Eventide

October 2007 Guitarist 119
BOSS, TC ELECTRONIC, EVENTIDE & DAMAGE CONTROL DELAY EFFECTS £152-£399
EFFECTS
on their own or in combination via
a rotary switch that is reproduced
here along with the same 12
settings – four that are just delay,
seven with delay and reverb, and
a reverb only setting.
One hefty footswitch turns the
effect on and off while the other is
a tap tempo switch that can also
be held down to create the ‘twist’
effect which simulates
simultaneously turning up the
intensity control and repeat rate,
setting off wild runaway
oscillation. It’s a neat trick but is
better controlled by plugging in an
Expression pedal which can also
be set to turn up echo level, repeat
rate and intensity separately.
A no-brainer to set up and use,
from single repeats based on one
head to ambient multitaps, the
RE-20 does a great job of
recreating the less-than-pristine
sound of a tape delay with repeats
that fade organically away and
meld nicely into the overall sound,
albeit with more homogeneity
than the sometimes random
sound of real tape. The delay times
available ape those of the original
tape machine but the RE-20 can
be set to ‘Long Mode’, which
doubles the delay times available
up to a maximum of six seconds.
TC Electronic
ND-1 Nova Delay
The most compact of the bunch
here, the Nova has quite an array
of controls and readouts with five
knobs and five buttons besides the
two footswitches. Based on TC’s
classic 2290 rackmount studio
delay, the Nova is a pure digital
delay with pristine sounding
repeats if you want them but with
the option of making them sound
like older analogue or tape delays
with a ‘color’ knob that
progressively removes that digital
sheen. Light, medium or heavy
pitch modulation can also be
dialled in to help the blend. Six
different delay types are available
from a straight delay line through
dynamic delays that become more
prominent when you stop playing,
ping-pong and panned delays,
reverse and slapback. Tempos can
be set manually in milliseconds
(ms) or BPM, or with a tap tempo
button that has two modes – hold
it down and you can input the
tempo by hitting your strings
twice. Whatever master tempo is
set, you have a choice of standard
quarter note repeats, dotted
eighth notes or eighth note triplets
so you can set up a nice rhythmic
delay and get the timing exactly
right onstage with the handy
tap tempo switch.
Although the Nova may seem
complicated at first glance, once
you get the hang of what all the
knobs and buttons do it’s easy to
dial in the sounds, although with
all the parameters available you
may not want to be doing that
onstage between songs which is
where the nine onboard presets
will come in very handy. And you
can even scroll through them
during a song if your tap dancing
skills are up to hitting both
footswitches in quick succession.
Eventide Timefactor
Eventide, renowned for classy
studio effects boxes, has
successfully crammed the
versatility of a rack processor into
a pedal with the Timefactor. It’s
the company’s first foray into
stompbox territory and places two
independent three-second digital
delay lines together in one box
with 11 front panel knobs and
three footswitches. An expression
pedal can be added, as can more
footswitches, and the unit is
upgradeable via USB.
The two delay lines have
independent delay time and
feedback knobs and can be
blended together in proportion.
The Xnob, depth, speed and filter
knobs have different functions
depending on the category of
delay effect that is chosen from
the 10 on offer – Xnob, for
instance, adds simulated tape hiss
when Tape Delay is selected.
Turning any knob puts the details
of the parameter it is adjusting
into the display alongside the
numerical parameter value.
You can choose from nine types
of delay or a looper. The delay
categories are digital, vintage,
tape, mod, ducked, band,
filterpong, multitap and reverse
and between them cover all the
variations of delay that you are
likely to need, with the traditional
nestling alongside more esoteric
options that will encourage
experimentation: the filtering of
the repeats in the band delay
setting and parameters that can
be altered on the fly with an
expression pedal.
The footswitches provide the
usual bypass and tap tempo
functions as well as an ‘infinite
repeat’ that freezes the repeats
and keeps them running, but in
another mode they can access the
20 onboard programmable
presets stored in 10 banks of
two – ideal for those who know
exactly what their effects should
sound like.
Damage Control
Timeline
The Timeline has the usual
A variety of delay styles are available on the TC Electronic Nova Delay
The Nova is a pure digital pedal with
pristine sounding repeats
GIT295.rev_delay 119 11/9/07 14:43:14