Long-term Kemper owner...bought a Quad Cortex...my thoughts

  • I have been a Kemper owner since August 2017, primarily playing live as I work as a professional musician in Canada. The Kemper has not once let me down in terms of reliability, and with the exception of one sound guy who didn't know how to EQ his FOH (he left me a note saying "change tone on Kemper...sounds thin" which I thought was hilarious) I have always gotten compliments on the sound of the unit no matter where/who I play with.

    To preface this discussion, I play primarily country music, and my scope of use is limited to this genre for the most part, with a little rock sprinkled in for good measure. I've been fortunate enough to play a ton of different capacity events ranging from 100-6,000+

    I started hearing rumblings about the Quad Cortex (QC) when a friend of mine who is also a professional musician picked one up and began raving about it. Availability was an issue, and when I finally decided to order one, it took well over a month for me to get it.

    Initial impressions after using Kemper for so long was the QC was super easy to pick up and use, the out of box presets sounded pretty darn good, and within about 8 hours of tweaking on the QC, I was able to set the Kemper aside and gig with the QC full-time. It goes without saying that the UI of the QC is really what draws people to this unit. I suppose it is comparable to a Helix in some respects, but being able to physically manipulate the chain with your finger is really an underrated aspect of the unit. Coming from the small little monochrome display on the Kemper, the QC makes a guy feel like he set foot into the 21st century.

    For what it's worth, I have done almost all my tweaking on Kemper by using the in-unit display and knobs on the profiler. I know I could have a better UI by going into Rig Manager on my computer, but I wanted to learn how to manipulate stuff on the Kemper really, really well so that if I needed to make changes at a show, I could do so between songs if necessary. I even went so far as to rename all my patches and such using the control knobs instead of attaching a keyboard to the unit (I suppose I'm a glutton for punishment). I originally set foot into the modeller world with a Digitech GNX4 back in the day, and I owned a Helix for about a month before going the Kemper route as the Helix was extremely unreliable (footswitch issues).

    The QC is built like a tank, something to be expected from a supposed "tour ready" piece of gear that cost me over $2,500CDN, the footswitches are responsive and having rotary control knobs built into them is another aspect that takes the UI to a level above Kemper. In fairness, the hardware Kemper is using is well over a decade old now, and by comparison it STILL doesn't lag that far behind newer units, a testament to the R&D the team at Kemper put into this unit!

    The QC is a bit more compact than my unpowered profiler + remote that I lug around in a Gator Kemper Transit bag (coming from a pelican 1610 wheeled case), and the portability aspect is something that is definitely helping me see past a few of the gripes I have with the QC.

    The QC is still very much in its infancy, and I don't have a similar comparison with the Kemper as I came into the Kemper world much later, but some of the grievances I have with the QC are stuff that - because modelers are so common now - you think they would have ironed out before rollout of the product.

    Here's what I've noted as my main grievances so far with the QC:

    1. The Kemper allows me to switch patches during a live show by initially showing me the options to select from BEFORE it switches away from the current sound I'm using...The QC immediately selects the next bank and if I have it in scene mode and I want a solo patch, I now have to do a foot dance in order to select my solo preset and hope that I don't select the wrong one while I'm also trying to solo at the same time. Extremely frustrating

    2. The Tap Tempo button on the QC doubles as the tuner button, but you have to hold down the tap tempo button to access the tuner, taking about 3s of time for it to activate. The Kemper remote has an instantly-available tuner button that immediately mutes my guitar, giving me quicker guitar changes between songs.

    3. I CANNOT bypass the cab block on a certain output (like you can with the Kemper), meaning if I want to run stereo FOH into a guitar amp for stage volume, I would have to re-do all my patches on the QC to have another row that bypasses the cab block for my given "monitor" output. Again, something that can be fixed but is a bewildering issue because the routing options on the QC are otherwise superior to the Kemper IMO.

    3. Last night when using the QC at a gig, I had the tuner/tap tempo footswitch become completely non-responsive and I had to reboot the unit to get it working again. FWIW, I had just updated the unit so it may be a bug in the code that needs to get sorted out... I have two more shows in the next two days so I will see if that issue arises again with the QC.

    4. The QC features a "gig view" which is sort of similar to the "perform" mode on the Kemper and alters the display and behaviour characteristics of the switches and such, but the QC doesn't let you default to gig view as of yet, meaning if I have a throw-and-go festival gig and I forget to "swipe up" on the display to access gig mode, I will have to do it mid-song. This is something that can easily be fixed and has been brought to the attention of NDSP.

    5. The Kemper Remote's ability to have a stomp section as well as a preset section is GREAT for live use, and the QC has not implemented this feature yet. It is something I used every time I played live with the Kemper

    Sound-wise, I think both units sound great, with the edge going to the QC as it feels just a bit more realistic to me. This combined with the portability of the unit has kept me from just returning the QC altogether, and I can see myself continuing to experiment with the QC as my only modeler for the foreseeable future. I still have the Kemper and I'm on the fence about keeping the QC, but again the product is super new, and I knew there would be growing pains.

    In the electronics world, there is a saying that you should "buy something for what it can do now, not for the promise of what it may be able to do in the future", and if you're of that mind, I think the QC is not there yet for situations such as mine. However, I find it kind of fun experimenting with a new piece of gear (however frustrating) and noting bugs and other issues to hopefully help improve the product as time goes on.

    I hope my long rant helps clarify some of the usability issues with the QC, but also highlights the fact that the Kemper is still totally fantastic and a good buy despite newer modelling technology on the market. I didn't mean for the post to come across as a s*!t talking of the QC, but I wanted to be as objective as I could be after having such a high standard set by the Kemper for my use case.

  • Hey, TeleMan.

    Thanks for taking the time to write this up. I haven't seen or heard the Quad Cortex, so no comments from me about it, but I sure appreciate your observations, insights, and perspective.

    Cheers!

    No problem! I hope this helps anyone who has the “grass is greener” thoughts, and i will try to update the thread as i learn more about the unit and how i feel it compares to the Kemper

  • I was in the same position and also agree the form factor and sounds of the QC are on parr if not better than the Kemper. However I sold my QC as it just wasn’t anywhere near as well developed as the Kemper. Very much as you mentioned with the ‘buy what it can do now… ‘ quote.

  • same here. I was an early user of the QC. I sold it fairly quickly, as I could not get it to do what my Kemper can do, for live
    ‘I know the QC has had some updates , but I thought the on board sounds were just there
    ‘So I’m stickin with my stage, I sold my Toaster and controller

  • I've been following the QC since it was announced and have several friends who own one. Frankly, I think NDSP really botched the launch and just doesn't have good product management. It's been available for what, a year and a half, and still doesn't have basic features that its competitors all have. Still no desktop editor. And why they didn't launch with the amps from their plugins is beyond me. They have the models, seems like that would have been the first thing they launched with and a unique selling point. So far they just seem to provide vague answers and updates, all while new plugins are coming out at a pretty fast pace.

    I'll be interested when I can get one that isn't marked up by 700% or have to wait 6 months, and when they have a desktop editor.

    I think they should have waited until it was more developed to announce and launch it. My guess is that they severely underestimated the complexity of the product and learned a hard lesson in product development.

  • Was interested/intrigued by the QC when it was introduced.

    It took way too long to come to fruition.

    Whatever...

    After watching/learning it occurs to me that I like the Head/rack plus remote platform.

    I like the head behind me on top of the Kabinet with the remote being the only cable at my feet. The head being in a traditional location for a FOH connection.

    Not trying to knock the QC but I'm OK not having to tweak stomp knobs I've been stomping on in a grubby bar with my hands.

    The QC looks to be a quality unit, no doubt, and I sincerely appreciate the write up and observations.

  • And why they didn't launch with the amps from their plugins is beyond me. They have the models, seems like that would have been the first thing they launched with and a unique selling point. So far they just seem to provide vague answers and updates, all while new plugins are coming out at a pretty fast pace.

    Probably because the Plugins are so much more profitable and they want to have their cake AND eat it by preserving this income stream. I”ve tried a few of the plugins on the free 14 day trial but didn’t like them at all as they were too focused/tight/modern/metal for me (probably due to Nolly doing all the IRs) but I can see why some people might like them. As you said though, I think they shot themselves in the foot with the greed strategy.

  • I think a big part of them not offering the plugins is also licensing. I’m sure that each individual Archetype plug-in has its own licensing deal with the artist in question, most likely exclusive to the plug-in format and not hardware. That would be a huge can of worms to work out individually with each artist after the fact, especially considering that they probably all have other exclusive deals with hardware producers that would cause conflicts.

  • I think a big part of them not offering the plugins is also licensing. I’m sure that each individual Archetype plug-in has its own licensing deal with the artist in question, most likely exclusive to the plug-in format and not hardware. That would be a huge can of worms to work out individually with each artist after the fact, especially considering that they probably all have other exclusive deals with hardware producers that would cause conflicts.

    Maybe. But STL Tones seems to have that figured out. They sell their artist packs as both hardware and software packs.

  • Probably because the Plugins are so much more profitable and they want to have their cake AND eat it by preserving this income stream. I”ve tried a few of the plugins on the free 14 day trial but didn’t like them at all as they were too focused/tight/modern/metal for me (probably due to Nolly doing all the IRs) but I can see why some people might like them. As you said though, I think they shot themselves in the foot with the greed strategy.

    Yeah, I think this is likely. They could do like Line 6 does with Helix and Helix Native - if you buy the hardware, you get a big discount on the plugin. If you already own the plugin it should be free on the hardware.

    Then there's the conundrum of why buy a plugin (say, Archetype Nolly) when the QC has Bogner Shiva, JCM800, 5150, and Victory Kraken models?

  • Probably because the Plugins are so much more profitable and they want to have their cake AND eat it by preserving this income stream. I”ve tried a few of the plugins on the free 14 day trial but didn’t like them at all as they were too focused/tight/modern/metal for me (probably due to Nolly doing all the IRs) but I can see why some people might like them. As you said though, I think they shot themselves in the foot with the greed strategy.

    I tried out the Tone King and the Cory Wong plugins while I was waiting for my QC to arrive and I enjoyed them a LOT. The Tone King was my favourite by far (of course their early April birthday sale didn't include that specific one, so I didn't give them any of my money). I did find they sounded really good.

    Gig Report: I played last night with the QC again and did not have the same foot switch issue as I did on Thursday. It was a low-stage volume gig and so I used IEMs and a small PA speaker for some stage sound and I found it not as inspiring as my first few gigs. I was also playing through a Strat and I"m used to Teles, so that may have contributed to the difference in sound. I'm back using it tonight but the more I think about things, the more I'm thinking of returning the QC and finally biting the bullet on a powered Kab for my Kemper.

    The "hold tempo for tuner" switch is getting annoying...Even though the delay is probably 2-3 seconds max, it's amazing how long that feels when you're trying to tune between songs. With the Kemper, I could tune mid-song if needed

  • I've been following the QC since it was announced and have several friends who own one. Frankly, I think NDSP really botched the launch and just doesn't have good product management. It's been available for what, a year and a half, and still doesn't have basic features that its competitors all have. Still no desktop editor. And why they didn't launch with the amps from their plugins is beyond me. They have the models, seems like that would have been the first thing they launched with and a unique selling point. So far they just seem to provide vague answers and updates, all while new plugins are coming out at a pretty fast pace.

    I'll be interested when I can get one that isn't marked up by 700% or have to wait 6 months, and when they have a desktop editor.

    I think they should have waited until it was more developed to announce and launch it. My guess is that they severely underestimated the complexity of the product and learned a hard lesson in product development.

    I agree with this statement 100%. Even wandering over to the NDSP forums, with so much supposed hype around the unit, the forums are a ghost town in comparison to Kemper. I get there are supply issues, but as you said, it's been out for a year and a half and they've still not addressed some basic issues.

  • Really interesting analysis.

    Kemper didn't get it 100% at launch but I do feel they really nailed the usability from the start. Its all the little things that add up.

    I also prefer the amp head/footswitch form factor for many reasons so that rules out the QC for me anyway, but great to hear your experiences.

  • Well after spending a month with the Quad Cortex, I ended up returning it. I found that for my needs, it was too unreliable and I spent a lot of time that I should have been practicing, being frustrated at the software bugs. I seemed to be constantly trying to find workarounds for stuff that came naturally on the Kemper, and there is a weird ground loop issue where I'd get noise unless I touched something metal (eg a foot switch). The onboard Wi-Fi is a fantastic feature, and one that I wish my profiler had (Hey Kemper, can we get an upgrade program for older profilers to add Wi-Fi?!) but the QC's Wi-Fi was super unreliable and dropped out constantly, one of the major annoyances I had when using it.

    All in all, I will probably revisit the Quad Cortex in a couple of years after it's had a chance to mature, but it's just not at the level I need it to be at this time. I suppose time will tell how the QC will be supported by Neural DSP; despite them saying it is one of the highest priorities, I definitely do not get that feeling when visiting the forums or even receiving their newsletters. Sure, they have pushed an update in the 30 days I've owned the unit, but the list of "feature requests" grows longer every time I visit their forum...

    After returning the QC, I bit the bullet and ordered a powered Kemper Kabinet, and I think I will be happy for many more years with the Kemper