Should I pull the trigger?

[Harley Hexxe]

Hey Gang,

           Today, on my way home from work, I stopped in a local music shop and stumbled upon something I didn't expect to see at all.

           Near the bottom of one of the three large racks they have to display gear, was a good looking ADA TFX4!

           I asked about it and was told it works. The price tag is just under $200.

           I've read about these, and heard raves from other users about these, but I'm on the fence about it.

           As far as Delay goes, it's range is only up to 200ms, so there's nothing exciting about that. But I've heard these machines produce some of the wildest time-modulated effects which include Flange, Chorus, Doubler, and Leslie type of effects, and it can do Stereo in some of them.

          So....I'm putting the question out on the floor for all the fellow ADA fanatics to let me know what you think.
          ( I have more than enough S-1000's, Digitizer's and i Series delays to make up for what the TFX4 doesn't have ).


             Should I? ...or Should I let it go?  Nostalgic

Harley 8)

[Dante]

If not you, then who?

[MarshallJMP]

I have one and I like it, it has a great flanger and chorus but it's not stereo. Like you said 200ms is a bit short for a delay. It also sounds a bit darker then the digital counterparts.

[Harley Hexxe]

Hey MJMP,

            I know it's not stereo, but the manual refers to using both the effect and dry outputs, with certain effects to achieve a wide stereo spread.

           So it's darker eh? I wonder how that would work combined with some of the later effects? Kind of a hard way to EQ your rack isn't it?

Harley 8)

[MarshallJMP]

It's an ADA it works perfect with all other ADA racks  ;D

It's a nice unit with all the advantages and disadvantages of an analog unit. One out of two analog 19" units ADA made (I think)

[Harley Hexxe]

Hmmm, You're making me seriously consider this one MJMP.

        Analog time-based effects....not too many of those around period. And I am considering re-doing my 22U rack case with all ADA gear once again like I did many years ago. It wasn't bad set up like that, but it didn't have decent reverb or harmonizer in it, although, I'm not using much harmonizer effects these days. I'm more into straight ahead great guitar tones that get enhanced with chorus, flange, phase, and delays, with some wah in the front when I want it.

Harley 8)

[rnolan]

Hey Harley, if it works well and the cost is affordable for you, I recon you should buy it.  It's rare as rocking horse sh$t, you'll probably never see another one and I suspect it sounds really nice.  Test it first though, they say it works but we know that could mean many things.

[Harley Hexxe]

Hey Richard,

             I plan on giving it a test drive before I buy it. I'm not going to rush it though. It's not going anywhere fast.

Harley 8)

[MarshallJMP]

Well Harley, if it helps I have 2 of them and the 2 original footswitches.  ;D I like them THAT much.

[Harley Hexxe]

Hey MJMP,

           I'm sure there is no footswitch with this one, but maybe I can adapt one of the other footswitches if I need to.

           I'm curious though, when you do use these, which preamp/poweramp rig do you prefer with it?


Harley 8)

[MarshallJMP]

I use it in my rig for the flange sounds so mostly with the mp-1 into my marshalls.

BTW the footpedal is easy to make, just a few pushbottons and some resistors. You can find it in the TFX-4 schematics.

[Harley Hexxe]

              If I decide to buy this piece, I'll be sure to look that diagram up. I'm thinking of using it as a Doubler, in the large rack with the MP-1 and the 3TM. I'm not sure if that will work, but I have plenty of S-1000's that have excellent Flange effects, as well as other effects.

             One of the other effects in this I'm very curious to try is the Leslie simulation. When you said this sounded darker than it's digital counterparts, a light went off in my mind about trying it in unison with a S-1000. If I set the TFX-4 to a slow Leslie in one channel of the effects loop and the S-1000 to a fast Leslie in the other channel, it just might possibly sound a bit more convincing.

            Oh the possibilities ::)

[MarshallJMP]

The TFX4 flanger has a different character then it's digital counterparts. Hard to discribe, when you test it you will hear it.

[Harley Hexxe]

Sort of like the original Flanger pedal. That's different from the digital rack units.