NDSP Quad Cortex vs Mesa Rectifier (models & capture) & initial impressions

[Guitarjon]

I finally jumped on the Quad Cortex train... For a while there I didn't know if this would ever happen but then out of the blue, they were in stock at Thomann so I just bit the bullet and ordered one.

I've had it for about a week now so I've spent some good time with it, mostly capturing a bunch of my amps because that feature was one of the main selling points for me. I had a couple of Kempers over the years but I always ended up being pretty frustrated because the profiles never really sounded like my real amps. The NDSP capture tech seemed very promising in most of the videos that I watched, so that was pretty exciting to me. The idea of having all my own amps in the QC to make demos with is pretty exciting to me. The flexibility of the routing options vs the Kemper also is much more flexible.

So far I've captured about 4 amps. The QC does a better job than the Kemper overall. Some amps are more accurate than others. The modern modes on my Rectifier usually are more gainy and bassy than the real amp. I don't need the captures to be 100% as long as they sound close, feel good to play and inspire me to make music. The captures sure as hell are closer to my real amps than many other modeler platforms. I also captures my ENGL Fireball 25 and that one was scary close! So it does depend on the amp. As I said though, it's not 100% but I doubt a "profiler"/capture device will ever be able to reproduce all the nuances of a real amp. Who knows though? Either way, sounds great to me and a LOT of fun!

The stock amp models are nice. Not all super accurate but they do sound fine. More realistic than the Helix? I'm not sure. In my blind tests I was able to make my Helix sound SCARY close to the real amps without any trickery. So far I haven't been able to do that with the QC. I still have a lot to discover though. Definitely cool sounding amp models and a lot of fun to be had! I'm excited to see what they'll add next.

The effects are great too imho. I'm not a very heavy FX user but to me they sound pristine and there are plenty of options.

Another plus is that this thing works really well as a USB interface. For the first time EVER I can play through plugins in my daw with very low latency! Impressive!

I have more to say but I touch on everything in my review and of course I'm also comparing my Mesa Rectifier to the amp models (Recto and Tem-O-Verb) as well as a capture of my real amp. Let me know what you think!

 

[GunpointMetal]

How does the EQ respond on captures compared to the Kemper? My issue with Kemper has always been that you're stuck with a snapshot and you can't do much without deep diving if you need more than a tiny EQ adjustment.

 

[Guitarjon]

How does the EQ respond on captures compared to the Kemper? My issue with Kemper has always been that you're stuck with a snapshot and you can't do much without deep diving if you need more than a tiny EQ adjustment.

So far really well! The EQ on the capture module seems to respond well and sounds musical. I haven't done heavy adjustments yet, just more subtle moves but I can't complain!

 

[narad]

What is your other interfaces if this is the first time you've played plugins with low latency? Anything special about this interface implementation?

 

[Guitarjon]

What is your other interfaces if this is the first time you've played plugins with low latency? Anything special about this interface implementation?

For these past years I've always used my Fractal Axe Fx's (II, XL+ and III) for that, also tried my Helix. The III has been a bit of a mess in general but it still serves it's purpose for me.

 

[laxu]

How does the EQ respond on captures compared to the Kemper? My issue with Kemper has always been that you're stuck with a snapshot and you can't do much without deep diving if you need more than a tiny EQ adjustment.

The EQ works fine similarly to throwing an EQ block after an amp model, meaning it won't behave like the real amp's tone stack because it's not the same thing.

For getting good captures I found that having the right levels in the capture view was very important. When I aimed for I think -6 or -10 dB (it's been a year...) I got good results.

 

[MattThePenguin]

so uhhhhhhh is that recto going on the cloud hehe

 

[4Eyes]

very cool comparison and it just shows how important it is to compare the amp sounds in the band mix context. because what seem to be "different" tones alone, some maybe meh, can sound great in the mix and that's what matters in the end. I find all 4 tones to sound great and I wouldn't mind using those

 

[Guitarjon]

very cool comparison and it just shows how important it is to compare the amp sounds in the band mix context. because what seem to be "different" tones alone, some maybe meh, can sound great in the mix and that's what matters in the end. I find all 4 tones to sound great and I wouldn't mind using those

Cheers! Yeah that's a good way of looking at it. In the end just use what makes you happy!

 

[Emperoff]

The capture sounds pretty good (definetely better than amp models) but the real amp sounds angry as hell.

 

[Guitarjon]

The capture sounds pretty good (definetely better than amp models) but the real amp sounds angry as hell.

I've always loved my recto but I'm starting to thing it sounds exceptionally good "for a 3 channel recto".

 

[Steo]

Honest question. Is the quad cortex really worth it's price tag? just over €1800 on Thomann with a wait time right now. Aside from the amp capture, are the tones in it really worth that price?