I was intrigued by this new pedal as I often use a delay pedal to add thickness to tones, set to a very short delay with low feedback and mix and a bit of modulation.
HyperFocal: 0
The standard-sized TC housing has level controls for dry and effected signal, plus a switch to engage one, two or three effect voices and a tightness control (which should be called looseness as dialling it up introduces more delay between original and effected voice(s).
In use it’s pretty subtle. In mono, both into an amp or in its loop, it can introduce the same slight clanky overtones that many chorus or pitch pedals do, particularly in two-voice mode.
It’s slightly better in an amp’s loop, but frankly, I find I can get a better ‘thickening’ if not doubling effect in mono from my much more versatile Flashback delay.
The Mimiq is rather better and more noticeable in stereo, going through two amps. This seems to give more space without the pitchshift clank, and is probably why the TC demo video is in stereo from the start, though it also focuses on very overdriven & compressed metal tones. There’s much more to music – and doubling.
This effect raises more questions than answers for me.
First, is the effect even audible in mono under gigging conditions? I’m not convinced but will be listening carefully.
Second, to get the best from it, you need to play in stereo. But how often do you really get to play through two amps? (Me, I play mostly smaller rooms with limited space and setup time).
Third, if the effect is better in the amp’s loop, it needs a lot of wires to put it in both amps’ loops. If indeed it is even possible – if the hum loops don’t get you, the phasing probably will.
Ah, you might say, it’s still a great recording tool. Well, yes and no. Yes, if you record or reamp your guitar parts through it, but no if you use your software to add very controllable doubling simply already.
So a curious and interesting, but sadly not essential pedal. I’m not sure whether to keep it or flip it for a second Flashback. Or another of Hotone’s brilliant programmable Xtomps, several of whose downloadable models already offer different takes on doubling when set low in the mix…
Hey I got the mimiq and I run a stereo setup. Still trying this out. I run stereo delay and reverbs. Do you think the best setup would be run the mimiq last in the pedal chain. This seams the most likely spot to me.
Yup, certainly near the back end. It’s a very subtle effect for live playing, almost inaudible unless you play in stereo (and how many sound engineers are going to mic both your cabs? ?). Also, it messes about with phase and instead of fattening like a doubler should, it can add an out of phase ‘reedy’ tone. I remain quite unsure about it as an addition to my rig. Hope you get better results….