Neural DSP Quad Cortex is undoubtedly one of the best guitar amp modelers in the world. For a certain type of gigging musician who wants to do a lot of low volume and doesn’t need much in the way of effects, it can replicate any number of amps quite reliably, and it has the Brad and There are plenty of options for butter effects like delay, reverb and chorus. . Plus, its neural capture feature allows you to quickly and easily create bespoke presets based on your gear, or download captures from other users.
If you have a vintage Big Muff and Marshall half-stack that you love, but don’t want to lug around for simple club trips, you can create your own custom Marshall and Big Muff model with just a few button presses. . On the quad cortex. There’s just one problem: It’s $1,699.
Nano Cortex is Neural DSP’s attempt to bring its unique capture capabilities and powerful amp modeling to the masses. At $549 it’s still not cheap. You don’t get the screen, or some of the more advanced functionality, from the higher-end model, but my experience tells me it can be an incredible stage and studio companion.
No screen.
The most obvious sacrifice in the name of size and cost reduction is the lack of a touchscreen. The Quad Cortex is a ridiculously complex device that would be unwieldy without a touchscreen. The Nano Cortex strips this feature down enough that it’s convenient to navigate the pedals with just a few knobs, buttons, and footswitches.
Photo: Terence O’Brien
Where the Quad Cortex gives you over 90 amp models, over a thousand impulse responses and over 100 different effects, the Nano sticks with the greatest hits from this vast library. It ships with 25 amp models based on classic pedals, 300 impulse responses (IRs) and single options for chorus, delay and reverb.
There are still plenty of possible combinations to contend with, and that doesn’t account for the ability to load custom captures and impulse responses that you’ve either created yourself or downloaded from other Cortex users. Navigating them can be a bit confusing as the only indicators on the pedals are the five LEDs on each footswitch and all your captures and IRs are divided into colour-coded banks. But if you basically stick to a few basic combinations, it’s not too bad.
If you find yourself wanting to switch things up a lot, there’s a great companion app. I’ve tested a number of paddles with mobile apps and they’ve always been pretty unreliable. They are often smaller and have Bluetooth connections at best. I had no such problem with the Cortex mobile app. It connects quickly and reliably every time, and everything works exactly as expected.
