Anyone use the TC Electronic Plethora? Thoughts?

[Royal Tele]

I've been using a Fryette Power Station with my amps for a while, and I really like it. One of the key things that drew me to it was the effects loop it has, enabling me to place delays, reverbs completely after my cranked amp (Marshall) tone. I've not actually used it like that just yet, and I'm on the hunt for some decent new digital delay and verb pedals. But then I saw the TC Electronic Plethora X3 (and X5) units, which look awesome. It appears that it's an all in one unit for some fan-fav TC Electronic pedals, like their Hall of Fame reverb, Flashback 2 delay, Corona chorus, etc. Those three alone catch my attention. I'd be using this in the loop of my Power Station.

Curious to know how others feel about the unit if you've used it. Have you put it in a loop? How does it perform? Does it really include ALL the parameters of ALL those pedals?

Any issues or complaints?

 

[4pickupguy]

The Plethora is a great unit! It will do things no other form factor will. I love the whole TC TonePrint thing especially the TonePrint Editor. It will handle crazy high input signals, do Kill Dry for Wet/Dry or W/D\W rigs, has analog dry through and will send up three parameters per effect to the expression pedal.

Oh, and it has its own assignable effects loop.

 

[Hoodster]

I’m going on year three with my X5, and I’m someone who tends to go through pedals at an embarrassing rate. So yeah, it’s awesome.

It always surprises me how little credit TC gets for the TonePrint innovation. It’s remarkable and no one has anything else like it. You basically have access to every permutation of whatever effect you like, and beaming them from your mobile device to the Plethora is seamless.

Of course you don’t have to do that. You can just use the countless tone prints that are already loaded on the device, and you’d be happy for a long time.

Anyway, I could go on, but if you’d like more I will post my review/demo below.

 

[4pickupguy]

Coming back to this. I sold my PlethoraX5 to go back to a rig that is less midi-intensive.
I may get a PlethoraX3 in the future as I knew I would miss the X5. They’re the Swiss Army knife of any rig. You get ALL the toneprint pedals (I think it’s 14) in one unit and you can up three of any combo at once.
It’s made for “in the loop” use. It can handle big preamp line levels without crapping out.
For guys wanting to have a small but immensely powerful and versatile rig in a small pedalboard these are killer.
Drive pedals >into a preamp>into a PX3> into FOH, Powered Cab, Effects return of amp, etc you will have one easy to carry/use rig.
One effect patch I miss is running 2delays (tape/analog sims on verge of oscillating) into and very long verb with the shimmer signal only. Swell into chords for a synth/string pad sound. Great big yet subtle effect underneath ballad vocals, solos etc. Really loved that sound and it alone would be worth finding one. Let us know where you end up. Following Thread

 

[Royal Tele]

Appreciate the responses!! This is great info!

 

[ctmullins]

I bought an X5 when they first came out. I love it, even though I don't use it as much as I should.

The only thing it doesn't do is dirt. Unless that's changed in the last couple of years?

 

[RiverDog]

I bought the X5 about a year after it came out and while it was very versatile and had some great effects and tones, it started glitching out on me once in a while. IIRC it would just reboot. Maybe they fixed that in a firmware update - I dunno. I just know aside from the previously mentioned issues, I got tired of trying to find and install toneprints and constantly tweaking things. I tend to be someone who prefers "simple" and suffers from option paralysis when there are too many bells and whistles so that part is just me. I traded it after about a year and have not looked back. I much prefer my individual pedals. I think the only TCE pedal I have that still uses toneprints is the Sentry noise gate, but I just use the stock settings on that.

 

[Hoodster]

FWIW, mine has never glitched in any respect.

There are a lot of options, but take a day and find your favorites and then you never have to use the app again.