TC Electronic Plethora?

[Bombadil]

https://www.thomann.de/intl/tc_electron ... ora_x3.htm

I am looking at this for a barfday present. Anyone got one?

[Bombadil]

Nobody? Ok, then I'll be the first. Will be here tomorrow.

[Yadrichik_Chaya]

If they implemented parallel processing I'd be all over it, but looks like that will never happen.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

I'm a bit curious about it myself. It's got a great form factor and nice screen. It's got a 600ma power requirement, so if you want it on a pedal board, it may be tricky powering it from a typical supply with a 500ma output or two. A CIOKS should do just fine however. I'm not sure how good the algorithms are. I had a v1 TC Flashback Delay and it sounded pretty good for a guitar pedal, but nowhere near the quality of a Timeline, which I don't think is near the quality of ValhallaDelay. But being able to run 3 algorithms in series on the x3 does seem very attractive. A parallel option would've been nice, but I can understand why it doesn't include one.

I was in the market for something similar and just ended up going with an Eventide H90. It's crazy back-ordered at the moment though and I'm told the retailer may receive units any time between April and end of July. I ordered back in February! And that only does 2 algorithms at once compared to the Pleothora's 3. However, I think Eventide has good algorithms and their hardware is well thought out. Will it be better than x3? Can't say. Certainly costs a lot more!

[Bombadil]

Thanks. Yeah, price was an issue. The Evantide is way out of my reach. I have 30 days to send it back to Thomann if I'm not happy with it. I find the FX in Amplitube a bit dated, and generally not spectacular. The X5 does the 4 plug thing (which I've never understood, but is moot because my amp doesn't have the capability). the X3 doesn't. A couple of things: it doesn't save patches as you set them up, rather they're dependent upon the 3 buttons and their relative positions. And the Toneprint App. Not sure about that one.
So, my plan is to use this both going into Logic, front-ending Tonex and through my VOX AC-15C. It should be here tomorrow.

[vurt]

have fun, look forward to hearing what you think.

i like some of tcs older stuff with the tone prints, and the pressure switch.
not heard the plethora though so can't comment

[Bombadil]

Thanks. First impressions: good thing I watched a bunch of YT vids. Getting this to output sound wasn't happening. The BT connection for Toneprint won't hook up on my iPad, though through my iPhone.
Doesn't have an on/off switch. Pulling the adapter out is really not impressive in this day and age.
The adapter is a wall-wart that is a little inconvenient.
The preset boards are a bit over the top.
I still have a long ways to go before I tame this beastie.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Doesn't have an on/off switch. Pulling the adapter out is really not impressive in this day and age.
The adapter is a wall-wart that is a little inconvenient.

Annoyingly, that's pretty standard for any guitar related products nowadays. They really want you to not use the power supply (some premium products like UAFX pedals don't even include the wall-wart) and expect most users will power their pedals via a dedicated supply. And guess what? Zero power supplies have an on/off switch too! It drives me nuts. Why am I pulling IEC cables to turn things off? Temple Audio makes an IEC cable switch you can use as an on/off switch but that thing is $50 and still needs to be mounted somewhere (it's designed to fit their pedal boards unsurprisingly.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

I should just add: the obvious and cheapest solution to the no on/off switch thing is to just dedicate a power strip with an on/off switch to anything going to your pedalboard if you can. It only really becomes problematic if you're powering other things from said power strip.

[Bombadil]

Yeah, that's what I'll do. The wart takes up space on the strip, though.
Still has problems hooking up via BT. I think I managed it once.
The presets are far too wet. There looks like a lot of stuff to assimilate. It does stereo out, so I'm ordering 2 patch cables to input it into my audio interface in stereo.
Works well with the Tonex app. But if I use it for recording, I'll have to be damn sure it's what I want, because the fx will be printed to track.
I reckon a couple of days playing with it, and I'll be fine.

[Bombadil]

Ok, well I'm sending it back to Thomann. I was not impressed enough with it to think it would do better than my BOSS GT-1. Using it as a front end for Tonex isn't really practical for me. I get claustrophobic with just one wire too many.
Nowt wrong with it. I just don't gel with pedals (clutter) easily.

[seagate2019]

But if I use it for recording, I'll have to be damn sure it's what I want, because the fx will be printed to track.

Welcome to the way records used to be made!

[Bombadil]

Ha. First time I ever used a multfx thingy was an ART multiverb, 20bit. It was rented, so wverything got printed to tape. Being the first time using such a thing, the overuse of reverb is cringey, typical noob mistake. That was 1992.
I spent too long being happy to just plug in and play. At most, for solos I'd use overdrive and delay. I like phasers and the occasional chorus, too.
Thing is, it must be me because these multifx pedal/boards sound too digital for me. Whatever that means.

[Hewitt Huntwork]

I want a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) FX unit / modeller for desktop guitarists. Nothing available is perfect, but the Plethora ticked some of the boxes.

What would really be perfect is the old Boss ME format, but with the expression pedal detachable so you could keep the unit up on the desk and the expression pedal on the floor. Or the Zoom G3, but with enough horsepower to run all the effects they've developed since the release of that pedal.

I'm sure that I'm in a narrow demographic. Both Boss and Line 6 had desktop modellers and discontinued them. They were both lacking. A person can dream...

[Bombadil]

Time to dig back into my GT-1. It can't be worse than the Plethora (which is ok), and it has other features like exp./wah pedal, and integration into the DAW.
I really don't get along with these things. I hear what they do and I think 'that doesn't sound quite right' or 'that's not how I remember a real phaser sounding, exactly.' Or a tremolo. The best tremolo I've used was on my old BOSS GT-10. I sold that after I tripped over it in the middle of the night, landed on a glass table, shattered it, and walked away with only minor scratches. I felt it was an omen.

I was unimpressed with the Plethora reverbs. Tonex and Amplitube have better. These sounded metallic and thin.