TC Electronic Hyper Gravity Compressor – Pushing The Limits Of Tone Shaping

Controls:
Features:
Performance:
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In our humble opinion, the Hyper Gravity compressor from TC Electronic stands out as one of the best pedals of its niche. Loaded with top-level components, this fella stands out by very high versatility (by compression pedal standards, of course). It's affordable, sturdy, pretty-looking, and we happen to thoroughly recommend it.

The device is also quite easy to use, but we still single out that versatility factor as top selling point. Compression pedals rarely offer such tonal variety, so allow us to delve deep into the specs in the full review below!

Features

Tucked in a sturdy turquoise metal casing, this device gives an impression of a high-end pedal from the very minute you lay your eyes and hands on it. The design is simple, yet gorgeous, yet the pedal still feels strong as a tank. It utilizes standard mono operation mode with one input and one output, four control knobs, a LED status indicator, a large on/of button, and one more small yet crucial feature – a three-way tone switch.

While the control knobs have pretty basic and default compression functions, the combo of that switch and renowned TonePrint technology is what takes the Hyper Gravity to the next plateau. But we're getting a bit ahead of ourselves here; other notable features include true bypass operation regime, a weight of 13.4 ounces and a size of 5 x 3 x 4 inches.

Control

As already noted, four control knobs and a single switch. Let's see what they do now:

The switch – This is the one you'll want to master first – the switch that essentially sets the sonic grounds for your compressor. It boasts three various completely various sounds, and we have to say that we're not used to so much sound variety from a simple compressor pedal.

Sustain – This one essentially adjusts how much compression you'll be getting and how hard the effect will hit your tone.

Level – A very standard knob on just about every pedal, the Level control adjusts the tone level of the effect present in your tone. The more you increase it, the more compression signal and less clean guitar tone you'll be getting.

Attack – This knob determines how fast the effect grabs a hold of your signal and starts affecting it. The more you crank it up, the tighter the groove.

Blend – The blend knob allows you to really, really control how the compression will affect the tone. Essentially, it allows you to load up a heavy chunk of compression to your audio output, but still keep the dynamics, which is awesome.

Performance

To keep it short – this is top-notch stuff! The three-way switch allows great versatility, while the Blend control makes every single tonal configuration you dial in actually usable and quality sounding. You will never get that boom-like, overloaded compression vibe from this pedal, and kudos to TC Electronic folks for that!

Further on up the road, the TonePrint technology we mentioned allows you to craft your own sound via software (can be used on both PC and Mac) and load it into the pedal, allowing you not just to craft the tone of your dreams, but also tweak that tone with the four knobs until it suits your needs to a tee.

Conclusion

Overall, this is a killer item. The final verdict is that this is one of the finest compression pedals on the market and that we absolutely recommend at least taking it for a spin. Good stuff!

For more about the TC Electronic Hyper Gravity, click here.
For more Compressor Pedals you Might like , click here.