TC Electronics Spectradrive.

[CameronJ]

I thought it was too good to be true!

[dave_bass5]

Yeah, same here. If it was definite I’d take a gamble, I think they state just under a 2 week delivery time, but i feel this could change once the order is placed if TC arent actualy shipping yet. 

I read on Talkbass that Sweetwater are saying June for thier batch. Not sure how accurate that is or if it effects us, but its worrying. 

[CameronJ]

Yeah I saw that too. June seems like madness. TC have been replying to comments on the YouTube demo video saying it’ll be available imminently so fingers crossed that holds true for those of us on this side of the pond.

[dave_bass5]

Yeah, i just sent them a message on FB to ask if the G4M time frame is accurate. If it is then ill order one. Ill let you know what they say. 

[dave_bass5]

I just heard back from TC. Not much help really. They went and looked on G4M’s website and said it looks like they should have them in 1-2 weeks. To me that doesn’t sound like an official confirmation, although they didn’t mention any hold up either, so fingers crossed. I have a space on my board that needs a Spectradrive. At the moment it’s got a VTBas DI in it.  

Edited April 2, 2018 by dave_bass5
Typo

[CameronJ]

Hmmm. I can quite easily sell both my MXR M81 Bass Preamp and Pork Loin to make room for this. Maybe even my Spectracomp too  but I may keep it at the front of my chain as it gives me a nice leveller going into my octavers. So it’ll at least partially, if not totally pay for itself. 

[dannybuoy]

I'm have a Spectracomp into a VTDI on the board right now, great combo. Not sure if the drive on the Spectradrive will be able to sound like that but will be interesting to find out!

I think I'll just have to wait for TC to release a filter pedal then a multi FX. Seems like they have everything lined up for the perfect multi except for the filters!

[dannybuoy]

4 minutes ago, CameronJ said:

Hmmm. I can quite easily sell both my MXR M81 Bass Preamp and Pork Loin to make room for this. Maybe even my Spectracomp too  but I may keep it at the front of my chain as it gives me a nice leveller going into my octavers. So it’ll at least partially, if not totally pay for itself. 

I actually like my octaver going into the Spectracomp. The octaver tends to flatten all the dynamics out of the signal, but a compressor with a long enough attack time (default preset does the trick) makes it punchier by letting the peak through before clamping down on it! My chain is currently octaver, Thumpinator, filter, comp, then everything else.

[CameronJ]

Just now, dannybuoy said:

I'm have a Spectracomp into a VTDI on the board right now, great combo. Not sure if the drive on the Spectradrive will be able to sound like that but will be interesting to find out!

I think I'll just have to wait for TC to release a filter pedal then a multi FX. Seems like they have everything lined up for the perfect multi except for the filters!

Indeed. The same can be said of Source Audio! Of course SA have far fewer resources at their disposal than TC but I actually think I’d sooner buy an SA multi FX.

I reckon the drives available on the Spectradrive will be quite good, although the lack of TonePrint editability means it won’t be ideal for everyone. Personally I think the single knob will suit me just fine. I’ll only be using it for fairly subtle OD tones and leave the serious distortion and fuzz work to my 3 Leaf Doom.

[dave_bass5]

I’ve taken my SPECTRACOMP off my board at the moment. It was getting too cluttered and I was hitting my phaser and AS at the same time. Having more specs has helped. If the SD can replace the VTBass DI as the always on preamp, supplying EQ and comp, then that’s a win win for me. I don’t need to use the VTBas, it’s just there at the moment because I’ve not used it for ages so fancied a change. Plus I want some from of EQ at the start of the chain. 

Where the comp sits in the SD signal chain  is really how I use my SC anyway, so that’s good. 

The downsides will come if I want to use it at home. Ironically this was my intended use for it, but it now doesn’t seeem practical as having the headphone out at the start of my board will mean bypassing the other effects. Still, I can use just the SD at home I suppose, I don’t tend to go all out with using all my effects when just learning songs etc. 

Edited April 3, 2018 by dave_bass5
wrong word

[dave_bass5]

3 minutes ago, CameronJ said:

Indeed. The same can be said of Source Audio! Of course SA have far fewer resources at their disposal than TC but I actually think I’d sooner buy an SA multi FX.

I reckon the drives available on the Spectradrive will be quite good, although the lack of TonePrint editability means it won’t be ideal for everyone. Personally I think the single knob will suit me just fine. I’ll only be using it for fairly subtle OD tones and leave the serious distortion and fuzz work to my 3 Leaf Doom.

Pretty much agree with all that. Just a hair of dirt is all I’ll need from the SD, and the AS can supply the real dirt.

Just going off topic a bit, I tried the Tap tempo with the AS yesterday. Very impressed. It turns the AS in to almost 2 separate  pedals. An always on mild dirt, plus a full on (or anything you want) dirt pedal. Thanks to the tones being two channel. Not bad for £20  

[dave_bass5]

Just went back to G4M and it looks like they are shipping them direct from Sweeden, with £7.99 delivery charge. Looks like someone has already ordered one as the number has gone down  

I have it in my basket already but will hold off for a bit as I’d rather not pay that much for delivery. I expect by the middle of the month other places will have them in stock. 

[CameronJ]

3 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

Just went back to G4M and it looks like they are shipping them direct from Sweeden, with £7.99 delivery charge. Looks like someone has already ordered one as the number has gone down  

I have it in my basket already but will hold off for a bit as I’d rather not pay that much for delivery. I expect by the middle of the month other places will have them in stock. 

Ah, ok, that makes some sense. I’ll definitely be holding fire. If I can really be patient I might wait til a couple of reviews/demos are online. Pleasant though the TC launch vid is, if it weren’t for the fact I used to own (and love) a BH800 head I’d be completely in the dark about how this pedal will actually sound!

[dave_bass5]

Yeah, I’d like to read a bit more about it first. If only to see what the cons are. 

Im very impatient though, and about to spend the afternoon at RAF Duxford, so might get bored and push the buy now lol. 

Edited April 2, 2018 by dave_bass5

[dannybuoy]

Considering you can't edit the Toneprints, there is only like one Toneprint available at the moment, so there's another reason to hold fire!

[CameronJ]

I imagine there’ll be quite a lot of toneprints available shortly to help combat those of us feeling short-changed by the lack of front panel tweakability, so I’m not too worried there. It’s still a big front runner for me in many ways.

[LukeFRC]

2 hours ago, dave_bass5 said:

Yeah, I’d like to read a bit more about it first. If only to see what the cons are. 

Im very impatient though, and about to spend the afternoon at RAF Duxford, so might get bored and push the buy now lol. 

Is it bad that every time we drive south to visit my parents I tell my other half I want to visit there again?

[dave_bass5]

20 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

Is it bad that every time we drive south to visit my parents I tell my other half I want to visit there again?

Ive just been to many times to find it interesting now. It’s a great place to visit every now and then though. 

My old band used to play a Christmas party in the American hanger. We did it 3 years on the trot. As you can imagine the acoustics were not ideal. 

Back the the SD. I won’t find lack of tone prints an issue, as I’m quite happy with the stock SC TonePrints if it comes to it. I’m sure there will be others once the pedal has been out for a while. I’ll be interested to hear what the OD section can do though, but im not expecting much. 

 

 

 

[LukeFRC]

2 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

Ive just been to many times to find it interesting now. It’s a great place to visit every now and then though. 

My old band used to play a Christmas party in the American hanger. We did it 3 years on the trot. As you can imagine the acoustics were not ideal. 

Back the the SD. I won’t find lack of tone prints an issue, as I’m quite happy with the stock SC TonePrints if it comes to it. I’m sure there will be others once the pedal has been out for a while. I’ll be interested to hear what the OD section can do though, but im not expecting much. 

 

 

 

That's the 199 pound question isn't it? If it has a range of drive sounds that keeps folk happy then this box will sell like warm sweet bread-like products - if it has one overly baked in idea of what kinda tone it should be it won't work as well 

[dannybuoy]

There are 4 drive and one compressor tone print up for this unit, it's worth downloading and having a read of the descriptions!

[dave_bass5]

Yeah, and I have no idea what a TC OD sounds like, as I’ve never used any of their dirt boxes or heads. At least it has its own footswitch so can be turned off. 

[krispn]

It’s hard to really pass comment on a device that not been released. TC will obviously support this product as they do with all these devices they make.  

I for one think it looks great and I’d get one to use as a practice device if I didn’t already have a solid set up at home. Would this be a great gig bag back up for any gig. Yup is it worth the asking price? To me darn tooting?

[CameronJ]

There are folk online complaining that TC could have made the toneprint slots universal, allowing you to load in 2 of any effect type like in the BH heads. Granted, that may have been cool but this is aimed squarely at the Bass preamp market where the primary features are usually EQ, drive and DI out. The compressor and headphone amp are bonuses which bump it further up the food chain in this pedal category.

Ok, it doesn’t have the built in tuner or amp sims of the GK Plex but it does look (to me at least) like a more user friendly design than the Plex. One knob per function and all that. It feels like an analog pedal, which is a good thing in my book.

[dave_bass5]

Just now, CameronJ said:

There are folk online complaining that TC could have made the toneprint slots universal, allowing you to load in 2 of any effect type like in the BH heads. Granted, that may have been cool but this is aimed squarely at the Bass preamp market where the primary features are usually EQ, drive and DI out. The compressor and headphone amp are bonuses which bump it further up the food chain in this pedal category.

Ok, it doesn’t have the built in tuner or amp sims of the GK Plex but it does look (to me at least) like a more user friendly design than the Plex. One knob per function and all that. It feels like an analog pedal, which is a good thing in my book.

Ill agree with that. There are quite a few of these type of boxes already out, and the one thing that puts me off is they are all trying to do so much. Ok, the SD could have had more things on it, but when to stop?  A tuner would have been good, but that would involve a display of some kind, which I’m sure would push the cost up and maybe make the box larger. 

the thing that jumped out of Rome was that it offerese just what I need, in a box the size I want, with an effect I’m already using so wont lose out by replacing it with the SD. 

It’s still way under the cost of the Darkglas Ultra boxes, and for me at least, much more usable in more than one situation. .

[CameronJ]

6 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

Ok, the SD could have had more things on it, but when to stop?

Couldn’t agree more. The box would need to be bigger to comfortably accommodate much more without feeling cramped. TC have a nice features-to-footprint ratio here.