Other than a few little tweaks, TC Electronic have essentially maintained the original blueprint of the HOF Mini with this new version: the pint-size dimensions, true-bypass functionality and firetruck red chassis all remain the same. One of the main selling points of the original HOF Mini was its simple single-knob design, with users being able to tweak tones to their heart’s content via TC Electronic’s TonePrint app. This obviously ruffled the feathers of a few players who missed the immediacy that knob-tweaking offers in a live setting, and as a result, TC have voted in favour of putting three knobs on the HOF 2 Mini for controlling Tone, Level and Decay.
While feeling slightly cramped due to the tiny size of the chassis, having these knobs definitely makes for a much more hands-on playing experience, allowing you to fine-tune your tone at any given moment. I found the Tone knob particularly useful for taming the sparkling high frequencies of the new Shimmer algorithm, which I was stoked to see was included with this pedal. If you’re into ambient volume swells or glistening shoegaze sounds, I can guarantee you’ll be smitten for the Shimmer; it also sounds a treat on synth as well.
For hands-free tweaking, TC Electronic have also added a pressure-sensitive MASH footswitch to the HOF 2 Mini, letting you adjust specific parameters for each reverb algorithm in real-time. When paired with some clever setting up and editing via the TonePrint app, this feature can be an absolute gamechanger, adding in a whole new level of expressive capabilities to what would be otherwise considered stock-standard sounds. Whether you want to create a subtle decay with a hint of modulation, spine-tingling reverb tails or an envelope your signal in a wash of white noise, the MASH footswitch really is the secret weapon of the HOF 2 Mini. Once you master it, you won’t want to remember life without it.
Other than the addition of the aforementioned Shimmer reverb, TC Electronic have retained all the tried-and-true algorithms of the original Hall Of Fame, including favourites like Church, LoFi, Spring and Hall, as well as all the other user-made presets the platform has to offer. Most players will be familiar with these sounds, and beaming them into the HOF 2 Mini via the micro USB port or the TonePrint app is incredibly straightforward. As a side note, I was also rather impressed with TC Electronic’s latest TonePrint Editor update: it’d been a while since I’d used it, and every little quirk I’d ever experienced with its functionality was flawlessly amended, making for a superb user experience.
It’s certainly hard to follow up on a product that’s already so beloved by the masses, but it’s fair to say TC Electronic have done an almighty job with the Hall Of Fame 2 Mini. It’s just as small and tactile as its predecessor, the algorithms sound as good as they ever have, and every little tweak has its own purpose without feeling overstuffed: what more could you ask for?
