# M9/M13 vs TC Nova System



## Stratin2traynor (Sep 27, 2006)

Which do you prefer and why?

I've had a Nova System for a while now and think it sounds great. I find it difficult to use though. There is a steep learning curve and I haven't really devoted the time to learn all of it's ins and outs. That being said, the presets are ok and the effects themselves sounds very good. The all analog OD sounds great but the distortion leaves something to be desired. All in all a decent unit IMO.

I was looking for a decent Looper. After watching some Philx demos on YouTube I added a M9 to the list of possibles. The first thing that came along was an M9 on TGP so I decided to give it a try. I knew if I didn't like it, I could sell it pretty easily. To my surprise, it's a pretty awesome unit. All of the Delay/Mods/Filters sound great. Distortions/OD are pretty decent as well. Looper works great and it very easy to use. Not much of a learning curve. I think it's going to be a keeper unless I find something horribly annoying. 

Anyone have the opportunity to try either or both??


----------



## jimsz (Apr 17, 2009)

I have the Nova System and found the learning curve not to be too bad. I started out by going through the TC Electronics website and forum to find as many effects figured out by other folks and get them programmed into the system. I didn't even look at the presets until after a few weeks of owning the unit and instead was playing around and tweaking with the effects I had found and programmed myself. After an afternoon of just programming these effects, I had a very good understanding of how the unit worked.

The distortion isn't too bad at all. The parameters are usually set to zero or one hundred percent and need to be tweaked substantially before getting some decent tones. I added my FET Dream pedal thinking I would have to use it in place of the onboard distortion. But, after doing some tweaking I found I could reproduce the FET in many ways to the point that I didn't need it in the chain anymore and just wound up using the onboard distortion. Although I have read some don't like the distortion of this unit, I found it to be quite useful if tweaked correctly. I think the complaints surround the fact that the distortion works well but only within a limited amount of parameter settings. 

I had found the effects of the Nova to be superior to that of the M9 or M13, and the fact that the Line 6 products can only use up to 3 effects at a time while the Nova allows any number of combination of effects was a real added bonus and pretty much a deal breaker. Both my homebuilt amp and my Mack amp take this effects unit very well, and it does not seem to change the original tones from the amps that much, if at all, but instead enhances the tones with the added effects. 

I have used this unit for gigging and it definitely brought new life to the tones I was already using for a number of songs. For example, I created an effect that was as close to the effects used in "Long Cool Woman" as possible. The song sounded fantastic with the reverb/delayed tones cutting right through the whole sound without overpowering. 

I had found a fantastic Tremelo effect which I tweaked ever so slightly and use for playing "Born on the Bayou" - absolutely fantastic sound playing the rhythm or the lead parts.

I found another great effect someone labeled "Comfortably Numb" - a song which I have been playing for years but never really had the full effects. Now it sounds unbelievable with the added effects.

You can use this unit in a variety of modes: presets, user programmed and stand alone stompbox.

The onboard tuner of this unit is fairly accurate and easy to use. 

I have liked this unit from day one of owning of it and continue to find new and interesting sounds. If you get the opportunity to compare one with the M9 and M13, definitely do it. I did and I was convinced of the Nova's superiority over the Line 6 products in quality of sound, flexibility, ease of use and the analog distortion.


----------



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Distortion is something that digital has not been able to nail quite yet. Maybe one day, but for the time being those of us with broader distortion experience (and I've worked my way through at least 50-60 things over the years) tend to find analog distortion generally more responsive to touch, pick attack, note density (i.e., # notes picked per second or simultaneously), and a bunch of other things that allow distortion to correspond to exactly what you want to say/express at precisely this moment.

So, as much as I like most of what Line 6 has done with the M9/13 and Tone Cores (and I am familiar with all of that), I think it was smart for TC to stick with analog distortion and let digital do what it does best. Having said that, I have no idea what the TC distortion sounds are like, so it may have been a great idea at the conceptual level, but not necessarily provide the distortion sounds any particular user leans towards. There ARE a lot of nuances in the realm of distortions that hold some value to this player or that, and as broad a palette as the M9/13 provides, I didn't find any of them to be a replacement for my own arsenal....but that's just me. It's a pity they didn't include the program they use for the Dr. Distorto pedal (a digital emulation and improvement of the old Boss DF-2 Super Feedbacker pedal).

Another thing that may be the deciding factor between the one or the other for some user is the interface, and ease of patch management, given how you tend to use it. Here again, I have no idea if one is "better" than the other.

Incidentally, the expression pedal jack on the M9/13 is for a simple 10k variable resistance. For an experiment, I decided to replace it with a photocell in the approximately same range, and adhesive-taped it to the top of my guitar, right where your pinky would be if you were resting the butt of your hand on the bridge. Ever done "pinky whammy"? sigiifa


----------



## CDWaterloo (Jul 18, 2008)

I switched from Nova to M9 only because M9 is more pedalboard friendly. Soundwise, to me Nova is better. I found the effects in Nova sound more analog. M9's distortions are surprisingly good... Both have advantages & disadvantages. But for recording I would go with Nova and for a grab-n-go board M9...


----------



## Stratin2traynor (Sep 27, 2006)

Yes. CD your old Nova sounds fantastic.  I played around with it again tonight and the Distortion actually sounds pretty good with a Les Paul. The overdrive is great as well. If I had a little more time to invest in learning the ins and outs of the Nova System I'm sure I'd like it even more. 

I'm really digging the simplicity of the M9. Oh, and the looper too. It's great and bonehead simple. 

To be honest, I'm a big fan of both units.


----------



## Big_Daddy (Apr 2, 2009)

I've been using the Nova System on my board (with a Timmy v2, BOSS CE-2 and Line6 G50) for two years now and am totally sold on it. Once I went thru the manual and learned how to customize the patches, set levels, etc., I don't think I could live without it now. Great compressor, delays, reverbs, modulation and, yes, distortion too. I've set the gain reasonably high on the distortion and use the volume knob on my PRS CE-24 to clean it up. I just dime the volume knob for great sustain and drive during solos and back it off to get a nice crunch the rest of the time. I use the Boost switch when I just want a louder crunch sound or kick in the Timmy. The NS works extremely well direct into my Eleven Rack or into my '67 Vibrolux Reverb. Other than an original steep learning curve (which was really only steep because I hate reading manuals), I would highly recommend this unit to anyone. I can't comment on the M9 cause I've never used one.  I use a Boomerang Plus when I want to get loopy.


----------



## jimsz (Apr 17, 2009)

There's a new patch for the Nova on their website. One of the 'fixes' now allows you to go into the menu and stop the tempo from flashing. Nice.


----------



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

If you like the sounds of the M9/13 but have committed your cash to the Nova, you can now buy the M5 for around $200. It only provides one effect at a time, and has no looper, but includes all the other effects found in the M9/13 in a nice compact footprint.


----------



## jimsz (Apr 17, 2009)

DO NOT BUY the Roland Cakewalk UM-1G MIDI/USB interface, it does not appear to be compatible with the Nova. I took mine back to L&M and exchanged it for the UNO which worked perfect the first time, no problem whatsoever.


----------



## bzrkrage (Mar 20, 2011)

CDWaterloo said:


> M9 is more pedalboard friendly.


 I went the M9 for the cost thing. I pick mine up cheap. Love the delays. My other guitarist has the Nova, he loves it! Had a bit of trouble working out his levels for a while there. but once sorted it was sweet.
Has the M9 come back with any updates yet? Has Line 6 forgotten about us with their newer pedals taking up all their work?


----------



## Guest (Jun 1, 2012)

mhammer said:


> Distortion is something that Line6 has not been able to nail quite yet.


Fixed that for you.  Fractal has got it nailed.


----------



## bzrkrage (Mar 20, 2011)

iaresee said:


> Fixed that for you.  Fractal has got it nailed.


 Can I get a little info on this? Is there a fix or a mod that I can check out?


----------



## Guest (Jun 1, 2012)

bzrkrage said:


> Can I get a little info on this? Is there a fix or a mod that I can check out?


Fix or mod? For what? Fractal makes their own digital unit: Fractal Audio Systems Axe-Fx II Guitar Processor, Preamp, effects processor, amp modeler, guitar effects


----------



## bzrkrage (Mar 20, 2011)

sorry about that. I though `Fractal` was another member`s login name. Thanks for the heads-up.


iaresee said:


> Fix or mod? For what? Fractal makes their own digital unit: Fractal Audio Systems Axe-Fx II Guitar Processor, Preamp, effects processor, amp modeler, guitar effects


----------



## lchender (Dec 6, 2011)

I started with the Nova system, but didn't care for what it did to my 'straight to amp' tone. It wasn't a huge deal, but the Nova System seemed to rob some of the high end detail from my tone into the amp (a vintage fender princeton reverb). After taking it back, I checked out the m9 sometime later and found it did not significantly affect my 'straight to amp' tone. I owned the DL4 in the past and liked the delays, so, not all that surprisingly, I liked the m9 delays. I found the other m9 effects quite respectable as well (although I much prefer separate overdrive pedals rather than using the m9's overdrives). I also found the audio quality of the m9 looper to be quite a bit better than the boss and digitech loopers I checked out. I thought it was a winning package and preferred it to the TC Electronic stuff.


----------



## Judas68fr (Feb 5, 2013)

the delay from these Line 6 MX units is really good. I owned the M13, and the TC Nova Delay and Nova Modulation stomp boxes, and I think they play in the same category for these 2 types of effects. For OD and distortion, nothing beats the real thing: a good amp and analog OD (just my .02).


----------



## Guest (May 5, 2013)

I bought an M9 and for me, it sucks. I put it back in the box after some serious testing...

The M5 is $129 at Musician's Friend http://www.musiciansfriend.com/ampl...5-stompbox-modeler-guitar-multi-effects-pedal


----------



## overdriven1 (May 6, 2007)

I've had my Nova System for about two months now and I am totally thrilled by the quality of effects, I love the overdrive and distortion, but what really makes this pedal work is the equaliser, the power to sculpt the tones I want from virtually clean edge to hard rock(maybe not modern metal) tones totally without any other pedals, just straight into my amps(Laney Pro Tube or Peavey Triumph 60 clean channels), anything I could possibly want, with little or no noise. I am very happy with my present system! I strongly urge any Nova system users to learn the eq and levels promptly as these make all the difference in reaching for your tone. The boost and comp are also fantastic!!


----------

