TC Electronic SCF Pedal World Standard Stereo Chorus Flanger Review

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(More customer reviews)You don't need me to tell you that the sound quality of TC Electronic's stereo chorus/flanger is flawless. I found that to be as true as ever. And in case you're a bass player wondering if this pedal manages bass signal well, it does -- the tone is fine, able to add any amount from light to incredibly rich chorus or flange without unwanted side effects (though of course you want to be smart about where you use it in your signal chain -- typically it ought to be in your effects loop rather than out front).
But the motivation for this review is that my pedal broke easily in a way that made it non-repairable. I have no idea how it happened, because it only received gentle home and studio treatment and was not subjected to road abuse etc. The very light-duty toggle switch that changes between modes broke internally in a way where the toggle still flips correctly and still has 3 positions, but the right mode doesn't happen on the circuit board. After a while I was only able to get 2 modes out of it, with one of them being harder than the other to reach. Eventually the only mode it would reliably work in was the third one, not the regular chorus or flange modes.
I contacted TC Electronic about the issue and they could not or would not help me because it was no longer in the warranty period. They suggested I take it to a local amp-repair expert. I tried a couple of those and both quoted me rates that were as high as buying a replacement pedal used. End of sad story. This was all in the 1990s and I hope they have upgraded the 3-position toggle switch that they use for these, and I also hope they have added some case-by-case flexibility to their return/repair criteria.
You may be thinking "well, it was out of warranty, isn't that the answer?" -- but honestly I think a manufacturer needs to be more flexible. Compare a hard-used unit that had been on the road a lot and obviously showed it. I would not suggest that a mfr should take that unit back or even look at it for free, no way. But in this case the unit had been handled like a baby, like a camera or some other delicate thing. And it's made to be used underfoot, so I was subjecting it to far less severe treatment than one would expect. I felt my unit and its breakage proved that TC was using too light/weak of a 3-way toggle switch. I really felt a manufacturer should consider that fact and gladly take it back for their own design improvement, not to mention replacing it for me. Instead, no help. And we had a perfectly civil and courteous telephone conversation, so it was not one of those "demanding customer" stories either. They just respectfully declined to help.

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