Neural DSP Nano Cortex Review: The Perfect Portable Amp Modeler

The Neural DSP Quad Cortex is undeniably 1 of the finest guitar amp modelers successful the world. For a definite benignant of gigging instrumentalist who wants to minimize bulk and doesn’t necessitate overmuch successful the mode of effects, it tin beauteous convincingly recreate immoderate fig of amps, and has plentifulness of options for breadstuff and food effects similar delay, reverb and chorus. Plus, its Neural Capture diagnostic allows you to rapidly and easy marque bespoke presets based connected your ain gear, oregon adjacent download captures from different users.

If you’ve got a vintage Big Muff and a Marshall fractional stack that you love, but don’t privation to resistance astir for elemental nine tours, you tin make a exemplary of your circumstantial Marshall and Big Muff it with conscionable a fewer fastener presses connected the Quad Cortex. There’s conscionable 1 problem: It’s $1,699.

The Nano Cortex is Neural DSP’s effort to bring its unsocial seizure abilities and almighty amp modeling to the masses. At $549 it’s inactive not cheap. You don't get a screen, oregon immoderate of the much precocious functionality from the higher-end model, but my acquisition tells maine it could beryllium an unthinkable signifier and workplace companion.

No Screens

The astir evident sacrifice made successful the sanction of size and cost-cutting is that deficiency of a touchscreen. The Quad Cortex is an absurdly analyzable instrumentality that would beryllium impenetrable without the touchscreen. The Nano Cortex strips down the diagnostic acceptable down capable that navigating the pedal with conscionable a fewer knobs, buttons and footswitches is reasonable.

Where the Quad Cortex provides you with implicit 90 amp models, implicit a 1000 impulse responses and implicit 100 antithetic effects, the Nano sticks with the top hits from that monolithic library. It ships with 25 amp models, 300 impulse responses (IRs) and azygous options for chorus, delay, and reverb, based connected classical pedals.

That’s inactive rather a batch of imaginable combinations to contend with, and doesn’t relationship for the quality to load customized captures and impulse responses that you’ve either created yourself oregon downloaded from different Cortex users. Navigating them tin beryllium a small confusing since the lone indicators connected the pedal are 5 LEDs implicit each footswitch and each your captures and IRs are divided into color-coded banks. But if you’re chiefly sticking to a fewer halfway combinations it’s not excessively bad.

If you find yourself wanting to power things up a lot, determination is an fantabulous companion app. I’ve tested a fig of pedals with mobile apps and they’ve ever been beauteous unreliable. They’re often buggy and the Bluetooth connections are finicky astatine best. I had nary specified issues with the Cortex mobile app. It connected rapidly and reliably each time, and everything worked precisely arsenic expected.