Review: T.C. Electronic Flashback Delay

I was looking for a versatile delay for a while and read about the brand new T.C. Electronics Flashback. So I thought I give it a try - and it hasn't left my studio since. I needed a good sounding stereo delay that can be connected with line and instrument input and that is small enough to bring on tour. I had a Boss Digital Delay years ago as well as the Ibanez Analog Delay AD9. First one sounded cold like ice and the possibilities of the second one were very limited. The Flashback is a beautiful little helper and more than that - a rich source of inspiration. Nine (!) different delay modes, a looper function and one Toneprint setting that you can load on to the pedal via USB from your computer. It's built like a tank, very heavy for it's small size and can be operated with a 9V battery that can be accessed by only one big screw at the bottom. You can see that people used their brain when they designed this unit. It's easy to operate the simple looper, you can record up to 40 seconds in mono mode and overdubs are possible as well. It's even more easy to set the tempo of the delay - just step on the switch and "strum" the right beat on  your guitar and everything's set. I found out that the Ping Pong Delay adds some kind of bass boost in certain settings (with delay time at zero) and I already used that for recording as well. The Toneprint function is a bit cheesy as you won't sound like your guitar hero anyway. The idea is not bad, but you can upload only one setting at a time and that's lame as you always have to run to the computer and connect again and that takes time. There are some interesting sounds tough... It comes with USB cable but without power supply. I like it a lot and rate it a 9/10.