hamfist

Screenshots in the first post now updated to give a greater range of control for each parameter for greater and lesser amounts of compression used.

OK, I've worked out whats happening, on my pedal at least. The SPectra and vintage dial mappings take on the parameters assosiated in the downloaded toneprint. So in my downloaded multiband (Al's bass), the Attack and Blend dials are now programmed to control mid and lows gain respectively, instead of attack and blend. So ..... on the Spectra and Vintage settings those dials will control mids and lows, not attack and blend. It makes the vintage and spectra behave differently depending on which toneprint is downloaded. Its an odd thing to design, but there it is, thats what they've done.

THats what I absolutely thought it would be, but in use, its different. I'm too busy playing around with other stuff to identify it exactly at the moment though. Does yours function exactly like that ?

Hi guys, I thought I would start this thread to add to the rather meagre amount of info on the www about this compressor when used for bass. The back story is that I have had plenty of experience with compressors over the years including owning many of the big hitters like the Empress, the MXR, the Seymout Duncan, the Compressore etc, and consider myself pretty confident with the various compression values. And this last point is pretty important because the Hypergravity is an incredibly powerful little thing and the "instructions" available anywhere from TC are simply laughable. It also does NOT come set up for bass at all. It also has NO metering so you have to be able to use your ears. I started a long thread a few years ago about the Specracomp, which pretty much has the same brain as this thing but with only one physical dial on the pedal. I initially raved about it but it ultimately let me down as it would not store the settings I was programming. Super frustrating, and I simply could not trust it at a gig so it went back and I lost all trust in all the toneprint-type devices from TC for a few years. I then settled on just using the Dual compressor on board my Trace SMX head, which has been great. Supplemented at times with a multiband comp on the Line6 HX Stomp. THese things have basically been my bass rig for a good handful of years now, and is the reason I have been so minimally active on the board for those years. I've just been playing ! However, it has now come to the point that the Trace really needs new Output caps and I was only really using the HX Stomp for compression and a bit of EQ, so in the interest of tinkering about I decided a whole new rig was required. Incoming has been an Ashdown 12 band 600 head, which in some ways is the natural successor to the Trace SMX (minus the comp). Which left a hole for a compresssor which needed filling. Trying to keep to relatively sane budget I was looking around the £100 mark, and tried the Orange Kongpressor, which was interesting and fun but not really what I wass looking for, so it went back. My interest then started to go towards TC again. Maybe it was time to give them another chance. It doesn't seem like anywhere has Spectracomps in stock at all at the moment so it had to be the Hypergravity. After a week - I am seriously impressed with this little green box. The Toneprint app works well, once you find your way around it. THe pedal has had zero problems with holding the settings I program it with. And the power of a digital thing like this is awesome. I am a huge fan of multiband compression. I like to squash the sub-300Hz fairly well, with a reasonable amount of make-up gain - all to keep a good control on the bottom end. I then like to squash the lower mid range just a bit less, but with less make-up gain (thus lowering it a bit in the mix). The top end I only give a little bit of squash to, as this is where my dynamics live. THis pedal just allows me to completely tailor make exactly what I want to do. Its a pretty transparent comp. Its not exciting, but it can do exactly what I want it to. I love the ability to be able to map any parameters to the front 4 dials. I use .... Dial 1 - Threshold for all 3 bands. Lows mids and highs all at different settings. Lows having the lowest threshold, mids a bit higher, and highs with the highest threshold. You can specify 3 different parameters to one knob, all at differeng levels - cool ! Dial 2 - Overall make-up gain - acts pretty much as a master volume. Dial 3 - Additional make up gain for mids only - this really allows me to dial in my mid range exactly. Dial 4 - Additional make up gain for lows - Allows for exact dialling in of the bottom end. Simply perfect. I still don't really understand what the 3 way switch on the pedal does. Maybe it gives 3 different versions of the toneprint loaded. THe instructions don't really even mention it. I was expecting to only get my programmed toneprint settings on the "toneprint" middle setting of the switch. But, no .....changing toneprint seems to change the compression on all 3 of the settings. Weird, but I shall only be using it on "toneprint" anyway, so it matters little to me. Another minor thing that TC really missed out on IMO, is that users can't easily swap self-programmed toneprints. the only way is by sharing pictures of the settings, which is what I shall do. Compression settings are of course, not ideal for swapping between different rigs or even basses, but here are my settings. For relatively standard output J bass pickups. If you use these, you will likely need to adjust the range of thresholds (and make-up gains) to fit your own bass, but it may be a good place to start. I suspect I will tweak them a bit as the weeks pass, but I'm pretty happy with how these sit at the moment. Hopefully might be of use to someone. Its a good basic bass-oriented multiband compressor with gentle compression of the highs, a bit more squash of the mids and even more compression, and thus better control, of the lows. NB - updated screenshots - 12:18 1/7/22

True, but still very versatile, once you get to know it.

Sounds like a good choice. Decent EQ versatility with drive options. Reasonably portable and light. I was recently torn between going for a Legacy 800 or an Ashdown 600. but went Ashdown in the end (12 band).

I wouldn't feel secure relying on just the battery at a gig though. It only claims 4.5 hrs life, and its bound to be less than that in use. A grand little box overall though. Maybe they will make a slightly sturdier and perhaps more functional (maybe preset up and down pedals ?) one for live use, for a little more dosh. Of course that starts to put it into the price band of other such multi pedals. It seems to have found its own little niche right now though.

Completely agree. Great vid. And less than £130 ! I would buy it in a heartbeat except ......... the little USB charging port. Thats going to have a limited lifespan in the context of moving it around, using it at gigs etc. Really puts me off, I know I would break it within a year. I'm just not careful enough with pedals etc. For just using it at home, or for any usage where it doesn't get plugged/unplugged all the time, or get moved around constantly, it looks like an amazing unit.

I just bought big 600W class AB Ashdown amp from Mick. Its obviously a heavy amp and he packaged it superbly. Also, despite heavy distractions at home, he managed to get the amp to me in very good time. The amp was exactly as it was described. Mick was a true gent to deal with, and gets a massive thumbs up from me to him. Thanks mate ! Alan

This is my number (and only) one. Walnut P body, MIA Fender Jazz neck, no name J pickups. Awesome.

I have owned more than one bass for long periods in the past, but always have had a favourite and only really played that, so I decided so simplify everything and just have that one perfect bass. You can't buy what I wanted, so I built it. As per the pic, although it now sports a perloid blue pickguard and jazz pickups. I have no desire to play anything else.

+1 to absolutely all of that. Good advice. As for tools, I find the cheapo sets of 12 or 13 nut files (which were actually designed as some sort of industrial tip cleaners I believe) you'll find on ebay for a fiver actually work really well. They don't go small enough for a guitar, but for a bass they work well. As always, though, its advisable to practice any new procedure on a non-critical instrument if possible.

And will sound completely different to through your current cabs. You may not like it.

Hi BassAdder, another "need to know" is what the ABM600 sounds like through the SVT212 cab. The amp that will cover amost any volume needs is the ABM, so for me that would have to be a keeper. If it were me, I'd only want to keep the Ampeg cab, or the pair of ABM cabs. Lightness, tone and power handling all come into the equation. Those Ashdown cabs weigh an absolute ton, considering they are "only" a 2x10. Seems to me like the Ampeg 2x12 would cover all your needs, including higher volume gigs, with the ABM, when required. Its not a lightweight cab, but at least its only one almost 30kg cab, instead of two. You have some nice problems. Very first world problems !

I have done similar to your suggestion and it worked well. Also, if the holes are only slightly non-aligned, the other option is, of course, to enlarge the holes slightly. In my experience, even if you do this quite considerably, it has no effect on neck stability, which almost completely comes from the clamping force of the screws pulling the neck back on to the body.

Two 2x10's, or 2x12's, stacked vertically. Theoretically, the dispersion on stage beats any conventional 4x10, 8x10 setup. I really want speakers higher up nearer my ears than a 4x10 gives too.

Just to add to the online catalogue of info for these, I contaced Laney just to confirm what the 2x12 cab was made from. They confirmed it was 15mm Plywood.