Update 2/21/16 – I’ve lived with the Flashback for several weeks now, and have updated a few opinions of it.

I have an old Floor Pod Plus.  It has all of the usual effects in it, including delay, which is something I really like.  But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t make the Floor Pod Plus sound… any good.  When you make the step up from solid state cheap modeling amps to decent quality tube amps, you learn to better appreciate good tone.  I can’t stand the Floor Pod Plus any more.  I keep it in case of emergency, but hope to never use it again.  But what to do about delay?

Much YouTube research led me to the wonderful TC Electronic Flashback Delay and Looper.  Which I obtained from Guitar Center in a trade for one of my other pedals (Wampler Plextortion) and a little cash.  And I love it.

The Good

There’s a reason people love these pedals – they sound fantastic.  This pedal has lots of different types of delays, from digital perfection to tape wobble to analog to modulated delays, etc and so on.  You can also connect it to your computer and create your own sound, or download an app and somehow do the same thing on your smart phone.  I’m sure one day I’ll be bored enough to do that, but I made out just fine moving the knobs.  Instead of tap tempo, you can strum the speed you want, which is interesting.  There’s a stereo out for rich people who gig with two amps, and the looper works exactly like you’d imagine.  But the thing I really dug was the little switch which timed the delay – quarter notes, dotted eighths, and quarter notes AND dotted eighths.  Very cool.

I like the fact that there’s a setting called “Tone Print” where you can save your own patch, presumably from the software.  If you want to really nail a delay sound to an exact time, that’s a good way to do it.  The unit also has stereo in and true bypass, which I very much appreciate.  I believe in making music on a budget, but pedals are a good place to not skimp.  This thing is fully qualified to take its place next to my Keeley 4 knob and my Wampler Plexi-Drive.

The Bad

This pedal has non-obvious features like strumming to set the tempo, but… it literally came with no directions.  None, zero, zip.  Wampler pedals at least come with a sheet of paper.  Please don’t give me crap about saving the environment – this pedal DID come with a multi-page mini catalog of the company’s other products.  They’re assuming I’ll go online and download the manual.  Would’ve been nice to have something, though.  Also, I think I’d rather have tap tempo than having to strum strings – I can tap more quietly.  It’s fine for home use, but at a gig I don’t see that as being a plus.  In fact, I think it’s extremely stupid. UPDATE – Naw, actually after having this pedal for a while, I’ve grown to love this feature.  The pedal mutes the sound while you strum the tempo.  Would I prefer tap tempo?  No.  I think this is better.  Actually, it’s a plus.

The Ugly

You can download the software to program this pedal for free.  Which is good, because it’s awful.  AWFUL.  My Mac didn’t want to allow it because it’s not from a “registered” developer.  There’s no excuse for TC Electronics to not be a registered developer.  Nor is there any excuse for the modal window, the hideous layout, the amateurish gui design, and the fact that I couldn’t figure out how to download patches and apply them.  It might be in the manual they didn’t include.  This might be the worst made application on my entire hard drive.  And they want me to download their software on my iPhone?  Not likely.  If it’s as ugly as this program, it might crack the screen.

Summary

I’m used to extremely shitty software from companies (Line 6,) so I will certainly live.  I did download the manual and will be going over it for any non-obvious hidden tips.  So I’ve worked my way around the issues.  But the pedal itself is fantastic.  Some of the types of delays sound very similar to me, but they give me more than enough variety to meet any need I will likely have now or in the future.  It’s an outstanding sounding pedal, and assuming it doesn’t break, I will probably never need to buy another delay pedal.  You just can’t go wrong with this thing.  It’s awesome.