tc electronic Plethora X5

I bought this about a year ago as an upgrade to an ageing multi-effects unit I'd been using within my pedalboard (specifically a Vox Tonelab SE). The Plethora attracted me due to the simplicity of its design: various sets of pre-programmable boards consisting of up to 5 pedals, with the option to include external effects as inserts at any point in each board. The array of TC electronics stomps available was also a major attraction - I already had the Flashback II, so had some experience with their gear and working with toneprints. Having watched demos of the Hall of Fame II, I reckoned the pedal would justify its price based on those two alone.

A year later, and I can say that this is far and away the most versatile and useful pedal I own. It's brought a whole additional dimension to my playing: with so much scope for creating lush soundscapes, there are literally endless hours of fun on tap. The preset patches offer some really nice harmoniser and octaver effects boards, typically with useful delays and reverbs alongside. I've been pleasantly surprised by how good the pitch based effects are; the Brainwaves pitch shifter offers really tasteful harmonies, while the Sub'n'up Octaver has become a favourite, really excellent for adding weight to single note riffs, or even for overdubbing a bass line using a looper. I'm less of a fan of the chorus and flanger effects - there is by no means anything wrong with them, but they are just not effects that I tend to use in my playing.

I really like the ease-of-use of the pedal. Tweaking settings is really straightforward - just flick the switch from play to edit, adjust whatever param you need to, and then flick back to play mode. All the tweaks are instantly saved. Simple.

The included toneprint presets are also excellent, very usable and typically the kinds of tones we all search for but struggle to get right. My go-to delay is the Echoplex toneprint: try increasing the delay time and number of repeats, then strum an Em9 and pretend you're David Gilmour. Manna.

I've used the Plethora in band practices, and find the display is a huge help; it's clear and bright, and the white LEDs make it very easy to see which pedals are on at any given moment.

If I had one criticism, it would be that switching between boards on the fly isn't so easy; you can do this by stomping on switches one and two, although I often find I end up simply switching on or off whichever effect is in either of those slots, rather than changing boards as desired. It takes some practice to get this right, although you do get used to it.

Overall, I can't think of a better value pedal for the money. Considering the range of effects included, and the quality, the only competitor in my eyes in the Helix HT stomp. While also an excellent option, it's much less flexible and offers only three stomp switches. Highly recommend the Plethora!

I bought the Plethora X5 primarily because I love the individual Tone Print pedals. Especially the Sub 'n Up octaver, Corona virus...eh, chorus, the Flashback delay, and...the Helix phaser. I needed more space on my pedal board so I reckoned I could buy the X5 which would replace all my pedals.

Well...that was a nice thought but a premature one.

Without much further thinking I ordered the X5 and sold off most of my TC pedal. I kept only the Sub 'n Up. After two days the Plethora X5 arrived at my house and I was...rather disappointed!

It turned out that the Helix phaser wasn't included! I just assumed it would be! Darn! I had already sold that pedal while I loved it to death.

The next big annoyance was that the X5 only has THREE knobs for editing and effect instead of the 4 knobs of the pedals. So actually the X5 behaves like the mini versions of the TC pedals. Eventually I found out that you can edit all parameters through the app with a bluetooth connection, but it is definitely not the same experience as having 4 seperate knobs. That's a bloody shame! For example, I cannot find the exact same tone I have on my Sub 'n Up pedal. So I cannot sell that pedal until I find it.

Fortunately the unit sounds fantastic and coming up with great sounds is rather easy. The unit is sturdy and the footswitches are very responsive and switch very lightly.

TC emailed m,e that version 1.2 of the firmware will include the Helix, so I highly anticipate that update. I just wish they would have added one more edit knob. Oh, and the unit is running on 600mA so you need the included adapter. My beefy pedal powerboard just won't power this pedal.

All in all a great unit with one major flaw: the lack of a fourth edit knob. I can get over the rest, of course if they truly deliver the Helix.

By the way, I am a bass player. For bass I will only be using delay, compressor, reverb, chorus, octaver, perhaps some flanger and tremolo and (eventually) a phaser. The harmonizer, pitch shifter, noise gate and doubler are as good as useless for my bass playing.