In Praise of the TC Nova System

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So the story goes I’ve been looking for a multi effects and switching solution for my Revv G20 amp.

Ive been through a Helix, HX effects and Boss GT1000. I’ve tried to make all of them work for me with varying degrees of success. 

All of them noticeably altered the sound of the amp to the point It really bugged me. Which I’m guessing has something to do with the analogue to digital converters.

The GT1000 was the worst of the bunch. Plus it was a massive PITA to programme. I felt like I was fighting all of the units somewhat and wasn’t entirely happy with the sound of any of them.

The way I was running all of the units was for effects only and switching the amp channels via midi. I was running the amp in a loop on the units and using the internal Two Notes cabs on the amp for IR’s running direct to my studio monitors.

I was an early user of the TC Nova system when they first came out, I always liked the sound of the effects and the compact size. I’ve actually owned a few units at various times over the years.

So I decided I would give one a shot again. I found one on eBay that had a intermittent fault with the drive section. I had no intention of using the drive section so I made a cheeky offer. Seller had it up for £75 I offered £65 and he accepted.

Got it all wired in, turned it on and it was a breath of fresh air. The effects are pristine and sound so good. Really easy for me to program and it also switches the amp via midi. It just sounds so much better than any of the other units.

So after spending a fortune on more modern alternatives, it’s the lowly, ageing Nova System that has put the smile back on my face.

https://imgur.com/gallery/SusdeVM
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Comments

  • John_PJohn_P Frets: 2744
    Nice when it works out and there’s a great deal.   
    I always liked the Nova effects but usually controlled them by midi or the tc external Footswitch g3?  iirc using the external switch works more conventionally with it change when you press rather than the way the unit switches when you lift off the pedal.  Once that’s done it’s a great unit imo sounds good and easy to program.  
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  • monquixotemonquixote Frets: 17485
    tFB Trader
    I had one. 

    I thought it sounded good, but it was a shit to program and it glitched out on me a few times (for example getting stuck in tuner mode at a gig) so I got rid of it.
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  • Dan_HalenDan_Halen Frets: 1646
    I used to have one and loved it. Totally useable and still sounds great. Not the bells and whistles of Eventide or Strymon but a good bunch of core sounds. Great little box to just slap down on the floor, couple of cables and good to go. Felt like it sounded good enough to be happy with but the fact it wasn’t amazing kind of meant I just didn’t worry about it and got on with playing.

    Did have one button flip out on me once mid gig but went away after a reboot. Didn’t scare me too much. 

    Also found it fairly easy to program really or tweak on the fly. Not like it has a zillion options so wasn’t that bad despite the tiny display.
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  • ragingbenragingben Frets: 106
    I had the red version, really liked it. Loved how solid it was and that it took a standard kettle lead. I never fully found sounds that I loved though and I didn't really get on with the drive section, but the reverbs and delays were great. I think the nova systems still fill a gap that the other units since have failed to fit in to.
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  • kennedydream1980kennedydream1980 Frets: 1143
    edited August 2020
    ragingben said:
    I had the red version, really liked it. Loved how solid it was and that it took a standard kettle lead. I never fully found sounds that I loved though and I didn't really get on with the drive section, but the reverbs and delays were great. I think the nova systems still fill a gap that the other units since have failed to fit in to.
    I also had the red one at one point. I think they improved the buffer on the red version and it had the limited edition presets (I actually have these written out in a PDF document somewhere).

    I'm not hearing anything degrading the signal running the standard Nova with my setup. That might be down to the way I'm running it which is after the amp and speaker via the direct out on the Revv G20, like you would add effects in a studio.
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  • jdbwalesjdbwales Frets: 309
    I used one for years and genuinely loved the sound of it - found it never affected the amp’s tone at all and the drive into a PA was the best I’ve ever heard of that sort of thing...however: it died. Just stopped working one day during practice and wouldn’t ever start again - I couldn’t imagine the inconvenience if it did this during a gig so I went from a multi fx to individual effects and never looked back. 
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  • jeztone2jeztone2 Frets: 2160
    edited August 2020
    I bought one 18 months ago after a failed start with a modeller. It’s now going wrong & I have to admit. I’m tempted to buy another one for peanuts and just keep using it. Although the HX Effects looks attractive on paper. But the delays are crystalline & the compressors piss on anything I’ve heard from a multi fx. 

    In the meantime I’ve been slowly rebuilding my board with individual pedals. 
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  • I've seen a few of these (including a red one-whatever is special about them other than colour?). Wondering if it'd be a good option for an acoustic. Anyone have experience of using them as acoustic effects?
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  • I've seen a few of these (including a red one-whatever is special about them other than colour?). Wondering if it'd be a good option for an acoustic. Anyone have experience of using them as acoustic effects?
    The Red one was a limited edition version that had artist presets built in. Pete Thorn and Bumblefoot contributed presets, as well as Van Halen and Gilmour presets that were programmed in by TC Electronic themselves. The buffer was also improved.

    I imagine it would work very well for acoustic as the effects are very clean and pristine.
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  • thomasw88thomasw88 Frets: 2316
    I owned one for a bit. It was a nightmare, hard to program and get things sounding the way I like.

    have a hx fx on my second board and can’t say I’ve noticed any effect on the amp whatsoever.
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  • VoxmanVoxman Frets: 4718
    edited August 2020
    I had a Nova system on 30 days approval several years back, with the additional controller pedal.  The overdrive distortion wasn't my cup of tea, but the effects were quite nice albeit not exceptional, although there were a couple of very nice delays. 

    I tried it as I wanted to have an FX only unit to use with my amps in place of my conventional pedal board. I liked that it had an internal psu whereby all you needed was a conventional amp 'kettle' type lead.  However, I didn't get on with its interface as it was awkward to program and the display was very small. And even with the additional footswitch, I found the floor control to be awkward. 

    At that time I'd also acquired a Vox Tonelab LE and I A/B'd both units side by side purely using fx and not amp models. I found the TLLE to be much simpler to use with a better display, way better overdrive and distortion options, better floor control  and aside from a couple of nice delays in the Nova, the TLLE fx were easily as good with several better, so I decided to return the Nova only because it didn't really give me anything significantly different to the TLLE fx wise, plus of course it also had the amp modelling.  

    However, if I didn't already have the TLLE I might well have kept it, even though I really didn't like it's overdrive tones.


    I started out with nothing..... but I've still got most of it left (Seasick Steve)
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  • jeztone2jeztone2 Frets: 2160
    The secret with the drive tones is to use the 3 band EQ afterwards. That really opens up the tone shaping possibilities. 
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