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TC Electronic Plethora X5
- Thread starter ChubbyJerk
- Start date
One question...can I, for example, put a compressor in the First slot making the signal exit of the plethora to go into octave and dirt pedals to return to the plethora and run the remaning slots in series? Thanks
Yes you can do that. You can put the Plethora's effects loop before the first effect, after the last or in between any of the five.
This is true on the X5, but the X3 doesn't have a effects loop, one of the things lost in the shrink.
Anyone have experience with midi and the X5? Can you tell me what to expect with it? I heard the updated it from the last update, but not sure what midi can do with the unit
Hi everyone. I know I'm plate to the party but I just found out this pedal exists. This looks like something that would be perfect for me except for the lack of overdrive, as I would only want it as a "one box solution".
Having said that, according to the TC Electronics website, the X5 will accept "ANY TONEPRINT FROM THE TONEPRINT LIBRARY". Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but the TC TonePrint Library contains TubeDrive TonePrints for their bass amps. There are also multiple TubeDrive TonePrints for the SpectraDrive pedal. Soooo... Has ANYONE actually TRIED to download any of these TubeDrive TonePrints from the editor/library into the X5? Is TC lying on the X5 page when they say you can use ANY of the TonePrints into the X5 pedal?
I've read almost all of this thread and no one has mentioned that what TC says on the website doesn't actually apply, so I'd like to know if anyone has tried this. Thanks.
Having said that, according to the TC Electronics website, the X5 will accept "ANY TONEPRINT FROM THE TONEPRINT LIBRARY". Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but the TC TonePrint Library contains TubeDrive TonePrints for their bass amps. There are also multiple TubeDrive TonePrints for the SpectraDrive pedal. Soooo... Has ANYONE actually TRIED to download any of these TubeDrive TonePrints from the editor/library into the X5? Is TC lying on the X5 page when they say you can use ANY of the TonePrints into the X5 pedal?
I've read almost all of this thread and no one has mentioned that what TC says on the website doesn't actually apply, so I'd like to know if anyone has tried this. Thanks.
Have you tried it?
Either there is actually overdrive that can be put into the pedal or what TC Electronic says on their website is wrong. It's one or the other.
^ check the picture you posted. You can clearly see at the botton the pedal where you can save the preset.
The TC Electronic website says you can load any toneprint pedal into the X5. It also says you can load any toneprint in the toneprint library into the X5. If that's not true, it shouldn't say that.
There probably is an asterisk or fine print "any supported toneprint pedal". Since the SpectraDrive isn't supported by the Plethora, it isn't included. When it launched, it didn't support Helix and some others, but were later added. Once a pedal is supported, then all corresponding toneprints are supported.
FWIW, I think that their strategy is to keep all drive toneprints not included. I think that this is designed for modulation and delay/reverb, which is where the TonePrint strengths truly are. TC has lots of cheap/great drives that pair well with this.
The pedals on the X5 that can supply tone prints are listed on the X5 website.
The X5 needs to have the internal firmware that reads toneprints from specific pedals:
Included TonePrint FX
The lack of dirt/drives and envelope filters on the X5 put it right out of the running for me, unfortunately.
Otherwise, if it ticks all your FX boxes, it's a very cool piece of gear.
The X5 needs to have the internal firmware that reads toneprints from specific pedals:
Included TonePrint FX
- Hall Of Fame 2 Reverb
- Flashback 2 Delay
- Sub ‘N’ Up Octaver
- Brainwaves Pitch Shifter
- Corona Chorus
- Hypergravity Compressor
- Mimiq Doubler
- Vortex Flanger
- Pipeline Tap Tremolo
- Quintessence Harmony
- Sentry Noise Gate
- Shaker Vibrato
The lack of dirt/drives and envelope filters on the X5 put it right out of the running for me, unfortunately.
Otherwise, if it ticks all your FX boxes, it's a very cool piece of gear.
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Here's a screenshot of the page.
It says "populate them with any of the TC TonePrint PEDALS
Load each pedal with any TonePrint from our library...
So it's just a sloppy job of putting bad info on their site?
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I agree that the description is lacking specificity, and thus can easily lead you to believe that it is any and all toneprints.
So you do have to dig into the weeds a bit to see where they get specific.
Usually I go straight to the owner's manual for tech spec info, but all I could find was the quickstart guide, and didn't see any mention of a specific list of toneprints. Again, this is lacking IMHO. Owner's manuals should be clear.
Here's the screenshot I get for the X5. I've highlighted the 'show more' button.
Clicking "Show more" will expand to reveal more details including the list of toneprint pedals.
Yea, pretty much. Marketing people didn't talk to the engineers enough to realize that not *every* pedal is going to work. Other than the SpectraDrive though, what is missing?
For bassists? Envelope filters, but I'm unaware that TC makes an envelope filter pedal.
As mentioned before, without dirt/drives and envelope filters, I'm on the sidelines.
I really wish it did have these because I'm otherwise impressed with the pedal.
When it says "FX include" it's not clear that it's those effects and only those effects. Most anyone who sees this thing is going to assume it's a multi FX pedal like every other and have all the FX you expect. The more I think about it, the more strange it is that they don't simply say THERE IS NO DRIVE in big letters somewhere.
For a company with as much experience as TC you'd expect that one of the engineers who made the X5 would proofread whatever ad copy comes out. It seems basic.
Aside from the SpectraDrive, the TonePrint library contains TubeDrive toneprints for the bass amps, but I'm giving them a pass on that because they did say you could download all the PEDALS into the X5, not necessarily the TonePrints for the amps.
But the whole thing is unattractive to me now. They already have TubeDrive in digital form and it would cost them nothing to include it. Instead they're saying "Buy it and maybe we will add more effects in the future. Maybe not." Screw that.
Firmware Update Suggestion:
Spectradrive tone print compatibility
A 4-Band EQ tone print that matches up witht he 4-Band EQ on the Spectradrive.
Spectradrive tone print compatibility
A 4-Band EQ tone print that matches up witht he 4-Band EQ on the Spectradrive.
