# Is there a Sustainer pedal?? not a compression/sustainer



## antimage27 (Mar 16, 2008)

k so..i wanna buy a pedal thats just a sustainer because my dyna comp is very very loud when used with my distortion pedals....

is it better to keep the dyna comp and buy a noise gate??? or sell it and get a sustainer only pedal (do those even exist)??

if sustainers dont exist....which noise gate is THE BEST (under 150 bucks)
i mean like it doesnt cut my sustain AT ALL...and also not loud
thnx


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## devnulljp (Mar 18, 2008)

You want clean sustain or dirty sustain? 
I would try a Keeley compressor for clean...although I like my nasty old 70s dynacomp. Try a big muff for endless distortion/fuzz sustain.
Although a compressor really isn't a sustainer, regardless of what the marketing people tell you.
Another thing you might like to look into is an ebow.


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## Guest (Dec 9, 2008)

Many, many years ago Boss made a Feedbacker/Sustainer pedal but I haven't seen one in decades. Not too sure what the circuitry was on that one but I think it was mainly a compressor with some special EQing to enhance harmonic overtones and possibly a little extra dirt may have been added as well.

MXR has a decent noisegate for not too much coin.


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## Guest (Dec 9, 2008)

I like my Keeley Compressor.


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## antimage27 (Mar 16, 2008)

devnulljp said:


> You want clean sustain or dirty sustain?
> I would try a Keeley compressor for clean...although I like my nasty old 70s dynacomp. Try a big muff for endless distortion/fuzz sustain.
> Although a compressor really isn't a sustainer, regardless of what the marketing people tell you.
> Another thing you might like to look into is an ebow.


wats the difference dirty and clean?
btw keelee one is 250 bucks in canada lol


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## salv (Sep 24, 2008)

antimage27 said:


> wats the difference dirty and clean?
> btw keelee one is 250 bucks in canada lol


that $250 is USD


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## devnulljp (Mar 18, 2008)

antimage27 said:


> wats the difference dirty and clean?
> btw keelee one is 250 bucks in canada lol


Dirty is dirty. Clean is clean 
Do you play with (dirty) or without (clean) distortion?
What's the problem you're having anyway? You sure your guitar is set up properly? (Strings too close to the frets so the notes die?) How loud do you play? What type of guitar? What type of amp? What are you trying to achieve? All a compressor does is boosts the signal when it drops below a threshold so it gives the impression of sustain, but really all it's doing is turning you up as the note tails off. 
The newer Dynacomps are pretty awful IMO. Noisy as you say. 
The Boss feedbacker distortion Yoda mentioned was a DS-1 with some weird circuitry to hold a note. It was horrible and nothing like sustain (or feedback for that matter).

A big muff will sustain for days though if that's what you want, but it's a very definite sound. 

Give us some info about what you want to do. If you like compression but don't like the noise of the dynacomp, the Keeley or an analogman comp is the way to go; but that's a bit pricier as you said but you can get a Keeley for ~$180 used if you hang around here long enough. 
Maybe try a BYOC kit? Scott at axeand has them on special...


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## antimage27 (Mar 16, 2008)

devnulljp said:


> Dirty is dirty. Clean is clean
> Do you play with (dirty) or without (clean) distortion?
> What's the problem you're having anyway? You sure your guitar is set up properly? (Strings too close to the frets so the notes die?) How loud do you play? What type of guitar? What type of amp? What are you trying to achieve? All a compressor does is boosts the signal when it drops below a threshold so it gives the impression of sustain, but really all it's doing is turning you up as the note tails off.
> The newer Dynacomps are pretty awful IMO. Noisy as you say.
> ...


k well im using a fender strat deluxe ...amp fender hotrod deluxe... 
when im playing with distortion ...using a distortion and a compressor for sustain ..im getting a LOT of hum
so i just want to be able to use my compressor and distortion w/o too much hum


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## puckhead (Sep 8, 2008)

+1 on the EHX Big Muff. even the Russian one I have sings endlessly.
separate volume boost, distortion control and sustain, so you can add the elements that you like.

I quite like the Boss NS-2 noise gate too. It can be had fairly cheaply if you are patient (I think I got mine for $50)


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

usually people dont run a comp when they're running a dirty channel or pedal...

so turn off the comp when you change channels.


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## devnulljp (Mar 18, 2008)

antimage27 said:


> k well im using a fender strat deluxe ...amp fender hotrod deluxe...
> when im playing with distortion ...using a distortion and a compressor for sustain ..im getting a LOT of hum
> so i just want to be able to use my compressor and distortion w/o too much hum


That's part of your problem. A compressor boosts the signal below a threshold. All distortion boxes will give you a bit of noise, and the compressor will then amplify that noise because it treats it as low level signal. Compressor with distortion is always going to be a bit noisy.
mhammer posted a long and detailed discussion of this topic a while back, and said it all better and with more authority and detail than I can. 

I'd try a big muff if I were you. The nano is only what $50? That thing will go for days. You might notice you lose some dynamics and it can be a bit difficult to tame (understatement of the year), but David Gilmour and Robert Fripp can manage it somehow. 

FWIW, I only ever use a compressor when playing clean. Distortion will compress your signal anyway. You might also be better with humbuckers than the single coils in a Strat if you're noticing you need a compressor...although I kinda like a bit of compression on single coils.

You might also have some luck by fiddling with the threshold on your dynacomp. But as I said a compressor isn't really going to give you sustain, just the _illusion_ of sustain. 
Read this excellent post too that explains better what a compressor actually does.
This one too: http://www.guitarscanada.com/Board/showpost.php?p=152867&postcount=8


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## screamingdaisy (Oct 14, 2008)

Put the compressor in front of the distortion pedal....

Or...

Stack the distortion pedal with an overdrive pedal, like a TS-9 or something.


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## antimage27 (Mar 16, 2008)

puckhead said:


> +1 on the EHX Big Muff. even the Russian one I have sings endlessly.
> separate volume boost, distortion control and sustain, so you can add the elements that you like.
> 
> I quite like the Boss NS-2 noise gate too. It can be had fairly cheaply if you are patient (I think I got mine for $50)


i hate the big muff...plz dont flame i just think its wayyyy too dirty for my style of playing


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## devnulljp (Mar 18, 2008)

antimage27 said:


> i hate the big muff...plz dont flame i just think its wayyyy too dirty for my style of playing


I can totally understand that. I had a green Sovtek muff years ago and it sounded great in the store, but I think that was because it just swamped everything else (the 5 guys scattered around the place playing Sweet Child of Mine and Eruption). Didn't take me long to realise I didn't actually like the thing. It's a bit of a wild beast; how does Dave Gilmour get such subtlety out of one? 

I think then that leaves you with screamingdaisy's excellent advice and mine about fiddling with the threshold. Putting the comp first should kill some of the noise issues. 

What distortion are you using? That might be something else you can tweak.


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## antimage27 (Mar 16, 2008)

screamingdaisy said:


> Put the compressor in front of the distortion pedal....
> 
> Or...
> 
> Stack the distortion pedal with an overdrive pedal, like a TS-9 or something.


my dyna comp IS infront of the distortion....
and im stack BBE green screamer with Boss DS1 or satchurator


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## devnulljp (Mar 18, 2008)

OK, someone give this man a Les Paul and be done with it


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## antimage27 (Mar 16, 2008)

devnulljp said:


> OK, someone give this man a Les Paul and be done with it


haha...im actually getting one hopefully in a few months ...my savings are almost there XD
also..can anyone comment on the new 2008 ones??? im thinking about getting 2008 les paul standard


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## Guest (Dec 9, 2008)

Not that I suspect we have a lot of Surf fans here but a very cool reverb trick is to patch a compressor into the return line from the reverb tank on an old classic Fender. The task requires a couple of adapters. Surf tone in bucketfuls.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

1) As I've said before, compressors don't provide sustain; they provide the "illusion" of sustain. If your guitar HAS some decent sustain, then a compressor will provide a better illusion.

2) The Big Muff Pi is not everyone's cup of tea, and that is okay. I have three that I've made and they each sound entirely different even though they use the exact same schematic. It is entirely expected that a person could try one out and THAT PARTICULAR ONE did not sound great to them. As the David Gilmour cover story in the current GP indicates, and as Mike Matthews himself has noted, that is true of the commercially produced one as well. Whether you like it or not, one of principal reasons why it sustains for so long (long enough that they call the input level control "Sustain") is because it is a "double clipper". That is, it boosts and clips the signal (removing some of the dynamics), then boosts and clips the signal again (removing more of whatever dynamics were still present).

3) The suggested Boss DF-2 Super Distortion Feedbacker has its limits. It actually attempts to track a single note being held and synthesizes a note that you can hold one or two octaves above that (sometimes inaccurately, but that's another matter) to simulate feedback. I have one and it works okay for what it does, but it will not work on a whole chord or more than one note at a time. The distortion itself is passable, and the "feedback" aspect will not happen in the absence of distortion unless you mod the pedal. FYI, Behringer now makes an exact clone of the DF-2 that will be cheaper than buying one on e-bay. Line 6's recent Dr. Distorto is a digital upgrade of the DF-2 and offers more control over the sustain and better tracking too. Should you want actual sustain of what you're playing, you will want something like a Fernandes sustainer, which actively maintains the movement of the strings themselves using a battery-operated coil that sits under the strings (generally in the neck position). If you have a s**tload of money to spend, consider the new Moog guitar which has infinite sustain possibilities.


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