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Pros:
- Extremely versatile
- Compact design
- Reliable
- Lively sound
Cons:
- Some features might be overpowering
- Takes time to find suitable adjustments
When you spend years in the world of effects pedals, you become really hard to impress. You feel like you have tried it all and have the sense that nothing else could amaze you. But then-innovative brands come up with something that completely blows your mind. This proves that there are no limits to our imagination – it takes a creative mind and a team that can turn those ideas into a tangible, real things. Some companies have been renowned for such an attitude, while others have gained their fame by sticking to old principles and doing a good job at creating amazing units. The brand we are going to talk about is TC Electronic. Just when you think that they have done it all and their TonePrint has extorted all of its potentials, they produce a new pedal with even more diverse features. More often than not, such devices work wonderfully and deliver amazing performance. The stompbox I want to review in this article is the HyperGravity compressor. You might think that this effect cannot be diversified, but you would be utterly wrong, my friend. Let me prove this point by breaking down the features, controls, and sounds of this amazing pedal. Shall we begin?
Features
In all honesty, it would be hard to find a unit that can beat the versatility of TC Electronic HyperGravity. The pedal itself is quite diverse, but its compatibility with the TonePrint editor gives you a lot more options to experiment with. It exposes you to a whole new world of editable parameters and delivers the custom-tweaked presets of well-known musicians. This stompbox is based on the same algorithm as the brand’s signature System 6000. This means that it is a studio-quality multiband compressor, which tames your sound without sucking in any high, middle or low frequencies. This is one of the biggest pros of this pedal since many compressors do the opposite and deprive your original sound off its essence and character. HyperGravity does not have that problem to any degree. What is more, it has three different modes of compression: Spectra, TonePrint and Vintage. This way you can drastically change the outcome without having to tweak hours on end. When you add four control knobs on top, you can see vividly just how much a jack of all trades this stompbox is. To make things even better, TC Electronic incorporated True Bypass switching and optional Buffered bypass. Regardless of your choice, both retain whole frequency spectrum when the signal passes through the unit. It can utilize batteries or an adapter in order to operate, which gives you the flexibility we all need in certain scenarios. HyperGravity has compact size and beautiful metallic enclosure, plus heavy-duty chassis that makes this bad boy roadworthy. Last but not least, apart from standard connections, it has USB jack that allows you to connect it to the computer.
Controls
When I write these reviews I try my best to be objective and show you all the sides of the units. With that being said, HyperGravity itself has an all-encompassing control layout. It has all the necessary encoders, which can be easily tweaked to achieve amazing results. But as you pair it with the editor, it might get a bit difficult to grasp the settings and find the ones that work for you perfectly. This simply means that you have to take your time and scroll through the parameters we got here. Once you do that and explore all the options, nothing will seem too much or overwhelming. Since that is your homework, I will help you and get the actual knobs of the pedal out of your way. Let’s see what they are capable of.
We have four encoders here: Sustain modifies the amount of compression added to your signal, Level alters the overall volume and keeps the device at unity gain, Attack adjusts the speed at which the full-scale effect takes place, while Blend changes the ratio of dry and wet signals. Apart from these controls, we do also have a toggle, which shifts between three different modes: Spectra, TonePrint and Vintage (I will discuss each of them in a sec). If these controls are not enough for you, you can always utilize the editor or the free app.
TC Electronic HyperGravity Sound
The sound of TC Electronic HyperGravity is where things go up in high gear, leave the realm of our imagination and are brought to reality with simple tweaks. The Spectra mode is completely clean and transparent, which means it can add compression without overpowering your original signal. This mode can diversify your tone a great deal and make up for all the impurities that might occur as a result of your apparatus or instruments. The Vintage mode is basically another side of the HyperGravity. It is quite dark and harsh, as it can push and stress your sound quite a bit. It might be too much for some, but this does not mean that it lacks tonality. It is warm and defined, it just has more gain and texture. If these broad flavors of compression are not enough for you, you can always engage the TonePrint mode and start experimenting with editing options and available presets. For those, who are novices to the brand and have not encountered their editing technology before, this process might be a bit time-consuming. But if you do not get lazy and explore further, you will definitely find the sonic opportunities you had never heard of before.
Conclusion
To sum up everything said above, TC Electronic HyperGravity is one of the most versatile compressors out there. It overshadows many units by its price, capabilities and overall quality. It will be hard to think of a sound that this fella cannot create on its own or with the help of the editor. Though it has some minor flaws, its amazing features outweigh those cons. Spend a decent amount with this fella, experiment and explore as much as you can and you will discover a wonderful sonic spectrum of the compressor pedals. Good luck!
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