TC ELECTRONIC TONEPRINT PEDAL REVIEW

Posted on Tue 15 February 2011 in entries

Another one of the exciting products to emerge from NAMM 2011 was the TC Electronic TonePrint! Well, I say ‘product’, although the TonePrint is actually a concept that has been applied to a range of guitar pedals… so what is TonePrint? Hopefully I will be able to answer this question in the following blog-post…

TC ELECTRONIC TONEPRINT – THE FAMILY

The TonePrint family currently consists of five brand new guitar effect pedals; the Flashback Delay, the Hall of Fame Reverb, the Vortex Flanger, the Shaker Vibrato, and the Corona Chorus. Whilst each pedal is capable of elevating your guitar sounds to a new heights, all appear to work in a fairly standard pedal way, offering four rotary dials apiece to control various parameters specific to each effect. However, there is something subtle that set’s these pedals apart from anything else on the market… can you see it? Look closer… yep, it’s that sneaky ‘TonePrint’ setting that appears on each pedal…

TC ELECTRONIC TONEPRINT – TONEPRINT

TonePrint essentially expands the possibilities of each effect pedal, by allowing you to load a number of specific presets directly from your computer (via one USB connection). And these aren’t just any old presets! As well as a host of unique effect settings created by TC Electronic themselves, you have the option to make use of a huge range of sounds that have been tweaked and refined by some of the worlds greatest living guitarists! And once you have the pedal, this is all completely free!

The TonePrint concept not only packs your modestly sized pedal with a gigantic range of presets, but also allows for the use of presets that would not be possible to create with the pedal’s hardware parameters alone. Why is this? Ah, it’s time for a secret (maybe)! Did you know that every effect pedal is actually crammed with a multitude of parameters – many more than the four that are offered on the pedal's surface? However, due to the limited size, cost and complexity of standard guitar pedals, most of these parameters have to be hard-wired by the engineers and sound designers, which obviously forces each pedal to have a distinct sound, and limited possibilities. However, each TonePrint preset has been customised with access to all the internal parameters of each pedal! So Toneprint also extends the range of sounds that each pedal is capable of producing! Now you can use your pedal to produce the same sounds as your guitar idols, all with one turn of a dial.

TC ELECTRONIC TONEPRINT – HOW?

It’s easy! Simply connect your pedal to your computer via the USB connection, select the ‘TonePrint’ setting on your pedal (with either the dedicated switch or dial), go to the Toneprint section of the TC website, select the TonePrint that you want to try and BANG… you’re favourite artist has just programmed your pedal for you! Start playing and feel the power! Changed your mind and want to try a different setting? Just select another TonePrint! And the TonePrint library is being updated all the time so you should never run out of new inspiration!

TC ELECTRONIC TONEPRINT – SUMMARY

The TonePrint concept has sold me! In my opinion it’s a brilliant idea and I have no doubt that it is going to take off with guitarists around the world. Competitors are going to have to up their game and fast, because the TonePrint pedals are also very reasonably priced! What would you prefer, a standard pedal, or a pedal within the same price range, with all the parameters of the standard pedal AND access to hundreds of new and exciting parameters?