TC Electronic The Dreamscape

June 2012 Guitarist 141
Chorus, fl anging and vibrato can be
used in many styles, so a pedal that
can supply all three is a defi nite asset
TC ELECTRONIC THE DREAMSCAPE £209
EFFECTS
TC Electronic
The Dreamscape
PRICE: £209
TYPE: Modulation pedal
ORIGIN: Thailand
CONNECTIONS: Standard jack
inputs (2) and outputs (2), USB
(Mini-B)
FEATURES: True bypass/buffered
bypass, dry kill option, ability to load
TonePrint patches
CONTROLS: Speed, depth, FX level,
bright/normal/dark switch, preset
selection rotary switch
PRESETS: Chorus, flanger, vibrato,
chorus two, flanger two, vibrato
two, TonePrint
FOOTSWITCH: Bypass/effect on
POWER: 9V DC power from battery or
adapter (not supplied)
SUPPLIED EXTRAS: USB cable
DIMENSIONS: 72 x 122 x 50mm
RANGE OPTIONS: Shaker vibrato
(£109), Vortex flanger (£109), Corona
chorus (£109), Hall Of Fame reverb
(£109), Flashback delay (£125)
TONEPRINT APP REQUIREMENTS:
Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch,
and iPad (requires iOS 4.0 or later)
and Android (2.1 and up)
TC Electronic
0800 917 8926
www.tcelectronic.com
one is a TriChorus sound and
offers a lustrous shimmer while
chorus two, apparently inspired
by Alex Lifeson from Rush, is
perhaps more subtle and suits a
role of fattener to thicken up
your sound. Both can head
more into more obvious rotary
speaker-style sonics when
higher rate levels are dialled in.
Of the two flanger effects,
flanger one, while still clearly
recognisable as a flanger, is
also intended to be close to a
chorus and, with less obvious
amounts of feedback in the
programming, offers a cool
shift in the sound without being
overly aggressive. By contrast
flanger two has higher levels of
feedback creating a familiar
classic rock-style flanger with
plenty of attitude, think EVH’s
famous MXR sound and you
won’t be far wide of the mark.
While both of the vibratos can
dish up a nice take on a swirly
rotary speaker, the first offers
the more obvious effect while
the second is less pronounced
but can wrap a warm richness
around your sound.
While the speed and depth
knobs allow plenty of
conventional variation for
honing the wobble and swirl,
the triple switch ought to also
find plenty of use, the dark
setting in particular offering a
subdued version of the effect
that can seem more embedded
into your sound.
Verdict
Okay, it’s nominally a John
Petrucci signature pedal and
guitarists who are fans of his
particular brand of modern
prog rock are going to love it
because of that. However, from
a more universal perspective
what we have here is a versatile
pedal that has a much wider
appeal. Chorus, f langing and
vibrato are effects that can be
of use in many styles of music
but are unlikely to be effects
that you’d want to use at the
same time, so a pedal that can
provide quality versions of all
three is an asset. With the
TonePrint facility allowing
access to many more chorus
sounds, the way to view the
Dreamscape may be as a
chorus pedal that also does
flanging and vibrato.
Whatever way you look at it,
it’s a fine source of modulation
effects for your guitar signal.
The Bottom Line
We like: Three different
modulation types in a
single pedal; compact size;
9V DC operation
We dislike: No latching
vibrato as found in the
Shaker; TonePrint options
for chorus sounds only
Guitarist says: It’s one
guitarist’s personal take on
modulation effects, but has
a broad range of sounds that
will appeal to many
The Rivals
There are two pedals that
take up a fair amount of
pedalboard space but give
you a choice of several
modulation types. If you can
afford it, Eventide’s
ModFactor (£409) offers all
the modulation options you
may ever need while Line 6’s
MM-4 modulation modeller
(£229) has been around for
ages but is still a potent
source of several modulation
sounds. If you want both
chorus and flanging in a
single, reasonably compact
pedal, T-Rex has the
Twister 2 (£210) and the
less expensive ToneBug
Chorus/Flanger (£145).
Test results
Build quality
Features
Sound
Value for money
GUITARIST RATING
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GIT355.rev_tc.indd 141 4/17/12 10:40:54 AM