REVIEW: TC Electronic Hall Of Fame Reverb
Okay, we all know that TC Electronic makes incredible effects. Their 2290 delay is legendary. Their G System, G Major and G Force: legendary. Their Nova series of pedals: legendary. But the TonePrint series of pedals is a unique opportunity to get in on the ground floor of something that’s going to become legendary. Because TonePrint pedals allow you to dial in your own sounds, sure, but they also give you access to finely tweaked effects designed by some of the best ears in the biz, including Dream Theater’s John Petrucci, Steve Stevens, Paul Gilbert, Bumblefoot and many, many more. The Hall Of Fame Reverb is but one pedal in the series. The others are the FlashBack Delay, Corona Chorus, Shaker Vibrato, Vortex Flanger, and the new John Petrucci signature modulation station, the Dreamscape.
The Hall of Fame Reverb’s controls include rotary pots for FX Type, FX Level, Decay and Tone, as well as a toggle switch for Short or Long pre-delay times. There are stereo inputs and stereo outputs, a handy unscrewable battery compartment, 9vDC power supply jack, True Bypass stomper switch, and the same basic case shape as the company’s instant-classic PolyTune tuner pedal.
TC TC Electronic John Petrucci Signature Pedal – The Dreamscape
Aside from being one of the nicest dudes in guitar (read my interview here), John Petrucci is of course an incredible musician with a great pair of ears. He’s been rocking TC Electronic gear for as long as I can remember, and now the company is honouring him with his own signature pedal, the Dreamscape. It’s a combined vibrato, flanger and chorus with effects based on the TonePrints he designed last year for the Corona Chorus, Shaker Vibrato and Vortex Flanger. Here’s the press release:
TC Electronic Announces John Petrucci Signature Pedal – The Dreamscape
(Risskov, Denmark, 1 February 2012) Long-time TC guitar effects user John Petrucci has joined forces with TC, taking their collaboration to a whole new level.
John Petrucci was one of the first artists to join TC’s revolutionary TonePrint concept. In total, John created 5 personal TonePrints in early 2011 – two for Corona Chorus, two for Shaker Vibrato and one for the Vortex Flanger. John loved having access to all effect parameters so much that he instantly agreed to develop a signature pedal together with TC – one that was based on his own TonePrints. And so The Dreamscape was born.
TC Electronic TonePrint app comes to Android
Great news for Android owners! The TC Electronic TonePrint app is now available for you too! I’ve been using this on iOS with my Hall Of Fame Reverb pedal (review soon!) and it’s an amazing innovation.
Here’s the press release.
TC Electronic’s Revolutionary TonePrint App Now Available for Android
A few months ago TC Electronic launched its truly mind-blowing TonePrint® App for iPhone. Now the magic has been successfully ported for Android devices!
(Risskov, Denmark, 13 January 2012) The new app compiles all TonePrints for TC Electronic’s TonePrint enabled guitar pedals in one place and allows users to ‘beam’ new TonePrints to their pedals in a matter of seconds. The idea behind the technology is as simple as it is ingenious: Each TonePrint has been converted to a unique-sounding magnetic impulse that can be beamed via the phone’s internal speaker, through the pickup of a guitar and directly to a TonePrint pedal! The sound does not carry any data so it doesn’t matter if users are in a raucous arena or a library – no other sounds will interfere with the data being sent from the phone.
REVIEW: Ibanez FRM100 ‘Fireman’ Paul Gilbert signature model
Paul Gilbert’s first Ibanez Fireman was a custom model which he designed by flipping over the beloved Iceman (Fireman, geddit?). It was available in two configurations – rare and super rare – and they were pretty damn pricey guitars. But the fans loved ‘em, and when Paul appeared on the cover of his Fuzz Universe
That day has come! The FRM100 is a Chinese-made version of Paul’s red Fireman. It features a solid mahogany body (if you look close you can see where separate pieces of wood are joined together, but this is pretty much standard practice). The three-piece neck is made of two pieces of mahogany flanking a slice of maple, with a rosewood fretboard featuring simple, elegant pearl dot position markers. The neck shape is huge if you’re used to more shred-friendly designs: 22mm at the first fret and 24mm at the 12th. The frets are tall mediums, which works well with the chunky neck profile. The fretboard radius is 305mm. The neck meets the body with an intriguing joint which looks a lot like an Ibanez All-Access Neck Join (AANJ), but minus the bolts.
REVIEW: TC Electronic Nova System Limited
TC Electronic’s Nova System is one of the company’s most popular offerings and it’s pretty easy to see why. It combines many of the same kinds of high-quality effects, intuitive operation and bulletproof construction that you might find in the venerable G-System, but in a smaller, more backpack-friendly configuration. The original Nova System has found its way onto stages all over the world with artists of the calibre of Chris Cornell guitarist Peter Thorn and solo artist/Guns ‘n’ Roses axeman Ron ‘Bumblefoot’ Thal, and the Nova System Limited pays tribute to these high-profile gentlemen via the inclusion of several of their personal presets. And the ‘Limited’ in the name is quite apt: only 1200 will be produced. So if you want one, get on it!
Hi! I'm Peter Hodgson. I write for Gibson.com, Australian Guitar, Australian Musician, Mixdown Magazine (including my instructional column, 'Unleash Your Inner Rock God,' which has been running since 2007), guitarworld.com, Tone Deaf, Beat (including their weekly hard rock/metal column Crunch) and The Brag. And I'm Assistant Social Coordinator with Seymour Duncan.
I've been playing guitar since I was 8 years old, and I've been writing for magazines since I was 18. I've also worked as a guitar teacher (up to 50 students a week), a setup tech, a newspaper editor, and I've also dabbled in radio a little bit. I live in Melbourne, Australia, and my hobbies include drinking way too much coffee, and eating way too much Mexican food.
You can check out my guitar playing at Reverbnation or on YouTube, and feel free to email me at iheartguitarblog@gmail.com