TC Electronics D-Two

[Rockhound252]

Hi all.

Im looking to buy a second delay to work with my SDD3K . I have read that the d-two is a good replace to the TC2290. Can anyone confirm that? What do you think about that?


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[Muad'zin]

I used to have two of them 8 years ago. Can't compare them to the 2290 because a 2nd hand 2290 cost 2x as much as a D2 at the time. It was said that the modulation of the D2 wasn't on the same level as on the 2290. Again, I can't compare but it was subtle. I think I sold them because I also had a G-Major and Boss GX-700, which also could do delays, in the case of the G-Major almost the exact same delays. The only thing they couldn't do was modulation delay. But since the D2 was kinda subtle in that department it seemed kinda overkill to keep both D2's just for that.

As for you, what is your setup, what are your needs, how do you plan to use them? 8 years the choice for advanced delays was limited. A rackmounted delay was still one of the best options. Nowadays there are excellent delay pedals as well. Or you could just sell your soul to the digital devil and go full on modelling instead. One modeller makes for a hell of a lot simpler setup. Plus it beats having to deal with gear that's been out of production for a quarter of a century.

 

[Rockhound252]

I want a delay clean like tc2290 in a rack.


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[Muad'zin]

It can do that. And it will have the advantage of being only a 1U unit, so it will take up less space then a 2290. For what it is supposed to do it is a good affordable rack delay. Which is why you see them a lot in FOH racks. Where it makes sense to have them.

As a musician however I still would go for a TC Electronic G-Major though. It can do most of those delays as well and a lot more, it's the same size, has the same knobs and button layout (it shares the same chassis basically) and judging by the Thomann website still costs almost €100 less. For what it will cost you, considering that there are excellent multi-FX alternatives, unless its a cheap 2nd hand unit and/or you're dead set on having those multitap options, the D2 is just not worth it. I only got two of them because I dreamt of having a rack like the Edge (with his 4 2290's and 3 SDD3K's), not a rack that suited my own needs.

 

[Rockhound252]

I saw a gmajor first gen on a pawn store but is saw that is a multieffect and the dtwo is only delay. Gmajor has better quality?


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[Mack_Again]

can those TC delays be replicated with recent, high-quality small delay pedals like Timeline or Eventide H9?

 

[Rockhound252]

Yes, seem is possible but im just looking for a rackmount


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[Muad'zin]

I saw a gmajor first gen on a pawn store but is saw that is a multieffect and the dtwo is only delay. Gmajor has better quality?

Brian May uses them, and they're doing his Brighton Rock delays. Think of it as an added bonus that A: it can do extra stuff as well, might come in handy, and B: even if you still only use it for delays a new one is still €100 cheaper then a D2. I'm sure that the D2 can do things that the G-Major2 can't, like the multi-tap thing, question is, do you need that or not. Always measure your purchases by need to have vs. nice to have.

can those TC delays be replicated with recent, high-quality small delay pedals like Timeline or Eventide H9?

Of course they can. The days that rackmounted effects were unsurpassed by pedals is long gone. Not only can pedals nowadays deliver the same quality, they are also way more reliable as rackmounts are just not designed to be taken on the road and hauled around, being subjected to all kinds of punishment and weather conditions . The fact that Edge had to stick two of every rack unit in his rack is testament to that, he didn't do that with his pedals. Rackmounts were designed to be used in studios, static, where the temperature is always the same. That's why they are shaped the way they are. Guitarists started to take them out on the road to recreate the studio effects that had been applied to their recordings out of necessity, they didn't have an alternative.

 

[Rockhound252]

Brian May uses them, and they're doing his Brighton Rock delays. Think of it as an added bonus that A: it can do extra stuff as well, might come in handy, and B: even if you still only use it for delays a new one is still €100 cheaper then a D2. I'm sure that the D2 can do things that the G-Major2 can't, like the multi-tap thing, question is, do you need that or not. Always measure your purchases by need to have vs. nice to have.







Of course they can. The days that rackmounted effects were unsurpassed by pedals is long gone. Not only can pedals nowadays deliver the same quality, they are also way more reliable as rackmounts are just not designed to be taken on the road and hauled around, being subjected to all kinds of punishment and weather conditions . The fact that Edge had to stick two of every rack unit in his rack is testament to that, he didn't do that with his pedals. Rackmounts were designed to be used in studios, static, where the temperature is always the same. That's why they are shaped the way they are. Guitarists started to take them out on the road to recreate the studio effects that had been applied to their recordings out of necessity, they didn't have an alternative.

Brian may is using gmajor 2 i think. This is what insaw in his rack. That rack his delay is a tc2290 emulation but the gmajor 1 is an standard delay i think.


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[Mack_Again]

there you go, guys.

 

[Rockhound252]

Yess


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[Muad'zin]

Brian may is using gmajor 2 i think. This is what insaw in his rack. That rack his delay is a tc2290 emulation but the gmajor 1 is an standard delay i think.

Obviously you should get the G-Major 2, which is what I meant. Although the G-Major 1 ain't that bad either. It just can't do modulated delays.

 

[Mack_Again]

I still wonder why TC2290 sounds so special. is that because these rack units have more processing power? i don't think D-2 is inferior and Major 1/2 should have tons of processing power to pull off these complex effects. am i wrong here?

 

[Muad'zin]

Well, when the 2290 entered the market there was simply no alternative to it in the pedal department. And it used components which are no longer in production. So if you wanted to use the same studio grade delays live as in the studio you had to stick a 2290 in your rack as a guitarist. And the D2 is to the 2290 as the WH4 whammy is to the classic WH1. A new product that had to be designed because they could no longer build the old one. And whenever something gets discontinued in favor of something new people are going to compare the two and generally prefer the old one. And there's a logic to it beyond conservative older is better. Redesigns usually happen because of inaccessibility of older parts and/or to cut costs. And while redesigns always try to sound like the old thing, you can never really get the same result with different parts. So older will still sound somewhat different, therefore better in the ears of most people.

Anyway, nothing wrong with the D2, but its a one trick pony that costs more then the more versatile G-Major 2. And having more options for less is generally better. Even if you do use it only for delays. That's what I use my Line6 M9 basically for.

 

[Mack_Again]

Right, your comparison of Whammy 1 vs 4 and this TC delay situation seems pretty right.

I saw couple of vids comparing D2 and TC2290 and i often hear some differences but I feel like those can be overcome by some tweaks. They can apply hi/low cuts to their repeats, meaning that the unit can produce large variety of sounds. They're not so different, after all.

Only time I've seen D2 in professional player's rack was in Carlos Santana's rig. he apparently only uses D2 once in every show. literally only for one moment in a show.

Seems to be that people are mostly fine with G-Force1/2, delays within Axe-Fx units, or even some compact until like Eventide H9, Timeline from Strymon, etc. I can't really hear the difference, so don't really trust me on this.

 

[Muad'zin]

Right, your comparison of Whammy 1 vs 4 and this TC delay situation seems pretty right.

I saw couple of vids comparing D2 and TC2290 and i often hear some differences but I feel like those can be overcome by some tweaks. They can apply hi/low cuts to their repeats, meaning that the unit can produce large variety of sounds. They're not so different, after all.

Seems logical, considering that the D2 was meant to be a direct replacement for the 2290 and not a 'let's try something'..

Only time I've seen D2 in professional player's rack was in Carlos Santana's rig. he apparently only uses D2 once in every show. literally only for one moment in a show.

Ah, the joy of having plenty of money to create your dream rig and the peons to carry it around for you. To quote Mel Brooks, 'It's good to be the King'.

Seems to be that people are mostly fine with G-Force1/2, delays within Axe-Fx units, or even some compact until like Eventide H9, Timeline from Strymon, etc. I can't really hear the difference, so don't really trust me on this.

Not everybody has plenty of money and the peons to carry their stuff for them. When funds are tight and you have to haul everything around yourself and/or take it with you on a plane, keeping your rig tight and compact tends to be become a bigger priority over 'I absolutely have to have this expensive rack unit in my rig for only one moment in a show.

That and all those pedals and units you've named have become just as good or almost as good as the old rack delays. So why burden yourself with big cumbersome old finicky gear when there are good alternatives?

 

[Mack_Again]

Are there any small pedals (that aren't outrageously expensive) which allows you to apply hi/low cuts to repeats? What happens is that I often really want to apply some hi cuts to repeats of digital delay as the repeat themselves sound mostly alright except for ear-piercing treble. But analog delay model seems to have repeats too muffled, especially when I turn up the # of repeats.

Well, Santana barely used effects in that rig so I guess carrying extra rack unit didn't really hurt. You know, it's not much of an additional burden to carry, if you're only carrying pedalboard with 2-3pedlas max and couple of amps. Only other pedals he's got was wah and Pete Cornish splitter and amp selector. What was luxurious was the fact that he carried 2-3 Dumble Super Overdrives, Bludotone amps(basically a clone of original Dumbles) and original Mesa amp, the one before Mesa Boogie began mass-producing amps. Hey, there apparently are people who are more neurotic about tones than Edge. Good to know.


Yeah, small pedals are really producing high quality effects nowadays. Hey, even Edge don't even bother using rackmount that does only one thing live. He even said that he used Axe-Fx in the recording of SOI.