Quad Cortex or Kemper - Which would I Buy? An Unbiased Verdict
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- čas přidán 3. 08. 2024
- For my Presets visit: johnnathancordy.gumroad.com/ It seems to me that the Quad Cortex makes its biggest case as a direct competitor to the Kemper Profiler, which first burst onto the scene about a decade ago. In terms of price they're very similar, and both do the Capture/Profile thing to a similar level in my experience, but what other factors are there to consider?
00:00 Intro - Eric Johnson's All About You verse mixed with a bit of Purple Rain
2:30 My choice
3:00 Price - Kemper Stage is a bit cheaper
3:28 If you can get a Quad? Unknown wait times
4:25 Is the Capture more accurate than a Kemper?
4:50 Multiple captures at a time
5:35 Semi-fixed signal path - seamless changes
6:45 Delays - Kemper has more available at present
7:11 Reverbs Kemper has more available at present
7:17 Can stack as many delays and Reverbs as you want in Kemper
7:45 Drives - more available in the Quad? But "Kemper Drive" rules
8:24 Looper?
8:48 Modelling AND Profiling - workflow considerations
9:55 Tweaking Captures and Profiles - Kemper wins here?
10:42 Other effects? Kemper?
11:30 Surely Kemper 2 is on the way?
12:15 Unproven Reliability of the Quad Cortex
/ johnnathancordy get my backing tracks here
www.buymeacoffee.com/johnnath... - if you like what I do and
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#quadcortex #neuraldsp - Hudba
Loving the Eric Johnson bit at the beginning. First listened to that album 22 years ago and it's still probably my favourite
Beautiful playing as always John. So good!
The real John Cordy will be like, "I'll still get the HX stomp over these 2."
Appreciate you putting your verdict right up front !
Super hot take: you might not want to sell your Kemper yet.
Oh and I missed some things:
1) QC is also an interface
2) but Kemper has SPDIF
And some other stuff that I've forgotten again
Too late
Too late
I have the Kemper myself and I am extremely satisfied. Live and in the studio. The Kemper has been around for a decade and has continuously developed and improved during that time. The QC will also undergo this road. The Kemper's hardware loses out against the QC. Nice large display, ease of operation. Logical, we are now 10 years later. Still, I will stay with Kemper. Their evolution also continues and more importantly; Kemper has great technical support and service. I miss that with many others.
It's pretty wild that the Kemper has remained as popular as it has throughout the decade (and also kept its value), but not only that I think the Toasters in particular have been pretty reliable?
@@johnnathancordy I have the rack version with a separate power amplifier. This has been reliable up to now. And of course there have been some problems. These were resolved within 1 day, max. 2 days by Kemper's technical support. But if you really want to prevent problems, you should not use equipment that is controlled by software.
The only Hardware thing that is better on the QC is the Display! My opinion. When you go deeply in the Software i think Kemper is still better!
@@LykaonMetalMusic I cannot judge the QC. I've never worked with it. Only what I see on the net. As for the Kemper, this one is great. Which device is and will remain interesting and still being sold after 10?
@@johnnathancordy But the designers of the kemper must have been drunk 😆 Looks like hospital gear from the 80s or some leftover instrument from chernobyl. Qualitywise its amazing ofcourse. No doubt.
Awesome intro jam man!!
Nice run down. Kind of mind blowing the Kemper is already 10 years old. Amazing how well it has aged.
Purple Rain is a fav of mine, and that lick at 2:00 is going to be a tasty contribution to my repertoire. Thanks!
That run at the 60 second mark really inspired me to pick up my guitar and neural, thanks you, brilliant
Venus Isle.... my favourite EJ album! Many thanks for the video and your insight.
Thanks for getting to the point.
I love my Kemper but that QC UI is awesome.
For live use, Kemper is ahead of QC in terms of controlling parameters. Hope QC can catch up Kemper's.
Loved the Eric Johnson intro, it's not a song that's talked about too much but it's so good!
Happy with my kemper stage 😊
For pure guitar tone there is nothing better than the Kemper. The QC might have a better display and good signal path illustration. However for lower gain crunch tones and outright punch and clarity, the Kemper is the best by far. All the videos you see touting the "awesomenesss" of the QC have layers of effects and a lot of gain...and most of the demos are lead lines without much chording. Sure that might be great if all you are playing is Lukather 80's solos...but for the other 90% out there, it has to be great stirring chords and riffs. I have the Stage Kemper and its still going strong as a product after almost 11 years.
Obv not interesting in buying one or the other, but still enjoyed this video a lot ! Spot on advices here. From an "external" point of view and if I was in the market for one between these two, I'd definitely go QC yeah. Even though I'd miss some important features like the looper for sure, as you mentioned...hopefully the updates will come soon enough !
I started using Kemper few weeks ago: I love it! Easy to use, good tones, lots of effects.
In my opinion Kemper profiling technology has some advantages over QC captures because the many parameters allow you to change the sound of the profiled amp in a way that wouldn’t be possible in the “real” world. Quad Cortex for example doesn’t allow you to change the cabinet of a captured amp (on a Kemper it is possible to do that and much more!).
Kemper format is also perfect to use in a studio or on a desktop, furthermore its interface is almost “analog”, which is nice.
Why wouldn’t you be able to change the cab? Isn’t the cab or IR just one of the blocks that can be changed in a second?
@@johnnewton1830 When you profile (or capture, in Neural universe) an amp you basically put a microphone in front of the speaker and the hardware “learns” how the amplifier sounds. Unless you decide to only capture an amp (you would need some extra hardware for that), a QC capture contains informations about the amp tone and the cabinet tone and you can only change gain and eq.
When Kemper profiles an amp the software separates the amp sound and the cabinet sound allowing you to change the cabinet of the profile as if it were an IR. It lets you swap cabinets from different profiles and even change the high and low resonance.
@@paoloschiano9900 Oh I thought there would be a way to capture just the amp with either of them. You may need a load box.
@@johnnewton1830 yeah you are correct, there are a ton of ‘direct’ captures loaded on the device and on the cloud! I’ve only had my QC for a week but I see both had advantages. The kemper has the advantage of third party profile sellers which at current does not seem to be a thing for the QC which may impact its position in the marketplace a little.
The Kemper sound wise is still a really viable recording/gigging (when?) option. I think the hardware interface is pretty dated compared to a lot of newer products and might benefit from a revamp.
I had an issue with my first Kemper Toaster with a few of the LEDs dying.
I'm in no rush but I will probably pick up the QC. I've been using some of the Neural plugins, which I'm really enjoying, and I'm interested to see how they implement use of the plugins and plugin presets. And the lopper needs to happen.
The QC looks like it has multiple signal paths like the Helix. On my Helix within one preset I put a high gain amp on one path with a volume block in front of it, and a low gain amp on another, with an inverse volume block in front of it. Then, If you have the volume blocks assigned to the same physical pedal, it acts as a seamless “morphing” pedal between the amps without gaps at all. Better than snapshots or scenes even. I imagine you can do the same with the QC. Cheers!
I'm not currently in the market for either of these. But this was worth the listen for the great playing at the beginning. I think I like "All about you" even better as an instrumental! -Tom
Came for the review, the music piece is too good for a review :) Album Material. Amazing
Have to agree with your logic. I have the Quad Cortex and Fractal products. No Kemper but was considering adding one to my stable. With the Quad Cortex, I no longer have any desire for a Kemper. It's still a good unit though with lots of great reviews and uses.
Call me old fashioned, but I like my footswitches on the floor while the knobs are within easy reach--a two piece rig. The Kemper head with remote allows you to make one-handed edits while you're playing, without a mouse/computer, or kneeling, or having the footswitches on your desk in front of you. The QC, Helix and the Kemper Stage are a no-go for me, except maybe a Kemper Stage to go with my Head/Remote for gigging. The QC is doomed to sit on your desk in the studio. Nope.
It seems to me that the QC has all the best future upside. I think the user interface on it seals the deal between the two. A good, clean, easy to navigate user interface means I can quickly implement my best ideas. A cumbersome one takes me out of the zone. Portability and size are important criteria for me. I hope the new QC Looper will allow for running multiple loops of different lengths, like the Pigtronix. It should also have "auto-sensing" to start recording. Not having that is a deal-breaker for me as far as Loopers go. Thanks
Funny cause I chose the Kemper Stage because to me it had a lot better user experience for me than the QC. I like having a lot of quick buttons and dials that are always in the same place when I quickly want to adjust stuff, rather than navigating a touchscreen. Same as with cars that have nothing but a touchscreen ... distracts me from driving much more and longer than some physical controls.
Good video. I have a Kemper Powerhead...too versatile with the built in power section (I can just go and plug into any guitar cab and rock..) QC requires a separate power section if you want to go through a cab (..not go through the PA).. The QC sells for over $2K here in the states...The sounds are comparable..If the QC had a built in powerstage function (..like the BlueGuitar Iridium), THEN the choice would be QC. If you don't need the power section, the QC is an excellent choice and will get better as time goes on.
Hmm even then I think the Kemper still has quite a lead on things like effects and loopers and so on, whereas the road map for the QC is quite uncertain
I have the QC on pre-order and will be one of the first to get it in the US from sweetwater. I currently have been using the Axe Fx 2 XL+ for the last 5 years. I personally have not been able to get on with the FM3 after recently trying it out.... The QC's form factor was the most interesting to me (along with the UI).
If the QC is *at least* as good as my axe fx 2, I will be more than happy. However, I think it's important to note is that we indeed are looking forward to the QC's future firmware update. I noticed you had made mention of this in a previous video. You stated that you shouldn't buy the QC with hopes that it will be fully developed to our personal expectations.
While I agree that this should not be the sole reason for buying a modeler, I think I would say the vast majority of current & future QC owners are heavily relying on this aspect and there's no getting away from it, in my opinion.
Definitely I'd agree that a lot hinges on the progress and pace of future updates?
0:45 - 1:00 holy crap that was tasteful!
QC all the way for me. It sounds just as good with captures , lighter, smaller with new tech. I really love the whole package. I'm using H9 in the loop of my FM3 so i will do the same with this one.
I ordered my QC a few weeks ago. I am also interested in using the H9 in the loop of the QC but is the loop stereo?
@@felipegomabrockmann2740 QC SND 2 to H9 INPUT 1 then OUT 1 from H9 to RETURN 2 QC then OUT 2 from H9 to RETURN 2 QC. The "grid" on the QC would be- IN 1 , OUT 2 thru IN 2 OUT 1. Not real sure but that's how my FM3 works out. You can email them with this routing map and see what they say. I'm guessing it will be the same process.
@@r.llynch4124 many thanx !!!!!!
@@felipegomabrockmann2740 got any criticism about the QC after your initial comment? I have a Kemper. Thanks.
@@SafelandingRecords at the end I bought a FM3, which I am super happy with but my next purchase will be a kemper. I am just waiting for their next release
Sounded like a little nod to Prince in there.
I am not much of a fan of effects systems other than individual pedals (delay/chorus/reverb) but I truly enjoy your videos and your playing.
I thought about a Helix LT because a I heard it was cool for loops and just using as a jam track machine with multiple presets...
Hmm for the looping, it'd be worth checking out whether the Helix looper will do all the things you think you might need? Potentially a dedicated looper might be a bit more powerful depending on what you're trying to do!
Cheers Shawn!
@@johnnathancordy thanks John. I will check it out
Axe fx 3 or quad cortex ? Which studio monitors do you use ?
🎵Oh yeeeaahhhheahahhhhh🎵 *eric johnson voice*
Yes, great review, BUT, I think you are wrong about a new Kemper coming out. Christoph Kemper created the Viress Access Synth. It's been around near 30 years and still totally relevant. He creates things and continues to support them instead of EVERYONE ELSE who come out with V 2, V 3, Remixed, Revised, Reclaiming all your money!!
how does the helix compare? i think amp modeling is as good as the impulse response nowdays..so being able to load your own means that you can get very similar results with a bit of tweaking..however effects are a different story..
I've yet to hear anything done on a QC that I've thought "The Helix can't do that"
kemper has had over 10 years time to update or clean up interface better chips ect.
but seem to not do anything about it.
im suprised it took this long for a qc too pop up.
we have had amazing touch screens on phones for years and hace had chips in huge amounts of cores and ram. so much potential.
Where’s my lighter? (Referring to intro anthem.)
For live gigging Kemper rack or toaster with a foot controller wins. I don’t want my rig on the floor at the front of stage. Too many gigs when we’re too close to the crowd. Foot controller with one Ethernet cable up front. All the expensive gear and cables nice and safe in my rack behind me.
Yeh I have seen quite a few people coming to that conclusion, especially with the vents at the side?
Couldn’t you do the same with a QC. Can you midi foot control it and keep it in the back somewhere? Or even have the whole show and changes controlled from some other software and run multiple instruments through the remotely located QC.
My experience so far is that the QC gets high-gain rock and metal tones closer to the real amp than the Kemper does.
Get those measuring sticks out
The direct profiles I’ve made on my Kemper of amps I own sound virtually identical to the same amp through the same cab. I don’t know how much closer you could get than that.
@@jakedibiase7404 The Kemper always gets a different tonality, and the palm-mute response is always off. The QC is closer.
@@Drew_Vernon not in my experience. The Kemper is super accurate. Ymmv.
John: there are lots of great digital solutions for guitarists in 2021, I’m not particularly interested in doing gear shootouts or direct comparisons.
CZcams: Compare them and then choose one. You HAVE to choose just one.
Hahahahahaha. Spot on
How do you feel about the FM3 now you have the Quad Cortex?
Fm3 effects are a good enough reason to keep it plus nearly 300 incredible models?
@@johnnathancordy but if you had to choose only one modeler which would you choose? Qc, Kemper, Fm3 or Helix?, Thanks
@@eyalgold1 helix
@@johnnathancordy thanks
@@johnnathancordy why? I am surprise about your answer
Well the hype is over and I for one am not bowled over by the quad cortex.
Totally fair! I think possibly the marketing push was a bit premature compared to when people are going to get their hands on the actual units?
Spillover is essential for me. Kemper wins
Imagine Kemper releasing a pedal similar to the Iridium and the ACS1..
!!! There's so much potential with the Kemper but I don't feel like they're as opportunistic as they could be?
@@johnnathancordy It's kind of weird.. how long has Kemper been available, and they don't have stereo amps. Is it because they know their toaster sounds and feels great compared to other modelers, that they feel they don't need to make the effort to make a stereo unit, or make a compact pedal that fits on your pedalboard?
@@spike_4174 or is the kemper a smaller part of a bigger business? Don't they make synths and stuff too?
i dont think there will be a Kemper 2 soon,i think there will be a new Kemper firmware with lot of fixes
But what's broken on the current Kemper?
The only thing id change about it might be to be able to do dual profiles?
Pomegranate! (3:58)
Still Axefx 3 all day long. For me ! Kemper is history ! 😎
The QC hype has now died down to semi normal levels and the ToneX ONE IK multimedia hype campaign is the greatest in CZcamsr history...for a pedal that has one footswitch that switches between two Captures. 🤔
For me the kemper was a dissapointment .Tried all profiles there are .Not even close to my tube amps qua sound and feel ,but these are very unreliable .I just hope the quad cortex does it better .Like the neural plugins also more than the kemper .Like your channel!!
If you dig the plugins I think you'll definitely get plenty out of the QC!
@@johnnathancordy Thanx i wil check it out one day. keep it up!
Kemper should start lowering its price cos it has got lots of innovative competitions coming.It's too expensive and outdated compared to others.