So as the title implies, I have over one month of hands-on experience with the Nano Cortex and figured I’d put down my thoughts and opinions at this stage. These are purely my subjective takes on this device and realize each individual could have vastly different thoughts on the pedal but here’s what I’ve come up with over the past month, on small stages with my bar band along with ticketed, large production venues and stages throughout Florida with my tribute band. I apologize for the length of this post but I just kept writing what I was thinking and it ended up being a book…..
hopefully you’ll take something from it all that may help in your decision to buy or pass.
First off, for me this is NOT a one-pedal-for all needs on bass. I didn’t expect it to be after much reading and research before I bought it from Sweetwater. This was added to my pedalboard as a main tonal device and an enhancement to my setup. My pedalboard for the past three years has centered around my HX Stomp XL and has been solid, roadworthy and without issue. My go-to block chain prest consisted of Ampeg Opti compressor, Ampeg 4 SVT Pro amp, (no cabinet), effects loop block and Noble model block. My effects were chorus, phaser, octaver and envelope filter running on a parallel path. I have been mostly satisfied during my time with this setup.
Before this pedalboard setup and going mostly ampless on stage I was using a TC Electronic RH750 rack mounted amp into a Barefaced Big Twin T cabinet and was very happy with the power, punch and tone of this rig, probably the best tone I’ve had in 40+ years of playing. It was a large part of my decision to try the Nano to capture that specific tone I very much enjoyed. And as with many who are getting older, I looked to scale back on weight, size and setup. That led me to my pedalboard. I considered buying the Quad Cortex when it came out but quickly realized it would be possibly a year waiting for inventory at Sweetwater so decided against it. My main point of interest in that device was the capability of the neural captures of my RH750 amp as well as my little Markbass CMD 121 combo I use for rehearsals as well as small stage gigs with my bar band, separate from my larger large production tribute act where I use only the pedalboard or with my GR Bass active cabinet. But…..the cost continued to hold me back, along with the back ordered status. That led me to buying this Nano Cortex.
Having that capture feature in a unit around a third of the price caused me to jump on the purchase from Sweetwater just as soon as I saw they had them in stock. I figured I’d better jump on it since it would probably quickly end up being out of stock like the Quad Cortex did when it first came out. Glad I did that since it was indeed showing back ordered only a couple days after the initial stock was sold out.
The learning curve is extremely quick and easy, much less than the Quad Cortex I would assume because of the scaled down and limited set of features. As I mentioned previously, I got this pedal mainly for a couple reasons, to do neural captures of some of my amps, along with the large iCloud files of factory and user captures available, plus ability to use cabinet IR’s. Plus, reaching down for quick tone tweaking if needed. So…..I captured my amps, played around with a large number of user captures and IR’s and played around with it through headphones, into my GR Bass AT 212 Slim Active 800 cabinet and through a PA. First couple gigs I used my captures plus rotated through a couple other captures from iCloud selections including Aguilar, Ampeg and GK amps. On about my third gig I used a simple capture of a Noble Tube DI listed as Noble 50% gain. I am currently going back and forth with this capture and my own amp captures. Sometimes a simpler preset is the best. I’m now using my HX Stomp XL as solely my effects unit plus the effects loop it has for a looper and a compact drum machine used only in the tribute band during a solo spot. I attached a pic of the current pedalboard setup and it is doing everything I want it to do.
The pros are:
-Great build quality
-Excellent sound quality
-Compact size
-Ability to tweak EQ/Gain/Volume on the fly using device knobs
-Ability to lock the pedal so knobs can’t be bumped and only the two foot switches are active to choose the four presets
-Quality sounding chorus, delay and reverb
-Simple, easy to set noise gate
-Accurate Tracking pitch transposer that can also provide a good Octaver
-HPF (high pass filter) and LPF ( low pass filter)
-Headphone with volume control
-MIDI/Footswitch jack (I don’t use)
-Balanced R/L outs using TRS to XLR for FOH input
-Ability to capture amps, cabs, OD pedals with no extra gear needed
-Bluetooth app which mirrors pedal in real time, accesses iCloud and library captures and IR’s and allows tweaking of parameters
The cons are:
-Fixed pre and post effects order
-Limited effects
-No overdrive/distortion effect
-No touch screen
-Only four footswitchable presets without going into app
-Limited tuner function without using app
For me, this is the type of add-on pedal
which enhances my pedalboard and gives me the ability to try and use quite a lot of captures, which was my primary interest in this unit. It is not, in my opinion a one-pedal-does-everything due to the limits on the effects and foot switchable limit to four, along with the inability to toggle effects on and off. But….in my setup, that’s where my HX Stomp does the dedicated effects switching so I get my accurate captures and quick basic tweaking in real time from the Nano along with any effects from the Stomp. Plus utilizing the effects loop in the Stomp for my looper and drum pedal also fills that need for my situation.
Would I recommend the Nano Cortex?…..Absolutely, along with the caveat that it should be a unit to be added to your setup if it meets YOUR specific needs. If you are looking to do captures of favorite amps/cabs and OD pedals without the need to purchase additional gear and want to explore the hundreds of iCloud captures then it is a wonderful piece of equipment. I would assume the cons I listed are probably a bit more possible deal breakers with guitarists rather than bassists. Once again, it meets my very specific needs since I don’t need a lot of presets or changes in tones. Sorry again for the long review here, appreciate you reading and deciding on your own for your specific setup and needs. Thanks!
hopefully you’ll take something from it all that may help in your decision to buy or pass.First off, for me this is NOT a one-pedal-for all needs on bass. I didn’t expect it to be after much reading and research before I bought it from Sweetwater. This was added to my pedalboard as a main tonal device and an enhancement to my setup. My pedalboard for the past three years has centered around my HX Stomp XL and has been solid, roadworthy and without issue. My go-to block chain prest consisted of Ampeg Opti compressor, Ampeg 4 SVT Pro amp, (no cabinet), effects loop block and Noble model block. My effects were chorus, phaser, octaver and envelope filter running on a parallel path. I have been mostly satisfied during my time with this setup.
Before this pedalboard setup and going mostly ampless on stage I was using a TC Electronic RH750 rack mounted amp into a Barefaced Big Twin T cabinet and was very happy with the power, punch and tone of this rig, probably the best tone I’ve had in 40+ years of playing. It was a large part of my decision to try the Nano to capture that specific tone I very much enjoyed. And as with many who are getting older, I looked to scale back on weight, size and setup. That led me to my pedalboard. I considered buying the Quad Cortex when it came out but quickly realized it would be possibly a year waiting for inventory at Sweetwater so decided against it. My main point of interest in that device was the capability of the neural captures of my RH750 amp as well as my little Markbass CMD 121 combo I use for rehearsals as well as small stage gigs with my bar band, separate from my larger large production tribute act where I use only the pedalboard or with my GR Bass active cabinet. But…..the cost continued to hold me back, along with the back ordered status. That led me to buying this Nano Cortex.
Having that capture feature in a unit around a third of the price caused me to jump on the purchase from Sweetwater just as soon as I saw they had them in stock. I figured I’d better jump on it since it would probably quickly end up being out of stock like the Quad Cortex did when it first came out. Glad I did that since it was indeed showing back ordered only a couple days after the initial stock was sold out.
The learning curve is extremely quick and easy, much less than the Quad Cortex I would assume because of the scaled down and limited set of features. As I mentioned previously, I got this pedal mainly for a couple reasons, to do neural captures of some of my amps, along with the large iCloud files of factory and user captures available, plus ability to use cabinet IR’s. Plus, reaching down for quick tone tweaking if needed. So…..I captured my amps, played around with a large number of user captures and IR’s and played around with it through headphones, into my GR Bass AT 212 Slim Active 800 cabinet and through a PA. First couple gigs I used my captures plus rotated through a couple other captures from iCloud selections including Aguilar, Ampeg and GK amps. On about my third gig I used a simple capture of a Noble Tube DI listed as Noble 50% gain. I am currently going back and forth with this capture and my own amp captures. Sometimes a simpler preset is the best. I’m now using my HX Stomp XL as solely my effects unit plus the effects loop it has for a looper and a compact drum machine used only in the tribute band during a solo spot. I attached a pic of the current pedalboard setup and it is doing everything I want it to do.
The pros are:
-Great build quality
-Excellent sound quality
-Compact size
-Ability to tweak EQ/Gain/Volume on the fly using device knobs
-Ability to lock the pedal so knobs can’t be bumped and only the two foot switches are active to choose the four presets
-Quality sounding chorus, delay and reverb
-Simple, easy to set noise gate
-Accurate Tracking pitch transposer that can also provide a good Octaver
-HPF (high pass filter) and LPF ( low pass filter)
-Headphone with volume control
-MIDI/Footswitch jack (I don’t use)
-Balanced R/L outs using TRS to XLR for FOH input
-Ability to capture amps, cabs, OD pedals with no extra gear needed
-Bluetooth app which mirrors pedal in real time, accesses iCloud and library captures and IR’s and allows tweaking of parameters
The cons are:
-Fixed pre and post effects order
-Limited effects
-No overdrive/distortion effect
-No touch screen
-Only four footswitchable presets without going into app
-Limited tuner function without using app
For me, this is the type of add-on pedal
which enhances my pedalboard and gives me the ability to try and use quite a lot of captures, which was my primary interest in this unit. It is not, in my opinion a one-pedal-does-everything due to the limits on the effects and foot switchable limit to four, along with the inability to toggle effects on and off. But….in my setup, that’s where my HX Stomp does the dedicated effects switching so I get my accurate captures and quick basic tweaking in real time from the Nano along with any effects from the Stomp. Plus utilizing the effects loop in the Stomp for my looper and drum pedal also fills that need for my situation.
Would I recommend the Nano Cortex?…..Absolutely, along with the caveat that it should be a unit to be added to your setup if it meets YOUR specific needs. If you are looking to do captures of favorite amps/cabs and OD pedals without the need to purchase additional gear and want to explore the hundreds of iCloud captures then it is a wonderful piece of equipment. I would assume the cons I listed are probably a bit more possible deal breakers with guitarists rather than bassists. Once again, it meets my very specific needs since I don’t need a lot of presets or changes in tones. Sorry again for the long review here, appreciate you reading and deciding on your own for your specific setup and needs. Thanks!
Gain it up if you want a bit more growl.
