ColForbin's 2012 rig

[fulltone1989]

How are TC considered mickey mouse? The only downside to their products is that they're made overseas IMHO. The Repeater rules, the Flashback has a ton of great features. The polytune was/is revolutionary and accurate.

[Heady Jam Fan]

I have mixed feelings about TC.

The SCF does a nice chorus, very subtle if you want it to be, which is perfect for creating a stereo image without the loss of articulation or clarity that occurs with some modulation pedals (IIRC it was a bit scooped). The Flange and PM were not worth using.

The Flashback was decent, lots of options in a small pedal, but Strum tempo is nearly pointless, the looper was not really useful, the Tape Echo preset was too bright and overdriven (the Matt Beck toneprint was a bit better) and the when using it stereo, it was pretty common for people to experience one side cutting out - which happened to me and while Tore is fairly active and responsive to the Gear Page, my experience with their customer service was terrible; 2 weeks between email replies (so that is probably a month and a half to explain my problem), then they said they couldn't help me, I needed to explain the situation to the American customer service branch (which I should have been directed to immediately). Once that rep had the American CS email me, all they asked for was my credit card number and gave no reason for needing it - I assume they wanted me to pay for repairs - I sent one last, pissed off, email from which asking why exactly they needed the credit card number and how much they even planed on charging me for whatever they planned on charging me - I got no reply, then sold the pedal (stating the issue with stereo, I had also confirmed it was pretty common across their Toneprint pedals and doesn't seem it was a faulty pedal, but a manufacturing issue of some sort, the buyer said he didn't care as he would only use in mono, which worked perfectly well).

I would be weary of buying from TC again and would only consider it if they offered a pedal that actually did something the way I wanted it to and markedly better than competitors.

[fulltone1989]

Sorry to hear about your Flashback woes Heady, my main problem with the pedal was the lack of a TT option, I guess it works for bands who only use one tempo through a song or solo but for jamming purposes it didn't work out so hot. I tried to like it for awhile but I went back to the Repeater - versatile delay and affordable too. I want to try a El Cap or a MLjr if I get the chance too though.

I never tried the Stereo outs on it much but that's interesting that it cut out for you. Did you run a Stereo in by chance? I don't know much about delays but it sound like the mono->stereo converter inside the pedal could be wacky.

The two TC products on my board work fine for my application - the Polytune is pretty easy to read and accurate.

I have mixed feelings about TC.

The SCF does a nice chorus, very subtle if you want it to be, which is perfect for creating a stereo image without the loss of articulation or clarity that occurs with some modulation pedals (IIRC it was a bit scooped). The Flange and PM were not worth using.

The Flashback was decent, lots of options in a small pedal, but Strum tempo is nearly pointless, the looper was not really useful, the Tape Echo preset was too bright and overdriven (the Matt Beck toneprint was a bit better) and the when using it stereo, it was pretty common for people to experience one side cutting out - which happened to me and while Tore is fairly active and responsive to the Gear Page, my experience with their customer service was terrible; 2 weeks between email replies (so that is probably a month and a half to explain my problem), then they said they couldn't help me, I needed to explain the situation to the American customer service branch (which I should have been directed to immediately). Once that rep had the American CS email me, all they asked for was my credit card number and gave no reason for needing it - I assume they wanted me to pay for repairs - I sent one last, pissed off, email from which asking why exactly they needed the credit card number and how much they even planed on charging me for whatever they planned on charging me - I got no reply, then sold the pedal (stating the issue with stereo, I had also confirmed it was pretty common across their Toneprint pedals and doesn't seem it was a faulty pedal, but a manufacturing issue of some sort, the buyer said he didn't care as he would only use in mono, which worked perfectly well).

I would be weary of buying from TC again and would only consider it if they offered a pedal that actually did something the way I wanted it to and markedly better than competitors.

[Heady Jam Fan]

Sorry to hear about your Flashback woes Heady, my main problem with the pedal was the lack of a TT option, I guess it works for bands who only use one tempo through a song or solo but for jamming purposes it didn't work out so hot. I tried to like it for awhile but I went back to the Repeater - versatile delay and affordable too. I want to try a El Cap or a MLjr if I get the chance too though.

I never tried the Stereo outs on it much but that's interesting that it cut out for you. Did you run a Stereo in by chance? I don't know much about delays but it sound like the mono->stereo converter inside the pedal could be wacky.

The two TC products on my board work fine for my application - the Polytune is pretty easy to read and accurate.

I have mixed feelings about TC.

The SCF does a nice chorus, very subtle if you want it to be, which is perfect for creating a stereo image without the loss of articulation or clarity that occurs with some modulation pedals (IIRC it was a bit scooped). The Flange and PM were not worth using.

The Flashback was decent, lots of options in a small pedal, but Strum tempo is nearly pointless, the looper was not really useful, the Tape Echo preset was too bright and overdriven (the Matt Beck toneprint was a bit better) and the when using it stereo, it was pretty common for people to experience one side cutting out - which happened to me and while Tore is fairly active and responsive to the Gear Page, my experience with their customer service was terrible; 2 weeks between email replies (so that is probably a month and a half to explain my problem), then they said they couldn't help me, I needed to explain the situation to the American customer service branch (which I should have been directed to immediately). Once that rep had the American CS email me, all they asked for was my credit card number and gave no reason for needing it - I assume they wanted me to pay for repairs - I sent one last, pissed off, email from which asking why exactly they needed the credit card number and how much they even planed on charging me for whatever they planned on charging me - I got no reply, then sold the pedal (stating the issue with stereo, I had also confirmed it was pretty common across their Toneprint pedals and doesn't seem it was a faulty pedal, but a manufacturing issue of some sort, the buyer said he didn't care as he would only use in mono, which worked perfectly well).

I would be weary of buying from TC again and would only consider it if they offered a pedal that actually did something the way I wanted it to and markedly better than competitors.

Yea, I was using it until recently when I switched to the El Cap, always in stereo with stereo inputs as well (Modfactor>Flashback>RV7). I found the tap tempo less necessary when using the dual delay setting in stereo as it had a more ambient, less rhythmic effect. I am not a huge delay geek honestly, but I will say that I had a lot of fun when I got the El Cap using the TT, kinda inspired me to step outta my style a bit or to take a new approach. It is really easy to just give it two taps right before a solo (I've kinda been liking tapping at half of the songs tempo). The El Cap seems like a lot of delay mojo for a non delay geek, but nothing else I have tried matches that half between analog and tape echo that has TT, ability for expression control over delay level and spill-over (or whatever it is called when the delay continues despite the unit being disengaged). FWIW I haven't tried it in stereo, but when I record I intend to put it in my mixer's loop in stereo rather than in my amp loop in mono.

Not sure where you reside, but if your in PGH, feel free to drop by and give it a test drive. The only issues I have had with the El Cap is the manual is missing some directions and I was getting some strange harmonics in some settings, but adjusting the repeats and the tape bias resolved that (I thought it was ghost notes on my amp, but I think it was the way notes were washing over other notes, which I never experienced with a delay before). Aside from that, it is worth the price IMO as long as you can afford a wall-wart (which might be more valuable than money in some rigs ).

[Poster]

How are TC considered mickey mouse? The only downside to their products is that they're made overseas IMHO. The Repeater rules, the Flashback has a ton of great features. The polytune was/is revolutionary and accurate.

hold the button down, and wait for the chirping. but yeah they have lots of issues, some just stop working, but really my issues are with the bypass button. I asked about it at Pro Guitar Shop, and they said the issue was fixed on all the newer tc stuff.

[fulltone1989]

How are TC considered mickey mouse? The only downside to their products is that they're made overseas IMHO. The Repeater rules, the Flashback has a ton of great features. The polytune was/is revolutionary and accurate.

hold the button down, and wait for the chirping. but yeah they have lots of issues, some just stop working, but really my issues are with the bypass button. I asked about it at Pro Guitar Shop, and they said the issue was fixed on all the newer tc stuff.

Which button?

Heady - Thanks for the offer but I am up in NH! That's odd that the El Cap gave you weird feedback. Does it loop at all?

[Heady Jam Fan]

It has a sound on sound option, it wasn't feedback, just some real dissonant harmonics, only above the 12th fret on the higher pitch strings. I am not noticing it now that I made some minor adjustments. It has a sound on sound option which is kinda like a basic loop I guess, but I never really messed with it to be honest.

The Way Huge Supa Puss looks it could give the El Cap a run for the money though honestly. I just couldn't wait that long for a delay that fits my needs.

[fulltone1989]

It has a sound on sound option, it wasn't feedback, just some real dissonant harmonics, only above the 12th fret on the higher pitch strings. I am not noticing it now that I made some minor adjustments. It has a sound on sound option which is kinda like a basic loop I guess, but I never really messed with it to be honest.

The Way Huge Supa Puss looks it could give the El Cap a run for the money though honestly. I just couldn't wait that long for a delay that fits my needs.

Nonetheless, it seems like a neat option but I might just spring for a small looper to practice with. Haven't really looked at the Supa-Puss though, when will it be released though as it seems worth a tryout.

[ColForbin]

Had a drive pedal change, so I thought I would post an updated pic:

[fulltone1989]

Nice! Dig the organization, I see the J-drive has been pretty consistent on your board - what do you like about it? I've never tried one.

[manicstarseed]

Interesting comments about TC..

I have the Nova Repeater, Delay and Reverb... its like I have rack quality gear on the floor...
Great sounding champs, every one.

I never played with the Toneprint series though.

[fulltone1989]

Interesting comments about TC..

I have the Nova Repeater, Delay and Reverb... its like I have rack quality gear on the floor...
Great sounding champs, every one.

I never played with the Toneprint series though.

I owned the Flashback for awhile and it had great sounding delays in a small package, I found the tap tempo to be a dealbreaker for me and sprang for a dedicated looper and haven't looked back.

[raisingfreen]

Forbin,
Whats the deal with the wah your using? How's its sound?

[Heady Jam Fan]

Thats a CAE wah, never used one, heard great things.

For TC, not a big fan here, thought the flashback was cheap and gimmicky, but never had the repeater, suspect it is better though. Thought about trying the repeater and other products of theirs but they lacked a few functions I cared about. They had a few products I really liked, but they aren't in production anymore. Company has potential, but I wouldn't buy from them again after the customer service with the issues I had with the flashback, but I am sure their stuff can do what others need/want.

I saw I was talking about issues with the El Cap above, and I haven't been having problems any more after some adjustments. They customer service is great BTW. Not 100% sure what fixed the issue, but some factors were delay mix and the amount of modulation creating very unmusical intervals, beyond what you would expect from tape modulation. Anyway, all peachy keen with the El Cap now, lovin' it - very 'background' repeats the way I have it set, gets me a Gilmour meets Trey kind thing, though not always far from the delay in Reba, but he is getting a better stereo image in the delay than I can muster from the El Cap, probably more post-processing than the effect itself.

I know nothing about the J Drive, but interesting rig. I like it. I wouldn't pick it out as a jammy rig at first, which is interesting/cool. Gotta see if you have any sound clips posted

[ColForbin]

Thanks dudes.

The CAE wah is a great sounding wah.  It has two inductors in it, which are switchable via a button on the right side of the wah.  There is another button on the left that allows you to turn on a boost, which has an external knob for boost level.  I really like it, sounds great and is well made.  I could tell a huge difference when I switched from the crybaby.

The J-Drive is a dandy od pedal.  Basically, I like having my overdrive set and have a some extra grit available for soloing.  So, the key to that is the boost, which will drive the overdrive a little harder when on.  It can also be used for a clean boost if the drive side is not engaged.  It's very versatile, the warmth knob can get very smooth overdrive tones, to down right slutty rock tone, it's great.  Those guys are close by too, which is cool for me.  Halifax, NS is about a 3.5 hour drive from where I'm at.  They are super helpful and always take my calls.  Top notch dudes making top notch pedals.  I'm a huge fan of that Diamond Trem as well, it's awesome.

I'll have to get on the sound clips, any suggestions or is sound cloud just as good as any?