I put my Ibanez tube screamer before it and I think it handles it beautifully. Sounds great 👍 I like the green channel and use it almost exclusively. I also run it through a sonicake cab simulator and it's still almost $200 less than the UA dream. I am considering getting the dream as well. Right now, I'm using this in my main studio, quite often, for recording and I'm really loving it. Thanks for your take on it, great review.
Jason here, I had the dream for a while, I did think it sounded better overall (this was pre firmware update for the TC) but not necessarily £250 better, the TC is excellent value for money and I was really pleased with the tones I got out of it.
@@PBOD I've been very curious about this exact question. I was thinking of getting the Dream as an alternate-out, straight to FOH solution for my pedalboard if I didn't want to bring an amp head. But, I've read a lot of people complaining about how the Dream interacts with drive pedals so I got nervous. This sounds like it takes drive pedals really well. It was nice and smooth sounding and not overly bright. If price is not a consideration, would you say the Dream is worth it?
I bought one with the hope of using it with an FRFR for low volume blues/soul/jazz. It doesn't take my Fulltone Fulldrive well at all. In contrast my Tech Tech 21 Blonde is great with pedals. The TC is not bad on it's own and the reverb is great. TC is good for a quick fix through a DAW.
That’s a shame, I found it took the Origin Effects Halcyon pretty well, also based on a TS 808. The first sound was the JHS morning glory, based on a bluesbreaker and it handled this beautifully.
Just downloaded the firmware. So much better, had the gain at 6.5 on clean channel and still stayed clean. Massive improvement. I'm keeping it now. MANY THANKS for the heads up. @@PBOD
This is just the video i was looking for. I like the boost switch on the Marshall or Vox versions, but i want a clean/edge of breakup platform like you mentioned here. Just to run my pedalboard into FRFRs. Sounds good
Yeah I found the edge of breakup/overdrive sounds from the unit itself to be less desirable but that’s more the style of amp it’s emulating than an issue with the pedal itself, set clean and using pedals for overdrive it works really nicely. Looking forward to trying the recent firmware update for this as well.
That’s a fair shout, I guess the point was to show that it could take pedals well rather than put any focus on other pedals. If I remember correctly though, at the time I was using the JHS morning glory for the light gain, hitting it with a origin halcyon TS 808 overdrive or boss SD-1W for lead tones, the fuzz is 100% the beetronics Vezzpa, octave was the boss OC-5, delay was likely the boss DD-200. Hope that helps!
@@PBOD OK - I kept seeing the PC in the background and was afraid you were using sims of the pedals from your computer, and then re-amping through the TC Combo '65 - which wouldn't have really been a test of whether it can take pedals or not. It would be a digital simulation into a digital simulation. Thanks for the clarification
Nope all pedals were from my actual real life board plugged into the TC then from the TC into my interface, computer was there to record the audio from my mic and from the pedal.
Yes it surely can. Both channels too. This pedal now saves me the trouble of taking an amp to small gigs. I run a boss od3, super chorus and dd3 into the front of it then straight to the mixer. Also makes mixing a whole lot easier.
Thanks BPC! First sound was the JHS Morning Glory and an Xotic SP compressor, second was the same but with the RE-202 space echo, the lead tone we added in the Origin Effects Halcyon Green overdrive on top of those, the. The final Fuzz tone was the Beetronics Vezzpa with the Boss OC-5.
Can this pedal go straight into a di? I want to ditch amp and cab while touring and go straight into DI box. I only need a clean sound so this seems ideal?
It doesn’t have a balanced line out only a quarter inch jack, 2 in fact, one with cab sim and one without. So you can go direct but you might want a DI box in between if the sound man is handing you an XLR.
@@PBOD yeah I was thinking of having two Di, one for my acoustic and one for the amp pedal. I have a switch that allows me to switch between acoustic and electric
Excellent review! I have a question, are the controls independent and programmable for both channels? that is, when I change channel the settings remain saved ?
Thank you kindly! It will remember that last setting for the knobs between changes so you can switch to the red channel, change your settings and switch back to the green channel and it will revert back to how it was set on the green channel, no way to permanently save these settings though.
Thank you! All pedals were running into the front of the pedal but you can of course run them after just keep in mind that if you use the cab sim out then the time based stuff is after the cab.
@@PBODsorry to interfere but I am having the same dilemma: Aren't the time based effects generally supposed to go in between the preamp and the power amp, which is before the cab? I have a TC Electronic 65 Combo on order and I'm trying to learn all the details before it arrives. Thanks.
Presumably, there’s two outputs on the pedal, one has a cab sim, the other does not, take a feed from the output without the cab sim and you should be good.
Awesome video. Do you think this can hold its end against things like strymon iridium walrus acs1, boss ir2? all of these just have more options but I dont need more options. This sounds really good. Im curious how realistic it feels under the fingers and if it is reliable enough at this price point for heavy gigging as my amp replacement
As you rightly said, there’s no fx loop so if you want to run your delays and reverbs after the preamp you have two options: 1. Use the cab sim out and run your delays and reverbs after the pedal, this gives you a similar result to adding effects to a recorded guitar sound in a DAW, it’s pretty common for recording, less so in a live rig. 2. Use the non cab sim output, then run your delays and reverbs, then into some sort of cab sim, that might be a cab sim pedal or a cab sim in a DAW depending on how you are using the pedal. You could also go out of the delays and reverbs and into the fx return of an amp to use the power amp and speaker cab.
Is this something that can be used in the fx loop with other pedals? I have an amt M1 that I'd like to hook it up to and can you use the reverb separately so I can have reverb with the M1 I mentioned? Thank you!
You could use it as a preamp, come out of the output with no cab sim on it and go directly into your effects loop return to utilise the power amp and cab of your amp but this would completely bypass your amps own pre-amp. These pedals don’t have enough ins and outs to support four cable method which would allow you to switch between this and your amps preamp. You could possibly combine it with something like a boss line switcher to achieve this though. Really though, these are designed to be your amp if that makes sense.
@@PBOD So I'd probably be better off just getting the Amt F1 which emulates Fender tones and add a reverb in front of them. I do have a cheap loop box to switch from one to another. What are your thoughts?
Is it possible to use these Ampworx preamps in a traditional pedalboard chain? E.g. Jims800 > V550 > Wreck Dual? Assuming that I only use outputs without column simulations and without stacking and using all these pedals at one moment? Just for home studio comparisions of these three pedals without cables switching every time. How do you think?
I don’t see why not, I guess the only possible argument against it is that with each pedal you add, you are adding more cable length which could in turn effect the response of the pedal but really I think it would be negligible and no worse than running a pedalboard into any real amp.
I put my Ibanez tube screamer before it and I think it handles it beautifully. Sounds great 👍 I like the green channel and use it almost exclusively. I also run it through a sonicake cab simulator and it's still almost $200 less than the UA dream. I am considering getting the dream as well. Right now, I'm using this in my main studio, quite often, for recording and I'm really loving it. Thanks for your take on it, great review.
Jason here, I had the dream for a while, I did think it sounded better overall (this was pre firmware update for the TC) but not necessarily £250 better, the TC is excellent value for money and I was really pleased with the tones I got out of it.
@@PBOD I've been very curious about this exact question. I was thinking of getting the Dream as an alternate-out, straight to FOH solution for my pedalboard if I didn't want to bring an amp head. But, I've read a lot of people complaining about how the Dream interacts with drive pedals so I got nervous. This sounds like it takes drive pedals really well. It was nice and smooth sounding and not overly bright. If price is not a consideration, would you say the Dream is worth it?
I bought one with the hope of using it with an FRFR for low volume blues/soul/jazz. It doesn't take my Fulltone Fulldrive well at all. In contrast my Tech Tech 21 Blonde is great with pedals. The TC is not bad on it's own and the reverb is great. TC is good for a quick fix through a DAW.
That’s a shame, I found it took the Origin Effects Halcyon pretty well, also based on a TS 808. The first sound was the JHS morning glory, based on a bluesbreaker and it handled this beautifully.
@@PBOD Thanks, I may have to try again. By all accounts the TC seems to get good reviews.
Rumour is there’s a firmware update coming this week which tweaks the amp model a little so will be worth revisiting for sure.
@@PBOD That's interesting. I may hold on to it and see what is in store.
Just downloaded the firmware. So much better, had the gain at 6.5 on clean channel and still stayed clean. Massive improvement. I'm keeping it now. MANY THANKS for the heads up. @@PBOD
This is just the video i was looking for. I like the boost switch on the Marshall or Vox versions, but i want a clean/edge of breakup platform like you mentioned here. Just to run my pedalboard into FRFRs. Sounds good
Yeah I found the edge of breakup/overdrive sounds from the unit itself to be less desirable but that’s more the style of amp it’s emulating than an issue with the pedal itself, set clean and using pedals for overdrive it works really nicely. Looking forward to trying the recent firmware update for this as well.
Why didn't you showed which pedals you used into the TC Combo?
That’s a fair shout, I guess the point was to show that it could take pedals well rather than put any focus on other pedals. If I remember correctly though, at the time I was using the JHS morning glory for the light gain, hitting it with a origin halcyon TS 808 overdrive or boss SD-1W for lead tones, the fuzz is 100% the beetronics Vezzpa, octave was the boss OC-5, delay was likely the boss DD-200. Hope that helps!
@@PBOD OK - I kept seeing the PC in the background and was afraid you were using sims of the pedals from your computer, and then re-amping through the TC Combo '65 - which wouldn't have really been a test of whether it can take pedals or not. It would be a digital simulation into a digital simulation. Thanks for the clarification
Nope all pedals were from my actual real life board plugged into the TC then from the TC into my interface, computer was there to record the audio from my mic and from the pedal.
Yes it surely can. Both channels too. This pedal now saves me the trouble of taking an amp to small gigs. I run a boss od3, super chorus and dd3 into the front of it then straight to the mixer. Also makes mixing a whole lot easier.
Glad your experience lined up with ours!
Some lovely tones coming out of that thing. You did a great job with this one. Which pedals did you use with this to get those tones?
Thanks BPC! First sound was the JHS Morning Glory and an Xotic SP compressor, second was the same but with the RE-202 space echo, the lead tone we added in the Origin Effects Halcyon Green overdrive on top of those, the. The final Fuzz tone was the Beetronics Vezzpa with the Boss OC-5.
Can this pedal go straight into a di? I want to ditch amp and cab while touring and go straight into DI box. I only need a clean sound so this seems ideal?
It doesn’t have a balanced line out only a quarter inch jack, 2 in fact, one with cab sim and one without. So you can go direct but you might want a DI box in between if the sound man is handing you an XLR.
@@PBOD yeah I was thinking of having two Di, one for my acoustic and one for the amp pedal. I have a switch that allows me to switch between acoustic and electric
Good review. Thanks 🙏
Thank you!
Excellent review! I have a question, are the controls independent and programmable for both channels? that is, when I change channel the settings remain saved ?
Thank you kindly! It will remember that last setting for the knobs between changes so you can switch to the red channel, change your settings and switch back to the green channel and it will revert back to how it was set on the green channel, no way to permanently save these settings though.
@@PBOD thank you very much!
Great video! Sorry if I missed this, but were you running your time based effects before or after the pedal?
Thank you! All pedals were running into the front of the pedal but you can of course run them after just keep in mind that if you use the cab sim out then the time based stuff is after the cab.
@@PBODsorry to interfere but I am having the same dilemma: Aren't the time based effects generally supposed to go in between the preamp and the power amp, which is before the cab? I have a TC Electronic 65 Combo on order and I'm trying to learn all the details before it arrives. Thanks.
Good video.
Glad you enjoyed it
This new guy is great ain’t he?!
Yeah not bad at all 😂
Can you run these pedals directly to a powercab line 6?
Presumably, there’s two outputs on the pedal, one has a cab sim, the other does not, take a feed from the output without the cab sim and you should be good.
Awesome video. Do you think this can hold its end against things like strymon iridium walrus acs1, boss ir2? all of these just have more options but I dont need more options. This sounds really good. Im curious how realistic it feels under the fingers and if it is reliable enough at this price point for heavy gigging as my amp replacement
Many of our team received these and, each one reported that they felt and sounded great! If you just want a couple of tones then they are perfect!
A very good review 🙂 I suppose this was before the software update - did it improve much by upgrading?
I'm not sure if Jason updated his yet, but our Budge did to his and shot a video on it:
ruclips.net/video/rAItdiCiGnU/видео.html
@@PBOD Thank you 🙂
How will this one compare to like similar ones that has a fx loop as well? Can you still place a delay pedal after the amp or will it make no change?
As you rightly said, there’s no fx loop so if you want to run your delays and reverbs after the preamp you have two options:
1. Use the cab sim out and run your delays and reverbs after the pedal, this gives you a similar result to adding effects to a recorded guitar sound in a DAW, it’s pretty common for recording, less so in a live rig.
2. Use the non cab sim output, then run your delays and reverbs, then into some sort of cab sim, that might be a cab sim pedal or a cab sim in a DAW depending on how you are using the pedal. You could also go out of the delays and reverbs and into the fx return of an amp to use the power amp and speaker cab.
Great video.
Glad you enjoyed it :)
@ do you know what kind of cable I’d need to use to connect the DI out to a Fender FR-12? TRS? Regular guitar cable? Is it a line level signal?
@@smithersjones7541That sir is a great question. My gut feeling is a normal cable will do it, I would try it
I see a UA Dream65 on the shel, how does this TC compares to the Dream 65 ?
I think the Dream sounds more convincing but it’s in a completely different price bracket.
Cracking video. Loved the ambient tones, could listen to that all day long.
Thanks! It’s a great little pedal and takes pedals nicely!
Is there any bass guitar option ?
I don’t think so, not yet anyway. If you find that we’re incorrect, please let us know :)
Is this something that can be used in the fx loop with other pedals? I have an amt M1 that I'd like to hook it up to and can you use the reverb separately so I can have reverb with the M1 I mentioned? Thank you!
You could use it as a preamp, come out of the output with no cab sim on it and go directly into your effects loop return to utilise the power amp and cab of your amp but this would completely bypass your amps own pre-amp. These pedals don’t have enough ins and outs to support four cable method which would allow you to switch between this and your amps preamp. You could possibly combine it with something like a boss line switcher to achieve this though.
Really though, these are designed to be your amp if that makes sense.
@@PBOD So I'd probably be better off just getting the Amt F1 which emulates Fender tones and add a reverb in front of them. I do have a cheap loop box to switch from one to another. What are your thoughts?
Is it possible to use these Ampworx preamps in a traditional pedalboard chain? E.g. Jims800 > V550 > Wreck Dual? Assuming that I only use outputs without column simulations and without stacking and using all these pedals at one moment? Just for home studio comparisions of these three pedals without cables switching every time. How do you think?
I don’t see why not, I guess the only possible argument against it is that with each pedal you add, you are adding more cable length which could in turn effect the response of the pedal but really I think it would be negligible and no worse than running a pedalboard into any real amp.
Can this pedal act as a soundcard?
No, the USB port is only for updating the firmware.
Anyone from petalberdz here?
You might need to elaborate here…
@@PBOD i can’t and I won’t. Loyalty reasons. It’s kind of hush hush.
I dunno, the Joyo 'American' sounds almost as good and a dang lot cheaper.
through your PC, the tone is AWWFULL
like cheap electric razors !!
Thanks for the feedback, what was it you didn’t like?