Gots me a TC Flashback today

[Officer Bukowski]

I had an SMMH and it was pretty awesome.

[Seedy]

I had a SMMH and while I liked the reverse and the multi-tap functions I hated that I couldn't get a good balance between loop level and guitar signal. It was not at noon but it also wasn't at 11:30 or 12:30. It really hurt my guitar sound. I was excited about all the newer EHX pedals but after owning the Haz, Micropog, and Ring Thing I find them too pristine. That can be good or bad but for me it was bad.

I still want a Freeze though, and I'll never give up my (old) Q-Tron+.

[Officer Bukowski]

I had that problem with the SMMH sometimes as well. Mainly I just didn't like the regular delay and all the (admittedly awesome) whacky noises didn't really make up for it for me. I just got an El Cap and liked it way more so I sold the SMMH.

If you're not really using it for straight up delay the SMMH is pretty awesome though. I loved how you could loop while using other modes. If the El Cap could do that it would be way cooler.

[madmax1012]

Dear El Capistan,
Thanks alot for taking most of my tax return money, you asshole.

hope to see you soon,
Max

[Officer Bukowski]

[coldbrightsunlight]

The SMMH looping while using other modes KILLS, as do the wacky noises. It's the king of on-the-fly crazy noise loops out of stuff I've tried. The regular delay tone is medicore, but I mainly use it for ambience, looping and craziness while my DMM handles the simple stuff, so it fits perfectly in my setup. Not sure if I'd have one if I could only have one delay though.

Still totally want an El Capistan, those things look badass.

[tashiattack]

I loved the weird wacko shit I could do with the SMMH, especially the reverse delay. However, I hated the looper, particularly the split second delay before it started recording the loop.

I was very interested in the TC Flashback, but after reading all the reviews it seems like its not going to replace my El Cap anytime soon

Now, the TC hall of fame...if there is a reverse reverb toneprint in the near future

[culturejam]

Tore from TC just posted some brand new Tone Prints that were requested by TGP users:
http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showth ... p=10718562

One of them turns the Flashback into the TC Tri-Chorus!

I've been wondering if you could install Tone Prints for one pedal into a different type of pedal. Seems to me that they all have the same hardware setup, and it makes sense they would have the same firmware, basically. So why wouldn't it be possible to have a single Tone Print pedal be able to load any of the Tone Print programs?

[univalve]

So why wouldn't it be possible to have a single Tone Print pedal be able to load any of the Tone Print programs?

because tc business model is selling each effect as it's own hardware pedal

[culturejam]

So why wouldn't it be possible to have a single Tone Print pedal be able to load any of the Tone Print programs?

because tc business model is selling each effect as it's own hardware pedal

I get the business justification for not making everything work on one pedal. I'm just wondering about raw possibilities.

The more I poke around with these Tone Print files, the more I think it actually is totally possible...

[bpamier]

this is a really helpful thread. thanks for the great info.

i'm pretty impressed with the flashback. i use a combination of a #1 echo and a SMMH, but i'm one to never have enough delay. i have had my eye on the flashback and the el cap for a while. i used to have a DMM and miss analog delay as well.

I just want to add that I love the way TC has made the backplate on these toneprint pedals. Very minute detail, but the one giant screw is easy as pie to unscrew with a pick and is really solid when tightened.

Agreed.

The amount of engineering in this thing, between the digital shit and the bad-ass construction, is impressive as hell.

totally agreed! the internal buffer switches are pretty cool too.

[dubkitty]

so i has teh Flashback for a couple of days now, and though i haven't taken it to Paris and everything i've given it a few hours' workout. some thoughts:

modes:

2290: i would buy a box just for this delay sound. combines the best of both worlds, a clean digital repeat that goes for days with just a hint of warmth to chase away that bleak Baltic chill.

Analog: seems to overload on strong pick attacks awfully easily. this is characteristic of digital emulations of analog chip-based delays in my experience. great dark mush of moody repeats that deteriorate fairly quickly to vaguely electronic sounds. ALMOST self-oscillates.

Tape: a better tape sim than i expected. if one could tweak the parameters this could be top, but as-is it's still very nice. sneaks up on Space Echo territory if you use the dotted-eighth setting on the toggle switch. great for simulating the Fripp/Eno tape loop thing with the time maxed out. after a minute or so going around on 7 second repeats clean electric guitars sound like Rhodes pianos.

Lo-fi: i like to use this interchangeably with "Tape" for dark extended repeats. i haven't really analyzed to it in detail, but it strikes me as having the audio qualities a cassette loop would have but without the associated wow/flutter/artifacts, having instead a flatter analog-delay type response.

Dynamic: this is supposed to work as a sort of delay + gate/mix function which lowers the level of the delay signal so it doesn't conflict with picked notes. if you play quietly, keep the level of the delay signal low relative to the clean signal, and you don't have too dense of a delay stratum built up, it works fine, but if you hit things too hard or the volume level of the delayed signal gets too high the gate function cuts the delay signal in and out like a very stupid noise gate and makes this function totally unuseable for normal playing. this is an uber-example of the type of frustrations engendered by the unavailability of TonePrint software for home patch editing...without the ability to alter the gate threshold this function is of no use at all.

Modulation: analog-esque repeats that almost immediately deteriorate into a huge wash of barely pitch-valued fog. this setting may not be the most obviously useful, but boy is it going to be great for ambient stuff and for creating atmosphere in places where it's barely noticed. noir soundtracks, here we come!

Slapback: sounds like it's based on the Tape echo model with some room-esque EQ tweaks. as is it's a pretty decent one-trick setting; with some ability to tweak settings it could be an awesome chamber echo for the 50s enthusiasts.

Ping-Pong: haven't used it yet since i only have one amp set up. i want to see if i can use the Ping-Pong setting in mono for more Space Echo trickery, but i suspect that it's just a standard one-echo-on-THIS-side, one-echo-on-THAT-side deal.

Reverse: well, it definitely does reverse your phrase and play it back to you. how exactly i can apply the result, which consists of the original phrase PLUS the mirror-image repeat(s), is another question. this function is going to generate some very cool riffs, though. i suppose the ideal here would be to use the internal dip switches to set the Flashback to 100% wet since you don't seem to be able to set it to take the non-delayed signal out using the external knobs; this would allow you to play backwards stuff that would appear out of nowhere.

Looping: works quite well, better than i'd anticipated for what is, after all, an ancillary function for this pedal. i find it simple to create loops and punch in/out of them to add more parts. would i try to use it for the kind of "i'm constructing a whole song on the fly" stuff some people use loopers for? no...i need an UNDO, kthxbai. but is it entirely useable for, say, the kind of thing Jonny Greenwood uses the Head Rush for on the coda to "Where I End And You Begin" where he loops an ambient phrase and then stacks additional loops over it? you betcha!

i haven't used the TonePrints other than dialing up the one that's pre-loaded, so i have no comment on the additional TonePrints, the software, the ease of downloading, or anything about that.

generally:

when i don't use the audio-tap to set the delay time, there's a noticeable change in the sound when switching from the quarter-note to the eighth-note settings on the toggle switch that makes me think the switch changes the recording resolution in manual delay time mode...it's particularly audible on the Analog, Tape, and Lo-fi settings.

the audio-tap works quite well, and i like it...i find it easier to stand on a switch and pick a few notes in consistent tempo than to step on a switch in dependable time.

on some settings there's an odd sort of quality to the sound when a large number of complicated repeats build up which i can best describe as "crowded": slightly compressed and blurred, lacking in audio detail. it may be a phase-cancellation thing with multiple layers of signal, or it may be a sample-rate thing related to that toggle-switch thing mentioned above, but it's there, and audible in the PGS demo, and i'd be remiss not to note it as well though it wouldn't keep me from recommending the Flashback.

like everything i've ever seen from TC, the Flashback looks great and appears to be built like a tank...if not for that toggle switch and the risk of scratching the rather groovy sparkly blue paint i would have no fear of throwing the Flashback at naughty squirrels in the yard and then retrieving it and plugging it in. extra points for making the type on the labels legible to old people with spectacles AND typographically attractive

if only it came with a thumb drive with editing software or had one more parameter-tweaking knob per model it would be a 9.5 of 10. and the critique above that without the ability to edit it's essentially a series of presets is 100% correct. but they include some of the best presets you're ever going to hear in a stompbox delay that regular common folk can afford. if you can say to yourself "aah, i can buy a Echolution or an El Cap instead" then God bless you. otherwise, if you're terminally on the fence, go ahead and buy one. the 2290 and Tape settings are worth $169 all by themselves.

[CBGB]

Cheers, man. Great review!

[bronzetalon]

dubkittly load the pgs tape toneprint right now it is really gorgeous

[dubkitty]

is there anywhere you can listen to samples of the downloadable TonePrints without having to load them on the Flashback?

it strikes me that brickwall limiting before the Dynamic setting might make it useable. i'll have to experiment with it. my impression, though, is that the problem is that once the gate triggers it has to run a full duty cycle of a determinate length or volume level/sweep before it resets and you can't vary the period or depth of the cycle, and i don't think there's any kludgy way around this.