I will probably be using this unit for decades to come but if it were stollen I am not sure that I would replace it with another Nova System, only because this is actually old techknowlodgy and it is pretty safe to say that there will be something better along for less money soon.

Sound
What can I say, the sounds produced by this unit are so far above all of the compatition that I tried that the difference is laughable. The delays are amazing the modulation effects are not cloudy (unless you want them to be), and although I am a vintage spring reverb guy, I have turned off my amp's spring reverb. Thedrive section is what puts this so far ahead of the pack, but it is not flexable at all, in terms of type of overdrive and distortion. Don't get me wrong it is a great sound but I do not use it much because it does not fit the style of music that I play.

Features
This is both the strongest and weakest area for the Nova System. On the up side the switches are excelent and spaced nicely (I wear size 12 Vans on stage), and the editability of all of the parameters in the effects section is well above par. The add on of a expression pedal is a very nice perc. I have done so and it makes the unitl even more versatile. I have set one of my presets up to use the expression pedal as a gain control, when you add compression (which is the best compression I have ever seen for guitar) you can control your grit or distortion… read more all along the spectrum with "0" volume change and tonal integrity throughout. On the down side; first of all there is NO wah in any way shape or form, nor is there any kind of fuzz. Like I said the drive section is nice but it is a one trick pony. It handles modern rectifier type sound fantasticaly but you simply cannot get a decent ratty overdrive or fuzzy distortion out of this unit. Also you have three presets per bank which are slow to change but the real problem is moving between banks. It is so slow and clumsy as to not be usefull during the corse of a song. This would not be a problem for me if there were more than three presets per bank but as it is it deffinately is a black mark on an otherwise excelent unit.

Ease of Use
Here is where the Nova really falls down. It is not so much that it is difficult to navigate as it is that TC has its own (and in many cases better) ways of getting you from point A to point B, but they don't bother telling you what they are. This unit assumes a level of technical profeciency with gear that youngsters and people just moving into the digital domain are not likely to have. If you have patience and/or some technical background the richness of this unit is well worth the time it takes to master it but I would not recomend it as a birthday gift for your 16 year old wanabe rock star with ADD, or as a fathers day gift for the guy who still has his original 57 Strat and Princeton reverb and thinks that he would like to move into the 21st century wit his guitar rig but hasn't figured out how to shop on line yet.

Quality
A+A+A+A+A+!!! Amazingly solid build and high quality sound. It isn't the prettiest of the croud of multi-effects but it is by far the sturdiest and best sounding. It does not do everything that I would ever want but in what it does it is in a class by itself at this price point. The only black mark here is for the quality of the screen. It scratches very easily and that will be a problem down the road making it hard to see some of the very small screens. On the other hand the ability to save presets and this units inabiltiy to do a lot of edit on the fly stuff make this no beig deal. Plue it looks like the screen would be easy to replace in that it is only a cover.

Value
To be honest, if I had paid the old price I would have sent it back right away because of lack of features, but at this price WOW! As long as you are willing to do without a couple of things or add another pedal or two along with it this is the best out there

Manufacturer Support
I have not had to deal with the tech support dept so I cannot say, but the TC web site is very good and they have a good usere group. However the manual is awful. They went through all the expense and trouble of doing a high quality printing and binding but left out far too many feature discriptions

The Wow Factor
Not the prettiest girl at the prom but the kind that you take home to mom. No eye candy here but when you turn out the lights she is a tiger!

Musical Background:
Active Pro

Musical Style:
All over the map but mostly focused around vintage RnR & RnB read less