“I was really concerned. I didn’t want to be like Nokia when the iPhone came out”: How Line 6 and Kemper’s early releases inadvertently inspired the creation of their biggest rival

To say that amp modeling has changed the game is an understatement. Every year, brands continue to one-up each other in their efforts to make digital modeling as close as possible to traditional amps and effects – all while decreasing the physical footprint.

A company that's on every gearhead's lips as soon as you mention “amp modelers” is Neural DSP – and Rick Beato flew to Finland to talk to the man behind it all, CEO Doug Castro.

Castro had previously founded bass guitar gear firm Darkglass in 2016. Shortly after, he and Francisco Cresp – an employee at Darkglass – set out an a new venture together, after floating the idea of developing a range of plugins.

It was a timely transition. The market was changing. And Castro wanted to get ahead of the curve.

“At around the same time, I started getting really scared about digital products,” Castro admits to Beato, when looking back at how he transitioned from Darkglass to Neural DSP.

“Kemper was becoming [bigger] – this is 2014 – Fractal had been around for a few years, but it started getting traction. The Line 6 Helix came out, and was huge.

“Kemper came out, and with Kemper, you could profile things. I was like, ‘Oh, now people can profile my basic solutions.’ I was really concerned – are we gonna get disrupted?”

As Castro bluntly puts it, “It felt like we might be old news now, and I didn't want to be Nokia when the iPhone came out.

I Flew to Finland to Find Out...How Are Amps Modeled? - YouTube

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“You're successful, and then somebody comes up with better technology, better features, and then people go for that. That's when I realized that I should have an answer for this. And that's what ended up being the Quad Cortex. It began to take shape in my mind.”

That was the point when Castro really started paying attention to the landscape and took a deep dive into all things amp modelers.

“[I was] figuring out: What do people love about them... were people buying it? But also, what do people hate about them? There has to be room for improvement here.”

It took around six years for the Quad Cortex to eventually come to fruition – and when it was released in 2021, the all-in-one unit won over even the most seasoned of players, including Dave Mustaine, John Petrucci, and more.

In other words, the threat of Darkglass' competition – and the looming spectre of Line 6 and Fractal – didn't just spur Castro on to start a new plugin and modeler company; it also motivated him to be the best in the market. Years on from the Quad Cortex's launch, and it's still widely considered the industry's gold standard floorboard modeler.

And, speaking of Quad Cortex users, Neural DSP and John Mayer have just announced the launch of Archetype: John Mayer X – a plugin that replicates some of Mayer's most iconic tones.