I need to start learning how to count to five.

Hey - those are some great points and really good information. Some folks have pointed out about the fish being just a pre-amp, which makes the “comparison” even less scientific. That said, I think I could have done a better job of explaining that my primary reasoning for choosing the QC in the end came down to ease of use and not any differences in sound (because I think they both can sound awesome). You make a really good point that having some background with the actual amps will give you a lot more power when working with the FM3, which is admittedly not a strong point of mine. For me, the wealth of available captures (which so far have all sounded great to my ears), the routing options, and the ease of use put me more in favor of the QC. But maybe it’s made more for consumers like myself, who want more of a “plug and play” device and not necessarily all of the options/config power offered by the FM3. It was a tough choice still, and I can imagine one day switching back (maybe after gaining more experience with the real amps behind the unit). For the clean tone, I tried many EQ options on the FM3, but didn’t get further than that. Someone also pointed out later that removing the cab probably would have done the trick - an unfortunate oversight on my part. Thanks for watching, and for the feedback!

@@chrisfuentes4756 no worries! And sorry for only talking about technical stuff. Didn't even mention I really like your playing. Tasty stuff! I totally understand why you prefer QC in this case and somewhat agree with the plug and play part. I think most of the Fractal default presets aim for great sounds instead of mix-ready, at least for your genre. In the end what matters is that the product works for you. Some people just prefer crafted, mix-ready sounds over how a real amp might sound or behave, and there is nothing wrong with that. Fractal community has gone through years of amp vs modelers research and debate, and constantly been improving to make the models sound like the real counterparts. And this is what mostly matters for many users. I also agree that if you are a new user, Fractal products can sometimes be tough to tackle. I've been using these products for 10 years already, so it's no problem for me. What is interesting I've actually learned way more about real amps through Fractal products then I've learned from owning real amps. Anyway, looking forward to hear more music and hear about your experiences with guitar related technology :) take care!

Hey Christian, Those are some great points. One could certainly argue that going with the QC is a gamble just because of how new the company is, which is to say less certainty about the future, updates, support etc. The question of price is critical for many as well, and is something I didn’t touch upon. I would say that the QC has a few more I/O options when used as an audio interface, and then of course the Neural Capture feature. Whether this justifies the big price difference, though, is largely up to you. Personally I do think it’s a little overpriced given the price of the competition (though part of the price was allegedly due to that whole Suez freight ship thing… who knows). Anyway, definitely can’t go wrong with fractal. Thanks so much for watching!

@@chrisfuentes4756 Thank you for your detailed answer. Yes, the QC probably has more routing options, the question is what you need. Personally, I am a pure hobby player. Actually, all devices in this price range are absolute madness for this. As an interface, I'm really only interested in the reamping option to try. So far, everyone can do this without any problems. Have already seen some videos that was a lag when changing the preset. If you use another main output that is not in the factory preset, you have to change them all individually. This cannot be done globally. This is certainly just an update and it fits, but there is probably none so far, but I think that should not be a teething problem with such a device. Even a device without an editor today cannot be. Touch or not. Although I think that the touch of what i see is like "laggi", not really fluid like a mobile phone today?!? It may be possible whether the prices are due to Suez, as it is currently much more other stuff expensive. I also find the FM3 expensive, but I also like the editor and the size to take with me. Just the thing for jamming with friends. But, you can also use a GT1000 or a Helix Stomp or PodGo for this. At the moment I have a Kemer before I try a Helix. I didn't get really "warm" with the Helix, I can't really say why. Turn on Kemper and .... , sound fed up and good. But a little bit back with moddeling makes a lot easier than finding Kemper Profiles, because you can't adapt that well. But the thing never sounds inferior to the new ones. It's been madness for 10 years, actually. So actually I just wanted to say that many devices have many ideas and many are very good. I treat myself to the FM3 if I find it too expensive. The bad year 2020/2019, it's good to have something to try again Greetings from Germany and stay healthy

But it still didn't sound as good to me as the QC and that's why I returned my FM3 with Cygnus.

Oh no way - yeah that would make a big difference, wouldn’t it :) So we might attribute that to consumer ignorance on my part, though it may also speak a bit to the lack of details shown in the QC about a capture. Would be nice if we could include info like that on screen when selecting a capture instead of just the name. Thanks for watching, and for the info!

It’s entirely possible - and I’ve been realizing that’s one of the downsides of the QC: when you use a Neural capture, you know very little about what you’re actually running. It would be helpful if they could include some metadata so that folks like myself (who don’t have as much experience with real amps) could realize things like that. I was using a modified version of this preset, which I _believed_ was a fender twin + cab for the clean tone. But since there’s no info about it, you might be entirely correct. neuraldsp.com/cloud/p/e0e06705-a118-4da9-8afc-ff224675440a

I would say, though, that my choice was ultimately decided by the usability and the existence of the neural capture feature. I do believe that both modelers can produce great tones for any sound you’re looking for - they might require more or less work to get there, but I believe they can both get there. So in the end, the Tone wasn’t the deciding factor for me

Agreed @damiano logozzo sounds like a direct to desk sound

@@mikeyg00 the quad? It for not sound sound direct to desk sound in my home. Sorry. And yes I just saw this.

Ah, tweak the settings! Settings, settings, and more settings! Tweaking and tweaking! Never ends!

You have been on every post praising the quad. Now you don’t like it. A man who can’t make up his mind. Hmm 🤔

@@Utubesup7890 trolling? humm,, My post say's it all. I liked it BUT when you don't update, the product suffers. I have used FAS for several decades now and it will always be my go to no matter what I try out. My FM9 is just killer

@@r.llynch4124 I’m Just saying you sang it’s praises now you’re saying now the opposite. That’s your perogative. I don’t need a bunch of modulation fx. No offense but you were really on a lot of posts so I did notice you. There’s no reason to be upset if you are it seems but I want the guitar to sound like a guitar not a saxophone or piano. So I’m happy with the quad. The feel and sound are great. It’s UI is beyond great. And I have no issues with it except maybe making the list of captures easier to navigate and download. I do not want to get tied to a pc. And I definitely don’t need the plug ins. The quad has a lot of captures that are updated plug ins pr just as good if not better. That’s all. No offense. Enjoy your Axe and see you back with the quad soon. I’m just kidding. It’s tiring hearing a bunch of plug in whiners trying as hard as possible to put the quad out of business. It’s not going to happen. It’s too good and too many of us that love it. Amps first and pedals. Quad next. I mean what’s the point of these people. If they don’t like it move on. That’s it. Simple.

@@r.llynch4124 when did I call you a troll? You must feel that you’re trolling.

Dont Forget that you are listening the compressed youtube version. U need to trust his feeling as a guitarist for the sound I guess.

I totally agree with what Nick says and I own a Quad Cortex and an Axe II. IMO the Quad Cortex does feel more than a real amp but it does have a high midrange/treble thing all across the board which I don‘t like. And also lacks a bit of low midrange for tones that I like. Except for clean and very very slightly broken up tones, where I do actually like it.

+1 .. I liked A more as well. Obviously tone is very subjective and it's totally okay if Chris likes B more

would it be overkill to have both though? if comparing effects tones(not the amps) alone, which is better?

@@xiaoxia5 why would be overkill to have both?i own the Kemper Stage,Axe 3 and Helix ,im going to buy the QC maybe in 2 or 3 months.

Same tone though.

@@mrserv0n18 It's not exactly. You can run 2 amps with the FM9 and more high Res effects which can alter the tone significantly. Having more CPU allows for more complex tones. Also the tones on the FM3 are already good so the FM9 is just that much better.

Doesn't the QC have comparable CPU power to the FM9 Turbo? FM9 Turbo has 2 dual core (so 4 cores) SHARC+ running at 500Hz (non-turbo has the same but running at 400Hz). The QC has 4 SHARC+ cores and 2 ARM Cortex-5 cores (so 6 cores), all running at 500Hz. So I'm not sure what you mean with far more CPU power on the Fractal? Looks like QC has 50% more CPU power. Please explain

A lot of guitarists aren’t used to good amps and good mixing which may, I say may, lead someone to think it sounds processed. There are many amps in the Fractal and none of them sound processed to me. Small combo amps sound dead on: dry, raw and if you experiment and listen closely you’d swear it felt like the real thing. Especially with some guitar volume knob manipulation. The boutique amp patches sound like boutique amps. A real Friedman amp will sound “processed” compared to a real Deluxe. Lots of great tools to choose from out there

@@vidsforsquids Primarily I wanted to recreate my TriAxis/Strategy 500 rig (clean, Mk1 and lead modes), and my Soldano SLO/X88R. Maybe throw in a Diezel VH4 blend (don’t own one). Thats about it. I’ve had those amps forever. I think its really cool you can edit a bunch of parameters as well but perhaps listening through here isn’t the best way for me to determine - I should probably try one (if thats even possible). I am aware recorded tones are prepped and sound differently than just playing live and admit I don’t have much experience in that area to translate the tones. I have gotten what I’ve wanted by micing the cabs but just want something much simpler and consistent. I also have loadboxes (Suhr and Rivera) but just looking to avoid the massive setup every time I want to record something quickly. Lots of people seem to recommend the Fractal so again it could just be me.

Yeah, I did find there was a bit of that top-end fizzle with the QC - I actually liked it on the clean tones, but I can see it being annoying on the higher gain settings. Thanks for watching!

It gets that when you raise gain on capture, have to get the capture on the gain setting you want for the sound you are looking for. I noticed this immediately once I started messing with it. But it’s awesome to be able to get captures which you can’t on the fractal.

That’s what I thought also hearing this

How is the helix compared to axefx?? Is the amp modelling better on axfx??

@@pramesh.gurung Yes, most definitely. I would say the sound of the amps, and effects are superior on the Axe but the user experience and ease of programming definitely goes to the Helix. With that said, I sold my Helix and bought an Fractal FM3.

Hey Andy - That's not something I've noticed, but it would also depend on what exactly the footswitch is hooked up to change. I've used it for changing scenes and stomps and there is no noticeable delay to me whatsoever. I could imagine it's possible that if you were changing between entire presets with e.g. several different amps/rigs loaded/unloaded between the two, maybe there will be a delay (I've definitely gotten delays doing this with the FM3). But as long as it's just changing scenes or doing stomps I don't think you'll see any issues. And thanks for watching!

Yes, there is latency when switching presets which is why I use Scene mode.

i have a quad cortex coming over a week,i cant wait! I had a kemper and have still a mooer ge300...I hope i like it.. i gonne use a laney fr 212

@@metalceesie219 I'm pretty sure you will. Ever since buying the Quad, I don't endlessly tweak anymore. I just select something I like, a cab I like, and get onto playing. It sounds good.

I use the same preset 99% of the time since buying my fractal. So not sure what you mean.

@@ryanshook8284 I use a regular guitar cabinet. It sounds amazing. Kemper was sold. Helix next. Will not miss them since I never used them. I love my amps and pedals but I really enjoy the quad. I think you’ll really like it. Enjoy it. It’s fun.

@@Utubesup7890 Very nice

My band has one of each. I prefer the FM3 in the mix; all things considered.

Cheers man! Hope you get to try them one day!

Check my edit...

Because not everybody wants a pedal and many times the modeler that have an integrated one, they don't have a good one.

Bought two.

There’s pitch shifting and no issues. Not imo. It’s the only modeler I’ve kept.

Totally. I imagine I’d want a live setup where the QC is totally off to the side, ideally controlling e.g. delay or whatever fx via an external footswitch (Ola Englund uses an expression pedal to do that for the FM3 - kzfaq.info/get/bejne/kMlharBeuLzcmWw.html ). It’s definitely the thing that makes me the most nervous about it!

So kemper does breakup sound well???

@@pramesh.gurung exactly like an actual amp.

@@BarryJohns not imo. I sold it. I love the quad. Sorry just my opinion.

??? Oh I get it. Your name is Merl.

Yes

You can turn the stomp knobs too but yea the touchscreen isnt the worst but the refresh rate is slow on it

If you're asking about my recording/mixing monitors, I use Rokit 5. Simple and reliable. If you're asking about the live setup while performing, I have a DI going to Front of House as well as some in-ear monitors shared by the band (in other words, I'm not using any speakers). If I _needed_ to hook up to an actual cabinet, I would personally go for a Marshal Jubilee (get a Nightwish-esque tone) or Orange 2x12 cab for a little more meat, but that's totally personal preference.

@@chrisfuentes4756 exactly what I wanted to know thanks so much

@@chrisfuentes4756 What would you say for someone only playing tiny gigs and at home practice etc. When using a di modeler

@@SticksAandstonesBozo There are some speakers that are specialised for modellers (like the Friedman ASM-12). With a modeller, you also have the liberty of just using any PA cabinet you want since it will create the same Front of House sound that the audience will get (and you can find some tinier PA cabinets for smaller gigs). If you want to use a real cabinet, you'll have to also get a power amp (either via the amp head or a dedicated power amp). The EHX 44 magnum will do the trick (though certainly not the smoothest gain), but IMO a PA speaker cabinet is a more practical way to go for a pure modeller rig. There's a lot of personal taste considerations - some folks want a cab on stage just for that classic guitar rig appearance. Totally up to you! Hope this helps

@@chrisfuentes4756 yeah that’s why I ask I’ve went through several options and have hated them all so far. To the point I kind of gave up on modelers. But some of the stuff I’m doing lately it would really be nice because I can’t bring 3 amps and 3 guitars just to get a handful of tones.

Hey - thanks for the feedback. It was an intentional decision to make the track a bit "busy" with the intention to show how the models would sit in a busier mix. Sorry if it wasn't super helpful. There's a nice shootout vid by Massive Sound Productions that might be more of what you're looking for: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/op2AocZhy9ilg30.html You can also hear my demo track all the way through with the QC and FM3 as separate tracks on my soundcloud (soundcloud.com/chris-fuentes-742398780/sets/modeller-shootout-fractal-fm3-vs-neural-dsp-quad-cortex) if that helps. Have a great day!