‘No-frills-with-a-sound-that-kills’ is the tag line TC Electronic has chosen for their Nova Repeater. Being that the Repeater is a streamlined version of the Nova Delay pedal, such a cumbersome catchphrase seems downright comical. Whatever.

What's been "trimmed off" is 1090 ms of max delay time, as well as the LED delay time display. Factory and user presets are also gone, and the confusing "mod style" and "mod level" controls have been combined into one continuous rotary knob. Instead of having to press one button to turn it on, and then another to change the level, a single "mod" control sets the effect off in the center position, and can be turned left for vibrato and right for chorus.

Also done away with is the stereo input. While the Nova Repeater is still a stereo output pedal, the two ins are now dedicated line level or instrument level inputs. The line level input, in conjunction with the added "KillDry" button, makes this pedal more effective in an effects loop, should that be where you choose to place you delay.

The other core functions of the Nova Delay are all present in the Repeater, like the cool "audio tapping function." When engaged, the Repeater sets delay tempo to whatever rhythm it senses from the incoming guitar signal. There's also the six different delay types, three delay ranges and a "divide" button that puts 1/4 notes in one channel and 1/8th notes in the other.

The TC Electronic Nova Repeater should be shipping in June 2009.