TC Electronic Nova Delay ND-1 | A Classic Digital Delay that still has value

The Concluding Summary …

The TC Nova Delay, a bit older compared to the many of today’s new pedal choices, is still by all accounts a great digital delay, certainly worth the current available price of $159. The proper question to ask: is the Nova Delay the right fit for your needs? This depends greatly on what you’re looking for and/or what other pedals are already on your pedalboard. Particular to my scenario, I already own the El Capistan by Strymon and my hope was for the Nova to provide a digital focused delay while having the ability to save presets.

In many ways the Nova Delay succeeds in checking off my list of wants/needs along with meeting my expectations of tone quality. It has some great controls and features, solid effect tones, nice flexibility, and even a few hidden surprises. In the end however, there were a few particular characteristics and control mechanics which, after a thoughtful and lengthy pause, led me to return the pedal. This is less a ‘knock’ on the pedal but speaks rather to my personal taste and desired application of the effect. I will cover these observations with more detail in the review below.

To conclude, if you are in the market for a Digital-based delay with a lot of onboard controls, at $159, the Nova Delay is certainly worth your consideration. With the depth of onboard controls, I believe the Nova Delay is much more ‘Performance Friendly’ than many other similarly priced delays.

[Full Review]

To provide context ….

With the acquisition of the M234 Analog Chorus by MXR a few months back, I’ve been quite pleased with the pedal selections and configuration of my setup; so much so that I’ve spent far less time surfing the gear forums. With the pedalboard set, I placed more attention on refining the incorporation of the effects, when appropriate, throughout my set-lists.

Recently, threads about delays have most often caught my eye. An effect often used, it can be a subtle addition to one’s tone or, when dialed up, take the guitarist and audience on a journey through time and space.

I started 2015 with the TC Flashback, the Swiss Army Knife of Delays. It has many different delay types on tap, from Analog ‘Voices’ to Digital, three different sub-divisions selections, and the TonePrint for endless expansion. The Flashback sounded great but I was left wanting more; specifically more granular control over the effect. The TonePrint feature is great for playing around at home but I did not find it that practical when used in a live setting — nor do I want to fuss around with uploading selections via my phone or laptop.

My current delay is the Strymon El Capistan. I love … L-O-V-E … this pedal. The tonal quality is fantastic and the control scheme is both intuitive and comprehensive — there isn’t much of the effect that one can’t tweak via the controls. A welcomed surprise, the delay can also be cleaned up to a degree, offering some more pristine echos. From Gilmour’s Stadium Leads to U2-Esque Rhythmic Delays, the El Capistan stands tall.

Ok …. so the question being asked at this point, why would I buy the older TC Nova Delay?

Honestly, I was just so very intrigued and, for $159 New …. it was too hard to resist.

A bit more seriously, if there is one limitation of the El Capistan, it would be the lack of presets. YES, it offers one preset, YES, it is easy to dial in different settings between songs BUT … I have found in more real-world use that, during longer sets or, as the night lingers on, I get a bit tired of having to adjust the pedal on the fly. This isn’t a deal breaker but it provided an opportunity to take a second look at the TC Nova Delay as a way to expand my Delay Effect choices.

[Enter the TC Nova Delay]

The TC Nova Delay is a digital delay, inspired in part from the classic TC 2290 Rack Delay, that can venture into darker more analog simulated delay tones. When comparing feature sets to other delay pedals I own(ed), the El Capistan dTape Delay is a digital based as well but, from start to finish, is engineered to simulate the nuances and characteristics of classic Tape Delays systems. In comparison to the Flashback, the Nova Delay gives the guitarist much greater onboard/instant control over the effect via dials with programmable presets.

A summary of features include: Color Control (from Tape -> Analog -> Digital), Modulation (light, medium, heavy w/ control of mix level), six delay types, 6 different sub-division selections, 9 programmable presets, and tap-tempo. The build quality feels fantastic – very heavy-duty. Note: The newer versions purchased now all include the “iB modified” buffer improvements (for those who have seen reference to that edition) The ND-1 is a buffered pedal – not True-Bypass. Being that the pedal is towards the end of the chain, I find that the additional buffer actually restores a tad bit of life & bite to the signal – although, I was already more than happy with the base tone sans the included buffer.

[Pedalboard Environment Notes]

While the pedal comes with an included power adapter, I am using a Voodoo Pedal Power 2 Plus on Output #5 set to 12V. The Delay is the next to last effect in the chain, before the reverb. Important Note: As reviewed, the Nova Delay, as it sits in the effects chain, is placed in front of the amp, NOT in the effects loop

[Observations & Feedback]

Within minutes from unboxing the pedals and powering it on, I was able to dial in U2-esque delay lines. My guitar signal felt a bit more livelier than normal – not in a bad way – something I attribute to the presence of a buffer. I heard a bit of distortion in the delay trails but after calibrating the pedal (helps to read the manual), I had very pristine echos. When I had the Color setting set to Digital (fully to the right), the pedal delay effect picks up the slightest nuances of unintentional noise (finger slides, scratchiness of the pick, accidental bumps, etc.) — read: the digital delay setting is highly sensitive, providing a true echo of anything that you feed it. This threw me off a bit compared to experience to the el Capistan, but I learned to dial back the color which takes a bit of the edge off. Along this same line, I find that the Nova Delay is generally “high throttled”. Even with the mix turned to just 4 or 5 (out of 100), the effect is still very audible. This is not a bad thing, it just take some getting used to. Making subtle adjustments will go a long way in helping to dial in the right blend and voice of effect. As far as personal taste, one concern I have is that there is no way to really reduce the attack of the very first repeat (for it to sit back a bit in the mix) but, to be fair, it’s not like this sort of control comes standard for other pedals anyway and may be just the nature of a clean digital delay. (Editor’s Note: As you will see below, after spending greater time with the pedal, I discovered some interesting capabilities/settings that provided more subtlety.)

To provide some feedback on the COLOR choices, the [Analog] setting is very solid, I find the [Tape] setting to come across as basic dark echos (low-pass/high-cut filter sort of thing) and it sits back a bit in the mix. That being said, I am certainly spoiled by the El Capistan which specializes in Tape Echos – maybe my review here is a bit skewed. I have a feeling that if I play around with the settings, especially mixing in some modulation, that I can get more out of the Tape Echo settings. To quickly note, the el Capistan no longer seemed so “pristine” even on its cleanest settings compared to the Nova Delay with the [Color] dial set to full Digital.

Speaking of the Modulation, I really have enjoyed all the capabilities of this effect. Between the three Modulation Modes along with the Modulation Mix control, it’s a well executed feature adds a nice depth/richness to the trails. While I sometimes utilize a combination of Chorus + Delay, the Modulated Delay provided by the pedal sounds great as is and can provide unique voicings to the effect, thickening up echos while leaving the guitar tone unchanged.

The Delay types are more than enough to cover common uses and most guitarist will probably spend a majority of their time using the delay line (standard), dynamic, and slapback. The [Dynamic] option is very interesting as it only adds the delay at the end of phrases keeping the live signal “cleaner”. This can be quite useful, especially for solos …. Think: Epic Gilmour. Combined with a nice Reverb, the guitar’s voice remains articulate mid phrase to then softly trail-off at the end.

[On-Board Controls & Features]

As with any pedal, the Nova Delay is very much a Plug-‘N’-Play pedal for the most BASIC use. That being said, the best advice I can give is to READ THE MANUAL. From setting presets, calibrating the pedal, to understanding the function, interaction, and nuances of the different controls, these things and more are all covered in the manual; albeit not always the most clearly explained. Things like the [DELAY] time control knob work a bit differently due to the range of times available. The implementation works perfectly but it is a different than some might expect.

The on-board controls on the Nova Delay are what really give this pedal an advantage compared to others available in the market; this despite its age. As a small bonus, the ND-1 practically tells you how to do everything directly on the face of the pedal. Presets are easy enough to set and any manual setting can be adjusted within seconds.

While the control set is vast in its options to adjust the characteristics of the effect, I found that the more granular refinements provided in some of the controls was a bit limited. With respects to the [MIX LEVEL], subtle delays can only be found when it is set between levels 1 ~ 10 with anything much higher than 20 feeling like the effect is on max settings (read: there is is a lack of a more discernible gradient or increments.) As I came to find, there are a few tricks available (see below) that expand this gradient to a degree. This same scenario seems to play out when it comes to the Feedback dial – on the opposite end of the spectrum. While the control goes from 0 -> 120 as one turns the dial, the delay starts to self-oscillate in perpetuity around 100 feeling like there was a substantial amount of space left on the dial for more incremental settings. That said, for both of these examples, there may be a valid explanation; perhaps these controls respond a bit differently when in the stereo mode which does speak to the tricks I discuss below.

The [PRESETS] system has a lot of depth to it but is easy enough to use. Up to nine presets can be stored and then one can limit how many are selectable at any one time. I configured the pedal to switch between four presets. The combination of Foot Switches can be used at this point to turn on/off presets and switch between them on the fly.

Finally, with respects to the controls and pedal configuration, the Calibration is easy enough – works well. I would have prefered two things: 1) a better explanation of what the Calibration actually does (what the reporting numbers mean) and, 2) to adjust the Calibration manually. While I easily cleaned-up the gain in the delay trails, I was left wondering if I would/should re-calibrate when switching between guitars being that they can drive the signal a bit differently. The pedal seemed to work just fine with both guitars regardless.

[Nova Delay vs. Flashback]

… see my follow-up commentary a few posts below for a comparison between these two pedals.​
[Power Options]

In much older threads on the forum, there have been conflicting statements with concerns to powering this Pedal. I used the Voodoo Pedal Power 2+ providing 12V. The Voodoo manual specifically addressed how to power the Nova Series Pedals in the manual and indeed, I have not had an issue. I did test the included power-plug that came with the Pedal and did not notice any difference in tone/effect.

[Tips & Tricks | Unlocking hidden potential]

After completing some additional research along with trial & error, here are some fun ideas and settings:

• As previously shared, a characteristic of the Nova that has been hard to escape, the pedal is very Lively/Full-Throttle. It can be a bit challenging, but achievable, to dial in subtlety. The Mix level has to be set at or below ~10 (out of 100).

  That being said … if one is using the pedal in [Mono] mode, the use of the [PAN] style delay will take the edge off the effect, allowing it to sit back a bit in the mix. Where I may have had the [MIX] level set at 20, I can now turn it up to about 45 to get the same sort of effect level. This provides much greater headroom to play with in achieving some subtle delays. Further, due to the nature of the Stereo Pan delay in Mono use, there is a very nuanced pulse/tremolo effect added that I would liken to the Wobble/Flutter of a Tape Echo. Set the [Color] Level to about 35, dial in the [Modulation] to taste (maybe something like 60 ~ 80), and [Feedback] around 60 you will be able to achieve a very moody, warm, organic style effect that has a uniqueness when compared to the basic settings of the pedal. For more of a Gilmourish Solo, adding to the suggested Color/Modulations settings above, set [Feedback] at 70, [Mix] 15.

• Using the same trick as above, keeping it on [PAN] delay, dive into the combo division types. In these settings, I’ve found many of the subtle and musical delays that I often used on the El Capistan; now very achievable on the Nova. I will not misrepresent that the resulting delays on each pedal are the carbon copies of each other BUT, they share very similar styles/taste. As I started to play around with many different variants of this mode, I really dialed up some great effect tones. It was a joy to then be able to quickly switch back to presets (From manual) to go back to some of my other delay favorites before returning to further play around on manual mode. In these last few hours, I feel like the potential of this pedal has started to open up; my outlook has shifted from “This is a solid pedal” to “I really like this pedal.”
• As I previously owned a Flashback, I went ahead and tried out the often discussed patch-cable trick or running the pedal back into itself (Signal In to Right Input –> Patch Cable from Right Output into Left Input –> Left Output Out to Next Pedal. Talk about some very interesting effect voices. Along with some Out-Of-This-World delays, there can some normal things dialed in as well — just be careful as I came to find that the pedal will easily self-oscillate depending on the Feedback intensity combined with the of type of delay and division.
• Interesting to Note: When using any sort of Overdrive pedal pre-delay, the effect comes across as siting a bit back (without any changes) in the mix in comparison to using the same [MIX] level with a clean signal. A nuanced observation, but one that might be important when using the Nova Delay for leads. This provides a bit more headroom from having to keep the mix level at 10 or below for subtle delays.

[Summary]

The TC Nova Delay sounds great, has a wealth of features, and the in-depth/on-board controls make it very easy to work with. The pedal gains a lot of strength from having so much onhand control over the effect which speaks to its value as a Live-Use pedal. I would have prefered more incremental gradients/adjustments for some of the control parameters along with some sort of manual control over calibration (thinking that this could be used to mute the initial attack a bit). With a bit of time, there are a lot of fun and useful delay effects to be dialed up. While this pedal has been around for a bit of time, I think it still offers many features and performance quality that make it worth consideration. At the $159 price-point, it is ALMOST a “no-brainer” acquisition for one’s pedal/effects library.