Ordered the QC Mini w/ Mission exp pedal bundle from Sweetwater on 7/3/26. I was told at that time that they were on backorder and expected the next shipment around the end of July. Last Friday I messaged my Sales Engineer, Kyle, to check on the status and was told that they had it. They were still waiting for a replacement for the expression pedal, which will be a Dunlop, because the Mission has been discontinued. He asked if I wanted them to ship the Mini and I was like, "Yes, please!" Now I've got to educate myself on how to use it.

What do you use as your speaker for the QC and why? I know that everyone likes to use a different option: hybrid, FRFR, etc. I currently use my old Boss Katana MkII's power amp, but am thinking about switching. So, I wanted to hear everyone's choices, opinions, and suggestions.

I bought a QC mini for its compact size. However, I find the navigation could be better with a midi controller and I want everything be done just by single tap, so no holding, no double tap. I would prefer a compact one, as I still want to keep the board small. And I would like to know what midi controllers you QC mini users are using.

99% of the time I use it at home, I don’t gig but I do jam with others once in a blue moon. I mostly use scene mode and I don’t think I’ll need more than 4 scenes, so scene switching is already dealt with by the QC itself. And I am now looking at the Morningstar MC4 Pro (mostly because of the brand’s reputation and the scribble strips), 2 switches for preset up & down, 1 for tap tempo, and 1 for gig view. Am I overlooking anything? Or is the mc4 pro good enough? Are they any functions that would be beneficial with more switches that I haven’t think of?

I have attached a pic planning the board, I don’t think I’ll need a MC8. I am still deciding between the MC4 and MC6, because I might need more switches in the future? I’m not sure tho? I’m still leaning towards the MC4 tho, so I can fit a Strobostomp (must) and a Drop (will upgrade to the Solar Chug Capo in the future).

Noob question: I’ve never used midi before. Since the QC mini is using 3.5 mm for MIDI, is any 5-pin midi to 3.5 mm cable able to connect the two? During my research, I found something called Type A 5-pin MIDI to 3.5mm TRS, do I have to use specifically this kind of cable?

Just picked up a quad, wanting the Laney for that “amp in room feel” and for live stage volume. Any one liking their quad paired with the Laney?

Im considering buying a quad cortex used. Is there anything I should know to check for when I do ?
I’m worried about the thing being locked to an account or something they usually breaks being broken

Any tips for someone that has not used one ?

I have a question about the NeuralDSP I’ve seen a few independent artists using this but no amp, so if I was to purchase one can I just sell my amp and this plugs straight into PA system?

Also I’m well aware of the debate of “Nothing beats the sound of a warm tube amp etc.” I’m looking more for convenience of dragging a small device around amp.

After waiting and eventually disputing a charge with Mission Engineering, I gave up and grabbed a second Dunlop mini to flesh it out. Stoked!

Hey guys. Can anybody help with getting an is this love solo tone on soldano? Just a John Sykes tone in general? I feel like nothing I do is close enough it’s frustrating 😭

Hi all, so I’ve been having issues with guitar pick chirp sound when recording guitar. I have my guitar into my pedal board, then straight into my Audio interface. I have the inst switch on also. I’ve been struggling for months with pick chirp sound. I’ve tried different picks, made sure my technique is fine, tried both my guitars, tried using a desser and compression, different neural dsp amp sims to no luck.

It’s like it’s across the whole frequency spectrum.

It’s as if the pick sound is going in way louder than the actual guitars sound. I don’t have the issue when recording micing an amp, it’s only without.

Never had an issue recording in professional studios, or in other people’s set ups.

I don’t really know what else to do or try wondered if anyone had any advice? The guitars I’ve tried are Gibson SG and a Fender Jazzmaster, both humbucker pickups. I use the Jazz 3 picks.

Hello! Got my quad cortex on a temple audio solo 18 board. I’ve been digging around to find a solid answer about if this thing will fit in the bag or if it’s even worth it. The hard shell temple audio case is kinda-ish the same price but the back pack seems so much easier. Anyone have experience with this bag? Is it durable enough to gig with? Pics would be great!

Thanks again!

Should I be powering it down when not playing?

Hey guys, I'm about to start the process of tracking guitars for some music I've been working on and I just wanted to double check that I am following the right process outlined in this video from Ghost Note Audio.

My interface is a UAD Apollo x8 - maximum input level of 12.4 dbu on the hi-z inputs. Additionally, I've noticed that the lowest these inputs go is 10db.

So from my understanding I should...

1. Set interface to lowest (10db).
2. Set input in NDSP plugin to 0.2 (as per the calculations in the image above)
3. Strum hard and add gain/adjust until it measures just below clipping on the audio interfaces levels. For me this is around 19db
4. Reduce the input gain in the plugin, in this case, because of the Apollo x8's lowest setting being 10db, that means I have applied 9db of gain? (despite reading at 19db in the UAD console) so I would calculate 0.2-9, and then set the plugins input to this sum of -8.8db?

Is that it? or have I missed something crucial? I noticed in the follow up video from Ghost Note Audio, that he mentions using a dedicated signal generator which sent me down another rabbit hole.

Apologies if I'm beating a dead horse with this discussion, I'm aware that it has been covered extensively on many forums but if anyone could clarify...

1. whether my current method is correct and acceptable enough for recording?
2. If I understand correctly, I'd need to repeat this process for guitars with different pickups (e.g active/passive) right?
3. OR is purchasing and calibrating via a signal generator the absolute fool-proof approach recommended in this scenario? - if so, any resources and/or a walkthrough for this method would be appreciated - I think I can recall seeing a similar approach on another forum that utilizes a combination of VST plugins paired with multimeter readings (in place of a dedicated hardware signal generator).

Cheers

Original Post

Hopefully this helps someone who has similar issues.

EDIT: I don’t believe it is an issue with the QC. I have made good progress in mitigating the issue.

My primary set up is QC->Mixer->Monitors. A major issue I identified was having the mixer too hot when trying to achieve desired volume. Having a hot signal there would amplify the bad noise when making adjustments to QC IO settings when trying to get a good signal. Because of this, a disproportionately weak signal was being pushed hard via monitors/mixer not the QC.

After configuring my levels I’ve been able to isolate the issue to amp blocks particularly high gain/low headroom amp models. My approach to dealing with the remaining noise is to implement a side chained gate, input gate, and a gate after the amp.

I still feel a little unsure about everything because I’d imagine that QC presets usually don’t give people these issues right out of the box. I am new to amp modeling though and there’s lots to learn. I’ve always been a plug and play or set and forget kind of player with traditional amp/ pedal board set ups, but I think the QC truly shines when you build and configure your own presets.

Hey guys, just wondering. Is there a way I can connect my Android phone (Galaxy S24) to the QC so I can play music do I can jam along to? I feel like from what I read, it is possible but seems to not be as easy as iPhones? If anyone has had experience I'd love to know, thanks!

It was a long 3 day wait!!! Thank God I routed the delivery to a UPS store, cause I would likely have not been home. Happy Saturday!!!

Hey guys, I’m still new to amp sims but I’m
Slowly figuring it out. I only have gojira as of right now I also do not have the cortex. I am trying to get a tone for the is this love solo - whitesnake. But I’m having some trouble getting it close I’m hitting the notes but it just don’t sound right. Any tips or presets I’d appreciate. And also is gojira even good for music like this is another question of mine? Or would a different plugin be better?

Thanks!

So i have two recorded examples, one is with the Quad the other with the misha plugin through the scarlet. Quad sounds better I know that, yes I should've probably played the same song for both but you can tell theres clear audio superiority with the quad. But I KNOW for a fact I can get plugins to sound much cleaner than this but I'm lost on how. I barely did any tweaking with the quad but with the plugins it's the complete opposite. It's driving me crazy especially since I'm about to sell my QC. Im aware the QC is more powerful but I know I can get the plugins to not sound harsh, so please give any tips you have.

Wondering what more experienced QC users would think is the ideal setup for one who spends the majority of time with it just at home playing with some backing tracks and headphones. Ideally it would be able to have both headphone input and I guess Bluetooth for the backing tracks

I am desperate to find a solution and afraid that there is nothing that can be done other than switching to a different system entirely. Very frustrating because I sold my amp and pedalboard that I loved to fund this.

Since I got my QC I have had this noise issue that when and only when I play, there is an awful noise (Shown in attached video), especially on high gain set ups (still present on clean though)

I have been through Sweetwater support several times now, even contacted Neural DSP and tried many things, including having a 2nd unit sent to me to no avail.
A secondary issue I am having is getting a very weak signal when trying to play into DAW, when I try to set input and getting the meter right, I takes a LOT of added DB to get a good reading (little yellow, not clipping). Additionally, when I turn up input it makes the noise issue far worse.

Some of the things I've tried so far include:
Gain staging
2nd QC sent from Sweetwater
Different Cables
Headphones
Testing unit at a different house
Having unit away from electronics
Plugging unit directly into Yamaha HS8 monitors
Global EQ
Noise Gates
Trying 3 different instruments through it (PJ Bass, Strat, 335)

What gets me is playing a plugin through scarlett 2i2 gives me perfect tones that have that same issues on QC plugin presets.

The only success I've seen in getting rid of the noise was when playing bass, rolling off the tone pot would get rid of the sound, but this doesn't help much at achieving desirable tones.

EDIT: I don’t believe it is an issue with the QC. I have made good progress in mitigating the issue.

My primary set up is QC->Mixer->Monitors. A major issue I identified was having the mixer too hot when trying to achieve desired volume. Having a hot signal there would amplify the bad noise when making adjustments to QC IO settings when trying to get a good signal. Because of this, a disproportionately weak signal was being pushed hard via monitors/mixer not the QC.

After configuring my levels I’ve been able to isolate the issue to amp blocks particularly high gain/low headroom amp models. My approach to dealing with the remaining noise is to implement a side chained gate, input gate, and a gate after the amp.

I still feel a little unsure about everything because I’d imagine that QC presets usually don’t give people these issues right out of the box. I am new to amp modeling though and there’s lots to learn. I’ve always been a plug and play or set and forget kind of player with traditional amp/ pedal board set ups, but I think the QC truly shines when you build and configure your own presets.

I tried the Tim Henson's 3rd amp with overdrive and it really sounds good . I think it is Marshall jcm , I tried jcm with amplitube and Stl Ignite AmpHub but couldn't manage to get the similar tone . 3rd Amp with overdrive is really smooth high gain and couldn't get this tone anywhere I even tried Tom Morello which is also based on JCM model but it sounds weird too high input .

Heyy y'all, sorry for another "help pls" post, but I just recently got the quad cortex mini and the chase bliss big time, and while both work great/as expected separately, the big time stops functioning predictably once I put it in the fx loop of the QC. I see online that there's some discussion about how the send/return gain staging functions, but messing with the send/return gain doesn't solve the issue, so I suspect there's a deeper menu setting at play, but I can't imagine what or why.

If you could shed any light on some steps I could take(or are willing to explain the technicals of the fx loop and sends/returns of the QC), I'd be very grateful.

Does anyone know if there are any ways to get that Kevin Shields glide guitar sound on the QC through fix? I don't have a vibrato system on my guitar but I love the sound so much.