TC Electronics Nova Modulator - any love?

nickp

I'm not a big user of modulation - but who knows in the future?  I'm like the look of this pedal coz it covers quite a few bases in one not too enormous pedal and TC seem to have a good reputation.

What do you guys think about them?  Any good for gigging etc

ta

Nick

(and then with the exception of some drive pedals I think the pedalboard is done)

not_the_dj

They're good, but get a used one though, they've been around for a while now and TC seem to have a pretty active R&D department so I wouldn't be surprised if a multi FX toneprint modulation box comes out sometime (I've predicted a Flashback x4 style product).

Anyway putting down my crystal ball for a while the Nova modulator has decent FX, and you can combine them, and have them in sync with the tap tempo switch so that's handy.

Switching presets takes some getting used to using the footswitches as you have to press and hold one to change modes. It can go wrong and you end up then hitting the tap tempo and mucking that up...but practice and you get the timing down right.

They come with a 12v PSU, but you can run them at 9v (lowers the headroom but makes it a bit more pedalboard freindly). There's confirmation on the TC site that you can do that without damaging anything.

 

crunchman

I seem to be in the minority but I had reliability problems with two separate TC Nova Delays.   The first one went wrong under warranty and I got a second unit as a replacement.  That one went wrong too.  Unfortunately it was out of warranty.

Once they are out of warranty, the authorised repair centre charges £78 per hour (£65 + VAT) to fix them plus you have to pay postage to get it there.  No-one else even would even look at it - not even their former authorised repair centre thats 3 miles from where I live.

Kebabkid

Seems everyone's doing them new for £109 these days. Considering they went up in price to over £200, I'd take heed of what not_the_dj said (TC's active R&D dept) and see what's coming out or buy used.
With the latter, if they're £109 new, you have some good bargaining power on your side and anything between £80-100 is a good price, but let's see what's around the corner.

crunchman

At that price new you'd be better off buying a new one with a warranty.