tc electronic Pipeline Tap Tremolo

Handling: This is a pedal from TC's TonePrint line-up, and comes in the usual excellent package - robust case, nicely sized, easy to open, soft footswitch, easy to get on a pedal board. None of this is specific to this pedal, but clearly TC put some effort in to making these pedals very easy to own and use. That said, one minor complaint - having the tap tempo on the bypass switch means having to press and hold the switch first, which kind of interrupts my flow.

Features: Just considering the pedal alone, it's already a very flexible - selectable LFO waveform and timing subdivisions already offer a lot, but the ability to boost the level is really nice. I like to get my amp just on the edge of break-up, and you can use this level control to get the tremolo working exactly around this point - the effect is then less of a volume modulation, and more of pulsing harmonics. If all that's not enough, then you've got tone prints and the whole editor. Don't let the surf green colour of the pedal fool you - this is a very flexible tremolo with all the vintage tones, and plenty of scope for modern creativity too.

Sound: True-bypass when its off, and very transparent when its on - whatever you send in just gets its volume modulated, but not otherwise coloured. Seems to have a lot of headroom, and running after a boost or OD pedal doesn't cause any issues for me.

This pedal definitely rewards exploring different settings, but I found myself going back to the vintage LFO, 16th note-ish, and the depth dialed quite back - then just leave it on all the time. It provided a nice movement to my tone, gently pumping the harmonics around that breakup point, without being in your face, or changing my tone, or getting tiring like, (for example) chorus can.

Unexpectedly, one of my favorite pedals, and a real bargain at this price.