TC Electronic’s celebrated reverbs in a tiny one-knob stompbox.
TC Electronic has been integrating their groundbreaking TonePrint technology into their stompbox line for a few years with increasingly cool results. TonePrint lets you download settings designed by celebrity players and upload them to your pedal via mini USB or smartphone. (By aiming your phone’s speakers into your pickups, you can “beam” the data directly to the pedal.)
TCE’s original Hall of Fame reverb features a host of ‘verb types (spring, hall, church, tile, and ambient among others) plus TonePrint functionality. Now TCE has released the HOF Mini, a microscopic stomper that omits most of the original’s controls in favor of a single wet/dry knob. It ships with TC’s famed hall reverb algorithm, and you can load additional sounds using TonePrint.
One knob for all
Roughly the size and color of a Hot Wheels fire engine, the HOF Mini is truly a miniature. These tiny 1590A-sized enclosures save boatloads of space on crowded boards—they’re perfect for that final slot when space is scarce. But I strongly recommend securing it with Velcro or zip ties, or the slightest bump will send it scurrying around your board. There’s no room for a battery inside, so the HOF must run off a 9-volt power supply. (The size also demands that the input and output jacks be slightly askew.) The barrel-style 9-volt jack resides beneath the mini-USB jack used to download TonePrints. The single knob alters the wet/dry mix.
The original Hall of Fame has four knobs to control the reverb character, mix, tone, and decay. The Mini’s one-knob controls, however, put a wet blanket over on-the-fly tweaking. I’m the kind of pedal nerd who loves mashing around with controls, pushing parameters to the extreme, and generally causing a ruckus until I settle on a more “suitable” tone. Some of these outlandish extremes can be useful in live situations too, depending on your style. That’s not possible with the Mini, unless you create your own bizarre ’verb with the TonePrint software.
Ratings
Pros:
Minimal, small design. Great tone with virtually endless possibilities via tone editor software and TonePrints database.
Cons:
Limited realtime control. Doesn’t include mini-USB cable for editing.
Tones:
Playability/Ease of Use:
Build/Design:
Value:
Street:
$109
TC Electronic Hall of Fame Mini Reverb
tcelectronic.com
One drawback of my Orange OR50 is its lack of reverb, which is why I’ve leaned on a Twin Reverb for years. But when I need the Orange’s EL34 sound, I throw a reverb pedal into the chain to make things more spatial. The HOF’s default hall reverb has a giant presence that sounds massive with a Stratocaster. Despite the lack of a tone knob, this sound is readily usable for a standard, set-and-forget sound.It’s not comparable to my Twin’s spring tank, but a quick flip through TC’s iPhone app reveals a plethora of TonePrints that would fit the bill. I settled on Troy van Leeuwen’s “Vibrato Spring,” a dark warble modeled after a vintage Twin Reverb tank. Again, this was immediately usable and I found myself foundering in whirlpool twang similar to Syd Barrett’s sound on Piper at the Gates of Dawn.
Smaller practice amps can benefit greatly from the HOF Mini’s color palette. Many practice amps—Vox Pathfinder included—scrimp on quality reverb. The Pathfinder’s reverb has a short tail and low output, but the Mini fixed these issues in a jiff, kicking up the reverb blend for a saturated output. The hotter humbuckers from a DeArmond MT-75 flourished in in this newfound reverberation, producing a gentle blues drawl with a low reverb mix setting and a lonesome slide-guitar whine at higher settings.
The VerdictControl freaks should steer clear of this TCE Mini series. Personally, I like at least a couple of parameters to tinker with playing live or recording. That said, I liked the overall tones of this practical and efficient pedal. If you just need a quick tone to lubricate your output, the TonePrint database should have you covered. Those with the itch to tweak will want to hook up the TC’s tone-editing software, and will have to work within the limits of the Mini’s simple wet/dry knob. Considering that those options are at your disposal, the HOF Mini is actually capable of many cool and effective voices. It’s only the ability to tweak them on the fly that limits the pedal—a fair trade, perhaps, given the tiny space it requires.
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The riffmeister details why he works best with musical partners and how that's been successful in both Alice in Chains and his solo career, including new album I Want Blood.
This passionate builder designed a custom Strat/Tele pair, both adorned with hand-painted replicas of The Starry Night.
Okay, I plead guilty to having owned over 150 electric guitars in the past 60 years. So, for kicks, with my experience by way of Fender, Gibson, Ricky, Gretsch, PRS, Guild, Teisco, and others, I decided to attempt to make my own axes from scratch. I found that this endeavor was synergistic—much like envisioning, composing, performing, and recording a song. With my long-time San Diego techie, Val Fabela, doing the assembly, I started carefully designing, engineering, and procuring all of the components.
Our winning guitar builder, Edward Sarkis Balian.
The Vincent van Gogh Stratocaster, aka “Vinnie,” was the initial project. Starting with a Canadian alder body, an artist in Italy (who wishes to remain anonymous) applied the Starry Night painting to the front, sides, and back. The heavily flamed, roasted maple neck has the typical 21 frets with a 25.5" scale, and sports yellow pearl-dot inlays. After careful consideration of my playing styles, I went with a configuration using Fender ’57/’62 Stratocaster pickups. I used an upgraded, noiseless, 5-position Switchcraft assembly for the switching circuit. Fender locking tuners, a custom-fitted bone nut, and a Kluson K2PTG 2-point whammy system and brass bridge complete the low-action setup. Overall gold hardware completes the look. Vinnie’s fighting weight is 7.1 pounds.
This is what stars look like from further in space, at least as far as this special build is concerned.
I was so happy with this Strat that I decided it needed a brother, so I started on a Tele. Logically, I named the Tele “Theo,” after Vincent van Gogh’s younger brother. Again, with a Starry Night body painted by the same artist, I coupled a Canadian alder body with a lightly roasted, flamed-maple Stratocaster neck. (Hey, if it was good enough for Jimi to experiment with a Strat neck on a Tele body, why not try it?) And, as expected, my techie Val did a brilliantjob of joining the neck to the body.
The Van Gogh Tele, aka “Theo,” built to similar specs as the Strat and also featuring a lightly roasted, flamed-maple Strat neck.
For pickups, I went with Fender’s vintage-correct ’64 Tele set. As for a harness, the super-quality Hoagland Custom 4-position switching is unique, in that it gives a 15 percent boost and a very killer tone in position 4! Fender locking tuners, a custom-cut bone nut, and a Gotoh GTC201 brass bridge completes its setup. Gold hardware complements the overall look. Strangely enough (or perhaps hereditary?), the Tele matches his Strat brother’s weight exactly, at 7.1 pounds.
It's not in a museum, the the Theo guitar is certainly a work of art.
But how do they sound? Magnificent!Throw in my trusty Keeley compressor, Fulltone OCD, and Fender or Mesa/Boogie tube amps, and the van Gogh boys both easily equal or surpass my White Penguin, White Falcon, PRS Custom 22, Lucille 345 stereo, 335, SG TV, Les Paul Standard, Esquire, or Joan Jett.
I’m hoping the real van Gogh brothers would have been proud of these two magical, musical namesakes.