Nano Cortex Review (another try at digital)

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  • onyironyir Frets: 62
    I have been gigging with a Quad Cortex for a few years now and never had and issue quickly adjusting a parameter either in a rehearsal or a gig. The ease of use was a big part of my decision to buy it. I use it with an Atomic CLR as monitor, and in my case, where I also sing backing vocals, it is actually saving me weight compared to an actual amp, as I would need a monitor anyway
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  • VoxmanVoxman Frets: 5100
    @Voxman - brilliant post mate.

    Thank you Wazmeister.  :)
    I started out with nothing..... but I've still got most of it left (Seasick Steve)
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  • VoxmanVoxman Frets: 5100
    edited October 2024
    onyir said:
    I have been gigging with a Quad Cortex for a few years now and never had and issue quickly adjusting a parameter either in a rehearsal or a gig. The ease of use was a big part of my decision to buy it. I use it with an Atomic CLR as monitor, and in my case, where I also sing backing vocals, it is actually saving me weight compared to an actual amp, as I would need a monitor anyway
    It's a top quality & very sophisticated MFX no question, and it's pretty light & compact as compared to eg Helix, but it's darned expensive and isn't a standalone MFX from the perspective it has no built in expression pedal so you'd have to buy and connect one up if you wanted foot control for wah, volume etc. It looks great, works very smoothly, and I like that the foot-switches themselves double-up as rotary controls, but it's still very menu driven. If you wanted to add a wah or a delay to a patch that didn't have it, or change an effect or amp model that wasn't working for you live, just like Helix, Pod Go, Boss GT1000 & GX100 etc, you have to go into the menu to find what you want to add and (if its an add on) then decide where you want it in the signal chain. 

    But for a top quality MFX, the PSU and connection to the QC is simply 'weak' and the cable seems very frail & frankly not much better than the Pod Go's PSU & cable (which is dreadful).
    I started out with nothing..... but I've still got most of it left (Seasick Steve)
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  • onyironyir Frets: 62
    Voxman said:
    onyir said:
    I have been gigging with a Quad Cortex for a few years now and never had and issue quickly adjusting a parameter either in a rehearsal or a gig. The ease of use was a big part of my decision to buy it. I use it with an Atomic CLR as monitor, and in my case, where I also sing backing vocals, it is actually saving me weight compared to an actual amp, as I would need a monitor anyway
    It's a top quality & very sophisticated MFX no question, and it's pretty light & compact as compared to eg Helix, but it's darned expensive and isn't a standalone MFX from the perspective it has no built in expression pedal so you'd have to buy and connect one up if you wanted foot control for wah, volume etc. It looks great, works very smoothly, and I like that the foot-switches themselves double-up as rotary controls, but it's still very menu driven. If you wanted to add a wah or a delay to a patch that didn't have it, or change an effect or amp model that wasn't working for you live, just like Helix, Pod Go, Boss GT1000 & GX100 etc, you have to go into the menu to find what you want to add and (if its an add on) then decide where you want it in the signal chain. 

    But for a top quality MFX, the PSU and connection to the QC is simply 'weak' and the cable seems very frail & frankly not much better than the Pod Go's PSU & cable (which is dreadful).
    I think trying to find a real wah pedal when you didn't bring one to the gig might be a bit more difficult... It's like three finger presses on a touchscreen to add a wah (or any other block) wherever you want it on the grid.
    Never had an issue with the power supply

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  • Danny1969Danny1969 Frets: 11441
    You can't really win with MFX power supplies. On the one hand while an internal one may seem more professional than an external one,  after 8 to 12 years when the internal one will begin to fail it's now a more major and costly job to replace it. 

    The external ones are easy to replace but it's annoying when they break as easy as they do. The only decent ones tend to be the type with a trailing mains cable and robust low voltage cable, like a laptop charger 
    www.2020studios.co.uk 
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  • VoxmanVoxman Frets: 5100
    edited October 2024
    Danny1969 said:
    You can't really win with MFX power supplies. On the one hand while an internal one may seem more professional than an external one,  after 8 to 12 years when the internal one will begin to fail it's now a more major and costly job to replace it. 

    The external ones are easy to replace but it's annoying when they break as easy as they do. The only decent ones tend to be the type with a trailing mains cable and robust low voltage cable, like a laptop charger 
    It's why I like the PSU's with my Tonelab SE & LE's. 9v AC (not DC), 4 pin DIN connection, thick heavy duty cables, mid cable transformer with on/off switch, standard 3-pin 13 amp plug (no ugly, awkward wall wart).  I have one TLSE and 2 TLLE's, all with their original Vox power supplies and they all work perfectly with no sign of any cable wear or power problems. Not too shabby for units from 2004 (TLSE) and 2007 (TLLE) respectively!
    I started out with nothing..... but I've still got most of it left (Seasick Steve)
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  • I promised to report back, so here goes!

    Immediately I unboxed the pedal, which looks great and is very well made, I fired up my Marshall SV20 combo, set levels with my guitar, stuck a shure SM57 in front and ran a capture at 3-4 on both normal and treble (jumpered) so 90db+.

    The capture process was very straight-forward but unbelievably loud (108db?) on these settings and the sounds used to profile are really horrible. About 1 minute maybe of noise, then the rest is processing. Isn't clear whether external noise or action can affect the capture when it goes quiet. I'm guessing not.

    Anyway, with my amp+cab capture, available on  cortex cloud, into headphones - really promising start. For the first time, immediately happy with the results - recognisably my amp. Captured at clean/moderate gain. 

    Next, I stuck a klon clone (halycon gold) in front. Not bad, but hint of fizzyness at higher gain and not that different from simply increasing the boost on the cortex. But usable. Stuck an SD-1 in front. Not as much difference in character between halycon and sd-1 as would be in to real amp, but ok. So feeling optimistic at this point.

    Then, I captured the acoustic sim (via line out) on the Katana 100 Mk2. This time I could toggle between the sim and the amp (though that compare feature doesn't seem to be offered later, just as part of capture.) Some of the, for want of better description, 'sparkle' top end of the sim was lost, but close enough and usable. 

    So next, whilst I waited for a flat response Fender FR12 to arrive, I ran the nano into the power amp in on the Katana. Not amazing, but ok and normally where I'm already boxing the mfx/profiler/modeller to go back to the shop. Ran into hi-fi (I know) but that also sounded ok. So still feeling optimistic.

    Time to setup some profiles, see if I could use the pedal practically for some songs ahead of a rehearsal. The profiles have to be manually selected in the app and added into 1 of the 4 foot switches. There's no mac/pc app to do this, and it's not ideal. The profiles can't be grouped into songs, and I couldn't see how to re-order in the library list. All a bit tedious, but got things set up with acoustic (intro), clean (verse), overdriven and additional effects for each switch. Enough variation for a song. Beginning to see myself taking the nano on holiday for practice and spending hours refining some great tones.

    First fail - the manual says footswitches to change things until you release them, the reasoning being so that other features (like the tuner, which works well btw) can be activated. But that, for me at least, sucks. 

    Onboard effects, mod, delay, reverb (in that order only pending future updates I guess) were ok. I didn't love them. Usable though. I thought the pitch shift worked really well considering - I thought it tracked chords fine. I'd be tempted not to retune - I think it's usable definitely. 

    The FR12 arrived only just before next band rehearsal. I spent a bit of time trying out some Fender, Marshall, Vox profiles from other users, always amp and cab captures so I can relax knowing to switch of the IR and not stress about which IR to use.

    They were ok, but more tweaking than just plug into amp and go for sure .In particular working out how far to push gain before things sounded off. Definitely not an amp feel though, and first doubts setting in.

    At rehearsal, a couple of issues - really didn't like using the phone/app to change between sets of profiles. Sometimes, the left hand footswitch stopped switching between presets - sure this is a bug and would be fixed eventually, but problematic. But the big thing for me, I wasn't really inspired by the tone at home, and now not in a band mix. I thought it was ok, but lacking. At the end of the session, the drummer and bassist commented on the thinness and lack of 'thump'. I'd say lack of life. Like a recording of an amp, not an amp.

    Also - if I don't like the nano through the PA (I don't) and want a monitor (the FR-12), then not really any more effort to bring my SV20 and mic it up?

    Maybe, for my generation at least, the amp and guitar can't be separated - they're part of the same living, breathing instrument. Yet, profiling, modelling it's out there - everyone's using it. I just can't seem to get it for work for me (Pod Go, Fender Tonemaster Pro, Nano Cortex) other than when recording direct to Logic Pro (Amplitude.)

    And maybe the problem I'm trying to solve is managing pedals/settings, so I'm going to try a switcher on my board (boss ms 3 for example) with midi and create my own presets.

    I could really visualise a simple board - od > nano > FRFR/PA, but somehow it just hasn't happened. I'm reluctantly (I'm not sure why I'm fond of it) sending the nano (and everything else) back.

    Hope this is helpful, though there are plenty of people out there proving modelling, profiling works for them, so this is just my preference ultimately.






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  • grungebobgrungebob Frets: 3692
    My experience is very very limited in the modelling world but the key to a satisfying experience and tone is the IR. 
    Like I said limited experience and mainly at the budget end but I’ve tried Headrush MX5 and the Pod Go. 
    The Headrush I ran through the power amp of my valve amp with cab sims off.  Not the best way to experience it but I did like its clean and mid break up sounds and its effects where excellent (as was the touch screen etc). 
    The Pod Go had/has better higher gain tones and this I ran through a headrush FRFR08. 
    Was pretty decent but not any better than my valve amp with the master low for “at home “ volumes. 

    It was at this point I was gonna sell everything digital but thought I owed it to myself to give it one more shot and decided to play about with 3rd party IR’s and that’s where the magic is. 
    Quiet or loud the right IR with bass and treble cuts can make any profile sound like amp in the room or recorded and placed the tones into that next level affair that I quickly sold my valve amp and pedal board. 

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