Quad Cortex vs Fender, Marshall & EVH Valve Amps! - Who Wins?
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- čas přidán 11. 06. 2024
- Today The Captain & Digital John compare the Neural DSP Quad Cortex against three iconic valve amps, a Fender Deluxe reverb, Marshall JTM45 & EVH 5150! Can the Quad Cortex recreate those iconic tones or are valve amps always better? | tinyurl.com/ydfzup98
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Real Amps Used
» Marshall JTM45 | tinyurl.com/ydb7l2jd
» EVH 5150 | tinyurl.com/y9n3rasz
» Fender Vintage Reissue Amps | tinyurl.com/y73szmbt
Neural DSP's Quad Cortex has taken the guitar world by storm and was one of the most highly-anticipated new products in recent memory! Acclaimed for its realism, we've tackled the question that all players have been asking since this cutting-edge digital unit was first unveiled. Can the Quad Cortex recreate iconic tones from Fender, Marshall & EVH Amps?
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⏰ Timestamps ⏰
» 0:00 Intro Jam - Switching Between the Quad Cortex & a Real Amp!
» 0:35 What Are We Doing Today?
» 3:35 What is our Fender Inspired Tone on the Quad Cortex?
» 5:19 Let's Compare the Quad Cortex Fender Tone to a Real Amp!
» 6:20 Thoughts? & Adding a Tube Screamer
» 9:12 What is our Marshall Inspired Tone on the Quad Cortex?
» 10:39 Let's Compare the Quad Cortex Marshall Tone to a Real Amp!
» 13:20 Finally, Let's Compare the Quad Cortex EVH 5150 Tone to a Real Amp!
» 15:30 Final Thoughts?
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The wall of sound of tube amps are always going to feel better. You can't beat the convenience of digital, and in a mix you can't tell the difference.
But none of this matters if you suck because you don't practice. So go practice, right now
Underrated comment
Great comment. Watch: "Get Back" see McCartney explain that his Hofner was crappy, but how it was easy to play, then he got on with making some iconic songs on that bass. Gear is a distraction from practicing. I know it is because I have been guilty of spending money, rather than spending time in the shed.
"Should I buy a tube amp or a modeller?" Lessons. Buy lessons.
Exactly... Read my name..
what are they feeding you?
Wonder why you haven't used same IR's for the comparison? The title suggests it's about amps, and as we all know, using different cabs massively affects the sound.
Agreed, i think it’s underestimated how much impact a cab makes and so in this instance using the same IR would have been a much more informative comparison.
However i get what they intended to showcase, the full modelled versions of the analog counterparts.
TBF to andertons though they have already done the capture video last year which shows you just how close in sound a quad cortex can get you.
Agreed... They Could have routed the signal from boss load box into the in2 of QC and do another row with the same IR of the modeled amp ... So when switching the source, they will have 1st o 2nd amp with better comparison
I got one of these from you guys earlier this month and no regrets. As a player who loves versatility it’s perfect! Highly recommend to anyone and top service in Andertons from the staff as well! Always worth the 1.5hr drive!
Great video!! And I think Digital John's face says the most here. It looks like he feels more with the valves. For sure with the 5150.
Would be cool to see such a comparison using the same IRs in the Quad Cortex and the Tube Expander. And also with neural captures.
In this video I liked the real amps better but on the other hand I'm not really a fan of the Quc Cortex builtin cabs.
Stereo/mono fx does make a huge difference when comparing two setups - i can always tell it's the Cortex when the guitar sounds extra wide.
The midrange is substancially different in the fender vs qc and in the evh vs qc so its really hard to say which one is better cause they are different kind
sounds
The quad cortex sounds way good. I honestly think it’s better than amps. It gives you that full recorded sound. The evh valve amp sounds like how’d you expect live in the room, the quad cortex sounds like one you’d get from a full mix recording.
I own one... and I think you're right. When I play it, I play through large 8" studio monitors and it feels like I'm playing mastered tones live. It's pretty sweet.
@@UrbanSelfSufficiency did ypu ever played Fractal FM series? which had better sound quality?
@@BagusWibisono I haven't tried it, no. So, I couldn't give you a fair answer. I have owned the QC for a year now and still love it immensely... If that helps.
I'd like to hear the tube expander vs an actual mic'd up cab
Everybody saying "dudeee tubes are always better". But they are ignoring the fact that these digital gear is getting better and better. Tubes will disappear someday because it's such of an old technology. All we'll have to play with are going to solid state amps and digital equipment. To sum up, I loved both sounds.
Yeah, tube amps are going to end up like records and record players... Oh wait...
Well you can say that but as long as the guitar market exists, tube technology will be here to stay. And there's a reason why everyone is saying tubes are always better. While you can fool people with really good emulated sounds of a fender, as soon as you introduce gain into the picture there is no competition. If you've owned a tube amp you'll know what I'm talking about. I think things like the QC and helix are good ways to have decent sounds on tap and do gigging with but if I want a good sound, I'll always turn to my tube amps. If you're telling yourself otherwise, you owe it to yourself to try a real marshall or 5150. That punch in the gut when they start playing never gets ole, even on my 1 watt marshall lol.
Lol no. We all know that. We've had modelling devices for almost 30 years now and they're still not that close.
@@cheenu711 i think the objection is with the use of the word "always". Look at how the first modellers sounded 20 years ago, and then compare to how that stuff sounds today. Then imagine how it will sound in another 20 years. There is no magic that cant be modelled going on in tubes or analogue gear...it will be done eventually. Its already pretty close.
Hey yo boys, I'm not throwing hate to tube amps. I love them, but I love everything that sounds good, everything that can give me new ideas. You are such a cry babies, grow up.
As it is clearly a commercial, with the brand's own demonstrator, we can easely say that this piece of gear has been given the best chances against the valve counterparts. And it's a really well made video, with a great sound edition. So if this sounds anything out of "perfect", people, keep your money ! Make your own opinion ... But if Lee has to always explain that the sound could be better than what we are actually hearing, in this context : it cannot be good !
On the 5150 the QuadCortex was way too fizzy.
Keep bringing him more often.
I agree, the vastly different IRs hurt the comparison. I also agree that direct comparison doesn’t help. I just recently went Kemper. Should be completely outclassed by the latest and greatest, but with tonejunkie and Britt profiles, it feels good and sounds like an amp to me. I‘m even getting brilliant bass tones which would always sound brittle when I tried to achieve the same results with preamps, D.I.s, analog or digital EQs. I’m more of a results person. And if it feels right and sounds right, it’s right.
I’ve got a Kemper but it’s just SO complicated to use fer me… YMMV
@@BeesWaxMinder have you tried Rig Manager? Hardware is inherently harder to grasp, unless you have a touch screen pointing out everything explicitly and allowing you to adjust parameters in place. Kemper is outdated there, no doubt. But generally speaking, I like the ´one signal chain ´ approach of the Kemper. I have never been able to achieve better results by mixing multiple lanes with different amps with plugins. It’s complete overkill for me in hardware. With the Kemper, you have pedals in front, the amp itself and post effects after the amp. I don’t want more.
Nice to hear a new guitarist on Anderton’s.
Same ir would of been a better way of comparing but good video still. Liking the new digital John section 👍🏻👍🏻
Yes, same cabinets or ir make those comperesons better ;) Nice video
Since you are doing IRs anyway, it would have been interesting to do a run with using the same one on both.
I heard so much good about the Quad Cortex, but the EVH was just not convincing - and you even used an EQ on that one to help it (which setting you should have shown).
I have a QC and loving it. The EVH can sound a lot better than in this video. Don't know what happened here.
@Dirk Henning, I am of the same opinion the 5150 comparison was light years apart the Cortex seemed way to tight and brittle where the actual amplifier seemed to be fuller, relaxed, and less compressed maybe. The Marshall was IMO the closest comparison, and if I'm being honest I thought the Cortex was better sounding for the Fender patch.
With all that being said,, I would be interested to see how the 5150 would come across if they did a capture of the amplifier and then revisited a blind comparison having them both run into the room through identical cabinets. I find no matter how you slice it any digital replication ends up getting a certain amount of compression applied to it that no matter how you try cannot be dialed out. I think that it has something to do with how analog signals and circuits clip that digital processing eliminates which can significantly alter the sound. I am not well versed in signal pathways, but it falls into a similar debate as the age old solid state versus tube/valve amplifiers. Digital seems to add another layer of impact to the feel and final sound.
you are also comparing IRs in this test, a more fair test would be running the QC to a power amp, and then getting both the tube amp and QC out of the same cab.
I would like that comparison. I think that would be cool so that the feel could be also compared
Valve amps sound and feel better...I am really trying to convince myself that I need the Quadcortex but every time I watch a review I change my mind! Lol
Well that depends bro, my buddy had one which made me buy mine, and it sounded killer at his house,but I use mine only in my studio and it sounds even better and has that valve amp feel for sure, I think your room acoustics will have more of an impact on sound than you think,which will translate to feel as well. Just my opinion but it's what I've found. And the whole tube shortage and rapeage not coming to an end any time soon,it's good to have something like this,on a recorded track,no one will know the difference I promise you that,and it's just easier than moving mics around as well
Which home / practice amp would you recommend to use with something like the quad cortex or kemper.
Without losing much quality but would allow to play in low volume?
Woah! Been waiting for this vid!
My new experiment is I use digital modeling through my tube amp. So my amp sounds Fendery, then Marshally, then Voxy etc.. It's so much fun ;)
Thanks a lot for your vids!!! But I think the test is hard to make
Straight from the addition of the tube screamer, the quad cortex sounded compressed and digital (listened to with headphones).
The QC is just an amazing piece of kit
When using digital gear you have to think outside the box !!!
I wasn’t surprised that even though they were mostly similar, ( i was surprised the 5150 was the one most apart from it’s digital representation as apparently thats were digital gear excels ) they were not as close as they could have been.
Yes a capture of the amps would have been even closer. But when using digital equivalents you still need to add in eq and other goodies in around your chain to get you just that bit closer. This can also mean not typically following the analog chain and replicating it like for like on a digital signal chain. Even a simple analog chain would look a lot more full and complex on the digital device’s signal path just to get as close to it’s analog comparison.
For me its the 3D sound of a tube amp , the response from the cab and your playing, and the dynamics that are hard to replicate on digital devices. However, when in the mix alot of that gets thrown out as essentially you mic’d amp is what the digital stuff is emulating anyways.
It’s obviously getting closer and closer, i don’t think tube amps will die out. Subjectively and individually you choose whats best for you. There is no right or wrong , better or worse if your enjoying your gear that inspires you to create and play … your winning !!
I think there's a night and day difference between the valve amps and the Neural DSP Quad Cortex for all the compared amps. I also think the problem is because the Neural has gotten to a point where it is too perfect -- interpolating and extrapolating between captured IRs with high precision and detail which the valve amps simply do not have; those imperfections of the valve amps is part of what makes them sound so great (and BTW: I don't even own a valve amp); what the QC needs is a valve mode which reduces resolution, clamps the bandwidth and add some randomized dithering to readd those imperfections.
So it's a magic/mojo in the electrons thing? 😆 I understand your point, and it would be interesting to talk to the software folks to see how they are trying to compensate for all that. It WOULD be interesting to hear the Captures of these same tones; the few I have heard (all on YT, unfortunately) sound very impressive. So maybe that's more the route to shoot for...
I'm not putting down the digital stuff because I have a line 6 helix. I do prefer tube amps though because, when I plug into one, it immediately sounds like what I'm plugged into. Also, at least for me, there are far fewer knobs to have to mess with.
Nice job guys, all around. I think you could have spent a bit more time EQ'ing and matching volumes, and maybe matching the cab IR's, but the quick comparison serves a purpose too...the QC gets very close, and in many areas of tone seems capable of fooling many of us, or...even sounding better??? Yikes. Thanks guys!
The two things I want to see on a Quad Cortex are a W/D/W rig set up internally and sent stereo direct and modeling an acoustic.
Would that work coming out of a stereo direct? I’ve considered making a w/d/w in the box and sending it to my studio monitors, but I haven’t tried because I thought it required three speakers.
I don’t know very much about w/d/w, so I’m not trying to correct you by any means, just learn more about the idea.
I didn’t like the high gain sound. Maybe using the same IR would have been better. It would be good if you could do a follow up video.
I noticed you mentioned the real JTM 45 was Jumped with patch leads, but on the Quad Cortex you didn't use the Jumped model you used the Bright one
The sounds were different in the Cortex, but necessarily better or worse than the real amp, in most case, though the real Deluxe reverb is hard to beat. The Marshall was close, but the 5150 was miles apart - still good, but different. Thanks for the comparisons.
Yep, they are very different sounding Fender amplifiers, with one being much more to my liking than the other (didn't listen/watch the others). I am, however, curious as to how much work/time it would take to dial in a more convincing tone which would sound closer to that real Fender (if possible on the Cortex). I've tried on my Pod Go and can't match my real amp, but i only really got it for its reverbs, di, and as traveling/headphone companion, which i like a lot.
~2K seems fair compared to both the sound and quality of other high end units but again even for about a quarter of the cost you can get some great sounds. Nice Demo as always!
Agree, but realistically, you can't even buy the Marshall for that amount (U.S.), so something like the QC is a pretty good deal...I hate to even see myself typing this! :+0
In the matches, I preferred the fender, then the quad then the evh tbh
My suggestion would be to do this compare again but capture the real amp first, as follows, instead of using the stock capture. First, just capture the head. You can do this silently by running the amp's speaker out into a resistive load box like the Freyette Power Station. Use the silent capture setup on the quad. This lets you capture the head only on the real amp just as it would be going into a physical speaker cab in the analog world. You do not want the amps output signal colored by anything else. After the capture, A/B the real amp head and the quad capture through the same "real" speaker cab. Do not use a cab sim on the quad chain being compared to the amp. Result: You will see the true value of using the Quad from captures. Now you have the real amp captured on the quad and can run it with a cab sim or IR on your preset chain, or with no cab sim or IR into a real cab.
the Tube amps all ruled!
If you dont need the capture, I feel the many new modelers from several companies are just as good at a much cheaper price.
Hi Sean - what would you recommend?
Id love to see a gx100 vs valveamps!
Hey guys, i am going to USA in 18Aug, so i will finnaly get a chance to get one quad cortex. Contacted Sweetwater’s rep and he told me to preorder the QC but not sure that i’ll get in time. Do you guys think it’s possible to arrive in time? Anyone had receive in less than 2 months? Thanks!!
Captain is being a bit of a sales diplomat on this.. Worlds apart in tones from my end. Real amps sound way sweeter to my ear..👍🇦🇺
What about comparing it to the Tone Master?
As an old man I’m still just confused about these new (new to me) pedal boards like the quad thingy. What would an old guy like myself run them into ? Would I go buy a cabinet or powered monitor ? Make my own ? I just don’t get the speaker part of it. Because surely that has a hell of a lot to do with not only the tone you get but also some of the functionality of it as well depending on said option of speaker. I would already own one of these if I could find a straight answer about it.
I'm pretty sure for this one you need a active cab or into powered monitors. Or you can get a preamp and then into passive cab
Never been convinced by the QC. Always had those harsh sounds on gainy amps.
I bought a pod go. Kinda wish I spent the extra for the cortex
5150 stealth+ Captor X = cheaper than QC, in my village at least
Got myself a Marshall DSL and Captor X for half the price of the Neural
Can you do the same with head rush mx5
Unusually for an Andertons video, I preferred the digital unit for all the comparisons. That Quad Cortex is an aspirational thing. I can't afford it and couldn't justify such a purchase but I would very much like to have one.
Probably because this video is trying to sell the Quad Cortex
@@DrMoe.Lester - Well, yes, but they are trying to do the same on all of their videos, including those featuring a digital effect pedal... But those usually sound pretty terrible on this channel, even when they sound great elsewhere. It's something I picked up on a while back and have mentioned in comments once or twice before.
It's hard to tell because the IRs are different, etc. It all sounds good, though.
Valves/tubes will always be better because that is what we hear on our favourite albums.
weird, I thought it sounded pretty bad here and nothing like my QC... not saying mine would be closer to the real thing, but it did not sound like my device either
I desperately need something like the QC type units - but the sound has still got that “direct sound” regardless of unit -- I also thought both hi gain tones were A bees nest -
I’ve owned a oxbox as well and that still has digital edge too that we don’t want
"the sound has still got that “direct sound” regardless of unit"... Because it is direct sound, it's exactly how you should NOT try a modeler.
It's weird that a retail shop still doesn't know that, the dry sound of a model/capture can't compare with an amp and some mics, you need to add air or slight room reverb, and then it's basically the same.
Sorry for Andertons, that was not a good advertising video 😂
I’d like to add that it’s not just Andertons video - it’s almost everybody on CZcams has a PlayStation tone
They all sound a little different, but none of them sounds bad. Kiko used a QC on the last Megadeth tour. Nobody complained about it. Midori from Lovebites uses a Kemper. EVERYBODY loves Midori! The point is: the "music" is more important than the gear. Most fans can't tell the difference anyway.
The QC did not fare well against the EVH
Because the EQ settings were all wacked. He could have got it a lot closer, if the EQ was adjusted properly.
Honestly I was a bit shocked how their QC EVH preset sounds. I have the QC and the EVH can sound way better than in this presentation.
I did suspect that was the case. I love Andertons but to be honest, i still don't think they care about digital...beyond the fact it sells. Even the whole "Digital John" thing sounds like they are taking the p***. Probably give him 5 mins before the shoot to set everything up 🤣
What amplifier sounds? the one with the name in green or white?😓
The fender one and the EVH sound totally different compared to the quad cortex
4:50 - I don't understand having the reverb after the speaker. In the amp the reverb is before the speaker.
Natural reverb is the space you’re in, so you can put reverb either before or after… it’s up to you 👍
@@andertons to replicate an amp with spring reverb, it seems to make sense to put it in the same point in the chain as in the amp. Additional room ambience afterwards, but mostly guitar amps have a microphone close up, although I find distant mics to sound better in some circumstances.
10:04 I also have a reactive load.
Linearity and headroom VS Algo rhythms. The thing is for the price of the cortex could by a pretty good tube head...Cortex has some reverb there. The tube did not.
I love Lee and the channel but How come it seems John's videos are alot shorter than everyone else's. They always seem so rushed. I feel Lee needs to step back from these vids and maybe have John and Rebea do these reviews.
I agree, I don't feel the chemistry between them as much as with Pete. Love them both, but I think Bea and John would be awesome. I watch these videos as entertainment more than information about the product, so personality is important.
Lol everything sounded really good then I flinched at the Evh comparison
Holy shit, that EVH sounded horrible and the QC of course even worse! I own the QC and didn't know it was even possible to make it sound that bad! Did you forget to dial in an IR? I also have the EVH Stealth 50W, captured it with the QC and I'm not able to tell the difference. Almost identical when I dial in the modelled version. I have no idea what you did there. Sorry, but that is a half-hearted video, I think you can do way better. I'm not a fanboy at all, but this made no sense to me. There are really much better comparisons out there.
Indeed, my captured EVH is identical to the actual amp.
Don't know what it sounds like in the room, but I'm shocked I prefer the Quad's version of the Marshal in this video. Haha.
Tubes win yeah but I can’t afford a million of tube amps (but digitally I can) and most importantly I don’t want to pay $2k for a tube amp and then another $1k on an attenuator just to be able to play at home. It seems pointless amplifying a signal and then attenuating it so it’s not so bloody loud. It’s like driving a car with feet both on gas and brake at the same time
Btw a 2k tube amp through a 1k attenuator at bedroom volumes, still sound worse than a decent digital platform.
Well have you heard of lower wattage tube amps with power scaling. Tbh tho before buying a tube amp you really to confirm if that is the sound you like. Because each amp has a character and while they're the best at doing what they do, they probably won't fair well against other amps that do other things better.
I run a 100w EVH 5150 III through a Two Notes Captor with the 20db attenuation and its very manageable. A -20db reduction is 4x quieter than it would be otherwise and it's a loadbox so you can disconnect the cab completely and plug it into an interface and use IRs to play your huge tube head silently. You can get used captors for under 200 dollars. Also, be honest, how many amps do you use digitally? I feel like (from first and second hand experience) the people who use digital modelers spend thousands on a modeler only use one or two amps, one or two cabs and three or four pedals out of the thousands of options the modelers offer. I was (and still am from time to time) a heavy digital user, but once I played a tube head it was kinda over for me. I got the EVH used, a 2x12 cab and the Two Notes Captor and it does everything I need it to and it all costed less than a quad cortex
All of the tones were fun, that’s what matters right?!
5:18 hurt - the feeling of reality slapping me in the face
Real tubes everytime!
Nope.
@@bille77 In terms of sound ; valve wins everytime . If not ; go buy ears .
@@frenchguitarteacher tell yourself that. I bet in a recording or in a full band setting you won’t be able to hear which is which.
@@rubysoffner4557 i totally agree , it's m'y job too . But in a room or on stage, when you are playing for pleasure , there is no match for the sound i repeat 👍
I love digital gear, but I can't believe how much better the tubes sounded here. I'm never one of those "it's night and day" guys, but I was wearing headphones for this and it was night and day! The QC sounds great for what it is, but it was missing so much dynamics in all of these comparisons. The Captor X/Ox box are looking pretty appealing all of a sudden...
DJohn needs to do some videos by himself without dad holding his hand! 😂
This a right comparison!
If I play a valve I'd never use IR!
Hier - valve and micro wins!
The same amps but with a KEMPER?
I’m a tune guy but why does the Quad Cortex sound better in all these comparisons without even tweaking it that much, so many more things you can do with the QC it seems.
“Classic dad rock bridge pickup stuff”😂
So as with all these things the "real deal" sounds a bit better across the board but I'm nowhere near rich enough to be able to actually own and use all the tube amps that I want so I'll stick with the "good enough" modelers.
I totally agree with the "different amps sound different" thing, however, I preferred the valves in every case here.
Digital is best !! You have many amps thats costs 2000$ in one device
Interesting to hear that in the room you didn't hear much difference especially for the first 2 amps, but for me there was quite a large difference on all 3.
I agree. I made a "that smells bad" face for the Quad's version of the EVH. But in the room it probably sounded super similar.
@@nickgjenkins i suspect they messed up on the cab, it almost sounded like an amp without a speaker. A nice ribbon+dynamic combo and high cut/low cut should fix that terrible noise
The Marshall/QC sounded pretty close (but noticeably different) to me but with the Fender I thought there was an enormous difference that I was surprised they didn't try to correct.
@@rabonour I'm not too shocked (or bothered) by them not adjusting for it. I'm more fascinated by what this must all sound like in the room. When I mic my 5150, it sounds wildly different to what I'm hearing, so I guess I'm not surprised. I just want to know what it sounds like, hahahaha.
It’s ridiculous how different the amps sound In the video. I wonder if they heard it to be more similar in the room.
"Well, pretty close..."
No, they're not. Sorry 😂
i think ill wait for fractal to release a hardware unit the same size as the QC, with easier to use interface. I think the fractal does a better job replicating the sounds of the originals.
Digital has digital sound. By the time the drums start you don't care much if its digital or real thing. The real thing is better.. but digital comes with unbeatable convenience. I still use a tube amp and pedals because its what i have and i like it.
Real amps every day of the week, especially the Fender.
Time for some new studio monitors I think
Nothing beats the real thing, tubes sound very different to a digital recreation, I mean they were all clearly different sounds. I’m a tube guy and also feel the same about guitars in general being clones etc, the real thing sounds / feels different and you play it differently. BUT as a gigging musician carrying around something half the size of a pedalboard and maybe an extra guitar that sounds different instead of 3 amps and a £5000 guitar is way more practical. It’s different if you own a shop and have all the access or if you’ve made it and a team of people transport and set up your stuff so you can show up, play and leave. No it doesn’t sound anywhere near as good but yes it’s convenient and if that gets you gigging then fair enough but that’s just my opinion
Fender was better, the Cortex was better than the marshal, and the 5150 was way better than the Cortex, IMO.
Tubes for me
I think it's time we stop trying to make digital units sound like analog units and we just let john make beautiful sounds with them
The real tube amp wins by alot for me but if you want something more versatile maybe check out a digital unit
Now do joyo preamp x
My goodness this thing got totally destroyed by tubes
Why dont you run the quadcortex and the real amp at the same time. Then pan the quadcortex to the left speaker and the real amp to the right speker. Then we can just listen and see whether we are attracted to the left or right speaker more.
I know you guys don’t sell them, but I’d love to see something like this with a fractal axe fx.
They all sound very different, they all sound good, although I think the real 5150 sounded better than the QC, the real Fender sounded bettar than the QC, and the QC sounded better than the real Marshall lmao
wtf happened to the QC 5150 lol ^^ "convincing tone" ? sounds more like the Insane Channel on the Line 6 spider
I can tell the biggest difference with more gain. The Evh sounds better imo. not as harsh n Bassier.
Amps are still much, much better
Well it was easy to tell which is which from the moment Lee switched between the two for the first time. Digital/solid state stuff has this harsh upper range when there's break up which is always a dead giveaway. While I think the fender tones are manageable, the real marshall and 5150 just wipe the floor with the quad cortex lol. It's hard to recreate the attack, upper range and lower range thump of the actual thing. You literally feel these characters in even the lower watt tube amps from marshall. Tbh if you're into music that requires a lot of overdrive there's no reason not to buy a tube amp once you're able to gather the funds.
What you fail to realize is that quad cortex and other modellers are not supposed to sound like an amp in a room, they are supposed to sound like a miced up amp. There are plenty of reasons to go modelling if you play outside your house, one is convenience and small footprint you dont need to lig around amp and a cab or a big combo, two is consistency alas you will sound the same through PA or FRFR speakers, three is reliability no comment needed here and about the feel thing is that good modellers are close enough and with a real amp you cant feel shit if sound engineers tells you to turn down to the point where your tube amp sounds like ass or even better - a venue requires no stage volume. Tube amps are nice in the studio or to some extent at home but if you tour and don't have a team of techs carrying your stuff around and vast majority don't then modelling is a godsent
@@ilmisxx2 my guy power scaling was invented for a reason. I can literally play all of it at conversation level through a cooking amp. An easy workaround is putting an eq in the fx loop which is what I do in my apartment. You still crank the pre amp and the amp sounds great in general. Is there a slight diff? Probably but using a couple of pedals makes it better. I get the portability and practicality aspect but again you can easily work around these things. The only reason i can think of getting a line6 or QC is when I'm part of a gig where I have to cover a lot of tonal ground. Anyway I'm not saying it's bad or something. I just said that it doesn't work for a particular sound as good as I'd like to. Even if you don't feel the air moving the tonal characteristics are again easy to listen for. Especially when you're doing high gain stuff. Most high gain players use real amps for a reason.
@@cheenu711 when you scale the amp down and the speaker doesn't get enoguh juice to move air and interract with the guitar aka feedback whats the point then? If you put a bunch of pedals in front of the amp you effectively are playing a digital/solid state rig but if it sounds good it is good and about high gain players using "real" amps is they are using them for a reason and that reason is called endorsement also not as many as you think use them
I could always hear which was tube and which was Quad Cortex. Nothing sounded bad. The QC would be an excellent tool, but still the tube tones just seemed more musical, even if only by 2% or so.
The Real EVH sounded so much superior and better than the Cortex.... maybe you guys should capture and compare the tones.
Sorry...where's John's CZcams channel?
Here you go czcams.com/users/JohnJWJC