Gravitas vs Vertigo

monkaiboy

So I am strangely drawn to the Gravitas, despite having lovely tremolo on my new Princeton Reverb. 

I am also tempted by the Source Audio Vertigo, particularly as I am buying into their ecosystem somewhat with the Nemesis (when it arrives)

I know a few people have the Gravitas. Any thoughts on it? Is the basic sound particularly good or is it more the mod shaping options that are the best thing about it - or both?

Has anyone used the Vertigo? And even better, could anyone compare the two pedals?

Kai

Heartfeltdawn

I'd go Gravitas as I think it sounds better in demos, the reverse-like mode on the Knobs demo has me depositing puddles of sticky love all over the place, and the whole app element with the Vertigo is a massive blah moment for me. 

Teetonetal

I have the Gravitas, still learning it.

Sound quality. It definitely does something to the sound when engaged. To my ears it makes it a little more hi-fi, and it feels slightly compressed. It's got a slightly hard edge to the sound.

As a basic tap tempo tremolo it functions really well. You can tap with sub divisions, so that's nice if you like a fast 16th note tremolo like me. The modushape section is really easy to use. Square wave with high depth for choppy, sine or triangle with lower depth for a more amp like trem. The sway control is nice, it just adds a bit of swing or movement to the sound.

You can then use the presets to save 2 options, and in the middle position it takes control settings. Midi expands on that, but requires a modified empress midi box.

In standard mode it has a clean boost, which is useful for tremolo and a very strong tone control. Rate range is vast.

The dip switches allow you to go mad.

Harmonic tremolo, and both options are available. You can also get the pedal to act as a fake expression pedal, ramping/hold in either up down direction or bounce modes are available. You can select what parameters ramp and the controls alter to select the boundaries of the ramp. Whats cool with this is you can get the stutter style tremolo that possible from the Moogerfooger ring mod and some interesting tone shifting effects. The controls are also fully assignable to an expression pedal.

It's a very deep pedal. The dip switches are not the easiest to learn and I reckon it's one you need to keep off the board for a while and learn with a note book handy..

Interesting for me is that whilst I love it, it hasn't replaced the empress tremolo. which is a little more straight forward to use and allows patterns. If you want a good tap tempo tremolo I'd get that simply as it's cheaper. 

If you want something to experiment and play with I'd get the gravitas. I've had mine a while now and not even scratched the surface.

Moe_Zambeek

I have the Vertigo.

Here's what I think you should ask: do you want a good sounding trem that is simple to operate, flexible and has a degree of tweak ability via app - if you want it - for a reasonable price; or an ultra tweak able, possibly fiddly to use device that costs twice as much?

I went for the former. DV247 are doing the Vertigo for under a ton at the moment. The Gravitas is what, nearly £300?

Teetonetal

Moe_Zambeek said:

I have the Vertigo.

Here's what I think you should ask: do you want a good sounding trem that is simple to operate, flexible and has a degree of tweak ability via app - if you want it - for a reasonable price; or an ultra tweak able, possibly fiddly to use device that costs twice as much?

I went for the former. DV247 are doing the Vertigo for under a ton at the moment. The Gravitas is what, nearly £300?

Gravitas cost me 176 GBP iirc but yes, it's one for tweakers, soundscapers and the like. I would not describe it as fiddly though.

Moe_Zambeek

That's a good price, but the U.K. New price is around 300 and the used one Thorpy was selling was 240.

Did you buy yours direct from the US? It's a much more reasonable price for a trem

monkaiboy

Thanks all for the input. Great overview of the Gravitas Teetonetal.

Moe_Zambeek, yes that's an excellent question. That is a great price at DV. This would have been a much easier question before I bought the Princeton - Vertigo would have done just fine. But I kind of have the bread and butter tremolo covered so potentially looking for something a bit more interesting and flexible.

Not to say the Vertigo wouldn't satisfy that though... hmmm will continue to ponder

benmurray85

I absolutely want the gravitas but the shear complexity alone puts me off. All the demos sound amazing but I'm not sure I could warrant spending that much on something I don't have the skills to put to good use.

There isn't a day goes by that I don't want to stick an order in though.

Teetonetal

Moe_Zambeek said:

That's a good price, but the U.K. New price is around 300 and the used one Thorpy was selling was 240.

Did you buy yours direct from the US? It's a much more reasonable price for a trem

Black friday offer direct from Chase Bliss.

Even then it tends to be cheaper to buy from the US

Heartfeltdawn

The complexity of the Gravitas is what turns me on. There are so many options for people who want two knob simple fun. I want something headspinning. 

Teetonetal

Yup all the chase bliss stuff revels in easy to use head spinning complexity

Ally

I could chip in here. I only have experience of the Gravitas:I got the one Adrian was selling.

It's a great pedal and would thoroughly recommend it.

Teetonetal has described it better than I could. It is a deep pedal though, and I've been having fun with it. You can also get some pretty interesting sounds with a delay before or after it.

That said though, it's really not difficult to use and get nice sounding results from it. The range and breadth of options it can give you is what I'm enjoying. I'm still just learning and having fun with it though.