TC Electronic launches the Plethora X5 multi-effects pedal

TC Electronic has announced the Plethora X5, a multi effects pedal that offers many completely customisable virtual versions of the brand’s stompboxes.

The unit was initially teased all the way back in September, with a photo of a single footswitch and the words “Toneprint Pedalboard” being posted to social media by the brand. TC Electronic were reluctant at the time to offer too many details, but did respond to a few speculative comments – saying that we shouldn’t “think of it as a multi-FX”, and that it is a “different thing” to the G-System.

That definitely seems to be the case, as the workings of the unit have been revealed. The Plethora X5 offers five virtual pedal slots, each with TC Electronic’s proprietary Mash switch, and an OLED display to keep you in the loop about where each effect is. This expands on the operation of a regular footswitch, allowing for pressure-sensitive ‘mashing’ for expression functionality, and inputting of tap tempo for time-based effects.

Each set of five pedals is classed as a ‘board’ – and the Plethora X5 will let you store a huge 127 of them. To get you started out of the box, TC Electronic notes that the unit comes “loaded with a whole bunch of tasty premade boards ready to go. No fuss.”

Each board itself is intensely customisable: effects such as the Flashback, Hall of Fame, pitch effects, modulation, compression and more can be saved in any order, with any configuration of settings, using TC’s TonePrint. If you want to incorporate your own effects, an external loop allows you to do just that – anywhere in the chain. For the first time in a TC Electronic unit, on-board wireless connectivity means that you can edit boards and TonePrints from your phone, using the TonePrint app.

And finally, we come to the all-important I/O. On the Plethora X5’s back there are three pairs of quarter-inch jacks: stereo input pair, a stereo output pair and the input/output jacks for the external effects loop. There’s also an expression pedal jack, and MIDI in/through. And, for running directly into a PA or interface, the output section offers customisable cab-simulation.

Take a look at TC Electronic’s demonstration video below:

Price and availability TBC. Find out more over at tcelectronic.com. For more gear news, click here.