tc electronic Plethora X5

I bought this about a year ago as an upgrade to an ageing multi-effects unit I'd been using within my pedalboard (specifically a Vox Tonelab SE). The Plethora attracted me due to the simplicity of its design: various sets of pre-programmable boards consisting of up to 5 pedals, with the option to include external effects as inserts at any point in each board. The array of TC electronics stomps available was also a major attraction - I already had the Flashback II, so had some experience with their gear and working with toneprints. Having watched demos of the Hall of Fame II, I reckoned the pedal would justify its price based on those two alone.

A year later, and I can say that this is far and away the most versatile and useful pedal I own. It's brought a whole additional dimension to my playing: with so much scope for creating lush soundscapes, there are literally endless hours of fun on tap. The preset patches offer some really nice harmoniser and octaver effects boards, typically with useful delays and reverbs alongside. I've been pleasantly surprised by how good the pitch based effects are; the Brainwaves pitch shifter offers really tasteful harmonies, while the Sub'n'up Octaver has become a favourite, really excellent for adding weight to single note riffs, or even for overdubbing a bass line using a looper. I'm less of a fan of the chorus and flanger effects - there is by no means anything wrong with them, but they are just not effects that I tend to use in my playing.

I really like the ease-of-use of the pedal. Tweaking settings is really straightforward - just flick the switch from play to edit, adjust whatever param you need to, and then flick back to play mode. All the tweaks are instantly saved. Simple.

The included toneprint presets are also excellent, very usable and typically the kinds of tones we all search for but struggle to get right. My go-to delay is the Echoplex toneprint: try increasing the delay time and number of repeats, then strum an Em9 and pretend you're David Gilmour. Manna.

I've used the Plethora in band practices, and find the display is a huge help; it's clear and bright, and the white LEDs make it very easy to see which pedals are on at any given moment.

If I had one criticism, it would be that switching between boards on the fly isn't so easy; you can do this by stomping on switches one and two, although I often find I end up simply switching on or off whichever effect is in either of those slots, rather than changing boards as desired. It takes some practice to get this right, although you do get used to it.

Overall, I can't think of a better value pedal for the money. Considering the range of effects included, and the quality, the only competitor in my eyes in the Helix HT stomp. While also an excellent option, it's much less flexible and offers only three stomp switches. Highly recommend the Plethora!

I doubted for a while if I would replace my pedal collection almost entirely with this multi-effect. I decided to give it a try and was almost immediately convinced I had made the right decision. The interface is pretty self explanatory and although I don't like navigating the menu's with the toggle switches, there are ways to circumvent those. I'm not the type of person who changes their sounds all the time during playing, so for me it's not a problem to make one extra click before I can access a pedals parameters. But if you are there are many options to make changes more immediate, like with the hot-knobz, an expression pedal or the integrated mash switches.
The quality of the effects are great, just the same as the normal pedals from TC. The lack of overdrives was no problem for me, I have two overdrives I really like and wouldn't replace anyway and being able to put them anywhere in the signal chain with the effects loop of the plethora is an amazing feature.
I've yet to discover many more features of this pedal but after a few months of using it I'm pretty sure I'm not going to sell this pedal anytime soon. It's a keeper!

I bought this one with a discount and still was disapointed a bit. The problem wasn't about the sound or build quality, but as everybody knows already the software wasn't very good.
So I was judging it not for what it was, but for what it wasn't. Potential could be seen, but couldn't be fully unleashed.

Then v1.2 came and fixed a lot of the issues.
Don't get me wrong it still has a lot of small details to be improved, and some of the new features ( looper) are suffering from the same notasgoodasitcouldbe vibe that original software had. But now it is a device I honestly enjoy working with. I run it stereo into my sound card, and my pedals+preamp in the loop and it does the job.

Pros:
- It is basically a processor for people who don't like processors. You have all the digital pedals you need in one box, in stereo, without commutation and power issues.

Cons:
- no external/shared tap tempo. I don't understand why it cannot be done because external/shared expression pedal option is there
- no external looper control (same thing) and only 40 seconds for stereo looping.
- no IR cab impulses, no ability to assign cab simulation for a pedalboard, it is either on or off for the whole thing
- some minor bugs are still there, but those are managible
- toneprint app's UI isn't good
- and the last one: it doesn't have any distortion pedals. I know it is obvious, but just keep that in mind.

And though I've mentioned more cons than pros, overall it is a good value for the money, and after the 1.2 update I can genuinely recommend it if you're looking for all-in-one digital pedal.

The reason I purchased this unit was to build a small board with a pre-amp pedal and a drive or 2 I could swap out and experiment with.
The X5 would then supply all other effects.
This ticked the boxes perfectly. 
It has all the basic effects you could need and has a really great, solid build quality to it.
But best of all, no matter what you are doing with it or how you want to set it up, it is so easy to use and navigate.
If you are looking for a nice crossover between a multi with a more traditional knob based UI then and the unquestionable TC quality of effects, look no further.
This is a great one for the gig bag whether it's for your main rig or as a convenient fly rig or back-up.

I mainly worry more on my distorted and power sound. I am super picky for my clean sound and well as my hard worked distorted sound but once in a while I need modulation effects to color the music (mainly when I do covers) and sometimes having a huge pedalboard just to use the flanger, delay (or any modulation effect) in one song it’s not worth it. For years I made lots of attempts to shrink my pedalboard with mini pedals and I was happy enough BUT, when a new song was added to the gig and it needed a new pedal, here it comes again the issue. Plethora SOLVED it 200%, not only I have all modulation effects needed when and how I needed in a small space, but the quality of the effects is impressive! Although digital, it sounds really well and honestly no need anymore of my arsenal of analog pedals I was using before.

I will be honest, the size of my pedalboard is 1/4 of the size now, but maybe it will grow again because now I can add as many distortion, boost, overdrive pedals I want, and to me, THAT is fun! ;)

What can I say, unpacked, plugged in, presets tested, tweaked to suit within half an hour and already better that anything before. I had a G System. This is way better. The effects are clear, very versatile and easy to dial in. Setting up the 5 for a board is easy, choosing which order and whether before or after preamp is no problem. I am not noticing any sound drain like I had with the G System. The noise gate is the best I have come across. The speaker simulation is however a really weak link, just don't bother with it.

Clear recommendation for what is a real step forward to clear up your pedal board.

There is a lot that can be said about this pedal.
TL, DR: if you wait for future upgrades, you'll be very much satisfied with it. Great sounds, simple, but for now there is a lot that TC needs to tell their customers how to use it.

First, this provides most of the TC toneprint pedals - not all of them, for now, but in future updates, they should be all here. This is great because most of those pedals are already awesome on themselves.
Now, as this is still very fresh, so there can be bugs (some of them have already been corrected with the last update, actually). My experience, nothing that bothered me enough.

What bothers me the most is a lack of a user manual with the complete description of Plethora's features. TC Electronics should invest some time here.

However, I love its features: switching pedals easily, tuner integrated, mash on all pedals, change boards quickly, edit them quickly, and so many others... This can be, without a doubt, one of the greatest multi-fx, and its price gives you more than many pedals combined.

Pros:
- Many, many configurations
- Easy edit mode
- Many toneprints already included in every pedal (you can add more via the app)
- Great sounds
- FX loop, it's the main use in my pedalboard.
Cons:
- No user manual
- Some bugs (I suppose that will be solved soon)
- If you want to fully customize every pedal in this board, you need the Toneprint app, which is not the best app to use, in my honest opinion

Nevertheless, this is a great buy. I am super happy with it!