TC Electronics Plethora pedalboard.

EricTheWeary

https://youtu.be/Rae6ppd2k2c

EricTheWeary

That latter YouTube clip is fairly comprehensive on how it works ( not MIDI). 

althy

guitargeek62 said:

althy said:

I have to agree with some other posters here, tc electronics time based effects are really nothing to talk about. I also found their HOF comp quite unpleasant sounding and couldn't get a usable sound out of it. 

Hmm...

I should precise in their current production. I love their old SCF, paraeq and comp/eq from the 90s ( green knobs). They lost me from the nova series who always sounded too dark and dull to me.

WiresDreamDisasters

So personally I can say that I think the Flashback algo's are some of the best in the business. Their digital delay does everything anyone else's digital delay does. Their tapes are very controllable. Their space echo sounds great.

I do hear what @althy is saying in some of the reverb demos out there - sometimes the reverbs aren't quite as smooth sounding as other offerings out there. But I remember back in the day when I ran two HoF's on my board, I got on very well with them.

I've been round the houses with delay and reverb, and it takes something very incredibly shit to really put me off. I don't think TC are in that camp.

Kebabkid

The more I see of this product, the more I think this would work for me and I'm pretty excited about it.

I just hope the quality of fx and reliability of the unit are up to scratch and the fx are the same/ as good as the individual pedals they're based on - I remember they weren't the same or as good in the Boss GT units, maybe the GT-3 was ok, and I didn't mind the ME-50.

Can't wait to try one and I like the suggested software updates for the future.

WiresDreamDisasters

Kebabkid said:

I remember they weren't the same or as good in the Boss GT units, maybe the GT-3 was ok, and I didn't mind the ME-50.

When say that, do you mean you didn't think the effects across the GT units were as good as single Boss stomps?

Kebabkid

Yep. I had the GT-5, 6 & 8 and came to that conclusion and thought the earlier ME Units were truer to the original pedals. Could be digitalisation but just my opinion

abw1989

I'm very close to wanting this but I really am struggling to get my head around how to wire it and use the X5's FX loop.

It has five slots, but I'd want two of those (say a compressor and octave) in front of my drive pedals then into the front of my amp. The other three I'd want as delay, reverb and a modulation effect running my amp's FX loop.

Any one know if this set up is possible and how to wire it...?

EricTheWeary

abw1989 said:

I'm very close to wanting this but I really am struggling to get my head around how to wire it and use the X5's FX loop.

It has five slots, but I'd want two of those (say a compressor and octave) in front of my drive pedals then into the front of my amp. The other three I'd want as delay, reverb and a modulation effect running my amp's FX loop.

Any one know if this set up is possible and how to wire it...?

As I read it you can use the X5 insert to either insert pedals in it's chain or select what goes into the amp's loop and what goes in front of the amp.
So you could have compressor and octaver going straight, next three pedals into the amp's loop and then your overdrive placed after the X5 ( and not in it's loop). Assuming I've understood it correctly easy peasy.  

EricTheWeary

^ what I don't think you can do is separate pedals using the insert jack's for 4cm and have pedals in the X5 loop. 

I also don't think you can have parallel ( as opposed to stereo outs) or a global tap tempo without MIDI. I'm fairly sure I'd use neither but I think those are possible on the Helix. 

english_bob

EricTheWeary said:

^ what I don't think you can do is separate pedals using the insert jack's for 4cm and have pedals in the X5 loop. 

Don't see why not. X5 loop send to the pedals you want in front of the amp, then to the amp input, then the amp's effects loop send to the X5's loop return.

The X5 pedal order (including insert loop placement) can be changed on the unit, so you could have all five pedals before the insert loop on one board, and all after it on another.

EricTheWeary

english_bob said:

EricTheWeary said:

^ what I don't think you can do is separate pedals using the insert jack's for 4cm and have pedals in the X5 loop. 

Don't see why not. X5 loop send to the pedals you want in front of the amp, then to the amp input, then the amp's effects loop send to the X5's loop return.

The X5 pedal order (including insert loop placement) can be changed on the unit, so you could have all five pedals before the insert loop on one board, and all after it on another.

I’m struggling to follow that, although the question is more for @abw1989 so if he can follow it that’s all good! 

abw1989

I think the confusion arises due to the FX loop on the X5 not being the same as the FX loop on an amplifier.

To me it seems more like you can just have two different chains of pedals on the X5 which are independent, but TCE have decided to call one of those chains an FX Loop

english_bob

abw1989 said:

I think the confusion arises due to the FX loop on the X5 not being the same as the FX loop on an amplifier.

To me it seems more like you can just have two different chains of pedals on the X5 which are independent, but TCE have decided to call one of those chains an FX Loop

I think they're calling it that because most guitarists will use it as a single chain with the ability to add external effects or connect to an amp using 4CM. Your average guitarist will see how that's similar to the effects loop on an amplifier.

There's no reason you couldn't use the insert loop to create two separate chains, and with the appropriate additional doodads you could have them in parallel, but try explaining that to the bloke from the covers band down at the Dog and Duck.

Re: your original question, yes you can do what you want. The insert loop on the X5 is moveable within the chain, so you can have two of the onboard "pedals", then some extra effects and/or your amp's preamp section in the insert loop, then three more pedals in the amp's effects loop.

...then the next pedalboard on the X5 could be all in the loop. And the next one could be all in front. 

abw1989

Re: your original question, yes you can do what you want. The insert loop on the X5 is moveable within the chain, so you can have two of the onboard "pedals", then some extra effects and/or your amp's preamp section in the insert loop, then three more pedals in the amp's effects loop.

That's all I need to hear (although kudos for the rest of your explaination, good knowledge)!

In that case...

/insert shutupandtakemymoney.gif

joeyowen

Hmmmm, I'm out!

$500

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/PlethoraX5--tc-electronic-plethora-x5-toneprint-multi-fx-pedalboard

EricTheWeary

joeyowen said:

Hmmmm, I'm out!

$500

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/PlethoraX5--tc-electronic-plethora-x5-toneprint-multi-fx-pedalboard

Bargain price according to the Sweetwater website. That’s miles off what was said originally ( well, $399 on the product releases, Sweetwater say an MRSP of $749). Although it’s $499 elsewhere as well. The US Gear4Music site says available end of June, may just be a place holder date. 

Musicman20

joeyowen said:

Hmmmm, I'm out!

$500

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/PlethoraX5--tc-electronic-plethora-x5-toneprint-multi-fx-pedalboard

So £500 probably

DesVegas

I thought the delays and tone prints for the Alter Ego were excellent, but the lack of self oscillation was frustrating.

english_bob

Musicman20 said:

joeyowen said:

Hmmmm, I'm out!

$500

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/PlethoraX5--tc-electronic-plethora-x5-toneprint-multi-fx-pedalboard

So £500 probably

That price would be a serious own goal for TC. There's nothing *exactly* like this on the market, but L6 HXFX / HX Stomp (£379-ish) and Boss's MS-3 (£359-ish) are close enough in terms of functionality and size that you'd think hard about spending over £100 more for the Plethora, which does *less* in some ways.

I'm not going to set too much store by projected prices at this stage though- as more places put up their pre-order prices I expect the average price will fluctuate (downwards) and eventually firm up nearer the release date when it's confirmed. 

$499 USD comes out around £390 GBP, so if the US and UK prices are in line with each other and not the old "same numbers, different currency symbol" pricing it might not be too far off the final price...