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jefferyfreelance « Small Box With Big Reverb Choices »
Published on 05/02/15 at 12:41
Value For Money :
Excellent
Audience:
Anyone
There are three things I look for in a pedal, besides the sound it makes, and they are: size, flexibility, and simple controls. The Hall of Fame Reverb by TC Electronic has checks by all those boxes, and it sounds really good, too.
It is housed in a small rugged enclosure that is only 3.5” x 5”, which is great for saving space. It has ten different reverbs available plus a spot for a TonePrint. If you do not know what TonePrint is, it is a way to custom tune the pedal. There are plenty of TonePrints available, plus with the TonePrint Editor you can make your own versions of the different reverb types. Finally, there are only four knobs to dial in your desired sound, they are: decay, tone, fx level, and type, plus a mini-switch to go between long and short pre-delay. So simple even I can navigate those controls without too much fuss. The tone knob works very well to make adjustments that can help dial in your sound.
I thought the pedal sounded better than the Boss RV-5, and was more versatile than the Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail. The e-pedals on my iStomp did not have as many choices for reverb sounds as the Hall of Fame has preloaded. I also had a need for a gated reverb that was not available on the Holy Grail and iStomp. The TonePrint aspect of the Hall of Fame was really the deciding factor. The TonePrint Editor is fun to mess around with, but I haven’t made anything better than what I have heard from the professionals.
The Hall of Fame is not a perfect pedal, but my problems with it are pretty minor. I wish it had more slots for TonePrints, I like those sounds much better than some of the preloaded reverb types. Although it is an option, do not run this pedal on batteries. It will eat through a 9-volt in a little over an hour. This pedal is a bit of an overkill for what I use it for in my rig. It isn’t even on my pedalboard, but sits on my amp head. I thought I would be switching through the different reverb types throughout the set, but I pretty much set and forget. I adjust the settings at sound check, then leave it on until tear down. I probably should have bought the mini version of the pedal, but I think that might be too dumbed down with the one knob control.
As a pedal in a live situation, it works really well. I believe it shines a bit more as studio/recording tool. Being able to change the TonePrint as you want would be fun, and allow to create some very unique sounds. The reverb effect leaves the core of your tone alone, and adds the lushness of reverb very organically. I like the “Room” type of reverb best, but I think it captures the other types very well, too.
This is a very good pedal with a couple of minor glitches. The Strymon Big Sky may be more versatile, but for the price point the Hall of Fame is an excellent purchase. Depending on how you use it you may want to get the mini version of the pedal, but I worry that you lose too many features that make this pedal shine.
It is housed in a small rugged enclosure that is only 3.5” x 5”, which is great for saving space. It has ten different reverbs available plus a spot for a TonePrint. If you do not know what TonePrint is, it is a way to custom tune the pedal. There are plenty of TonePrints available, plus with the TonePrint Editor you can make your own versions of the different reverb types. Finally, there are only four knobs to dial in your desired sound, they are: decay, tone, fx level, and type, plus a mini-switch to go between long and short pre-delay. So simple even I can navigate those controls without too much fuss. The tone knob works very well to make adjustments that can help dial in your sound.
I thought the pedal sounded better than the Boss RV-5, and was more versatile than the Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail. The e-pedals on my iStomp did not have as many choices for reverb sounds as the Hall of Fame has preloaded. I also had a need for a gated reverb that was not available on the Holy Grail and iStomp. The TonePrint aspect of the Hall of Fame was really the deciding factor. The TonePrint Editor is fun to mess around with, but I haven’t made anything better than what I have heard from the professionals.
The Hall of Fame is not a perfect pedal, but my problems with it are pretty minor. I wish it had more slots for TonePrints, I like those sounds much better than some of the preloaded reverb types. Although it is an option, do not run this pedal on batteries. It will eat through a 9-volt in a little over an hour. This pedal is a bit of an overkill for what I use it for in my rig. It isn’t even on my pedalboard, but sits on my amp head. I thought I would be switching through the different reverb types throughout the set, but I pretty much set and forget. I adjust the settings at sound check, then leave it on until tear down. I probably should have bought the mini version of the pedal, but I think that might be too dumbed down with the one knob control.
As a pedal in a live situation, it works really well. I believe it shines a bit more as studio/recording tool. Being able to change the TonePrint as you want would be fun, and allow to create some very unique sounds. The reverb effect leaves the core of your tone alone, and adds the lushness of reverb very organically. I like the “Room” type of reverb best, but I think it captures the other types very well, too.
This is a very good pedal with a couple of minor glitches. The Strymon Big Sky may be more versatile, but for the price point the Hall of Fame is an excellent purchase. Depending on how you use it you may want to get the mini version of the pedal, but I worry that you lose too many features that make this pedal shine.