Multiple modulation modes and malleable voices cement a venerable pedal’s classic status.
Huge range of mellow to immersive modulation sounds. Easy to use. Stereo output. Useful input gain control.
Can sound thin compared to many analog chorus and flange classics.
$149
TC Electronic SCF Gold
tcelectronic.com
When you consider stompboxes that have achieved ubiquity and longevity, images of Tube Screamers, Big Muffs, or Boss’ DD series delays probably flash before your eyes. It’s less likely that TC Electronic’s Stereo Chorus Flanger comes to mind. But when you consider that its fundamental architecture has remained essentially unchanged since 1976 and that it has consistently satisfied persnickety tone hounds like Eric Johnson, it’s hard to not be dazzled by its staying power—or wonder what makes it such an indispensable staple for so many players.
The latest incarnation of the Stereo Chorus Flanger, the SCF Gold, underscores the timelessness of TC’s classic. And the richness of its modulations, its broad versatility, and very accessible price still add up to a most appealing multi-modulator.
Complex Sounds from Simple Controls
Pedals that combine chorus, flange, and vibrato aren’t uncommon. But given the fundamental similarities between the effects, it’s curious we don’t see more boxes that bundle the three. Obviously, specialization enables enhanced control and more refined and radical results. But for gigging guitarists and studio players that need to work fast and intuitively, there is an undeniable appeal in a pedal that covers all the bases competently.
One beautiful feature of the SCF Gold’s ageless design is the simplicity of the control set. That simplicity is essential, however, because the three controls are highly interactive and vary in feel and function depending on the mode you use.
The speed knob spans rates ranging from an ultra-lazy 10 seconds per cycle to fast, rotary-style 10-cycles-per-second pulses. The width control governs the delay time between waveforms. The intensity control is the shape shifter of the bunch. In chorus mode, it’s effectively a wet/dry blend. In flanger mode it becomes a feedback control. And in pitch modulation mode it regulates the balance between vibrato and chorus effects. The input gain control situated just below the mode switch may look less vital, but the grit, body, and volume that it adds to a signal transforms many modulations into thicker, less clinical, and sometimes more organic and cohesive sounds—though that sometimes comes at the expense of the SCF’s excellent focus and clarity. It’s also critical for overcoming some of the volume loss that you perceive at intense modulation settings.
In both live and studio settings, the extra top-end clarity makes the SCF Gold pop.
Clear-Eyed and Wobbling
If you had to pick a single characteristic that sets the SCF Gold apart from other classic analog choruses and flangers, and the contemporary pedals that imitate them, it’s the TC’s focus and clarity, particularly in the high-mid and high frequencies. Many analog chorus pedals end up with a fairly dark voice—partly as a function of bucket brigade circuit design, but also, perhaps, in an attempt to tame resonant peaks and better simulate the more liquid qualities of rotary speakers and tape flange. I love those smoky modulation colors. But there are times, especially when I’m working with a dense arrangement, that I want a chorus to sit more present and distinctly in its corner. The SCF Gold’s relatively bright voice enables these simultaneously more prominent and less bossy tones. For players that revere the heavy, unmistakably underwater sounds of Electro-Harmonix’s Electric Mistress flanger and Polychorus or the Boss CE-1 chorus, the TC might sound comparatively thin. But I love the fidelity I can hear in its less murky modulations. And in both live and studio settings, the extra top-end clarity makes the SCF Gold pop, which is killer for underpinning ’80s-style applications and modern indie-pop hooks.
There are countless textures to uncover among the SCF Gold’s modulations, including a wealth of familiar classic chorus and flange sounds. But there are scores of surprising highlights, too. Mating fast and fairly intense vibrato pulses to high input gain settings, for instance, generates a fair approximation of Magnatone amp vibrato in a pinch, and a nice Boss VB-2 style throb in cleaner settings. And high flange speeds coupled with modest width settings create gently pulsing waveforms that are redolent with hints of phase, tremolo, and delay. Adding intensity in this setting adds progressively more vowely and metallic overtones—yielding some of the coolest sounds the pedal has to offer.
Among the chorus sounds, the most traditional late-’70s/early-’80s modulations were the most enticing and addictive to my ear. But the chorus also dishes stylish approximations of 12-string electric (particularly with a bright Fender bridge single-coil out front) and trippy faux-rotary sounds, which sound extra immersive in stereo.
The Verdict
If you’re a gigging player, the utility and jack-of-all-trades flexibility of the SCF Gold could make it indispensable. And if you’re into pedalboard economy, it could conceivably replace multiple pedals. Whether you’re chasing the most versatile modulator possible or just authentic ’70s to ’80s chorus and flange sounds, the SCF Gold’s $149 price represents an excellent value. The modulations may not be as deep or queasy as those you’ll hear from other classic analog choruses and flangers. But the low noise floor and focused EQ profile make it easier to wrangle in many musical situations.
Does it better the many variations of the SCF that have come before it? Well, with crown-mounted 9V power and an input gain circuit that bumps the pedal’s already considerable headroom, we’d have to say yes. However minor and incremental these improvements may be, they are reason enough to investigate this fun, multifaceted, sweet sounding, and super affordable multi-modulation device if you haven’t already had the pleasure.
TC Electronic's 1st Pedal Reissued! SCF Gold Stereo Chorus Flanger Demo | First Look
A tiny and terrifically inexpensive ticket to spacious places.
Rugged, versatile, and easy to use. Super compact. Impressively affordable. Useful tone control.
Deeper settings can wash out the dry signal pretty quickly.
$45
TC Electronic Skysurfer Mini Reverb
tcelectronic.com
On the heels of its full-sized Skysurfer reverb pedal, TC Electronic has introduced the smaller and even more affordable Skysurfer Mini. TC, of course has a well-established and solid foundation in studio reverbs as well as a proven ability to miniaturize effects. And this tiny 3.9" x 2.2" x 2.2" metal box might just pack the most reverb value per-square-inch of any pedal out there.
The Little One
Though it's small, the Skysurfer Mini's control set matches that of its bigger sibling. That means knobs for reverb, mix, and tone (the latter of which alters the EQ profile of the reverb's decay, but not the dry signal). Just as on the bigger Skysurfer, there's a mini-toggle switch to select spring, plate, or hall reverb.
Recorded with a K-Line Springfield with Strat-style single-coil pickups using the neck pickup, into an AC15-style 1x12 combo set for clean.
Clip 1: Hall – Pedal briefly off, then on. Tone noon, Reverb 11 o'clock, Mix 11 o'clock.
Clip 2: Plate – Pedal briefly off, then on. Tone noon, Reverb 11 o'clock, Mix 11 o'clock.
Clip 3: Spring – Pedal briefly off, then on. Tone noon, Reverb 11 o'clock, Mix 11 o'clock. Near the end, Reverb and Mix turned up to 3 o'clock, guitar switched to bridge pickup.
The footswitch is non-latching, there are mono input and output jacks, power comes from a 9V center-negative jack on the crown, and the pedal draws 100 mA. The enclosure itself feels impressively rugged. And perhaps my only hesitation with embracing such a conveniently small pedal is that my ham-footed size 11s might be just as likely to stomp the knobs as the switch on a dark stage. Such are the risks with most mini-pedals, but your level of care—or klutziness—may make such complications less of a factor.
Surf’s Up
I situated the Skysurfer Mini in front of a tweed Deluxe-style 1x12 combo and in the loop of a Friedman Mini Dirty Shirley 1x10 combo, using a Les Paul and a K-Line Springfield S-style. It didn't take me long to find several favorite settings.
Each reverb mode, including the spring, has personality and can be extremely effective and offer cool creative options when used right.
The unit's overall tonality is bright and lively, which lends the feel of hard-surface reflections to most settings, rather than the soft, hazy edges you hear in some room or well-aged plate or spring reverbs. But you can easily dial in warmer reverb tones with careful use of the tone knob. Reverb snobs may quibble with the reality of some vintage-style settings. The spring setting, for example, probably won't fool old pros into thinking they're running through a '63 Fender Reverb. Yet each reverb mode, including the spring, has ample personality and can offer cool creative options when used right. For atmospheric reverbs, I found the hall with reverb and mix around 11 o'clock spacious, lush, and appealingly dimensional. When it came to the spring mode, however, I liked more aggressive settings with everything set around 1 o'clock, which is a blast for surf-punk riff mongering.
While the perception of depth and delay varies in the spring, plate, and hall modes, the taper in each control seems to favor wet settings rather than a range of subtle wet/dry blends. Given that deeper settings audibly dull the impact of the dry signal, it's often wise to start from modest reverb settings and ease into deeper territory, where the fun is. That said, some of the bias toward wet signals is made possible by the flexible tone control, which can lend clarity to transients and enables exploration of much more deep and drenched reverb settings without creating a wash of harsh overtones in the reflections.
The Verdict
The Skysurfer Mini may not always deliver the same lushness or depth you get from complex and expensive digital reverbs, but it's ideal for compact grab 'n' go rigs. At $45, this relatively versatile digital reverb is a fantastic bargain. It sounds reasonably realistic to expansive in all modes, and while more traditional players might want to rein in the depth in most instances, more experimental players can take the Skysurfer Mini to very lush and huge-sounding spaces. If you're on a strict budget, the Skysurfer Mini Reverb is very hard to beat.
