TC Electronic Plethora X1

TC’s Plethora range has a chameleon‑like ability to access many different effects. These can be drawn from the included factory presets, or you can choose and edit your own using the free‑to‑download TC TonePrint software (for macOS, Windows and both Apple and Android mobile devices). The new Plethora X1 joins TC’s existing X5 and X3, which are both exceptionally versatile pedals but are fairly wide and take up a fair amount of space on a pedalboard. The Plethora X1, on the other hand, comes in TC’s standard compact pedal format and, unlike its larger siblings, it can only deliver one effect at a time. Still, it has a lot of useful functionality that isn’t immediately obvious, such as tap tempo, and a Mash feature, whereby the footswitch doubles as a pressure sensor that mimics an expression pedal for parameter control.

The ability to populate the Plethora X1 with effects of your own choosing makes it an ideal ‘wildcard’ addition to a pedalboard. For example, you might have one song that needs a Uni‑Vibe style effect, while another one or two songs might require a tremolo or chorus. Each of the selector switch positions has two slots, making it possible to store and recall up to 14 different TonePrints (derived from any TonePrint pedal), and the footswitch can be used to switch between the A and B slots. Alternatively, the footswitch function for each slot can be set to Latching, Mash, Momentary or Momentary plus Mash. The parameters controlled by Mash can be set up in the TonePrint app.

Three of the four knobs control key parameters for the selected effect, while a small spring‑loaded toggle switch scrolls through the effect variations.

Configured for mono or stereo inputs and outputs and with a 9V power connector on the rear, the Plethora X1 also has a USB‑C port with a recessed Connect button for its onboard Bluetooth, which is what enables connection to a computer or mobile device. Three of the four knobs control key parameters for the selected effect, while a small spring‑loaded toggle switch scrolls through the effect variations or other parameters. For example, if you select Delay, you get a choice of delay types that includes TC’s 2290 and a reverse delay. The fourth knob is a seven‑way rotary switch that selects between TonePrint slots. A one‑inch colour display shows the effect name and, when editing, can show the effect variation and the parameter values for the three knobs, as well as tempo information and so on. An illuminated bar shows the stored position for each knob, and to adjust it the knob first needs to be turned so that it passes through the current value, whereupon the adjustment is stored automatically.

As supplied, the pedal comes with a selection of reverbs drawn from TC’s Hall Of Fame, Flashback delay, Pipeline tap tremolo, Corona chorus, vibe and pitch‑shift, with several variations on each theme. If you’ve tried any of TC’s TonePrint pedals before, such as the Hall Of Fame reverb or Flashback delay, then you’ll already know that the quality of the effects themselves is excellent, both subjectively and in terms of the low‑noise signal path. In fact, I’d say that the only effect that doesn’t sound ‘top shelf’ to my ears is the pitch‑shifter, which can work OK but can also get a bit grainy on octaves if you play polyphonically — still, that’s hardly surprising, given that more sophisticated pitch‑shifting usually comes with a high‑end price.

However, the real strength of this pedal is that by using the TonePrint app on a computer or mobile device, you can access TC’s TonePrint library and load effects to your pedal to meet your own requirements, as well as reassigning the knobs, setting the Mash pedal (which lets you to do things like add dub‑style feedback to delays and so on, in other words giving you the functionality of an expression pedal without losing valuable pedalboard space), naming patches and more. If you want several different delays in different slots, you can do that too.

The extensive TonePrint library allows you to take your pick of the many flavours of modulation effects, pitch‑shifters, compressors, reverbs and delays, with numerous presets contributed by name artists. And when it comes to customising effects, the TonePrint editor lets you access effects parameters that aren’t directly available from the hardware controls. Almost all bases are covered, and although there’s not (yet) a dedicated Leslie speaker emulator here, there are still some rotary‑style presets taken from the Viscous Vibe pedal that ramp between speeds at the press of a footswitch, and they can sound quite effective in a Leslie role.

To sum up then, the Plethora X1 offers a compact, versatile and impressive‑sounding solution to adding wildcard effects to your pedalboard or studio setup. If you don’t need the additional features of their X3 or X5 it looks like being well worth the money.