TC Electronic finally releases 2290 P Dynamic Digital Delay & FX Processor Pedal Edition of its legendary 1985 Rack Mount Unit

It’s great to see that shortly after Boss / Roland revived their 1983 SDE-3000 Rack Delay Unit, TC Electronic is now doing the same for its 1985 2990 Dynamic Digital Delay + Effects Control Processor. Both of these are superb conversions with most of the original features and functions intact. The only thing TC were unable to fit in really was the Keypad from the 1985 unit - but most everything else is present and correct.

The Boss SDE-3000 can obviously deliver 4 delays simultaneously - which I’m not sure is the case with the TC 2990 P unit - but it has a significantly longer delay range - 1 to 9999ms, vs Boss’s 1 to 3000ms, and 128 Presets vs Boss’s 100.

The TC2990 P is particularly adept at delivering Modulations - where it covers off besides Delay :

Chorus, Flanger, Tremolo, Vibrato, Phaser, Panning, Ducking and Compression.

It also looks like the TC unit has a lesser learning curve as there are no hidden / secondary menu options that I can see - all pretty straightforward really - while the Unit does run a little bit larger - the Boss unit is at 199 x 135 x 54mm while the TC unit is 233 x 137 x 54mm. Overall each kind of does its own thing to a degree and both have very distinct modulation sections - with not an exact overlap in features and coverage. Pricing-wise the SDE-3000 is at $499 and $599 (EVH), while the 2990 P is just $349.

So many people love/d the 2990 Rack Unit and its distinctive sound that I feel that this pedal edition is going to be in very high demand - the price pretty much decrees that too! While the standard SDE-3000 can be had for £329, and the EVH edition is at just £399 - versus UK 2990 P retail price of £349. Those two pedals are most definitely in direct competition. I already have the SDE-3000EVH, and will look to add the TC 2990 P some time in the new year most likely.

Both Rack Unit revivals are superb though - albeit there will always be naysayers that proclaim the new devices sound nothing like the earlier models - we shall see. These are genuinely exciting times to have both these legendary 80’s Delay behemoths back in circulation - between them they pretty much covered most every band that was active in that period!

In some ways if you’re looking just to do complex Digital Delays - then possibly the Boss has a slight advantage courtesy of its 4 at-a-time delivery, while the TC2990 is obviously a better all-rounder with all those different Modulation possibilities. That is not to say that the SDE-3000 types can’t do Modulations - it’s just that the 2990 is / was a little more specialist in that area. Exciting times indeed!