I just noticed that TC Electronic moved the TC 2290 Dynamic Digital Delay over to the 'discontinued' page. A great outboard delay that will be missed.

Any dealers still have any in stock?

Shane

Damn, that is sad news indeed..

Jakob E.

Yeah, I was looking at getting that bad boy very soon. Time to hunt one down. I couldnt be bothered with the 'plugin' version or reissue 20 years from now. heh

Shane

I'm constantly amazed TC has anything at all to sell. They discontinue everything, no matter how useful or popular. I guess software only is their dream.

BTW some of the dynamic delay is in the little M300. And Line6 has it in their DL4 pedal... also was in the rackmount version EchoPro... which they immediately discontinued, probably because it was useful.

rant off

Steve

Of course it is sad, but the reason is probably the usual one: They're not selling enough of it. So really, who could blame them? I don't think they're just bitching with us. They have to earn money like everyone else.

Well, I sent them an email and I'll post a response when they reply. The availability of parts could also be a factor. Especially when it comes to the chips and eproms used inside. If I recall, there where some accessories of the 2290 that had to be discontinued because of part availability.

Sad to see this classic delay go.

Shane

I would bet that parts are the issue. The 2290 is a very unique box in that if I remember correctly doesn't actually use the PCM process like all of the other units out there. It uses some other kind of digital processing that was a bit rare in its day and might be next to impossible 15 years later. All of this is what gave it its sound that is so much different than any other delay on the market.

Sad to see such a wonderful box go away. Now its time for the ebay price gouging to begin.......

Michael Greene

I own it , great for clean delays/Tremolo/Flange/Panning, love the Lexicon PCM 42 also(for the dirty delay).

www.bluethumbproductions.com

2290 has to be incredibly expensive to make. I doubt anything will ever replace it.

I also have a D2....which is pretty coo (especially for the bucks), but doesn't have THAT sound.

I think it was released in 1987. They managed to keep it in production for 18 or so years. Thats pretty good considering the availability of the parts used and changing technology with the eproms and chips etc.

Shane

I just sold a Roland SDE 330 Dimensional Space Delay and was sad to see that go. I really liked the sound I got from it....but it was getting old and I recently bought a M-300 which takes care of my delay needs....The Roland was nice, but the M-300 had some features I really wanted, S/PDIF, 24 bit processing, reverb section......plus it's a new unit.....vrs an older unit.....newer design, newer components, different sounds....

Dude, are you kidding? I was out at the Tube-tech/TC distributors place a few years back talking to a couple of guys from TC... They were very proud of the fact that over the years, only 1 product had ever been discontinued (a stomp box). Now, obviously things have changed a little now, but still...

To put it into perspective, imagine if Lexicon had JUST NOW discontinued the 42!

Do you think more recent units sound any different than older ones?

I know that some people say that older TC 1210's sound better than more recent ones due to parts changes. Probably an old wive's tale. The 1210 another great unit that they eventually discontinued. I don't know if my 1210 is more recent or older, but it sounds great!

Yes.




And noisy. heh

Not totally true.

Some of the patches do have the sound.

hmmm... that guy should check his own website:



Plus TC has discontinued more than one pedal for sure... they aren't even shown on that page, I know of the parametric DI, a level-booster, the original SCF (which was replaced with a noisy switch version), maybe one or two more.

So yeah I'm being sarcastic when I said every product... but some of those gone-away products were awfully useful and still command pretty high used prices -- shows they were maybe put away too soon?

Steve

I cant speak for myself(I was hoping to be a new owner of one soon until I saw it was discontinued) but I've heard a few others say they sounded slighltly different because of some component changes over the years.

I know that certain components where changed on the M5000(The host processor being one) which is why they have 2 separate software upgrades. One for older M5000s and one for the newer units.

Here is a quote from the M5000 web page:

"Why two different M5000 software's?
The host processor we were using in the M5000 was becoming unavailable.
The new host requires a different but functionally identical software, hence two different versions. "

I'll shoot TC an email and see if they can join in on this topic. It would be cool to have a rep here and maybe they can share some of the ideas and new gear that we might see from them in the future.

Shane

Well, if there's something that you like that uses older integrated circuits, you may want to think about getting it soon.

There's an upcoming ban on using lead solder for the manufacturer of any equipment that's going into the European Union starting July 1, 2006. It's not just a simple matter of changing from lead solder to lead-free solder. Lead-free solder melts at a higher temperature, and in general, is much more of a PITA to work with.

Inside the IC, there are fine wires that connect the circuit to the pins, and lead solder may be used here. At minimum, they would have to move the manufacture to a different fabrication line, and likely some redesign would be required. And yes, the ban applies to lead solder within components as well as on a PCB.

How is this really going to go down? Can't say for sure - the deadline is looming, but the industry isn't in good shape for dealing with it. It may be one of those "look the other way" situations for a while, but the writing is on the wall.

A bunch of stuff is going end of life.

js

Yeah, we have a great post on Gearslutz regarding the ban of certain materials. Check it out. Some equipment manufacturers(Manley) also replied to the post with their opinions etc.

I emailed TC and invited them to respond to some of these very things on this thread and some solutions they have in mind etc.

Shane

Here is the response I got from TC regarding the TC 2290 Delay:

Hi Shane,

Despite great enthusiam and an uheard of product life span of 20 years, we have unfortunately had to discontinue the 2290. The last few years, we have had great difficulty in getting the original components for producing this fine product, and with additional new electronics production restrictions, it has become impossible for us to continue production.

Yes, the 1210 is noisy. But worth it IMHO.

So is there a consensus on whether the old 2290's sound "better"? what is the difference in their sound?

Thread 10-year anniversary bump. I've never used the 2290, what's its special thing? These still seem to command rather steep prices, why would one invest in a 2290 rather than, say, a Strymon unit?

First post here, used loads of 2290's back in the day.

Great for ducking delays and adding that lovely Robben Ford style lower mid slap.

This video is pretty good as an overview.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcOuIBDzWHE

The Strymon stuff seems good but less grainy but still very cool to my ears.

tb

3D sound.
It was a preset number 84. Or 48, i'm not sure, but it was out of this world...
I pretty much used it on every record i was working on at the time.

And back in the day it was the unit with longest delay possible, if i remember it well.
It had sampling, and great user interface with tap tempo button..
I never went deep into it, but it was a monster with endless possibilities.

Anyone using the H9 line level?

Not good for those looking to buy used, or those who own old units. If TC can't get parts, you'd have to start trusting people cannibalizing units for parts.

Not being able to find original components was a lame excuse. My guess is that the 2290 was too expensive in manufacturing. They replaced it with the D-two in their product line which used cheaper components and cheaper manufacturing processes hence increased profit.
I´ve been told back in the days that a ribbon wire connector became unobtainable. That was a lie because from looking inside I can tell you that this connector could be replaced by a make of another manufacturer, which is available upto today.