# Let's Talk Compression



## JBFairthorne (Oct 11, 2014)

Do you all use compression pedals? How do you typically use them on a regular basis? Do you use them all the time or intermittently?

I recently bought a compression pedal to help even out some of the actual loudness of various notes in various positions on the fretboard. More from a leads perspective. I don't necessarily want or need compression for rhythm bits and chording, I tend to play more dynamically in a rhythm sense and compression, at least the way I use it seems counter productive to that.

So, I was thinking, why couldn't I use my compression pedal in place of a clean boost? I can set the compression to whatever level I preferred and adjust the level out as a slight boost. I mean, people generally put boost early in the chain anyhow, right? Just after compression? Has anyone ever used compression like this personally? Thoughts?

Any other general thoughts on compression (leaving out which pedal is best) is appreciated.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

In 1979, my pedalboard consisted of a Univox Compressor, MXR 6-band, MXR Envelope Filter, MXR Noise Gate, and EHX "Hot Foot". The Hot Foot was a large foot treadle device with a flexible shaft, rotatable via the foot treadle. EHX had more or less intended it to be the first Whammy pedal, since it seemed optimized for rapidly working the Delay time control on a Memory Man. But I used it to control the output level on my compressor. In effect, my compressor WAS my booster and volume pedal, all rolled into one.

That particular compressor had a rather wonky set of time constants that resulted in a delicious pumping sound on bridge pickups, when set to max compression; a perfect match to a Tele bridge.

But to come more directly to your question, yes, I regularly recommend to folks to use their compressor in precisely the way you describe - as a clean booster that can limit the "spike-iness" of boosted solos. You're on the right track.


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## amagras (Apr 22, 2015)

On all the time here. Average compression, gain at unity at the beginning of the chain.


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## Stratin2traynor (Sep 27, 2006)

I have a Wampler Ego Compressor and use it mainly to fatten up my tone. It's only on when I play clean. I just started using it so I'm not familiar with everything it can do. So far I really like how it fattens up my tone. My "compression" is actually set kind of low.


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

I've only had my compression pedal for a week or two. I'm still trying to figure out how to set it up. I don't seem to be able to tell the difference between the settings. I can tell if it is off or on, but other than that, I'm not sure. Right now all 3 knobs are at about 9 o'clock so it is set very low. The only know that I know is working for sure is the sustain. Set that at 3 o clock and the guitar sings for ages. LOL


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

The audible invisibility of a compressor will depend on a few things, one of which is the gain recovery time. 

It normally operates by instantly turning the gain down, in response to peaks, and then bringing the gain back up again after the peak has passed. Fast, near instant, gain recovery is associated with peak limiters, and a less apparent effect. The venerable Dan Armstrong Orange Squeezer was appreciated by many players for doing exactly that.

At the other end of the spectrum are those units with a longer gain recovery time (like the Dynacomp and its offspring), such that gain is _gradually_ increased/restored after the peak is over. These kinds are better for assisting long sustaining notes, since they even out the output level over a longer stretch. This type is much less invisible since it tends to contort the signal dynamics when the compression amount is turned up.

Many compressors these days have what they call an Attack control. It actually does not affect attack, but rather adjusts the gain-recovery time. Faster "attack" settings have the gain recovery fast enough that if you are picking fast, it has already restored max gain by the time you pick the next note, such that the "attack" of that note is more apparent. If gain recovery is set slower, then you may have already picked a few additional notes by the time the gain starts to come back from its initial retreat. The audible effect is that those subsequent notes sound a little shy and lacking bite. The more compression applied, and the longer the recovery time, the more those subsequent notes tend to hide, and seem not as prominent as intended.

The constraint here is that the audibility of all this is partly a function of how fast you intend on picking. Moderate compression with faster or slower recovery time is hard to tell apart if you strum once in a while, or don't play too many notes too quickly. As a result, many players with 3 or 4-knob compressors (that include an "attack" control) will twiddle it and mutter that it doesn't really DO anything, simply because they have not paid attention to the relationship between recovery time and picking speed.

Also note that any pedal that employs a sidechain to detect the input-signal level and dynamics _assumes_ a certain range of input levels. The extent of adjustment in the controls is intended to cope with those potential levels anticipated. If you have hot pickups, the input signal will require lower compression settings to achieve the intended degree of gain reduction. Low output pickups, and those light on the bass end (where much of the signal lives), may require higher compression settings.

Note as well that guitars vary in their natural dynamics. Many of the big jazz boxes with floating bridges have a strong peak, but a very quick decay. That, and their natural resonances, are responsible for their "fat" sound. They will often require different compression settings from a solid-body hard-tail type.


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

Well, mine is a dyna compressor. Just the cheapy 50 dollar joyo. That may be part of the problem. You do get what you pay for in most cases. I'm going to keep playing around with it. I just didn't want to spend a ton of money on a pedal I wasn't sure i would want to use. But it seems like it is one of the first pedals most guitarists deem necessary. 

Maybe I'll look out for a diy orange squeezer. I'm pretty sure I've seen schematics for that. 

I wasn't aware that there were different types of compression. I assumed digital or analogue, but now I know what they dyna means on the pedal...


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## amagras (Apr 22, 2015)

knight_yyz said:


> Well, mine is a dyna compressor. Just the cheapy 50 dollar joyo. That may be part of the problem. You do get what you pay for in most cases. I'm going to keep playing around with it. I just didn't want to spend a ton of money on a pedal I wasn't sure i would want to use. But it seems like it is one of the first pedals most guitarists deem necessary.
> 
> Maybe I'll look out for a diy orange squeezer. I'm pretty sure I've seen schematics for that.
> 
> I wasn't aware that there were different types of compression. I assumed digital or analogue, but now I know what they dyna means on the pedal...


It takes time to learn to hear a compressor. To me it was something completely different from any other processing I know and it took me years, it was something I couldn't even imagine after reading every manual in the world. 

Joyo pedals are very good, not sure if durable too but they will do what most people want from a compressor. 

Extreme compressor effects like the ones that anyone can notice are not usually desirable (perhaps the chicken picken setting being one of the few)


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Here's what you do (assuming it is physically possible for you to do so). If it IS a true clone of the Dynacomp, there will be a 150k resistor connected at one end to +9v, and at the other end to a 10uf cap and 3 transistors (R18 in this drawing: http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/pdf/ggg_dnr_dc_sc.pdf ). It is the only 150k resistor on the board so it shouldn't be too hard to identify. 

That resistance sets the recovery time, and in many clones and derivatives is replaced with a pot, for a variable Attack control. You don't need the pot, and EHX agrees with me. ( http://www.ehx.com/products/soul-preacher )

Get yourself a 3-position on-off-on SPDT toggle. 
Connect the common of the switch to one end of the 150k resistor on the board. 
Solder one end of a 68k resistor to one of the outside toggle lugs, and one end of a 15k resistor to the other outside lug.
Solder the "free" ends of those two resistors together.
Run a wire from the junction of the two added resistors to the _other_ end of the 150k.

Congrats. You now have a slow, medium, fast gain recovery time, as per the Soul Preacher, with a roughly 3:1 increase/decrease in time between the settings. The default setting (middle toggle position) is "slow".

The older Retro-Sonic compressor had an identical switch ( http://www.maxguitarstore.com/wp-co...tro-Sonic-Vintage-Vibes-Compressor-2-of-4.jpg ) that I had helped Tim Larwill come up with. Eventually, Tim reverted to a variable control, which I didn't think was necessary. So I asked Tim why the change, and he said that customers kept asking for it; not feeling like they had enough "control". So he yielded and swapped the toggle for a knob. Trust me and EHX, you don't need the knob.


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## Adcandour (Apr 21, 2013)

Stratin2traynor said:


> I have a Wampler Ego Compressor and use it mainly to fatten up my tone. It's only on when I play clean. I just started using it so I'm not familiar with everything it can do. So far I really like how it fattens up my tone. My "compression" is actually set kind of low.


That's exactly what I had and exactly what I did. I also used it to thicken up my lead tone with it when it was effects-ridden - it just seemed to make things 'better'.


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## Stratin2traynor (Sep 27, 2006)

knight_yyz said:


> Well, mine is a dyna compressor. Just the cheapy 50 dollar joyo. That may be part of the problem. You do get what you pay for in most cases. I'm going to keep playing around with it. I just didn't want to spend a ton of money on a pedal I wasn't sure i would want to use. But it seems like it is one of the first pedals most guitarists deem necessary.
> 
> Maybe I'll look out for a diy orange squeezer. I'm pretty sure I've seen schematics for that.
> 
> I wasn't aware that there were different types of compression. I assumed digital or analogue, but now I know what they dyna means on the pedal...


Build Your Own Clone has an Orange Squeeze compressor kit. Just checked.


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

I might build a janglebox.


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## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

When I first tried a compressor 10 or 15 years ago I hated it but only realized a few years ago that I was using it wrong and now I have one on all the time. I play clean for the most part, gain just slightly over unity in most cases so a little boost, I try and minimize any noise from my rig by putting it early in the chain so usually first. The one thing that brought me back to try one was a mix knob. I like blending the signal so I don't get an overly pronounced compression but something that cleans and fattens things up a bit. I set it up thinking that when it's on it is subtle but off it is noticeably missing.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

One of the things that people forget is that rock/pop has a long history being defined by the dynamic limitations of vinyl, tape, and broadcast. ALL recording studios would have limiters. Not for "effect", but for simply managing headroom and keeping meters out of the red as much as possible. Same thing for broadcast studios. All those highly sought-after United Audio, and similar, units were for putting as respectable a clamp on dynamic range as possible, to tease best-behaved performance out of the broadcast transmitter, and the AM radios of the world.

So, "compressed" is how the majority of us grew up thinking how music was _supposed_ to sound. Actually, let me correct that. _ Limited _is how we thought it was supposed to sound, although we achieve that with compressors. 

In many respects, "proper" use of compressor pedals is really intended to make what potentially has a lot more dynamic range sound "normal". That is, if one makes judicious and restrained use of compression settings, you probably _would_ want to leave it on all the time.


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## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

What I didn't like and realized wasn't for me was the squish and attack killing the initial peak of the note. I also hated the noise it added but again as I mentioned earlier I was using it wrong. I had sustain usually cranked so as the signal died out the gain would go up and usually added noticeable noise. All of this can usually be dialed out, depending on the compressor, but is took me a while to give it another try. Being able to roll off the attack and mixing in the wet/dry allowed me to eliminate the unwanted spike and help the note 'bloom' in a way, sound bigger/brighter/full without killing all the dynamics.


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

I've been using compressors for over 20 years now. Started off with a Boss CS-3, to a Ross clone GoudieFX Compressor, then went to the optical Diamond, to the optical Strymon ob1, then back to the Diamond. I mostly use it for solos, to even out the notes and get a bit of a sustain. I hardly use it for rhythm.


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## amagras (Apr 22, 2015)

I've been listening lately that compressors make everything sound better, I don't agree fully with that but it might not be completely wrong. 
Compression makes the softer notes of a performance more perceptible to the ear. Loud is a relative term and the human ear have a flatter response at higher levels so when you mix that with the idea posted before by mhammer about we are used to listen to music compressed it might be possible to conclude that compressors make everything sound better just by making everything more flat in a way that makes safer to pull the volume up.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

I don't know if I agree with that. They certainly make things less unpredictable, and that can be good in some ways (e.g., not exceeding the headroom of a delay or phaser, maintaining a certain amount of distortion whether you pick harder or not, etc.). But people also complain about the loss of brightness and "sparkle", which is why blend controls started showing up.

There is a way that compressors dull things when used too heavily, that I'm trying to wrap my head around.


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## amagras (Apr 22, 2015)

Exactly my point... and you are right about the way compressors dull the sound too.

Update: I'd love to have my Dyna comp modded to work in parallel!


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## ColForbin (Sep 10, 2012)

I used to run compressors. I had a gray Ross clone, and a Barber Tone Press. I ran them how Trey Anastasio runs/ran his. He put them behind his 2 TS9s in the signal chain, which yielded him a smoothing effect to his drive and bit of volume control. Loved his tone back in the day. I don't run a comp anymore just because I enjoy it more. Just a different application, as I know that most people have them at the start of their chain.


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

To me, compressors are genre-specific. I love mine for rockabilly stuff, it smooths out the variations between single line stuff and rhythm comping. And it seems to give me more 'pop' when I need it. But when I play rock, I want those dynamics that the compressor masks. 

In reality, it's probably because I'm a hack rockabilly player, just faking it, but if that's what a compressor does, I'll take a dozen please. One for jazz, one for bee-bop, one for RnB, one for ..........


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

There was a lengthy feature article on compressors in_ Electronic Musician _magazine in 2001 (which is archived, I think). One of the things discussed in the article was the match/mismatch between different makes/models of compressors (and these were almost entirely rack-type) and different instruments. Some were depicted as better for drums, some for acoustic string instruments, some for vocals, etc. Some of that is the "time constants" (how quickly the unit responds and adjusts/restores gain), but I suspect some of it also reflects perceptible changes to the tone as the gain gets changed.

One of the best compressors I ever used was one I made using the SSM2166 chip (one of you folks out there bought it from me). The 2166 was intended as part of a mic channel control strip, and full-featured dynamic control chip. So not only does it do limiting and compression, but it also includes an adjustable-threshold downward expander, so that when you stop playing it doesn't get noisier, but gets _quieter_. Sadly, the chip has been discontinued in through-hole form, and can only be gotten as surface-mount...when you can get them. Happily, I still have two chips left. I'll have to build myself another one.

At the moment, I probably have about 6 or more compressors in stompbox or rack form, and two more which need to get boxed up.


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## marcos (Jan 13, 2009)

As a country player, its on all the time. It just makes it easier to do lead parts and chicken pickin. I have an older CS-2 from late 80's i believe and have been using it for about 5 years now. The only thing is when its on all the time, my ears either get wonky and i cant tell the difference at the end of the night or the old Boss is not performing like it should after 3-4 hours of play. Will be trying out something new soon


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## KapnKrunch (Jul 13, 2016)

I use compression as transparently as possible. It's a corrective device for me, not an effect.

I find the shallow, closed cabinet of the GuitarMate too woofy. The Diamond compressor does a wonderful job of improving the clarity and articulation of this amp. Always on.

The Strymon compressor, with its boost feature, does a great job of balancing the volume of the two-and-four positions with the one-three-and-five positions on a five-way guitar switch. Not used all the time but there if needed.

Clean sounds only. Sitting beside the amps for set-and-forget, not in the front line.

Edit: no frontline effects used, loop only.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

Holy bump.


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