TC Electronic ND-1 Nova Delay

Straight up, I'll say it gets a 9 rather than a 10 due to the inconvenient 12v power requirement. Everything else... it's kind of shocking how easy this pedal is to use, considering its depth. It's not so much that it's easy as it is that it's never harder than it needs to be. You'll probably need to steal a glance here and there at the manual to learn to save presets and such, but it's very straightforward. Although it's more complex than a simple delay, here are some of the things you get:

* choice of trails or no trails per-preset
* choice of fixed tempo or global tap tempo per preset
* choice of bpm or millisecond display for delay time
* pushbutton selection of common subdivisions against tap tempo
* no midi, usb, external footswitches or pedals to muck with

It has enough power to be the serious delay lover's primary (or only) gigging delay, without requiring a computer, a college degree, or a 200 page manual to operate. And knobs for EVERYTHING! You can just dial in delay time, feedback, tone, modulation, and mix just like a (sophisticated) simple delay, and then save those settings. WOOT!

The sound is just plain lovely. It does both the crystal clear digital delay and murky analog/tape thing with equal aplomb. The desirable character of analog type delays isn't just HF rolloff... it's the ability to stay out of the way of new notes. The Nova Delay does that, but without a bunch of noise and muck.

Here's what blew me away, and made me buy it on the spot. In a band I'm in, we do a trilogy of songs that run together. The transition from the first song to the second involves some echoing improv, which turns into a runaway "spaceship" echo. The bandleader then counts off the start of the next song, and on the downbeat I KILL the runaway echo and launch into a huge new riff. I'd been doing this by trying to diddle knobs on stomp boxes with my feet, while playing. The Nova Delay allows me to program in feedback >100%, for runaway echoes that are precisely repeatable and consistent every time. The preset for the first song has trails on to maintain continuity into the runaway, and the preset for the runaway has trails off so I can kill it with a touch of my foot. It has made playing a difficult song transition easy and fun!

And did I mention the sound quality of the runaway is AMAZING? I bought this after hours running to every store in our wonderful city, trying every delay I could, including expensive boutique stuff and classics like the EHX Memory Man. The Nova Delay smoked ALL of them at this difficult task, both for usability and sound quality.

I'm using it now as the last pedal into a vintage Boogie Mark I, with a flanger and various dirt pedals in front, and a Tele or a Strat with humbuckers. It handles both clean and dirty input just fine.

I haven't had it very long, so I can't attest thoroughly to the reliability. But TC's pro gear has an excellent reputation, and I've owned other TC pedals before that were very reliable.

Haven't had to deal with them yet. But I'll give them credit here for a mercifully brief, yet complete and readable manual!

I got this delay mostly for a band I'm in that plays what I call "progressive punk", rock with both prog and punk elements. My playing is heavily ambient, and my sound usually awash in gobs of delay. As such, I'm always looking for better delay sounds. My board has seen excellent stuff like vintage Ibanez rackmount analog delays, EHX analog, old Lexicon Vortex and LXP-5 rackmounts... wonderful, amazing gear. But size and convenience matter too, and this little glorified stomp box has knocked some heavy competition off my board!

To be honest, I'm kind of shocked I wound up with it. On paper, I thought the Nova Delay was a lightweight feature-wise compared with other high-end stompbox delays like the Eventide Timefactor and the Digitech Timebender. Too much money for not enough features. But the practicality and ease of use knocked me out, not to mention the sound! When I could so easily program it to play difficult effects transitions, it was really a no-brainer.

All the controls are self-explanitory so setting up the sound you want and storing and editing presets is easy. The digital readout is great if you need to set the delay to a specific tempo. I didn't like the method of scrolling through presets using the foot switches, which involves quickly jumping between switches. A carefully placed third switch just for scrolling would be better. Access to some features like setting the pedal to true-bypass or changing from 'preset' to 'bank' mode means refering to the manual.

This is surely the most versatile delay available. The colour control works very well and being able to add modulation just to the repeats is a very nice feature. It just does everything really well, from pristine dotted-eighths to woolly tape style delays and sounds great with my EHX English Muff'n for big lead sounds. A number of other reviewers have experienced some tone sucking problems, but with my very short pedal board (compressor > distortion > delay) there was no loss of tone at all even though the pedal was not set to true-bypass mode. Very impressive.

Six months home studio use with no problems but never gigged.

I've emailed TC several times for product info and advice. They've always responded with 48 hours.

Superb pedal. Although I've recently sold it to fund the purchase of a Nova System multi-FX, if I go back to using individual pedals I will definitely be buying another Nova Delay. Highly recommended.

TFC packed a lot of features into the ND-1, but the manual has helped me out a few times when I forgot which button to hold down to engage a certain feature. These sorts of quirks are outweighed for me by the relatively small footprint. I find I sometimes get confused between whether I'm in manual or preset mode - and kick into a song only to find something is way off. Easily remedied by holding down the on/off switch for a second and then tapping to the right preset again.

I use the ND-1 in a mostly true-bypass board with two loops - a drive loop and a time-based effects loop. I tend to switch between 4 presets - a dotted eight tap tempo with some modulation for U2 stuff, a subtle 300ms, a tight 40ms delay to thicken, and a 120ms slapback. Prior to the ND-1 I was using a Boss GT-8. Very versatile delay function with similar features, but the Boss A/D/A converters were not so great - really sucked tone. As noted by many other reviewers, the ND-1 is not true bypass, and it absolutely has an effect on the tone (on or off) when it's in the chain - but a vast improvement over running through a Boss multi-fx unit! Others have described in different ways, but I'll describe it like this - it sounds ever so slightly out of phase, ever so slightly less solid, with a very subtle increase in the high frequencies, maybe above 5k. I don't mind it, since there is no volume drop if you calibrate properly, but it does slightly change the character of the underlying guitar tone.

Seems reliable - I ditched the power supply and use the high-current output from a PP2.

I did contact TC about whether I could use different power supplies and they were responsive and helpful.

I play a wide variety of pop, rock, blues, and funk - and need delays with different colors, not just different delay times. Used a programmed midi rig for years that had specific delay times for songs, and this became a pain to manage, particularly when drummers were feeling something different! Now I tap in the time after drummers count off...

I've thought about the Eventide Timefactor but for the price, the Nova gives me what I need without really sacrificing my core tone.

There's a slight learning curve I suppose but with all the features crammed into a small package it's to be expected. After a few minutes you should be able to tweak setting and begin saving your own presets. You're able to switch between presets using the switches- very useful.

I use some Les Pauls and a Tele, a pedal board with the Nova last running stereo to a HRD and Epi Jr w/ ext cab. It's not noisey and theres is a reasonable bypass- on par with Boss. 1 or 2 buffered bypasses on a mostly true bypass pedal board will not kill your tone. It actually helps in most instances. The delays sound great. You can add mod (chorus) to the level you prefer and theres a tone knob to emulate analog, tape, digital, etc.

No issues so far.

Don't know.

Once you get it set up it allows you to have several great delay settings ready to go without tap dancing on a board of delay pedals.

Well
As of other TC products, I bought this without trying it first. And hey. Plug in, calibrate (according to manual) and presto - it works. For those of you that are blinded by the light.. Go to an optician and get your eyes checked - really. Or take your pill.. I've tried a LOT of guitar effects, and it's not that bright.

As I've read through a lot of the rewies, I gotta say it again. RTFM, I think everybody knows what that means. There's a reason to the fact that every sound tech or studio sound tech, with respect for themselves and the work they do, got at least one or more TC reverb/delay machines in their racks. A true story of life, don't leave home without it. So why should this peadal be of a poor quality? And if you use "high-end" gear.. Well.. Tubes hum and huzz.. Overdrive/distortion pedals, well they tend to fuzz.. Once again. RTFM. As long as you got enough headroom and timbre, it do not, and never will, change the sound of your gear.

One here states so prodly that he uses a PRS (I do to) a Fender (well so do I, with EMG DG-20 set) into a lot of things..
Yes it passes through a lot; Boss OD-3, TC Classic Booster+Distortion, TC SCF, Ernie Ball volume and into a Fender HotRod DeLuxe with copper marked RCA tubes from the 50's.And I use George L's coax cabels..
A true story.. You can't make gold out of nothing. It's NOT the guitar or effects that makes your sound. It's you, and you alone. The rest is called color.

When I'm at home, my total pedalboard is always on, always 24/7. Never once has there been anything wrong. But then again, if you look at it, the only thing that's NOT TC is my Ernie Ball volume and my BOSS OD-3. TC chorus, and distortion. And the Nova drive will be bought soon. And after 15 years as a live soundtech. I'll trust TC Electronic to hell and back.

I've been in touch with both the Danish TC support and the one at Lydsystemer - who imports TC to Norway. And to put it like this. It ain't the first line support at DELL. They know what they are talking about. When I used the G-Major I asked them how I could alter a defective Wah pedal to use as a controller on the Roland FC-200 - to control the filter on the G-Major. It took app 24 hours and I got a wiring scheme in my mailbox.

As always. Read the f**king manual before you use things. I know a lot of the reviews have been written by men/musicians that have a predisposition on NOT/NEVER read a manual. They've used gear for several years, and the first thing that ends up in the trash, is the manual. Get down of your high horse, and read. You might learn something.

It's easy to get a good sound out of this unit. Set the delay tempo, the delay rhythm, the feedback, the mix level, and you're good to go. The manual explains it all easily. Setting and recalling presets is a snap. Lots of options and buttons, but you quickly realize it's all laid out in a simple and straightforward line.

Before addressing the primary issues, let me please address the several reviews stating that this pedal "sucks tone."
True, it is not true-bypass; it always ADA converts the signal. But that doesn't result in poor sound quality. People dramatically underestimate the ease with which today's ADA converters can handle high-quality sound.
There's a lot of "golden ear" audiophile talk about tone in these reviews, which may lead you to believe that if you can't hear this pedal sucking tone, you just "don't hear well enough." Not true. What is true is that, if you do not calibrate the AD converter per the manual instructions, the sound can come out either crunchy-thin or distorted, depending on whether your signal is too low or too high. That will lead to poor "tone." [Timbre, actually, but hobby guitarists don't seem to have ever learned the right word for their life's pursuit. Hint, guys: no amount of money will make your "tone" good enough to replace good taste].
Moving on:
I run synthesizers and bass modules through this, DI into my recorder. It is never noisy. The "modulation" effects have very little impact. The "color" knob, as far as I can tell, is just a low-pass filter. It's nice to have, though, because it gives you control over the brightness of the delay relative to the original signal.

It has worked fine for me. I would gig with it, no problem, although it does look much more at home on a desktop in a studio next to a bunch of other glowing digital equipment.

I sent in a request before buying the pedal to verify that the ping-pong effect would be active with both inputs plugged in. They got back to me with a detailed explanation of exactly *why* the ping-pong function would still work. Good stuff.

This is a great pedal for anyone who needs a delay pedal (which is anyone who plays a synthesizer, and probably basically anyone else, too). I play techno. It is a necessity for techno.
I've been playing for about five years, and have several synthesizers and drum machines, as well as a gob of distortion pedals and various other effects/filters/etc.
I got this pedal as a step up from my Boss DD-6. The reason I got and have kept it is that you can run true stereo effects (like stereo chorus) into it and still get the ping-pong delay type out. [If both inputs are plugged in on the DD-6, its delay time is the same out of both the L and R channels; you can only get the ping-pong effect if only one of its inputs is connected]. Another improvement: If you change the delay range or delay type on the DD-6, the delay just stops cold as the pedal switches over. On the ND-1, the old delay keeps going as you change to a new setting.
These two functions together go to show that the ND-1 is a much deeper and more versatile pedal than pretty much any other delay pedal out there. It's a lot of fun.
The delay times can be set precisely by the millisecond, but they can't be set precisely by bpm. You can get close enough most of the time, but it would be nice to have precise .1bpm control. You have to manually set the bpm to multiples of the base tempo for things like 1/16th note delay. The higher the bpm, the lower the accuracy. More delay rhythm options (1/16-note, in particular) would have been nice to help avoid this problem.
The auto-audio-tempo-tap function actually works like a champ. I am extremely impressed with that function.
There isn't another delay pedal out there that is as good as (much less superior to) this one for people who are interested in making technological music. It provides a lot of control and options to let you focus on other performance matters. There are other delays you can get for cheaper that will give you 90% of the functionality of this pedal. I have found, though, that TC Electronic obviously put a lot of thought into this pedal and realized that the missing 10% was exactly what would make a delay pedal almost everything that it could be.

horrow pedal ! I like line 6 DL4 OR EVENTIDE but nova is rely bad !!!

sound are buzzy , fuzzy and very bad !!!!

so small !!!

?

damn pedal, don1t buy this f. gear

Very easy to use, the easiest delay pedal i have ever came across. A great feature is that you can scroll through your presets by tapping the tap tempo switch and then tapping the on/off switch, to choose which preset to select. Rather than bending down and clicking the preset button.

Well it's hard the get a good sound from the nova delay. It goes from my boss tu-2 - fulltone ocd -nova delay and out into orange tiny terror.

The problem with the nova is that it takes a little bit of tone from the circuit. Even if i use george l's cable.

It has never let me down. I would gig without a backup no problem.

Never dealt with tc electronic.

Easy to use, sounds great, no problems, gets the correct sound using the color knob.

Hopeless.
Red digit display is always on - I mean always. Blinds you to the other controls. You need a miners headlamp on to operate this thing.

When you can see it - it is fairly straightforwad to use.

I used (past tense) this in the loop with a high quality 30W class AA tube amp, high quality speakers 2x12 and valves etc, expensive low capacitance cables, high quality true bypass effects - 2 in front, 2 in loop (including this, PRS & Fender guitars, blah, blah blah i.e a quality guitar rig.

The Nova did a fantastic job of making $K's of painfully crafted guitar tone sound like a $100 Line 6. Gee thanks TCE.

When I plugged this in and heard it my heart sank like a stone. It's the most un-inspiring, sterile, lifeless thing I have ever heard. Took it out and it all sprang back into life again.

Here is why.

This effect digitizes all of the signals - wet and dry. So when you engage the effect there is very little tone change. It sounds like true bypass - yes. But the thing is it bypasses all of the bueatiful organic living breathing tone of your guitar and amp as well. Go straight to Line 6 land. Frankly, I couldn't even play my guitar with this effect in it. I tried to get a tone out of it - but there isn't one there.

It might be fine if you are into high gain, distorted, screeching, shredding mush - you won't notice the difference. But if you're like me and you invest in your tone and play in response to the musicality of your sound - this is one to avoid.

If you think that this is true bypass - you should get a new hearing aid.

TCE should bring back the discontinued Vintage Delay. It's the same as a T Rex Replica - which I ended up with - sound fantastic. However, this is a gizmmo - not a quality guitar effect.

I normally detest guitar snobbery - each to their own. But if you are tuned into tone I want to save you the hassle that I had with this thing.

I guess it's pretty well built. However, you couldn't gig it - you can't see it to change settings due to the blinding display. If you looked down at it without sunglasses it will blind you.

I tried to contact TCE for help with the tone. They don't want to know. Got single line e-mails - one every 3 days. They are really looking for the cosmic kids with too much pocket money - they don't know the difference.

The only good thing about this was that the UK dealer that I purchased this unit from Absolute Music Solutions are an excellent outfit. Excellent pricing, delivery and service. Top quality - use these guys - they are great. Not only that they do a great magazine that you receive with your purchase. Excellent articles in there especially if you record etc. Thanks guys! The AMS guys score 10 - but TCE are poor.

I play Jazz/Rock/Pop/Funk electric and Classical guitar. Been playing for nearly 30 yrs. Own all kinds of stuff.

I would make this availible for theft.

Watch out for this fully digitized signal thing - it's a dog. It sucked the life out of me.

Ended up with a T Rex Replica instead - it's expensive - but heavenly.

Relatively intuitive. The manual settings allow you to dial in repeats, level, time, etc. in a pretty standard way. It has lots of indicators so you don't forget exactly what settings you're on. A little tedious when it comes to cycling through patches, but it makes up for only having 2 buttons, by it by not being huge. Plus, your settings remain on the screen when the effect is in bypass mode, so you know what you're clicking into when you turn it on. No complaints here.... probably the best user interface I've seen on a multi channeled digital delay.

Great quality. no noticeable tone suck when in bypass. Not true bypass, but a good active bypass system nonetheless. fairly accurate reproductions of analog/tape delays, with extremely crisp digital delays. Plenty of headroom with the 12V adapter.

THIS is where the problem is. If there was an option for -10, I'd choose it. Horrible. Unreliable. Terrible. I can't stress this enough, which basically makes the rest of these responses pointless. I wouldn't gig with this with 10 backups, and here's why. The unit I got (and PLENTY of others from what I've read) has a problem where it will randomly lock up. However, unlike many other digital products, when it locks up, it locks into the mode that you were currently in. If the delay is on, it's locked on. the tap tempo won't work, the on/off won't work. NOTHING will work. Your signal still passes, which is nice, but if you're locked onto a long delay and you need it off, you're screwed. When it decides to act up like this (that's the other thing. NOTHING seems to trigger this.) It will continue to do so for a couple of days. Figure that out? You can unplug the unit, plug it back in, it will work for about 10 seconds and then lock up again. Sometimes it does this twice a week... sometimes it does this once every 2 months. I dealt with it for 8 months because the pedal itself is THAT good.... but I'm finally getting rid of it after THREE trips to TC to have it "repaired." It's almost like it knows when you're at a gig also. It hardly ever malfunctioned during rehearsal... but live... ALL THE TIME.

I must say... they're prompt, helpful, and great people. I suppose it's not tech support's fault they have a sucky product. I contacted them about a power supply that I lost, wanting to buy a new one. They mailed me a new one for free, and it was in my mailbox within the week. Generally they respond online within 12 hours. Very courteous, helpful, knowledgeable

I can't give it higher than a 1 because what's the point of a great effect that DOESN'T ALWAYS WORK?? Sorry TC. You really hosed a lot of people with this one

For sometime I have been after a small foot print standalone delay pedal with presets. I gig in a covers band and compose my own music. I use delay frequently and needed a pedal with a little more flex than the standard Level, Time and Feedback controls.
My Nova is in my FX loop so I can still use my amps drive without ???clashing??? delay. I use a few other pedals (OD, Wah, Phase, Chorus).
There are now a few multi delay pedals on the market; notably the Boss DD-20, Line6 DL-4 and TC Electronic NOVA.
I opted for the Nova based upon the TC-2290 pedigree (though I???ve never played one!) ??? I was not disappointed. 2nd choice would have been the DL4, but I've heard that these pedal suffer from reliability. In addition I???d tried an Echopark and wasn???t impressed. (I sold a Boss DD-5 and Echopark after buying the Nova).

I won???t go through all the Nova???s features as there are too many ??? you can download manual from the official web page. My account will allude to those most relevant to me.

So, what do I like about the Nova??

1) You have 9 presets available. In order to change between them you have to cycle through them i.e. to go from 3 to 1 you have to tap 7 times (3-4-5-6-7-8-9-1) !! In this respect the DL4 has the upper hand, but the DL4 is limited to 3 presets PERIOD.
That said the Nova???s switches are extremely responsive and I have never found ???cycling??? a burden if you plan the presets order carefully. You can also "limit" the Nova to however many presets you like ??? see the manual (p16).

2) Footprint. The Nova is a reasonable size for such a feature packed pedal. More compact than both the DL4 and DD-20.

3) Tap Tempo. Tempo can be altered real time, and the delay interval can be set to a specified musical subdivision (subdiv) e.g. 1/4 note, dotted 1/8 etc. Further more each preset can be assigned a subdiv for the tap function. The Nova has a choice of 6 subdivs. 3 of these generate single mono delays; 3 generate a dual ???stereo??? delays where a different subdiv is sent to each of the left/right outputs e.g. 1/4 note LEFT, 1/8 triplet RIGHT. These dual delays really thicken your sound!! When used with a single amp, the left and right signals are summed to a mono output and sound great. So single amp users (me included) can benefit from all subdivs ??? mono or stereo.
Another interesting feature is that tempo can also be set via audio input i.e. strumming the guitar with quarter notes. I have found this useful and at times more accurate that tapping in tempo.

4) Bypass quality. To my ears, this unit has a unity gain buffered bypass which is very high quality and keeps the integrity of the original signal. I notice no difference whether the unit is in or out of my chain.

5) Modes ??? the Nova has 6 delay modes. Some of these are stereo (e.g. ping pong, pan) but again they are summed to mono when using a single amp. Ping pong especially sings ??? see below.

6) Intuitive controls ??? the Nova has a lot of functions and controls which appears bewildering at first. However the controls are very logical and clearly well thought out. Makes operating the unit live a breeze.
The unit is well laid out and has an LED for on/off and a flashing LED to indicated delay interval.
Delay tempo can be displayed in either Milliseconds (ms) or BPM.

Simply excellent ??? its hard to be critical. Using the standard ???delay line??? mode (with no colouring) you get an extremely pure high-quality sample of your source signal but??? delayed. No more, no less.

I have purposely not used the ???warm??? and ???cold??? terms because using the colour knob you can alter the high reqs of the repeats accordingly. This enables the delays to stand out instead of sounding too similar to your original signal. With the colour at full cw, you have high quality repeats. At mid position (analog) repeats are darker and more natural ??? I hate to use a U2 example but this setting is close to the ???One??? solo. At full ccw (???Tape???) the hi cut is quite severe but creates wonderfully rich dark undertones ??? when used with 1/4 note delays this can give a riff/melody an ethereal quality.
Generally, I like to use 75% colour as standard (somewhere between digital and analog).

**Modes**
I normally either use the ???delay line??? or ???ping pong??? modes.

Ping pong is brilliant!! As stated above I use it through a single amp (where stereo ping pong is summed to mono). The results are superb. It kinda sounds like 2 delays at different intervals, but some of the repeats are louder and some softer. It sounds very musical ??? especially when used on the dotted 1/8 sub div. I do find you have to blend more wet signal when using stereo modes mono, but no great shakes.

Dynamic mode cool but IMHO ducks the signal too much while you???re playing - I cant find a use for this. The manual advises you calibrate the unit accordingly and I have tried this but am still dissatisfied with the results. Apparently the dynamic mode is a descendant from the TC-2290 ??? however the TC-2290 has the ability to adjust the ducking threshold which is not available on the Nova.

Reverse is also a little pants ??? this seems to come on all delay pedals and I am still to find a genuine use for it.

A ???Hold??? function would have been appreciated but given the other features of the unit I am not too worried.

**Modulation**
In addition to colour you can also add some modulation (chorus-type-wobble) to repeats similar to the EH Memory Man. There are 3 types of mod available ??? they all have a chorus quality but just vary in severity (1 being lowest, 3 highest). Once you select the mod type, you dial in the mix using the mod level control.
Again, this can make the delays stand out in your mix ??? or it can fill out you overall band sound. Great for giving the impression of a keyboard part. I have used it in an arrangement of Fleetwood Mac???s ???Everywhere??? to replicate the intro.
Would have been nice to have 3 distinct types of modulation for further variety perhaps. Chorus, Vibrato and Wow/Flutter.

I probably should mentioned that settings for mod type, mod level and colour are all stored into presets for instant recall. NICE!

**U2 fans** Yes, the Nova does the dotted 1/8 (3/16) delay very well. Yes, you can tap to this interval or use the audio tap. Will this unit make you sound like Edge? Yes ??? and No. Edge uses a high quality delay unit for his delays ??? in this respect the Nova excels and is a good basis on which to build. However, it???s the other elements of his rig that make Edge stand out. I.e. even a TC-2290 alone will not give Edge???s sound as it is just a delay and does not have the other necessary components which make up Edge???s arsenal; namely AC30, Herdim pick, compression, reverb, overdrive and the coveted ???shimmer???. The Nova (and other good delays) can get you in the ball park with a high quality delay line (comparable to the TC2290), but you need other effects in the chain to give you the Edge???s sound.

**Noise??** I have never experienced ANY noise with this pedal. None. I use a generic 12v switch-mode power supply (see reliability). No issues here whatsoever.

I owned the unit for 7 months and have had no issues with reliability. However, I do have some comment.

**Build Quality**
The Nova is built well ??? but is not full proof. The sides, back and footswitch panel are brushed metal (steel?) but the display is (understandably) made from perspex and could be scratched easily if care is not taken.
Knobs feel solid but pots are probably PCB mounted so it would be a nightmare if pot shafts were accidentally snapped off.
For the price the build quality is fair but the Nova is something I wouldn???t keep at the bottom of my kit bag for fear of damage.

**PSU**
My major gripe with this unit is the PSU - this is why I score a 6 for this category. The PSU adapter cable is quite inflexible. Within a month of purchase the cable on my PSU split near the transformer strain relief exposing some of the copper wire. Not Good.
I appreciate that different units may be shipped with different PSUs so not everyone will have this problem.
The PSU was cheap to replace. I ended up buying a general 12V 500ma switch-mode PSU from ebay (??3). Simple enough. However, I expected a better PSU to begin with for the price I paid.

No comment ??? have never asked for customer support.

TC electronic???s website is very comprehensive though and has easy access to forums and manuals (which may sound obvious but not every company does that!!). They also seem to support products long after they have been archived.

I like to think that TC electronic would have replaced my damaged PSU but I never asked them to do so.

I depend on this pedal and it delivers which is why I rate this a 9. It???s a reasonably sized box rich with features and sounds that you would normally only expect to find in a rack mounted unit.

Sound quality is pure and excellent; the colour control can help to get more organic delay sounds. Dynamic mode could be more ??? well ??? er??? dynamic, but not certain where I would use that anyway.

Considering a new Boss DD-7 is ??110, the price for the Nova (??150) is excellent value for money.

The Nova does not brag the capability to capture the sound of several old-skool delays units. It only does one thing VERY VERY well ??? that is providing a pure sounding high quality delay line with useful variable parameters that can be stored into upto 9 presets. If this is what you???re after then don???t hesitate. Buy it. You wont be disappointed.

U2 fans should definitely consider one of these above those old decrepit korg units you see popping up on eBay.

This pedal is not too tricky, but you will need to keep the manual handy to remember all the features. With all the dual-function buttons, it can get a bit confusing. The manual is great though. As far as on-stage use, i don't really like the footswitches, they sometimes take a bit more than your regular stomp to engage the pedal.

Using with a Shecter 006, with a G2D overdrive and tuner, into an old alron 25 amp. It is never noisy, whisper-quiet. I like all the sound options, how you can select from digital to analog sound, which does a nice job of making the repeats more in your face, or in the background. easy to get nice U2-ish rhythm delays, still haven't mastered the quicker slapbacks, but that's coz they're not really my style. I like blindside, kings of leon, deftones, dave matthews band, and this pedal is great for my style of music. i use it at church and in an original band.

Seems dependable, but like i said earlier, the footswitches sometimes don't quite work normally.

Not sure

I play rock, i would probably get this pedal again if stolen. Maybe try an Ibanez AD-9 and fit it with an expression pedal to control delay time for spacey warp effects.... fun! Sometimes i think all the options could be over the top for me, but maybe i'll use them all someday. Best things on this pedal are absolutely no noise, pretty good bypass (no change to sound i can hear), and all the foot control available.

well after working with simple stomp boxes the tc is more complicated -manuallll..the sound is very good like a rack but with a lot of problems
who care!!!!

the sound is very good a lot of situations and patch combinations..
i used 335s and strats (vint..and new)

bad bad bad shame on you tc!!!!i never had lot of problems like that with gear
and its new!!!a lot of bugs ....when you work with preset the nova never remember your stored presets and i did all the options of this pedal(sub etc...)and after one or two howers the pedal stop to work but the lights blinking you need to take out the adapter and its come back to life what a sheat!!!

i am a pro guitarist 18 years(studio.. 600 tv shows. etc)that had every thing in the market for guitarist
i prefer realible eqip like boss,digitech or eventide for hard work

Its easy to use

Its has all kinds of delay that you would need. Great studio quality. The problem is that its color/sucks the original tone. Even when bypassed. =/ The sound became a litlle bit more liquid, i dont know how to explain...Maybe most people can't hear the diference, but if you have good ears you will notice this... The solution i have found is to connect this pedal in parallel using the send and return of the amp. So the signal will be mixed whith the original.

Very easy to program if you have any experience with recent gadgets. Manual is clear and helpful.

Using a PRS with a Mesa Mark IV. This delay is excellent, offering clean digital delays or analog imitations. Can ape my Boss DM-3 perfectly, or produce exact/clear digital repeats, as needed. Dynamic delay is great for uncluttered leads with sweet delay at any pauses. I can get everything from B-52's to Kurt Rosenwinkel.

No problems so far. (I've had the TC Electronic Chorus for ten years with no troubles.)

Play straight ahead jazz, original power pop and covers (since 1970). Also use a Deluxe Reverb II, 1978 Les Paul, newer Strat and Howard Roberts Fusion. This delay is really all you need and the only one you need.

Its very easy to use, the controls and display are realy good. And the only thing that is good about it is that you can precisely tune the delay time to your song's tempo. You can also change between presets, which could be also very useful.

Here is the problem, the pedal makes the signal lifeless, even when bypassed and the overall result isn't good. What I think is the case is that the pedal converts the signal to digital, even when bypassed. Realy tempting package with everything you would need from a delay pedal, but with out any soul. If the delayed signal was mixer with the original signal(not a converted one), then maybe it would have worthed keeping it.

When I took it home I realised that the plug coming from the adaptor was defective and the cable was poping out. I took it back and iexchange it with the TC classic booster distortion. Shortly I realised that the Gate knob wasn't doing anything I went to the shop again and took another one. So both the delay and distortion where defective. So I guess I have to rate the reliability low.

Never had to contact the company, the dealer was very helpful.

I like all kinds of music and mainly I make my own stuff. I also own an old tape delay which sounds fantastic but its not reliable its very big and heavy, noisy, difficult to adjust and also needs a lot of maintenance. I bougth the TC hoping to make use out of it but my wishes didn't come true. It has everything you might dream of for a delay peday
but without the sound. I realy couldn't enjoy playing my Les Paul through it. Maybe in the future I ll buy another digital delay but for now I am keeping my chain analog and I have other priorities. As a result I am planing to buy an analog delay instead.

Considering the power and potential this thing has to inspire and deliver the style you want id say its a great design. The controls are easy to understand, but reading the first few pages of each section in the manual would do you some good, although i haven't and it works absolutely fabulous for me. The stereo ping pong and excessive feedback options are wonderful. Almost a 10 because it continues to show off features down the road.

I cant say enough about this thing or the quality that must have gone into it. its like the people at tc sat there and went..."you know if we are going to charge someone 240 for this it better turn some heads." And it surely turns mine. Im a tone freak but not a guru, so my chain consists of a tonebone loopbone that has rev. chorus and the delay in one loop and mod and trem in another. it sounds so good sometimes i just want to keep indulging in the possibilities of complex harmonics delayed on top of chorusy riffs and leads. THESE GUYS DID A GREAT JOB.

Seems like the old vantage to me, if you treat it like you don't want to buy another, you wont have. to.

Never Dealt with them but i bet they would make sure your happy with their product.

Hands down one of the finest pedals on my board, and id say just me pedal board alone would cost around 1000 dollars in pedals. It was expensive but it does its thing quite well. Im totally squared away in the delay department and that is hard to do since i am also one of those who cant stand the thought of the grass being 100 dollars away from green if you know what i mean. Maybe its a disease, but this pedal kicks ass and i wouldn't trade it for any other.

lots of features, i had a boss dd-20, which i thought was a little easier to see your settings on a dark stage, but other that,once you read the owners manual and learn about this pedal you will be blown away by all that it can do.

unbelievable. that is all i can say. And for recent posts who says it sucked the volume out of your guitar or the pedal was noisy, these people do not know what they are talking about. First, calibrate your pedal like it says to do in the owners manual. That will take care of evening out the volume when the pedal is off. Second, if you plug your pedal into a channel strip or outlet that runs your lights, computer, tv,etc. you are going to get noise no matter what. that is why it is always worth it to buy a good power source that isolates each pedal(ex. voodoo labs pedal power 2). this is by far the best delay i have ever heard. demoed the eventide timefactor and it did not sound any better. buy far best bang for the buck

built like a tank, love the switches.

have'nt dealt with them. There is no phone# for tech support, just email, which kind of pisses me off, so if i have problems with pedal down the road i guess i will find out.

great pedal, and for all potential buyers take it from somebody who knows what they are talking about instead of the majority of posters her who have no idea how to set up a pedal. If you calibrate the pedal like the owners manual tells you to do and isolate the power source, there will be no loss in volume and tone and no noise! by the way just purchased the nova modulater pedal and it sounds amazing also. Best two pedals I have ever bought.

If you are experienced with other delay pedals, both analog and digital, then it's fairly straightforward to work out the controls and get a fairly good idea of the range of this pedal's features.

The manual isn't the greatest but fortunately this isn't the sort of pedal where reading the manual is essential (providing you know what delays you want and the theory behind creating them) I'm going to mark it down in useability because the presets are simply not very gig friendly. As others have noted, changing presets on the fly is a bit of a nightmare.

I'm being really picky because this pedal is very easy to use but another thing that would have been good is a footswitch to select between modulation modes. It also isn't true bypass. Back on the plus side, the displays are bright and clear and there's virtually no difference in level between having the pedal on or off, great!

I play my trusty '80s Jap Strat through a menagerie of pedals and sometimes into a Line 6 POD XT in lieu of my Marshall amp.

The TC Nova delay gives me quality sounding crystal clear digital delay which can be warmed up by modulation and a "color" knob that sounds great half way between digital and analog. This is crucial for "warming" the sound up and getting closer to the old-school analog BBD way of things. It's incredibly natural sounding and sensitive to dynamics for a digital delay.

I'm a delay freak and as such I'm always interested in the various delay sounds of U2 - The Edge being pretty much the granddaddy of dotted 8th note rhythmic delay. The Nova is the closest thing I can get to the rack mounted units used by U2 since they stopped using the Memory Man. In fact I can get any delay sound that inspires me through the Nova Delay and make it sound very convincing with no other effects added.

As with all delays, this will do different things depending on where you put it in the signal path. Typically it should go after distortion and modulation - it's always worth trying out in the effects loop but delay should play well with other effects.

I'm still relying on my POD for gigs since I've yet to complete my collection of replacement pedals, so not much to say here... Seems well constructed, it's heavy, the footswitches are not quite as nice and clunky as I prefer though.

Not dealt with support

I play various styles of music. One of my two bands is a church worship band so I have to cover a huge variety of styles and often have to cope with dynamically shifting tempo. Therefore, tap tempo is a Godsend.

I tend to use the dotted 8th note pattern more than anything else, in both bands - it's very useful to be able to to set the pedal to that note division and then just tap on each beat to get in time. Not like the funky back-beat foot shuffle that I've had to do with other pedals.

My first delay pedal was an Electro Harmonix Delux Memory Man and I absolutely loved it. It did every kind of delay and my only gripe was the lack of tap tempo. I bought a Line 6 POD XT Live and found the delay models extremely useful but not quite on par with the memory man. However, the tap tempo feature really won me over to the digital side of things.

The only thing I wish this pedal had is a true analog BBD circuit built in as an option for real analog delay - much like the Pigtronix pedal seems to have. I was sold more on the clarity and quality of the digital delay and the TC Electronic U2 connection than on wackiness of the Pigtronix... I think have enough wackiness in my EH Micro-Synth and Fulltone Choralflange already!

If you want the best analog delay sound, get a Memory Man. If by a miracle you can find a Diamond Memory Lane then please tell me if it's better because I've never been able to get my hands on one for a comparison! However, if you want a very high quality digital delay with which you can pretty much nail any delay sound used by U2 since Joshua Tree, then get a couple of TC electronic rack mounted TC 2290s. If you can't afford that, get yourself a TC Nova Delay!

All in all the Nova Delay is easy to use as far ad basic settings. However, they do have a few setting buried deep so watch holding down the buttons and just trying things blindfolded.
Fairly easy getting around, editing patches, manual could be a bit better, but, not bad and certainly comes in handy for a few functions. My unit is current firmware

guitars used are custom Strat, Custom Tele, Gibson Les Paul Jr, Danelectro Prototype U2....
Doesn't seem noisy ..
One thing I have noticed on several of the new delay units (digital modeling/replicate Analog Delay) is that no matter where you set the balance, it just doesn't seem to sit properly .. to soft / too loud, delay wise. I have an 1982 or so Boss Analog Delay DM-2 tha only goes to 300 ms .. but .. no matter what you are doing or where you set the balance, it just sounds great and blends with your tone , enhances and just does it !
None of the newer Digital pedals get anywhere close to that.
It not a bad pedal, but I'm not in love with the tones or quality.

I purchased mine from Guitar Center Nashville > artist relation on 2/28/ 08 .. it apparently never worked properly. I had to isolate every pedal in my board to find the problem.
I am using there stock power supply they send with the unit.
What happens is. I lose my signal as if there were a master mute. All pedals still getting power, all lights still lit. For some reason, the TC Nova Delay just stops working .. no sound, but all appears normal as al lights are still lit. I have to unplug the unit, then power it up again and its fine ... for a short while. It is intermittent within an hour of use. On several sessions where I was using effects to track and had my pedalboard in the loop, we lost my tracks, had to punch in .. simply pretty much killed the artistic vibe of the moment .. plus, pretty much bummed out the Producer, Engineer and clients.

Well, I've been to corporate dinners with CEOs in the past (several years ago) and was certainly treated different then. It seems there support is geared at the user being a novice. SUpport seems to hold you off as long as possible .. pretty much corporate stuff.
After a week of emails, phone calls .. their support site didn't send some of my information, serial #, etc ............. I am told that they will send me an RMA and turnaround time I'm told i about 3 weeks. Guess I should have bought two or three to be safe .. or gone with the Eventide or Damage Control Timeline or Glass Nexus .. which is what I plan to do.
Support is nice and all, but very ineffective for the Pro Working Player. I had requested as GC said, to have TC contact artist relations GC to replace my Nova Delay, which certainly would have helped me .. but no.
I did receive my Rush RMA via email immediately .. well, after a week of emails and phone calls, will be returning it and it will be sold immediately on return.
I was going to give them a 1 rating here , basically useless as t really is for me .. but, they try and are bound by corporate rules.

I play mainly Rock /Classic / Blues / Rock~Country/ .. I've been playing my whole life , well over 25 years. My pedalboard includes a Paul Cochrane Timmy, Demeter Compulator, Xotic AC+, Fulltone Fulldrive II Mosfet, Ibanez TS-10 (modified), Original Rat (original Keeley Mod),Demeter Fuzzulator, Demeter Tremultor, Ibanez Bi-Chorus, Nova Delay and a few other things that come and go .. Vox 847 Wah (modded, Enie Ball Volume pedal, Boss EQ7 original, and more.
If it were lost or stolen, I wish it would have been before all this tech repair support started as it sure has taken a lot of time .. by time we get it straightened out, it will have been a month .. not including never really working properly or troubleshooting or lost tracks.
I use to have the original TC Chourus/Vibrato (I think thats what it was named) and I can say that there is no comparison between those two pedals by TC as far as quality and being great product .. the nova doesn't get anywhere close to the old TC Chorus !!!!!!!

I don??t know, if it easy to use. When I first plugged it between my guitar and the amp (in front of the amp, not the loop) I noticed a remarkable sound loss, even without having it engaged. I could not believe it and I had my friend plug and unplug it very quickly while I continued playing. For both of us, the sound loss was really noticeble!
I can??t live with an effect which degrades my sound (for which I??ve spent thousands of EUR to get it as good as it is) as much as this unit does.
I am staying with my Hughes & Kettner Replex, which colour the tone when it is engaged (in a good way) but it leaves the original sound as it is, when the effect is disengaged.

see above

An effect of this prize category made from a company which has such a good reputation should not degrade your original sound, when you put it in your chain. I am very disappointed.

Very easy to get a great sound out of.

The sound is the best I've heard from a delay pedal. Uncoloured, no volume boost or drop off. Musical in every way. From digital to analogue settings the quality is immaculate.

All seems to be very good

There is one feature that I find completly annoying that no other reviewer has mentioned. Why doesn't the unit show which patch your on rather than the beats per minute? Live this is very frustrating if your swapping patches for each song ie( what bloody patch am I on!!!). And then when trying to go from one patch to another if you don't hit the right footswitch then the left and scroll through the pacthes you can reset the tempo and alter the patch by mistake. I've done this a couple of times and been really annoyed at trying to get the tempo etc back to what I had. I rarely want to work out the tempo anyway based on tapping my foot and having that as the display for a gig. Counter intuitive if you ask me!!!

If you're a gigging musician and need several different delays and need to switch back and forth between them, this unit is not for you. While it does produce excellent lush modulated delays, TC Electronics didn't make it easy to use on stage. What I don't like about this unit:
(1) to change presets you have to hit the tap / tempo button then quickly hit the on / off switch pretty quickly or it won't change presets.
(2) you can't go to one preset on the fly; you have to cycle through them. My feeling is that they should have put a 3rd button to cycle through the presets to make it much easier.
(3) while you can set tempo by strumming the strings and pushing down on the tempo / tap button for 2 seconds (which by the way, is a brilliant idea), it cuts off the volume while you set the tempo). For stage work this might not be a good option.
(4) Tapping the tempo while standing is not always as easy as it looks and is a little difficult on stage. Not difficult to do at all when sitting down though.
(5) Slight hum noticeable. I think this could have been fixed with better shielding or better design of the power supply which seems to be the source of the hum.


Okay the pluses +:
(1) VERY GOOD delays; particularly the modulation effects. If you want to sound like U2 this unit will do the job.
(2) Ability to change tempo in real time via tap / tempo or use or by strumming strings is a great idea and is genius.
(3) Digital readout very easy to read in the dark.
(4) compact size of the pedal leaves more room for other pedals on your board.

I tested the unit for a day using a Marshall AVT275 amplifier and a Fender Stratocaster 60's retro strat with HS-3 and YJM pickups and an Epiphone Les Paul Ultra II (new). I have been playing for over 30 years and have listened to a lot of delay units in my time including Eventides, Electro-Harmonix Memory Man, various Boss delays including the DD-20 and those built into my GT-8.

I did notice that the modulated delays did have a tendency to make the distortions resonate and feed back a little strangely. Not the best lead sound on certain settings per my experience with the unit.

The normal "built like a tank" addage works here. You could use it without needing a backup.

No experience with customer support.

I play metal, classic rock, alternative rock, gospel / christian, country music...a little of everything, especially after 30 years. Believe it or not, I listen to and like a lot of the current bands that the teens listen to. Good music is good music, regardless of the genre or age.

I have listened to a lot of other units and did a lot of research before buying the Nova Delay ND-1 which I am sending back because of it's difficulty for using in stage work. The delay units that sound best to me are the Eventide, T-Rex, and the Line 6 DL4. If they would make the DL4 more compact, put it in all metal casing, change that ugly green color and make a few cosmetic changes, and just generally build it better it would be in a class by itself.

Having said all this the Nova Delay ND-1 would be excellent if they eliminated the hum and made it more stage friendly. It would be excellent for recording in a studio as long as you eliminated the hum.

It's not immediate but takes max 1 hour to understand. There are some special features like different mod types, a nice ducking delay, and especially the audio tap tempo, which lets you set tap/delay times with hitting the guitar with your hand in rhythm while the output is muted, VERY good. Also the different available note values (with triplets and stuff) is very nice.

Also there is adjustable level which can take quite a range, and the unit is selfadjusting the levels to your amps loop, which is really cool.

Also going from Digi to Analog to Tape tone wise is cool.

For the price and the build quality of this unit, it's a straight 10.

I don't dig so much the dynamic delay (I would like to be able to set a delay level for the ducking, so it doesn't disappear completely while playing).

Reverse is funny.

Pan/PingPong not so relevant for me (playing mono) but wanna try with a second amp.

But the simple delay is great! With the many controls it can be tweaked to deliver MANY different tones, from U2 to Gary Moore, from Pink Floyd to Doors to very modern stuff.

Have tried it in both, a Marshall Vintage Modern and a Bogner Shiva, and both amps are picky about stuff in the loop, and in both this pedal sounds absolutely neutral, dynamic, clean (or dirty if you set it that way). Especially on the Bogner I was only satisfied with Lexicon rack gear so far, so this is the first pedal being as good in that context.

Again: for the price this is as good as it gets!

seems rugged but just had it 2 weeks. no opinion yet

couldn't tell

just what is available on their website in terms of downloads and information is really cool, which is an important part of overall service

Compared to other units in the market, the Eventide or Damage Control or T-Rex or TC or Roland, this is the best price/value and quality option on the market.

I have owned delays from Ibanez, T-Rex, Lexicon, Danelectro, and this is a great unit, both usability as well as sound wise.

Pretty straight forward delay pedal, all the parameters are fully understandable although a careful reading of the manual is necessary to discover all the little tricks this unit has!

I am using it in the loop of my Mesa Mark IV! I can notice a difference in tone *it's not tone SUCK* when I enable/disable the loop, but to be perfectly honest I love that little "something" this pedal adds to my tone, like it makes it a little brighter!
Of course the quality of the delay is over the top, really pristine and clear and with all those options you can have some beautiful sounds!
I really liked the mod function with my cleans cause I don't have a chorus pedal and it maked them shine!

Seems very solid, built like a tank, the footswitches feel great, it's kinda heavy (but for me heavy=quality :D) and seems sturdy!
I wish I had the extra money to have a backup for gigs, although I don't think I'll be needing one!

Never contacted TC! I hope I don't do it soon, because customer support=problems :D

I've been playing for 9 years now, I currently own a Mesa Boogie Mark IV, a Morley Wah, a Behringer Delay (that was before T.C. :D) and two Ibanez's! I was looking for a great quality delay to buy and I think I have finally found it! Absolutely perfect for the styles I play (progressive metal and stuff), if someone steals it from me I'll make him suffer big time! ;)

It took me about 15 to 20 minutes to figure out all the knobs on this thing, but thanks to the display it was easy to dial in some settings once I got the hang of it. After you enter in your presets you can change settings/styles quickly, which makes this thing a lot of fun to use. I only gave an eight because it does take a little bit to set up to your taste, but once you get there it's great.

My setup: '62 reissue strat or Epiphone Les Paul w/ Gibson '57 pickups > vox v847 wah > mxr dynacomp > proco rat > visual sound jekyll and hyde > voodoo lab microvibe > electro-harmonix deluxe electric mistress > nova delay > Orange Tiny Terror through an Avatar 1 x 12 cab with Celestion V30. I will be adding an Analogman BC 108 Sunface in the coming days to round out my attempt to make a David Gilmour style setup.

I haven't noticed any noise from this pedal so I would ignore the person complaining about the lack of true bypass. It sounds great, plain and simple. Doesn't seem to alter the tone in any noticeable way when it's not switched on.

I bought this pedal because so I could at least sound like an Edge since I'm not the Edge. I haven't run the pedal through two amps to use the stereo set up, but the pedal is supposed to approximate it through one amp and it does a good job. Once you get the presets dialed in you can get a sweet David Gilmour and Jimmy Page sound. I have plans for the reverse delay to see if I can do some Beatles backwards solo stuff, doubt it will be perfect, but could sound pretty cool.

I got the pedal only about 2 weeks ago. It's built like a tank so I don't anticipate any problems... maybe I'll follow up in a year.

Haven't dealt with T.C. Electronic at all so I couldn't tell you.

I've been playing for about 7 years now and I typically play or butcher the normal classic rock bands... Beatles, Floyd, Zeppelin. If my Nova Delay were stolen I'd probably bust a vein, but slowly replace it and everything else that was stolen. The pedal sounds great and can switch between some pretty varied styles on the fly. I love all the options and especially the modulation you can add to the delay. Sounds amazing when you add a little mod to your clean signal. All the strange things you can do with the pedal make you want to make music.

Resonably easy to use. Very good layout. Text isn't back-lite, so it's difficult to read in low light.

Note to the previous reviewer: THIS IS NOT A TRUE BYPASS pedal. The AD/DA converter runs all the time, whether the pedal is switched on or off. Don't believe me? Then unplug the power and see if your signal can be heard. It shuts the signal off. A true hard bypass design would not. I CHECKED WITH TC, AND ALTHOUGH SOME OF THEIR TECHS TELL PEOPLE IT'S DRY SIGNAL IS BUFFERED AND MIXED WITH THE DIGITAL, THAT'S INCORRECT. TC researched this and informed me that the dry analog signal is NOT mixed with the digital signal. When you have more than one AD/DA converter on all the time, you can forget about getting good tone. Try the Eventide (they have true hard bypass.) They the T-Rex Replica - it has both.

On a pro pedal, it should have hard bypass, and the dry signal should stay analog. Try the T-Rex Replica. It has both.

Its not hard, its not so simple, but tinker with it and you will figure it out. Manual is classic tc electronic, which is short and sweet.

WOW! For the first time in my life and I DO MEAN THE FIRST TIME, I have true bypass, YES, true bypass and for the first time in my life, YES I DO MEAN FOR THE FIRST TIME IN ANYONE"S life the original tone is unaffected, just repeated!!!!!!!!!! I could not believe my ears. I had someone continuously switching the delay on and off whille I was palying and it was scary!!! The FEEL was exactly the same, the tone was exactly identical and I could not tell which signal was on until I held a note to hear the delay. Even very expensive older digital delays color the tone, in a good way of course, but this little thing DOES NOT!!!. Technology has changed and the time has arrived for uncolored tone during effect engagement. Even the great G-force's delays color the tone, but not this little bugger. The key is the MIX knob.Add too much and its like any other great dely, but decrease to taste and you will have perfection.I ran the new gibson robot guitar (unimaginable tone!), run through the loop of a Mesa Road King II head with 2x12 road King cab. I do not suugest using the presets since they are mainly for store auditioning with heaps of delay. Remember the MIX knob and you have the best delay money can buy. YOUR TONE WILL BE UNAFFECTED!!

I thought this thing was a piece of light plastic, but its a heavy piece of metallic bliss, thick and tank-like. I was fooled by the photos, wait till you touch this beast, its bomb proof!!!

Ive always had great relations with support with my G-force. they wew always helpful.

Buy it, play with it and its even better than the Eventide, cauz I played one and tha is the next best delay unit, but I felt and heard a differnce with my original tone and signal, but it still sounded great. But this peda wins hands down!!

It's a bit more complex than your average AD-9 of course, but the layout is pretty darn good and you need the manual only for the special control features, which are remembered pretty fast.

Editing and saving patches is a great plus for a delay unit, and the Nova Delay gives you the chance to save 9 patches, more than most other units in pedal-form. editing and saving is very easy, as it's layout is as a usual stompbox. the display is gold! finally you have a stompbox that let's you set the exact ms or bpm. although it's much easier to set all the other options with a digital readout!

Minus though is - no compare function. if set, it's set. the unit has no function to show you where you set it. a small dot or even arrows that show you where to to twist would be a great comfort and i am a bit disappointed that TC didn't think of that in a otherwise nearly perfect unit!

maybe this can be done in a firmware update, cos it's a real worthful feature!!!

Tap-Tempo is wonderful smooth and very good at the point. The switches are just great - some of the best i've seen/used. But - i think the unit is not true bypass. But if it does affect my tone, than in a very good way. The newly Audio-Tapping is a nice feature for faster taps - hold the tap-switch and play the tempo on the e-string - release - perfect! for normal use i prefer tap-tempo, but for faster taps this is topnotch!

The pedal has two modes: Preset and manual. Great thing! In manual the control knob settings make the sound, in preset of course the saved presets are available. it's easy to change from one to another. Tempo can be set global or for each preset!

A 9 here, 10 if it had a compare function!!!

This Delay Unit is about my fifth or sixth. I also own the Line 6 Echo Pro and the Roland SDE330 - both great units. Both got features i like, so it's hard to only use one delay unit. I still get to know the BEST Delay unit that's there...
The Nova Delay is near. Soundwise it's pretty much the best i heard. Very natural and dead-on. A Tone-Control let's you dial in more analog or digital sounds (and - tape - it says, but...) in a very good way. 3 modulation modes can be dialed in. they are great, although i wished, there was one preset for more phaser-like modulation (i think of Line6s sweep delay which i love!).
6 Delay-Modes are possible: Line Delay - normal Delay mode, Dynamic like in the TC2290, Reverse, Ping-Pong, Pan and Slap. I Think the modes are o.k., although i personally don't use the dynamic delay - is the hype too big for this or don't i get the hang of it?! idk. and - i think slapback delays sound better with delayline than with the slap function. therefor would be imho space for at least one other delay mode (maybe a sweep mode like L6 got - would be perfect for me :-). i know a lot of people like and need dynamic delay, though it's a good choice to include, if not for me.
Subdivision let's you choose - well subdivisions! Quarter notes, dotted eights, eights triplets, and combinations for left and right channels - which are great, but preset. Line6 let's you choose freely.
Of course the usual other controls are included - delay, feedback (it can selfoscillate but it's nothing compared to an analog delay of course), color, modulation and mix level.


Ah, of course it's true stereo!

I often play via headphone and i must say that - with the Nove Delay on, i often wakie up hours later still playing just the same lick and listen to the crisp and wonderfully natural ethereal sound!
Yes, soundwise it IS the best i heard until now!

Wonderful feature is: you have the option of 0 - 2290 ms, which means quite good modulations like stereo chorus/light flanger and superlong delays!


I still have to test the eventide timefactor, for it seems to be the only one who could outdo this unit in features (and sound?!).

I love the TC Nova Delay and it's just wonderful to play with!

Well, i don't know. TC's got a good reputation and it seems good built. The switches act great, but don't seem to be as sturdy as on other pedals, but i think that's just because they don't "click". ;-)
for live use it's fantastic, so i hope it's reliable too. i'm not the kinda guy who jumps on his stomps and lament about they're dead afterwards!

I e-mailed them and the answer came within a day. that's good!

I play almost everything, mostly ethereal stuff (love pink floyd, slowdive, flaming lips) for about 17 years.

I wish this unit would have a phased delay mode, like the Line6's sweep delay. And of course a COMPARE function, so you wouldn't have to write your settings down still!
I owned the following delay units: cheap ibanez delay from and in the 90ies - my first and o.k. all the time i played and didn't know all the others! Line6 DL4 - great delay presets and good sounding, even a small looper which was fun to play, but TC sounds much more natural, doesn't have volume drop and is easier to save and more settings (thrice). Roland SDE-330 - not easy to use but great to preset. just 16-bit which IS audible. otherwise one of the best! Line6 Echo Pro - great unit, super sounds, 100 presets or so. 1 minute looper midi and everything, BUT - not good controllable live (i don't like to have a midi-pedal the size of my usual pedal-board...)! Line6 Echo Park - great features in a small unit, but the sound is nothing compared to the echo pro. still, the TC Nova Delay sounds best!
I have to check for the timefactor, as it seems to have a phased delay modulation, you can choose subdivision for both channels the way you like it and you have two delays in one.

TC Nova Delay - nearly perfect!

You need to read the manual to know how to get this to really work and shine, but it does a good enough job and you can start creating some great sound with an hour or so of practice. With the LEDs, it's easy to see where you are at. You have a little tapping to do to pull off some live switches, but there are some nice features, like limiting delays to cycle through (3 instead of 9, so you can return to delay #1 in fewer stomps), and being able to hold the footswitch down and release when you want to change from manual to preset.

Truly awesome. I'm using this all over the place now as a doubler or reverb, if not in a traditional sense. The 3 modulation effects are subtle, yet distinct sounds which all have a chorus, flange, phaser-like sound, and can be varied in intensity. The color knob is outstanding, you can create a warm, smeared tape sound, to a smooth analog, and piercing digital sound. The mix level I haven't found much use for, other than for some trippy reverse sessions. Dynamic delay is a cool feature for those who play fast and don't want delay leaking all over a lead. Slapback is ok, need to experiment more with that. Subdivisions also add some nice variety for different synced delay. And it's all in stereo, with several effects like panning and different subdivisions on different channels.

The thing looks like it's built like a tank, it's lasted the week I've had it. Ask me again in a year.

I plead the 5th.

I've been playing metal, and I use it to create a more ominous effect and it does the trick. I was looking for a higher quality delay pedal and I'm very happy with what the store owner recommended to me. It was definitely worth the little extra I spent to upgrade my old DD-6. The main features I was interested in were good analog delay simulation, tap tempo, presets, and most importantly, preserving the almighty tone. I can switch the pedal on and off with little change in sound integrity. The only feature I wish it had was a hold function.

This is not a three knob overdrive stompbox. If thats all the pedal you want to wrap your head around then stay away. On the other hand, if you've ever tried to monkey with any type of digital interface, you'll find the controls very easy and intuitive. The large, easy to read display gives you an idea of whats going on. Yes, there are a fair number of knobs and buttons, but they offer a large amount of control over your delay sound (especially when compared to a DD-3 or other, simple line delays).

The sound is incredible. You can go from digital to analog to tape sounds and everything in between. Personally I like the warm modulated delays that add ambience rather than bounce back and hit you with a digital edge. You can get warm delays that many analog units can't touch, without all the noise and junky unreliable old parts. The digital sounds are there, but not for me. If you're into the delay sounds of your favorite guitar heroes (most of whom probably used / use a TC 2290) this is like having those sounds in a more compact package, and a very reasonable price. Use it in your effects loop. Blows Boss and line 6 delays out of the water as far as quality and sound are concerned, in my opinion. Also the bypass seems to have less effect on my sound than other delays.

This feels like a very high quality pedal, though time will tell.

I was researching rack delays because i wanted to achieve some delay sounds that just weren't coming out of DD-3 / 6's or line 6 delay. I was afraid that the only solution might be to pay big bucks for an old 2290 and haul that around from gig to gig. Thankfully TC came out with this box. It feels very high quality and can create really awesome sounding delays that I am very pleased with, and on top of that the price was much more reasonable and the box is small and portable, its great! There is also an eventide delay stompbox (timefactor). It is also no doubt very high quality, though it is more expensive and the interface seems a little bit more difficult to use, so it was hard for me to justify the extra cost.

very easy to use once you have read the manual.

wow! this thing is amazing! had lots of stuff including a keeley modded line6 dl4 but this thing blows it away.the quality of the delays is awsome and it is very quiet. no drop out as per line6 and some functions such as delay spill over are cool. you can get an eric johnson loop effect this way i.e play over echo repeat with a new patch etc

so far so good

i would say one of the best! a bargain at the price compared to the eventide timefactor and damagecontrol thing. one other cool thing is that my rothwellaudio stomp juice or voodoolab pedal power2 with power it ok as it needs a voltage of 12v as per boss asa adapters so you probably can get away with out the dedicated power supply! no drop in performance as i have compared it so keeps things bit neater on the floor

It's quite easy however there are some features that get activated like pushing and holding buttons for 2 or 4 seconds or hitting buttons in a certain sequence that you can't guess by just looking at the pedal front panel, so the manual is needed. The manual is good (you get it in the box or online in pdf).

however, for me, there are some major issues that limit the easyness...

1) when you turn any knob its value doesn't show immediately on the lcd screen but it shows up after some movement, about 1/10 of the total knob range. why??? There's very little precision and that makes it a hard work fine tuning the sounds.

2) and it's related to the previous question: is it not possible to see each knob value on the lcd for the active preset without moving the knobs, that is without changing the value!! So you can't go like "I want -4 value on feedback" because you don't know where you're starting from...that is pretty annoying and makes the set up a long work when it could be a snap.

ok I know this is a digital and programmable effect but usually there should be at least a led or a sign that should lit when the knob you're moving matches the stored value (that's what others do...) so at least you know where you're at. too bad...

i like the sound quality. no noise, can't hear any tone suck.
you can get just plain hi quality digital repeats or analog or tape like delays with or without mod styles (there are 3) that add some chorus like effect to the repeats. so basically you can get any type of delay you could imagine, from vintage to modern. wich is great (for that price too!).
my setup us fender eric johnson stratocaster with fender hot rod deville amp and various other boutique pedals.

it looks very well done and sturdy. I guess it'll lasts...

you can get FAQ and support online. don't know about phone or personal assistence yet.

I play pop-funk music. I've been playing for almost 20 years.

Other the 2 issues I wrote on the "easy of use" section, I don't particulary like the mix knob. at 0 you get your sound and no delay sound, at 100 you get only full delay sound and no dry signal. however the delay volume is already heavy at 20, so you normally would set your delay mix level between 5 and 15 (that's what I do) because over 20 you get A LOT of delay volume. I wonder who the heck could work with 50 or more mix level (unless you want 0 dry level to play maybe once in your life with the reverse delay...), that is completely unusefull.

However the pedal sounds very good and with lots of different sounds. for that price you can't have anything similar.

I wish it had some more precision on the knobs and the ability to show current values for all the knobs before moving them. Then it would be perfect.

Follow the manual & you wont have a problem. Getting great delays & saving them is very easy with the controls that TC has set-up. If you can handle a DL4 by Line-6 then this will be easy. Make sure you understand the global tap tempo (very cool feature) before saving or testing the set presets.

I've had a boss DD3 & a Line-6 DL4 as well as a Yamaha Magicstomp too. This beats them all in sound quality. There is no volume dip like a DL4 & I can get what I want set-up very fast. The color knob is the best feature (Tape, analog to digital) next to the global tap tempo setting. The mod style button adds pitch modulation to the repeates only (at 3 different levels). This sounds amazing when just added to the repeates only. I can get all my "Luke" type delays & it sounds great in true stereo too. This thing is great for those Andy Timmons type delays that duck behinde while playing and get louder after you stop.

Seems very sturdy & time will tell.

Have not called them so I don't know.

I got a great deal & I usually can tell in the 1st hour if it's going to be a keeper or not. I'm still trying to love my DL4 based on all my friends love affair with them. The sounds are the best I've ever heard from a pedal next to the Magicstomp. The interace seems very friendly & I will use it in a band situation very soon. This will be the final test. 9-saved presets, a quick set-up where you only access 3 for performance mode & global tap tempo for under $250 & a name like TC ? Priceless !

Definatley a simple interface.

Superb.

Just got it but c'mon its a TC

I have been waiting for this unit to come out as a alternative to the DL4 and DD-20. It's cheaper, got more programmable delays and sounds great. The only thing this doesn't have that both the DD-20 and DL4 do is looping. But seeing as I already have a loop station that does much more than the two delay pedals, I have no use for that feature. If you want great delay at a great price from a great brand, I'd suggest this pedal

Took a few minutes to learn the basics...fairly easy.
actually should be a 9.5, but it's either 9 or 10.

Stunning Delays. I have a TC2290 in my studio along with an array of SDD vintage Korg rack units and SDE rack units...so I do know a great sounding delay unit. I was looking for a delay that would come close to the phenominal TC2290...well, TC did it. This Nova ND-1 delay pegs it so close you'd have to be numb in the brain to miss it.
The delays are very warm and so adjustable..you can change the modulation type and the delay type..tap tempo..on & on, yet you can get what you want without much hassle.
I use Mesa, Fender, Gibson LP's, Wolfgang USA's & JSX.

The delays w/modulation are something I could play for hours and not get bored..honestly.
The TC Electronic ND-1 Nova Delay is dead quiet without even a hint of noise even on the delays.
I could emulate David Evans (U-2) to a tee. I own a TC Vintage Delay and it is stellar, but this is the same stellar tones with way more adjustment and a LCD screen that has these awesome huge numbers so you know where your tempo is at...that is cool.
I wish there was a 9.9 to rate with, but we're stuck with 9 or 10..so I'm gonna give it a 10. I don't believe anybody can top this footpedal delay for a very very long time. It is destined to be on top.

TC stuff lasts very long. Never had one problem with their gear.

Never needed them.

I play Rock style music in a large church worship band.

I've been playing for 30+ years and professionally for 20.
I have a studio loaded with great gear..
TC2290, SDD3000, SDD-2000, SDE3000, SDE2500, GT-PRO, Mackie 1640, Gibson LP's, Wolfgang USA's, Mesa Boogie, Fender Cyber w/412, JSX w/412, Crate, Yamaha Motif..etc etc.
I would replace this immediately if stolen.

I love the tone of this unit..it doesn't steal any tone it just repeats your sound with what you tell it to..
The Dynamic Delay is tremendous, yet does slab back etc just swueet.

I compared it to the TC2290 and the TC Vintage Delay (I own both) and this was right on tier with both and that's quite a mark to achieve!!

This will definately be a music 'making' tool..very inspiring.

OK..NOW WE'RE DONE WITH THE QUESTIONS...THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED.

I RECEIVED THIS NOVA ND-1 LAST WEEK AND DIDN'T ANY TIME TO CHECK IT OUT..I WENT TO PLAY THURSDAY NIGHT AND PULLED IT OUT AND COULDN'T BELIEVE I HAD GREAT DELAYS COMING OUT IN LIKE 2 MINUTES.. BEFORE WE STARTED WE DID A SHORT RUN THROUGH OF A COUPLE TUNES...I COULDN'T BELIEVE THERE WASN'T A TC2290 SITTING THERE..IT SOUNDS THAT CLOSE.
I GET COMMENTS OFTEN ABOUT MY TONE, BUT 6 DIFFERENT PEOPLE WHO ARE BASICALLY MUSICAL GENIUSES OR CLOSE CAME UP TO ME AND COMMENTED ABOUT THE TONE AND THE AWESOME DELAY SOUND I HAD..I SHOWED THEM THE NEW ND-1 AND THEY WERE LIKE...WHERE DID YOU GET THAT?..SINCE IT'S A NEW PRODUCT.

I WOULD SAY GO BUY ONE BEFORE THEY RUN OUT OF THEM.

THE TC ELECTRONICS ND-1 NOVA DELAY IS STUNNING AND WORTH EVERY CENT.