Super Nova

Hacked and racked version of great digital delay

 

 

 

The Super Nova digital delay rack effect module more than compares to the t.c. electronic ND-1 Nova Delay - it is one.  Sometimes you do things just because you can.  That's what happened here.  The Nova is a great digital delay, but we made it just a little bit better by rack mounting it.  While we were at it, we changed up the footswitch functionality.  Now Tap Tempo and Presets are on footswitches.  Normally, using Presets required some hands-on interaction with the pedal, something we wanted to change.  Unlike all of our other offerings, this one truly is a hacked (literally, as in with a hacksaw) and racked pedal inside.  That was our way of making a Nova into a Super Nova.  If you like the Nova, the Super Nova is like finding out your significant other actually does want you to buy one more guitar...

 

Description

The Super Nova is a modified and repackaged t.c. electronic ND-1 Nova Delay.  The Nova is a great delay, with loads of features that you can read about at the manufacturer's site.  We have our own line of digital delays, but while we were developing them, we found that our favorite digital delay pedal had some exact, precise dimensions required for repackaging in a GT module for rack use, complete with our switching.  If you look inside the Super Nova, you will see that the bottom of the pedal, complete with all its circuitry, is bolted to the PCB support that would normally hold our effect boards.  The top cover of the pedal is removed, cut down, and mounted in the front panel of our module.  It is still connected as it normally is to the circuitry in the pedal.  Yes, the top of the pedal is physically cut in two and it cannot be reassembled as a pedal.  That's a pretty flagrant warranty violation, to be sure.  We also mounted the on/off and tap tempo footswitches in the front panel beside the display.  Below the switches we have a footswitch jack.  The footswitch jack goes to a custom 2-button footswitch.  However, we've made a small change to the footswitches that make the Nova into a Super Nova.  Instead of off/on and tap tempo, the footswitches now are tap tempo and presets.  You could get to the Preset/Manual mode with the on/off footswitch with the Nova before the mod, but now it is easier. That requires a tiny mod in the pedal, yet another way we void the warranty of the Nova...

Changing the footswitch function from on/off to preset select is great, but we did something a little sneaky when we did that.  We added our normal switching to the module.  You can use one of the footswitches in your 3-Button or 12-Button footswitch to turn the module on/off, just like any other GT module.  There's only one catch.  You have to turn on the old on/off footswitch that is now on the front panel.  Just turn it on and leave it on and control the effect on/off with your other modules from your GT footswitch.  The custom Super Nova footswitch comes with the module.  You can see more details about it at Super Nova Footswitch.

The Nova is stereo.  We normally just connect the mono connections for the Super Nova, but can make it stereo either with some cabling tricks or by adding the extra jacks to the rear panel.  Other than that, the Super Nova gives you the same functionality and display as the original pedal, since it still is the original pedal.

There's nothing useful in the pieces and parts that are left after the transformation is complete, but we will return them to you.  That may be more important if we buy the pedal for you - you may want the manual and power supply that comes with it. 

Technically, the pedal could be put back together.  It would take some minor unsoldering and soldering of the footswitches.  And you would need to come up with a new top cover somewhere - maybe a dead Nova.  Or maybe the manufacturer would sell you one - we haven't asked about that.

The ND-1 Nova has an input buffer.  It was modified some time back and you should get a Nova with that modification.  Some were labeled with an "iB Modified" label added prominently to the top of the pedal.  Others that have the mod are not labelled.  According to their Customer Support, the mod became standard in January, 2012, and all ND-1 Nova Delays with serial number higher than 9091796 have the mod. 

IMPORTANT - Our mods will void your manufacturer's warranty.  So you will not likely be able to get support from the manufacturer if there are problems with the pedal.  We cannot support the pedal.  We don't have the info and expertise with that circuit to diagnose or repair it.  We will not be able to fix it if something goes wrong with it.  If something goes wrong with our mods, we can fix that, as long as the pedal is still OK. 

 

Configurations

  • Super Nova - a modified, repackaged t.c. electronic ND-1 Nova Delay

 

Options

  • Mod Your Pedal - You supply your own pedal to us.  We don't need your power supply.  New or used, as long as it works.  If you want to utilize a used pedal, find one that works and we'll mod it.  Make sure that the top panel is in good shape.
  • GT Supplies Pedal - We buy a new Nova pedal.  We don't have any special pricing available to us.  We'll just shop around for a good deal and buy one.  The prices can vary widely with sales and promotions, but we won't wait for sales or anything.  We'll just see what prices are available when we need the pedal and buy it wherever we find the best deal.  We will charge you the same amount we pay for it - no markup.  The module will then cost that market price plus the Mod Your Pedal option price. 
  • Stereo Mod - We only connect it for mono by default.  We can make it stereo.  We can do this by adding two extra mono jacks for the extra Audio In and Audio out, or by using stereo jacks.  Your choice.

 

Front Panel

See the ND-1 Nova Delay manual for a description of the controls.  Those controls are all present on the front panel, along with a Footswitch jack for the Super Nova Footswitch (included).

We add our normal On/Off indicator LED to the front panel.

 

Rear Panel

  • Audio In (mono)
  • Audio Out (mono)
  • On/Off Footswitch
  • On/Off Override
  • DC Power
  • DC Power LED

 

Module Width

  • 6.5"
  • left and right wing panels not presently available

 

Power Consumption (aprox)

250 - 265mA

 

Base Configurations

Part # Description List Price
MOD-SNOVA Super Nova module TBD

 

Options

Part # Description List Price
MOPT-SNOVA-CSTPED You supply Nova pedal $219
MOPT-SNOVA-GTPED We supply new Nova pedal $219 + TBD
MOPT-SNOVA-STEREO Stereo Mod (either method) $29