Neural Quad Cortex

  • Rhett's files were the same. He updated them.

    And still you believed you heard they were not identical. Don't get me wrong I'm not picking on you. That's how we are fooled. If we want something to sound better, we will believe it sounds better. Even pro mixing engineer gets fooled sometimes something sounds better with a few cut or boost only to realise they hadn't touched the EQ.

    Think for yourself, or others will think for you wihout thinking of you

    Henry David Thoreau

  • And still you believed you heard they were not identical. Don't get me wrong I'm not picking on you. That's how we are fooled. If we want something to sound better, we will believe it sounds better. Even pro mixing engineer gets fooled sometimes something sounds better with a few cut or boost only to realise they hadn't touched the EQ.

    Yup I know psychology impacts how we perceive sound. That's why I was open to being wrong and was checking to see if Rhett updated the files.


    The files themselves also weren't identical when I looked at the data in the files, but I guess the end result was the same.

  • Dear Kemper Friends,


    I'm grateful to Kemper for creating and maintaining this community for people interested in and using Kemper products.


    I'm uncomfortable with the way this thread has evolved. It puts Kemper in the position of having to host all this information about a different product. Sure, this is in a forum called Other Gear, and it feels appropriate to discuss other gear you connect to a Kemper Profiler.


    Some people may come here looking for information about Kemper only to have their attention diverted away. That doesn't feel right.


    If I'm interested in the Neural Quad Cortex, I'll get my information in the Neural Quad Cortex community.


    If I'm interested in what my Kemper friends think about the Neural Quad Cortex, I'll look for them in that other community.


    Please give a thought, exercise some restraint, and be respectful of where you are (The Kemper Community) before contributing to (bumping up) this thread.


    Sincerely,

    ST

  • I agree, Kemper have been quite humble to allow discussion of other manufacturers products on their forum, but it's probably time to move discussion on to Neural's own forum at this point out of fairness to Kemper.


    My 2 cents as a small business owner

  • So what you want is so on neural forums i wont be able to discuss kemper and here i wont be able to discuss neural? Thank you but no, people in here for the sound and we should be able to voice our opinions, if its not the place then people will move on to other places where such discussions will be allowed. This subforum was literally made for discussing other gear nothing wrong about that.

  • It would be such a wrong signal if anybody tried to silence enthusiastic voices about a product which has the exact features (!) that people have been requesting and recommending for a Kemper II, for years. And even if it may feel like injustice or punishment, it is not. It maybe only points to a reality that should be Kemper's, in my opinion. This is what hurts a little bit, IMHO. People have been repeatedly begging that it would become Kemper's reality. I am sure that Kemper will not leave this whole story unanswered.


    Yes, of course for me my Kempers are still the best guitar related products I have ever owned and they will maintain this status. Am I enthusiastic about a product that should have a "Kemper II" written on it? I am.


    I totally agree that this discussion here should happen under all due respect for a company like Kemper that designed the best Amplike product in the world that we all love so much.

    Better have it and not need it, than need it and not have it! - Michael Angelo Batio

  • Has any Kemper Owner here tried or Considering the QC ?



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  • interesting comparison from Rhett. Listening to the WAV files i think there are clear differences between all three. The KPA does sound a little muffled and muddy in the low mids but I’m sure that could have been fixed with some refining and or tweaking definition/eq etc. The amp sounded great. To my tired old ears the QC had way more top end than the real amp. Much more country snap on the last chicken pickin lick for example. It seemed to “polish” the sound in a more “produced” fashion than the raw amp. That may or may not be a good thing depending on what you are after but it isn’t any more accurate than the Kemper. To me the QC version was too bright and spikey but that is only personal taste.


    i did notice though that Rhett said the signal chain included a Fairchild compressor emulation in Luna. Kemper is pretty explicit in stating that compression shouldn’t be used when profiling so that may have contributed to the KPA profile’s slightly muffled tone.

  • In the facebook kemper group someone posted some graphs showing that the QC had more high end than the real amp. The guy who posted it said it was aliasing. It got deleted for some reason, but I think it could be true based on listening to the sound sample. I got the feeling that there was extra high end listening to some other QC captures as well.

  • Yeah, its hard to judge by a wav files, qc modeling sounds like that for sure, but through my monitors i dont hear that much aliasing on the qc capture just more high end. Probably we need more comparisons to get any kind of conclusion on this.

  • You might want to join this thread here for discussion around QC which is already ongoing for a year. QC Discussion


    Personally I am not super interested in that piece of gear as my Kemper does for me what I need and tamed my GAS already in a very good way 8)

  • interesting comparison from Rhett. Listening to the WAV files i think there are clear differences between all three. The KPA does sound a little muffled and muddy in the low mids but I’m sure that could have been fixed with some refining and or tweaking definition/eq etc. The amp sounded great. To my tired old ears the QC had way more top end than the real amp. Much more country snap on the last chicken pickin lick for example. It seemed to “polish” the sound in a more “produced” fashion than the raw amp. That may or may not be a good thing depending on what you are after but it isn’t any more accurate than the Kemper. To me the QC version was too bright and spikey but that is only personal taste.


    i did notice though that Rhett said the signal chain included a Fairchild compressor emulation in Luna. Kemper is pretty explicit in stating that compression shouldn’t be used when profiling so that may have contributed to the KPA profile’s slightly muffled tone.

    I agree! Any discrepancies with the KPA Profile could have easily been tweaked to match the amp perfectly. But the Neural Capture can't be tweaked as much as profiles because there's only a 3 band EQ and Gain for the Neural Captures parameters.


    And Rhett definitely affected the signal by having a compressor in the signal chain and that most definitely affected the Profile in a negative way lol. But even with that compressor basically ruining the Profile, the KPA still put out a pretty close and natural sounding Profile compared to the seemingly harsh Neural Capture. That alone says a lot about the KPAs Profiling capabilities!


  • i did notice though that Rhett said the signal chain included a Fairchild compressor emulation in Luna. Kemper is pretty explicit in stating that compression shouldn’t be used when profiling so that may have contributed to the KPA profile’s slightly muffled tone.

    This ^^^

    I only listened once to the YT vid not the wav's - initial impression was that the QC was a tad louder (maybe it was just the top end I was noticing). And did he re-amp the same take back through the amp / devices or play them real time - the Kemper take felt different - maybe just me?

    Anyways, interesting new tech. Will see where Kemper goes from here on, pretty sure they won't just roll over.

  • An important thing to note is that the QC only has a 3 band EQ, and a Gain knob for tweaking the Captures, compared to the KPA's Amp section with many tone shaping parameters. The Neural Captures might be considerably less flexible and tweakable than Profiles.


    Also, there doesn't seem to be a "Refine" option for the Capture process. The only visible options on the screen when doing a Capture are "Save" and "Start From Scratch". So if the Capture isn't close enough to be able to tweak to match the amp with the 3 band EQ, you have to literally "Start From Scratch" lol. Idk for sure but the Capture process doesn't seem lightning fast so, that seems like a bit of an oversight and another drawback compared to the KPA.


    And Rhett mentions that the effects aren't up to par with the quality of the KPA, Axe FX, and Helix, and that's a huge drawback as well.


    I"ve had high hopes for the Quad Cortex. But it's major selling point was that it is supposed to have better quality Neural Captures, Amp Sims, and Effects than everything else on the market - all in one unit. But with where it's at now, it seems like it might just be an all in one unit that has Neural DSP Amp Sims, decent effects, and a decent Neural Capture feature.


    The Quad Cortex has the potential to be something next level. If the Capture section has more parameters for tone tweaking, the Captures accuracy improves, and the Effects improve, then maybe it'll be worth the price tag. But as it is right now, I wouldn't waste money on something that doesn't exceed the sonic capabilities of the KPA and my tube amps and pedals! lol8o My KPA keeps me more than happy as it is lol


    (Of course, I mean no disrespect to anyone who is getting this or has invested their hard earned cash into getting one of these units. I just figured the major drawbacks that I noticed should probably be brought to light because they're pretty big drawbacks in my opinion ?)