TC-65 Deluxe mini review...

[jzucker]

I had one of these before and was disappointed with it but in the interest of simplifying and lightening my rig, i'm trying it again.


I just got it today and i'm pleasantly surprised by it. I feel like it's very bright but for the most part, I can dial it down. The clean sound is good and the spring reverb is good. I wasn't as impressed at the slightly overdriven tones of it but for $149, it's hard to beat.


It's not in the same league with my fractal FM3/FM9 - nor is it in the same league with a real fender but for a small rig setup, it's very impressive. I'm going to be using it tonight on a gig so I'll report back later.

[update]

Used it on a gig last night and it did a respectable job. Not quite as nice as my fractal FM3 but the spring reverb is actually better. Fractal's spring sounds great but has some type of bug where it's on the verge of feedback constantly and you get a high pinging/whining noise. This is a very usable pedal and having analog knobs really blows away the competition. I have not tried recording with it and I'll probably keep the fractal for that. Plus, the fractal has tons of effects in it but for $149, this is a winner...

[pingu]

yeah seems like a very good idea
fairly simple to use
real knobs etc
i wonder
how does it compare to the
UA deluxe dream pedal ?

it’s about half the cost

[jzucker]

yeah seems like a very good idea
fairly simple to use
real knobs etc
i wonder
how does it compare to the
UA deluxe dream pedal ?

it’s about half the cost

I found the UA unusable due to lack of headroom. The UA has overall better fidelity but i hate the dual function knobs and features which require the software to modify. I also like the simple way in which the 2 channels work. And the dual outputs where one has cab sims is an interesting feature

[Jim Soloway]

Did you have to roll off a lot of the treble?

[jzucker]

Did you have to roll off a lot of the treble?

I had the treble on 4 or so and kept the guitar's tone control down about 50% which is sort of typical for how I like to set it. It's definitely brighter than the fractal and I'm guessing it's modeled with the deluxe reverb's volume bypass cap which is giving a permanent bright switch but it's manageable for me. The beauty is that it has more headroom than the UA product so you can get the gain control up close to 5 and it's still pretty clean and at that point, the effect of the bypass cap (even the modeled one) is minimized.

[Jim Soloway]

Thanks Jack.

[dazzaman]

I have been looking at these as an idea. Correct me if I am wrong (please) since my searching on them hasn’t been over helpful, but aren’t these preamps that you still have to plug into an amp (or DI)? In other words, I can’t just send it to a speaker?

in which case, what are you plugging into that makes it easier, and assuming I am correct, doesn’t the amp you plug into then impart its own color to the sound?

Thanks for the review.

[jzucker]

I have been looking at these as an idea. Correct me if I am wrong (please) since my searching on them hasn’t been over helpful, but aren’t these preamps that you still have to plug into an amp (or DI)? In other words, I can’t just send it to a speaker?

in which case, what are you plugging into that makes it easier, and assuming I am correct, doesn’t the amp you plug into then impart its own color to the sound?

Thanks for the review.

Yes, you need to plug them into a PA style head.

Typically you would run it into the effect return of an amp, bypassing the amp's tone controls. however, I've found that my markbass cmd121 combo is a very uncolored amp. I also have a pair of alto PA speakers and they are also very neutral.