TC Electronic debuts Plethora X3 multi-effects pedal

May 26, 2022 · 4 sources

TC Electronic announced the Plethora X3, a downsized version of its Plethora X5 multi-effects unit, on May 26, 2022. The X5 arrived in 2020¹. The X3 is a three-footswitch unit that runs three TonePrint effects at once, where the X5 ran five²³.

The X3 holds up to 127 pedalboard presets, each a combination of three effects drawn from 15 TonePrint pedals, and up to 75 TonePrint slots¹³. Effects can be edited over Bluetooth in TC Electronic's TonePrint app, which also offers artist signature tones¹⁴. Three assignable knobs sit above the screen, alongside Effect and TonePrint knobs and a Play/Edit mode toggle¹. A preset-navigating toggle switch moves between saved combinations, and pedal order can be changed; unlike the X5, whose signal chain ran left to right, the direction of the boards' flow can be customized¹. Holding down any of the three footswitches engages the MASH function, letting them act as expression pedals¹⁴².

The unit includes a Tape Deck looper with 80 seconds in mono or 40 seconds in stereo, a UniTune chromatic tuner accessed by holding the TonePrint knob in Play mode, and eight onboard cabinet simulations that can be added at the end of the signal chain¹. Guitar.com reports the looper is based on TC's Ditto Looper and lists 15 effects, including the Helix Phaser, Viscous Vibe, 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 and Alter Ego Vintage Echo⁴. It notes there are no generic drive effects onboard⁴. Gearnews reports the X3 omits the X5's effects loop and expression pedal input, and has MIDI and stereo I/O³.

Guitar World and Guitar.com give the price as $309¹⁴. MusicRadar gives $349².