Ugly Guitar Truth: TC Electronic Vibraclone Rotary Vibe

TC Electronics has put out yet another batch of affordable pedals. In this round of pedal, TC has included a Rotary speaker emulator. The Vibraclone is a vintage-inspired pedal enclosed in their tank-like boxes with top-jacks. There has been a lot said about this line of effects, but TC is putting a lot of weight behind them. So far, these are the only thing that we've seen out of TC for NAMM 2018. Is this what we have to expect from TC from now on? While I do like several of the pedals in this line, I hope to see more innovation from TC like their V.2 of the Flashback and HOF. Let's take a closer look at the Vibraclone and see what we're working with.

This isn't your typical rotary pedal. Yes, there are other two knobbed vibes out there, but this one has a little trick. These pedal are usually light on features, but this one has a switch. The switch is labeled Rotary/Chorale. Along with the Vibey goodness you'd expect, you can also get chorus and flange type effects out of this one pedal. It's not often you can pull more sounds out of a pedal than the pedal actually sounds. If you're looking for a fun pedal to add some mod sounds to your tone, this might be of interest.

While rotary is a great way to give your tone some cool vibes, This pedal has a little quark that would make me pause and want to try before I buy. There is no depth control. The is only Drive and Speed on the Vibraclone. Now, this might be where I show my ignorance. I haven't found a pedal that the Vibraclone is a one for one clone of. If the Drive is the same control as the Intensity knob found on others, then that makes a big difference. As I listened to demos of this pedal though, it sounds like it actually has some gain or overdrive/boost build in. All this leads me to believe that there is no subtlety to this pedal. It is either on or off. While the TC Electronic videos are not the best demonstrations, Gearmanndude has an excellent demo where you can hear all the sounds in this pedal. If your interested in this pedal, then give that a listen.

Conclusion

Is this pedal a most have? Not for me. I do enjoy a rotary sound. however, the lack of actual control of the effect gives me a little pause. Sure, you wouldn't be able to control the depth of an actual Liesly cabinet, but this is a bit of electronics. Why couldn't there be a depth knob? There are plenty of pedals that give you a lot more control over this type of effect. However, those pedals are generally much more expensive than this one from TC. There is our compromise. You get an effect that does a surprisingly sufficient job and you don't have to bust the bank for it. All in all, this is a solid addition to the ever-growing TC Electronic line.