I am able to tuck the Helix LT away, leaving it plugged in and out of harms way. But prior that? Yes! Big hassle. I'm jealous of the form factor for Quad Cortex. Really great unit!
Very nice - even the initial sounds you dialed in were great! I've been obsessing ToneX lately, but if I was a touring musician like you, I'd be grabbing the QC so fast. To be able to just stow that in a carry on and still have all the sounds I need would def put my mind at ease, because I've seen so many people posting horror stories about their pedalboards getting torn apart by TSA. Looking forward to hearing how your sounds develop as you get to know the unit more. Do you still have your amp/have you thought about doing any captures of it? I've heard a lot of people saying captures are the way to go with the QC vs. the models built in.
Thanks so much!! Haha that's rad. I have amp pedal fatigue at the moment lol. Who knew we'd be so aggressively trying to get rid of amps in the 2020s?! Yeah, it's always a gamble when you check your stuff. I've had decent luck with the TSA lately, but it still doesn't prevent my stuff from getting tossed around and beat up. It's a lot of wear and tear on the cables, which has definitely left me having to problem solve on the spot more times than I wish!!! And yes- I still have my amp. The Neural Capture features was a big selling point for me. I'm just trying to figure out how to maximize the sounds in the unit before I start throwing in my pedals and amp. Part of me feels like, well I paid for this thing, I might as well see what it can do before I start adding a bunch of extras. But that's just me- I am very curious how good they'll sound. Especially with the pedals. That's really intriguing to me.
@@JustinMuncy Definitely understand your mindset with wanting to explore the sounds in the unit! But also remember part of what you paid for was the magic & convenience of being able to capture your stuff and bring it with you on the road in an extremely travel-friendly package like this. Either way, truly is an amazing time to be a guitarist with all these options at our fingertips!
So there’s a reason I didn’t do this. When I had the verbs and delays behind the amp and cab they sounded more clear but the actual effects weren’t cutting through in the way I wanted. When I had the effects go into the amp, they were more present which makes sense for this genre. I wouldn’t do it everytime. Just depends on what you’re going for
@@matthewearl9824 what an insanely douchey reply. You act like putting a delay before the Amp is somehow breaking the "rules" lol. Sounds like YOU have it all figured out.
You can lay it out however you want. Some people like to get that effect of slamming the amp with their effects like a trsditional pedalboard would. Others want the clean studio sound from having it after the cab. Some might even want delay after reverb. Theres no rules to it.
I stopped using pedalboards 9 years ago since the POD HD500 and then the Helix. Now I have the Quad Cortex and cannot be happier. Sounds incredible, much better than the Helix.
Yep use scenes no gaps. There’s also hybrid mode now. I love the quad. And I can’t stand modelers. I love amps and pedals. They’re staying. Sold my Kemper and helix. Bought two quads. It’s really fun too but feels and sounds very close to the real thing.
That’s awesome! Yeah- I think the sounds are pretty good! The only thing I don’t love are the reverbs and delays. Good to know about hybrid mode!! I’m reading about it- sounds cool ✌🏻
Very good device, but too expensive in my opinion. Let's be honest, they all sound the same. Everything Justin is in your fingers :) That's why it sounds good to you too.
I think they all sound the same with the right know how!! I’ve heard every unit sound great, and every unit sound horrendous lol. You’re not wrong, a lot of tone comes from your hands: how you hold the strings, how you attack the guitar. There’s no denying that. But there’s also the element of, no matter how well you naturally play the guitar, your fingers aren’t going to spontaneously generate fuzz, reverb, delay, the right signal flow etc. It’s the sound design knowledge + playing technique working together that truly generate the ultimate sound.
@@JustinMuncy I don't either, but there are a lot of users that are very active with uploading presets. I think there's even a dedicated Facebook group.
you shouldn't use amps while using the cortex, just because you are already simulating, so as soon as you plug in a amp your sound gonna change, just use your line out in stereo direct in the mixer. and you good to go. you can use your amps with the cortex but you'll have to not use the simulation and the cabs. as for me I just use the simulations they're amazing and I don't need anything else. just tweak a little and you will eventually discover how good it is.
Typically, I’d never run reverb or delays before the amp.. they behave VERY differently and in my experience it’s not in a good way. Essentially if they’re running in to an amp you are adding distortion or gain to the reverb or delay signal, degrading it and you will never get nice ethereal trails that way..
Yeah I agree with you in a lot of ways! That's definitely the majority opinion. My go-to rig was a pedalboard into an amp that didn't have an fx loop. So I was trying to get at the sound of drives hitting a big sky pushing the front of an amp. It's a really cool tone. But now a few months down the road and experimenting with the unit, I'd agree with throwing reverbs delays modulation post amp on the Quad Cortex tends to sound best.
Shimmer is cool, but all the those added octaves isn’t the sound I’m going for. Just want a big reverb sound with modulation. I ended up figuring out the sound I was looking for, but had to stack 3 reverb blocks to get it. I think the density of the neural verbs is just nowhere near the strymon or Valhalla stuff that I use-
I dont wanna be that guy, (I have like a $9k pedalboard strymons all that) but you couldve (by looking at your pedalboard) played the tour with a bigssky, acs1 and a small modulation pedal and been fine. NMo need to bring a timeline brother, do it with reverb. Or get a small delay. Even the UA pedals are tiny ASF and just as powerful as the strymons. No you dont need midi. You couldve even played the tour with just the bigsky and acs1. Problem solved. Maybe get a carbon copy if you needed delay.
@@JustinMuncy Not sure what you would roast brother, I am saying I understand having a big pedalboard of good pedals, but the truth is you (or I) could plays the exact same show with only two or three of our pedals. Based on whats ive heard you play I have confidence instead of you bringing the big board through tsa, you couldve only use dlike 3 pedals and been fine. But you got the QC now so youre well beyond that. Congratulation on your success. I had a fractal FM3 and it too easily replaced my board (and stereo tube amps) but in the end I sold the FM3 and went back to pedals. Also I notice I play better, and the sounds are better, when I only use like 2-3 pedals. Obvioulsy all those digital pedals have AD/DA conversion no matter how good that is affecting tone and latency. You might like the UA pedals if you ever add pedals to your QC like golden or starlight but honeslty whatever, QC covers it all.
In their defense, the british 2203 is a marshall 2203 head, so a JCM 800 :D
It's really nice to have the opinion of someone who is a professional but not in the "business", trying to sell stuff. It's a super helpful video, thank you !
Yeah- makes total sense! The day I put this together I had already been working for ten hours so I think I just saw British and ran with it lol. Wouldn’t say it sounded bad. Actually quite good- I just was confused when I first played it since I was expecting something else. Thank you for watching and the kind words. I’m so glad it was helpful :)
I’m elated to encounter live artists incorporating the QC into live performances! Great video!
Thanks so much!! I’m liking it so far- hard to beat the convenience.
I've been gigging with mine for a little over a year now. I just use the QC and an expression pedal for wahs and whammies. I've received a lot of compliments on my tone. Also it's really easy to adjust on the fly.
@@matthewwillinger8475 that’s awesome to hear Matthew!! I’m glad it’s been killing for you-
I love my QC. There are a bunch of stock presets on there that are already routed and pretty solid, so I like to just copy those and swap out the amps/effects. A lot of the work is already done that way.
That’s awesome man!! I’m particular about my stuff so I prefer to start from scratch. But there’s nothing wrong with presets!
Thanks for the video! I play E Guitar at church. I have a Boss GX100. Great feel, touch screen plenty of effects and it's $600! I only mention it for those who want to serve the Lord but are on a budget.
Thanks for sharing!! That’s rad!!
Nice video! As a church player myself, I recommend the AC-15 model with the 1x12” blue cab. I don’t know what it is, but it has something special and sounds better than the AC-30 model with 2x12”. Give it a try! It’s good.
Interesting! It’s all preference cause I actually tried the 15 and didn’t like it much at all! Haha- which matched my experience in real life: I’ve always found the 15 to sound thinner than the 30. But none of that matters, I’m really glad it’s doing the thing you need it to! I think that’s how it goes with most of these things: you just have to find the right combo for your rig and your style. However, that “alnico blue cab” is pretty cool. I paid an upgrade fee to have one of those in my real amp cab. I’m a big fan of that speaker!! I thought the 30 and the 30 top boost into it sounded great-
Thanks so much for watching!! For those who have asked, my go-to Quad Cortex Preset can be found here: www.etsy.com/listing/1508694232/quad-cortex-jm-template-preset?ref=listings_manager_grid
If you look at the online menu it actually tells you what each model and capture is based on.
Anyone else get a huge grin at that Neural box? Still have mine and love it!
Haha yes! I have it just like all of my MacBook Pro boxes… and iPhone boxes… why do we keep these things? Lol
@@JustinMuncy I think it's about never knowing when you're going to need the original box. I finally got rid of all of our TV boxes, that was hard to do lol
@@diarrhea_splatter that’s probably it!! I find I hold to packaging for a whileeeee cause in the back of my mind I’m thinking, well what if I have to return it or get it repaired? Or sell it! Haha
@@JustinMuncy All that or if you have to move.
BTW, If you stick with the QC, you'll find some patches are extremely well made. I found one that let finally let me bond with a strat I had owned for 10 years. Glad I held onto it 👍
Oh, yeah I don't doubt it!! I haven't been spending much time with their presets, but I've finally started to get the amps and effects to sound the way I was hoping. It's a cool product, good for what I bought it for-
Bought my QC a year ago. Best purchase I've made in a while.
That's awesome!! Glad it's been awesome for you!
I switched to a Helix LT a few years ago. I don’t see me going back! It’s so convenient! And because of my home situation (2 young kids) I’ve been able to practice WAY more AND set up pedals and tones for the songs much better! Felt like guitar heresy for a while. But I love it. Especially for my LP.
That's really awesome! The Helix is a great option too- And yes, endless sounds and tones to be made with the unit!!
i sold my helix floor yesterday to buy quad cortex ,i love my helix but my issue was 2 kids playing in the evening ,set it up every night and put it away after , never able to take the helix out as big and heavy ,
cortex can fit in your bag pack and easy to put it away ,
@@mrblues1981 Well I’m glad you found a solution!! That’s great-
@@JustinMuncy yeah bought second hand today and looking forward to use it
@@mrblues1981 Makes sense to me! I am able to tuck the Helix LT away, leaving it plugged in and out of harms way. But prior that? Yes! Big hassle. I'm jealous of the form factor for Quad Cortex. Really great unit!
Very nice - even the initial sounds you dialed in were great! I've been obsessing ToneX lately, but if I was a touring musician like you, I'd be grabbing the QC so fast. To be able to just stow that in a carry on and still have all the sounds I need would def put my mind at ease, because I've seen so many people posting horror stories about their pedalboards getting torn apart by TSA. Looking forward to hearing how your sounds develop as you get to know the unit more. Do you still have your amp/have you thought about doing any captures of it? I've heard a lot of people saying captures are the way to go with the QC vs. the models built in.
Thanks so much!! Haha that's rad. I have amp pedal fatigue at the moment lol. Who knew we'd be so aggressively trying to get rid of amps in the 2020s?! Yeah, it's always a gamble when you check your stuff. I've had decent luck with the TSA lately, but it still doesn't prevent my stuff from getting tossed around and beat up. It's a lot of wear and tear on the cables, which has definitely left me having to problem solve on the spot more times than I wish!!! And yes- I still have my amp. The Neural Capture features was a big selling point for me. I'm just trying to figure out how to maximize the sounds in the unit before I start throwing in my pedals and amp. Part of me feels like, well I paid for this thing, I might as well see what it can do before I start adding a bunch of extras. But that's just me- I am very curious how good they'll sound. Especially with the pedals. That's really intriguing to me.
@@JustinMuncy Definitely understand your mindset with wanting to explore the sounds in the unit! But also remember part of what you paid for was the magic & convenience of being able to capture your stuff and bring it with you on the road in an extremely travel-friendly package like this. Either way, truly is an amazing time to be a guitarist with all these options at our fingertips!
@@saint__andrew this is true!! I’m sure I’ll land on some combination of captures and stock sounds-
Your delays and reverb are not laid out properly in your signal chain on the QC. Put them at the end after the cabinet.
So there’s a reason I didn’t do this. When I had the verbs and delays behind the amp and cab they sounded more clear but the actual effects weren’t cutting through in the way I wanted. When I had the effects go into the amp, they were more present which makes sense for this genre. I wouldn’t do it everytime. Just depends on what you’re going for
@@JustinMuncy Sounds like you have it all figured out then.
@@matthewearl9824 what an insanely douchey reply. You act like putting a delay before the Amp is somehow breaking the "rules" lol. Sounds like YOU have it all figured out.
You can lay it out however you want. Some people like to get that effect of slamming the amp with their effects like a trsditional pedalboard would. Others want the clean studio sound from having it after the cab. Some might even want delay after reverb. Theres no rules to it.
I stopped using pedalboards 9 years ago since the POD HD500 and then the Helix. Now I have the Quad Cortex and cannot be happier. Sounds incredible, much better than the Helix.
Throwback!! I remember we the HD500. That’s awesome- glad it’s been really awesome for you :)
reverbs / delays / chorus after the amp
I like that strymon like reverb that you came up with. Do you have that preset in the cloud?
Oh thank you!! I don’t, I actually erased it all. But, come back for the video I have this Friday. I think I got the reverb dialed in muchhhhh better-
Look in the Factory Neural Captures. They added a Matchless amp set that will probably work well for you.
Oh whoa! I didn't know they had factory captures in addition to the models. That's super helpful. Stoked to dive into those-
Yep use scenes no gaps. There’s also hybrid mode now. I love the quad. And I can’t stand modelers. I love amps and pedals. They’re staying. Sold my Kemper and helix. Bought two quads. It’s really fun too but feels and sounds very close to the real thing.
That’s awesome! Yeah- I think the sounds are pretty good! The only thing I don’t love are the reverbs and delays. Good to know about hybrid mode!! I’m reading about it- sounds cool ✌🏻
Wait until you try running them in parallel.
Haha yeah!! I’ve posted updates since. I’ve not got the QC doing what I want it to! 👍🏻
Very good device, but too expensive in my opinion. Let's be honest, they all sound the same. Everything Justin is in your fingers :) That's why it sounds good to you too.
I think they all sound the same with the right know how!! I’ve heard every unit sound great, and every unit sound horrendous lol.
You’re not wrong, a lot of tone comes from your hands: how you hold the strings, how you attack the guitar. There’s no denying that. But there’s also the element of, no matter how well you naturally play the guitar, your fingers aren’t going to spontaneously generate fuzz, reverb, delay, the right signal flow etc. It’s the sound design knowledge + playing technique working together that truly generate the ultimate sound.
There are actually a ton of worship presets on the cloud.
Oh cool!! I don’t play much worship but that’s cool to know!
@@JustinMuncy I don't either, but there are a lot of users that are very active with uploading presets. I think there's even a dedicated Facebook group.
IMO, the stock amps all need their "output" reduced to improve tone.
You should look at the Headrush Prime.
I haven’t tried that out yet, but if it’s doing what you need it to, then that’s awesome!!
British 2203 is the JCM800
you shouldn't use amps while using the cortex, just because you are already simulating, so as soon as you plug in a amp your sound gonna change, just use your line out in stereo direct in the mixer. and you good to go. you can use your amps with the cortex but you'll have to not use the simulation and the cabs. as for me I just use the simulations they're amazing and I don't need anything else. just tweak a little and you will eventually discover how good it is.
Haha! Why would I run an amp simulator into an amp?? I wasn’t using any amps. That’s the whole point. This is just the QC direct-
Typically, I’d never run reverb or delays before the amp.. they behave VERY differently and in my experience it’s not in a good way. Essentially if they’re running in to an amp you are adding distortion or gain to the reverb or delay signal, degrading it and you will never get nice ethereal trails that way..
Yeah I agree with you in a lot of ways! That's definitely the majority opinion. My go-to rig was a pedalboard into an amp that didn't have an fx loop. So I was trying to get at the sound of drives hitting a big sky pushing the front of an amp. It's a really cool tone. But now a few months down the road and experimenting with the unit, I'd agree with throwing reverbs delays modulation post amp on the Quad Cortex tends to sound best.
10:21 yes, that is bad.
Try the Shimmer reverb
Shimmer is cool, but all the those added octaves isn’t the sound I’m going for. Just want a big reverb sound with modulation. I ended up figuring out the sound I was looking for, but had to stack 3 reverb blocks to get it. I think the density of the neural verbs is just nowhere near the strymon or Valhalla stuff that I use-
I dont wanna be that guy, (I have like a $9k pedalboard strymons all that) but you couldve (by looking at your pedalboard) played the tour with a bigssky, acs1 and a small modulation pedal and been fine. NMo need to bring a timeline brother, do it with reverb. Or get a small delay. Even the UA pedals are tiny ASF and just as powerful as the strymons. No you dont need midi. You couldve even played the tour with just the bigsky and acs1. Problem solved. Maybe get a carbon copy if you needed delay.
Clearly you do want to be that guy if you're taking the time to comment this
@@JustinMuncy Not sure what you would roast brother, I am saying I understand having a big pedalboard of good pedals, but the truth is you (or I) could plays the exact same show with only two or three of our pedals. Based on whats ive heard you play I have confidence instead of you bringing the big board through tsa, you couldve only use dlike 3 pedals and been fine. But you got the QC now so youre well beyond that. Congratulation on your success. I had a fractal FM3 and it too easily replaced my board (and stereo tube amps) but in the end I sold the FM3 and went back to pedals. Also I notice I play better, and the sounds are better, when I only use like 2-3 pedals. Obvioulsy all those digital pedals have AD/DA conversion no matter how good that is affecting tone and latency. You might like the UA pedals if you ever add pedals to your QC like golden or starlight but honeslty whatever, QC covers it all.
@@JustinMuncy ruclips.net/video/mCQWApX-nKw/видео.html
Too much worship usage. Had to sell mine. People started mistaking me for a christian cult member.