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tc electronic Plethora X3

47

Multi-Effect Pedal for Electric Guitar

  • Flexible TonePrint pedalboard
  • Up to 127 user-defined boards with any combination of up to 3 TonePrint pedals
  • Customisable effects signal chain
  • MASH technology turns all 3 footswitches into expression controllers
  • Built-in UniTune chromatic tuner
  • Global speaker cabinet simulation
  • Bluetooth connection to the free TonePrint app
  • Knobs: 1, 2, 3
  • Switches: Effect Select, Toneprint Select, Play/Edit
  • Board Up/Down
  • LED: Effect 1, 2 & 3 On
  • Footswitch: Effect 1, 2 & 3 Bypass
  • Connections: Stereo input (2 x 6.3 mm jack)
  • Stereo output (2 x 6.3 mm jack)
  • MIDI IN/Thru
  • USB
  • Mains adapter connection: Hollow female plug 5.5 x 2.1 mm, negative pole inside
  • Power supply via 9 V DC mains adapter (included) 409939)

Note: Battery operation is not supported.

Effects:

  • Helix Phaser
  • Viscous Vibe
  • Tape Deck Looper
  • Hall Of Fame 2 Reverb
  • Flashback 2 Delay
  • Sub n Up Octaver
  • Brainwaves Pitch Shifter
  • Corona Chorus
  • Hypergravity Compressor
  • Mimiq Doubler
  • Vortex Flanger
  • Pipeline Tap Tremolo
  • Quintessence Harmony
  • Sentry Noise Gate
  • Shaker Vibrato
Available since October 2022
Item number 530570
Sales Unit 1 piece(s)
Design Floorboard
Amp Modeling No
Drumcomputer No
Incl. Tuner Yes
Expression Pedal No
USB-Port Yes
Headphone Output No
MIDI Interface Yes
Line Out Yes
Battery Powered No
PSU included Yes
$255
The shipping costs are calculated on the checkout page.
In stock within 8-10 weeks
In stock within 8-10 weeks

This product is expected back in stock soon and can then be shipped immediately.

Standard Delivery Times
1

47 Customer ratings

4.4 / 5

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handling

features

sound

quality

31 Reviews

R
Wonderful UI on the pedal, but ultimately not for me
Robert-Jon 20.10.2022
The displays on the pedal are beautiful and the UI is well designed. Editing patches is quick and intuitive. The build is very sturdy and has plenty of good knobs. Sadly, that's all that I really liked about it.

I didn't like most of the initial patches. When trying to set up my own, I ended up not really liking the sound of the reverb. As the most basic effect I was probably going to use on absolutely everything, that's a big negative. (Clearly, this is 100% subjective.)

The big selling point of the Plethora is the availability of TonePrints which would allow you to go very much in-depth with your patches - many effect options are not available from the pedal itself. I was hoping to maybe create better sounds with the TonePrint editor, but the software turned out to be, let's say, not that great.

TonePrint Editor feels simultaneously oversimplified and overwhelmingly complex. Finding out whether you're connected and where to start editing is very confusing and underdocumented. Creating empty patches is impossible - you always have to start with a copy of an existing patch. When you finally get to the right place, the UI is basically just dozens of dials staring at you without any clear hierarchy or guidance.

This just wasn't an environment I wanted to spend a lot of time in, designing my patches - so I decided to send the pedal back. If you're just planning to work with the features from the pedal itself without software, and like the tone of the effects, this could very well be for you as the pedal looks and handles beautifully. But it definitely wasn't for me.
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14
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g
A multieffect of two halves
gerrykav 13.03.2023
There are one or two small conceptual leaps that are necessary to get over but once you do, this pedal makes a lot of sense. Basically it is 3 pedals in a box. 3 of any pedal from the TC lineup. Any 3, so it can be 3 noise-gates, if that's what you want. Each pedal is like a single 'mode' from one of the stand-alone pedals, so you could have a Flashback tape delay and a Flashback reverse-delay on the same board, which can be activated independently as if they are standalone pedals. Once you get your head around this concept, you can master most of the thing without ever looking at a USB port.

When you do get round to the USB (or Bluetooth) connectivity, your world of possibility will expand exponentially. Here is where you can tweak pedal configurations, download printouts, modify toneprints, change knob assignments, create midi mappings... so much possibility.

Even is you just use it as a box of pedals and never connect to a computer it is amazing value, but if you go the whole way into the Toneprint world... it becomes an amazingly flexible and unique tone shaper.
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7
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GB
I Expected Better
GF. Big 13.04.2023
I have had little luck with digital multieffects units, and this one is unfortunately no exception.
I found the presets uninspiring, and the effects only passable. It's a box with algorithms in it, and I don't find these algorithms very impressive. I expect others will have different tastes and capabilities and this will be fine.
No headphone or USB into DAW capability. The power supply is awkward on a power strip.
Bottom line, this was not for me. I chose a couple of software options that serve my needs better.
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s
Very useful for my synths
sophiebs 25.03.2024
I bought this for my bass because for some reason I thought it was a good idea. And don't get me wrong, you can find some useful ways to pair them. But it was just not for me.

But when I used it with some synths I had it was really good. Effects like the looper, reverb, delay, etc are very useful for them and having them all together in the same box is very practical. I have no complaints of it so far.
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