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TC Electronic Plethora X5/X3 Thread


stewblack

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It's such a shame it doesn't have a distortion/fuzz/OD on it. I appreciate that dedicated pedals might do this better, hence the FX loop to accomodate, TCE have forgotten to consider the many people that just want a 'good' distortion or boost rather than a super-focused one. I would have tried this if it had one, before taking the plunge on the Zoom B6 otherwise but I don't want the hassle of a pedal board and additional PSU challenges.

 

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I like the idea, that this lacks fuzz/OD/dist. I can concentrate on freq and time based effects and add my favourite fuzz to the chain when in need. I can not see this unit the same as many Moulinex-all-in-one-here-now are. It has the possibility to function as a multi-fx unit, but where to find another unit that can be configured to a three delay flanger octaver? Say what?

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I’m just getting to grips with this beast. And I must say I’ve spent more time messing with it since it arrived than I’ve spent in the last ten years with stand alone pedals. I never used distortion until I got the RM800, get Unity, pop the footswitch when drive is needed or I’ll loop in my Dark Matter pedal. I’m lovin’ it.

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1 hour ago, itu said:

I can not see this unit the same as many Moulinex-all-in-one-here-now are. It has the possibility to function as a multi-fx unit, but where to find another unit that can be configured to a three delay flanger octaver? Say what?

I agree - it’s not an overly-complicated jack-of-all-trade. It’s essentially a collection of TCE pedals in a mouldable and dynamic form. I like the look of it.

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Well, I have a few filters (Onkart Gromt, Iron Ether, Subdecay), and I can see that the user interface itself is not the most suitable to an envelope unit. It is quite common that I need to tweak few parameters every now and then. One pot, although there can be few parameters, is spartan. For me that is.

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I don't think TC Electronic make an envelope filter, but I have plenty so it's not a problem. 

The Plethora for me was never meant to be an all in one. It's a part of a pedal board, 5 effects and a tuner, with the ability to change those 5 effects, and to customise each one as much or as little as I want to.

Given that they add effects and improve the functionality with firmware updates, I think it's excellent value.

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  • 3 months later...

Quick question for the X5 users - is the Spectracomp available on the X5?

 

Reason for asking, I was just about to pull the trigger on a Sub’n’Up and Corona Chorus pedals when I stumbled across the TC Plethora X3. If the Spectracomp is available on the X5/X3 then the X3 will cover everything I need and my pedal board would be considerably tidier. Sansamp into X3 into Thumpinator = job done in my book. 

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Hi. The compressor is the Hypergravity. Among the available presets is one called Spectra. I'm going out on a limb and guessing it's what you're after. There are so many programmable parameters if you use the app that I can't believe it won't do what you want.

However I don't have the spectra comp so can't say with 100% certainty.

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44 minutes ago, stewblack said:

Hi. The compressor is the Hypergravity. Among the available presets is one called Spectra. I'm going out on a limb and guessing it's what you're after. There are so many programmable parameters if you use the app that I can't believe it won't do what you want.

However I don't have the spectra comp so can't say with 100% certainty.

Thanks for this. As I had some money lying in PayPal from recent gear sales and it’s my birthday this week I’ve gone for it. Will report back once she gets here. 

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56 minutes ago, JPJ said:

Thanks for this. As I had some money lying in PayPal from recent gear sales and it’s my birthday this week I’ve gone for it. Will report back once she gets here. 

Effectively 3 pedals (four if you count the tuner) for 300 quid.

Very neat, easy to edit on the fly. And if course it's actually way more than that with loads of great options.

Enjoy

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So this arrived today. Only had 30 mins to muck around with it but so far I’m very impressed. Obviously a lot of the default preloaded boards are aimed at our guitar brethren but I was able to get a pedal board setup ready for tweaking in no time at all. 
Looking forward to spending a bit more time with this tonight 😎

B0885261-38A6-4A59-867F-F84DE8AB0AA6.jpeg

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  • stewblack changed the title to TC Electronic Plethora X5/X3 Thread
On 30/05/2022 at 20:24, stewblack said:

Hi. The compressor is the Hypergravity. Among the available presets is one called Spectra. I'm going out on a limb and guessing it's what you're after. There are so many programmable parameters if you use the app that I can't believe it won't do what you want.

However I don't have the spectra comp so can't say with 100% certainty.

So further experimentation last night showed that the multi band parallel matched the patch I used on my SpectraComp but that the Rudy Sarzo TonePrint is going to be my go to on the X3. Honestly, this unit has to be the bargain of the century given how many boards you can build/tweak without spending money or going through the pain of rewiring your board. 

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4 hours ago, clauster said:

If only the X3 still had the FX loop

I was previously hoping for a smaller X5 to actually add to my current board and not make it the centerpiece. I have my preferred drive/preamp/filter setup for the core tone I'm using 90% of the time and I could use quite a compact board with them and the X3 if I only could put my fuzz after the octave and before the chorus.

 

I do wonder if the stereo in/out could be configured in series mono channels with a firmware update to make it usable as an fx loop.

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So after a week of playing around with the X3 I am very happy with the purchase. I have made a fundamental pink torpedo-up in the layout of my board as I put the SansAmp before the X3 in the signal path which meant occasional clipping of the Sub’n’Up. This weekends task will be to put the X3 in front of the SansAmp which will hopefully solve that. 

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  • 1 year later...

Just to follow up on this, new musical projects brought an EUB into play and as I am switching regularly between fretless P bass and EUB, I bought the rather superb EBS Stanley Clarke preamp. I’m now running the EBS as my front end, with the X3 and SansAmp in the loop of the EBS. I’ve had an issue with levels on the EBS with both the pre and post clip lights illuminating seeming randomly, to the point where I was beginning to think the EBS was defective until I messed around in the settings of the X3, specifically the bypass modes. By default, the unit has the ‘with trails’ option enabled and this seemed to be the source of my issues with the EBS, because changing this to the true bypass option has eliminated the clipping on the EBS. 

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5 hours ago, JPJ said:

Just to follow up on this, new musical projects brought an EUB into play and as I am switching regularly between fretless P bass and EUB, I bought the rather superb EBS Stanley Clarke preamp. I’m now running the EBS as my front end, with the X3 and SansAmp in the loop of the EBS. I’ve had an issue with levels on the EBS with both the pre and post clip lights illuminating seeming randomly, to the point where I was beginning to think the EBS was defective until I messed around in the settings of the X3, specifically the bypass modes. By default, the unit has the ‘with trails’ option enabled and this seemed to be the source of my issues with the EBS, because changing this to the true bypass option has eliminated the clipping on the EBS. 

I juat grabbed an X3. I havent had timento check it out yet, but i have high hopes!

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Anyone got any recommendations for a chorus template or setting which will let a lot of the bottom end through and only chorus the top end/harmonic overtone.  Our guitarist/PA guy is whinging about my attempts to generate a faux 12 string sound and that the chorus is way overpowering... 'deal with it' was met with a stony face!  :)   I'm sure I selected a bass specific template but I'm looking for tips before I start hooking my Plethora up to my PC and messing about.  

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5 minutes ago, Owen said:

I have no recommendations. But I would not bother hooking it up to a PC. Just zapp all the presets off your phone by pointing it at your pickups. Saves loads of time. 

 

Not done it that way yet but does that allow for editing etc?  

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Editing?!?

 

Presets are the way forward. Someone else has done all that tedious stuff for you. This is my favourite thing. 

 

However, you could use it to find something in the right ball park then go in and edit that preset. 

 

But then if you will need to wire it all up then you had might as well just use the PC. My advice is not going well. 

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