# I'm looking for a compressor pedal



## Latiator (Jul 18, 2007)

Hey guys, 
I'm in the market for a compressor pedal and I wanted to get your input on what's the best you've used. I don't really want to spend $200+ ie. Carl Martin (although I'm sure it's great), if I can get a great one for under. Let me know what you guys think - boutiques welcome.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

First, they pretty much ALL generate hiss when you stop playing.

More importantly, they can orient themselves towards different sorts of tasks. What do you want it to do? How do you intend to use it?


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## Guest (Mar 15, 2012)

I have the Keeley Comprosser and the Analogman Orange Squeezer. From my knowledge there are 2 main comp circuits. The Ross and the Orange.

Ross (Keeley) is clean and transparent. Nice and very usable in most situations. Some have a Ross as an always on pedal. Gets a little "punky" feeling when set high.

The Orange is less transparent but gives the notes almost a sizzling sustain. Great for edgier or rock leads. It has a squishier feel to it. Kinda like Knofler's first album. For me not an alway on pedal. Also gets punky when set high.

I would find an Analogman dual compressor used, as it has one of each in it.

I now call MHammer to the stand. He has some pretty cool mods and knows what is happening at the molecular level.


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## Clean Channel (Apr 18, 2011)

I've tried a few and like the Empress the best.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

I think you have the two units reversed, Richard. 

The Orange Squeezer, and its derivatives, have a very fast decay/recovery which makes them behave a little more like a limiter and sound less apparent or obvious. They respond well to fast picking whih makes them a favourite amongst country pickers.

The Dynacomp, which is maybe 4 components different from the Ross, has a longer decay/recovery time which is better for holding notes and faking "sustain". Normally it does not respond well to fast picking when compression is turned up, bu if you want to bend and hold a B or high E while you make guitar faces, _that's_ your toy. Many of the various Dynacomp/Ross derivatives have incorporated a variable/selectable decay/recovery-time control to permit them to be suitable for either faster or slower picking. Fast decay/recovery also tends to introduce less audible "breathing" and "pumping" when compression is set high.

Most simple compressors will tend to have less presence and glassiness in their tone. What some makers have done to counteract this is to incorporate a Blend control to bring some unaffected signal in with the compressed sound to get back some of the high-end sheen. Keeley does this as does the 5-knob BYOC compressor.

Boss has moved in the direction of using higher-end OTA chips, which results in less distortion than the 3080 chip traditionally used in the MXR and Ross. With the 3080 becoming largely extinct (at least enough that few manufacturers with large volume production aspirations will design around them), more manufacturers are migrating to other chips like the LM13600/13700, or in Boss's case, chips from T.H.A.T. company.

Steve over at Empress always does a nice job on whatever he and his buddies make, so I would unhesitatingly recommend his pedals...but it may be more than you need.

Either way, most experts would agree that choice of compressor will, or ought to be, influenced by the tasks you have set for it rather than any assumptions about quality or "best-ess".


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## Jeff B. (Feb 20, 2010)

The Empress as well as the Diamond compressors are very highly regarded and seem to be "keepers" on a lot of people's pedalboards.

The Ibanez CP9/10 is also a good but underrated compressor that can usually be found fairly cheaply. I have a CP10 and it is much quieter with a lot less hiss and can be more transparent than the other "somewhat similar to a Ross" compressors I have own which are a Boss CS-2 and a self build fancy Dyna Comp clone. It's far and away my favorite of them. It uses the LM13600/LM13700 IC. A used CP9/10 paired with a blender pedal would work fairly well and be reasonably inexpensive.


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## Latiator (Jul 18, 2007)

mhammer said:


> Normally it does not respond well to fast picking when compression is turned up, but if you want to bend and hold a B or high E while you make guitar faces, _that's_ your toy.


Almost fell out of my chair!

Interesting fallas, very insightful. With effects, I do not know nearly as much as you gents who chimed in, nor do I have the experience behind me (I have always been a guitar -> cable -> amp dude till now). Making matters worse, I play a range of styles from country, blues, light rock to some heavy rock. My ignorance led me to assume that I could have a pedal that could handle all genres. I wanted to first send out a general net to see what I'd learn, now I will narrow my field and say that I am looking to use a compressor for leads in a range from spankin' clean to mild distortion. If I can find a pedal that will deliver this ability to me, I'm a happy man. What do you think? Please let me know if you require more information.


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## -mbro- (Apr 3, 2010)

My old monte allums modded boss cs-3 is the bees knees. They can be found on eBay periodically for less than$100


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

So far the Keeley is the one I prefer. I'm also working on getting a good compressor on my board. I may go for a BYOC prebuilt.

They have a five button Ross clone that looks very nice.


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## Latiator (Jul 18, 2007)

Can you go into more detail about how "Bees knees" your pedal is mbro?



Milkman said:


> ...I may go for a BYOC prebuilt. They have a five button Ross clone that looks very nice.


Hmm, is it the one featured here Milkman? http://www.axeandyoushallreceive.com/product/byoc-5-knob-compressor-pre-built-pedal
What else do you know about these pedals?


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Latiator said:


> Almost fell out of my chair!
> 
> Interesting fallas, very insightful. With effects, I do not know nearly as much as you gents who chimed in, nor do I have the experience behind me (I have always been a guitar -> cable -> amp dude till now). Making matters worse, I play a range of styles from country, blues, light rock to some heavy rock. My ignorance led me to assume that I could have a pedal that could handle all genres. I wanted to first send out a general net to see what I'd learn, now I will narrow my field and say that I am looking to use a compressor for leads in a range from spankin' clean to mild distortion. If I can find a pedal that will deliver this ability to me, I'm a happy man. What do you think? Please let me know if you require more information.


Then what you want and need is something that has variable recovery time. This will almost always be mistakenly and incorrectly labelled an "Attack" control. Do not be deterred by toggles instead of rotary controls. Tim at Retrosonic used to have a 3-position recovery time switch that we worked on the values for, and it worked fine, but customers nagged him for a rotary control until he gave in. EHX has a 3-position switch on their current issue Soul Preacher. Works just fine. You could probably even get away with a fast/slow switch. I promise you that, when it comes to guitar, if you have a rotary attack/recovery knob, you will tend to have it either close to 7:00 or close to 5:00 and rarely much in between.


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## Latiator (Jul 18, 2007)

mhammer said:


> Then what you want and need is something that has variable recovery time. This will almost always be mistakenly and incorrectly labelled an "Attack" control. Do not be deterred by toggles instead of rotary controls. Tim at Retrosonic used to have a 3-position recovery time switch that we worked on the values for, and it worked fine, but customers nagged him for a rotary control until he gave in. EHX has a 3-position switch on their current issue Soul Preacher. Works just fine. You could probably even get away with a fast/slow switch. I promise you that, when it comes to guitar, if you have a rotary attack/recovery knob, you will tend to have it either close to 7:00 or close to 5:00 and rarely much in between.


Well I won't argue with you there mhammer. The Retro-sonic compressor and EHX Soul Preacher appear to be great choices, particularly the former, are these your recommendations?


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Latiator said:


> Well I won't argue with you there mhammer. The Retro-sonic compressor and EHX Soul Preacher appear to be great choices, particularly the former, are these your recommendations?


I don't recommend for or against them. They're decent products which may or may not sound "best" to your ears. They certainly have a small footprint, which is nice, simple operation and decent build quality. You may or may not find that the additional features of a 5-knob Keeley or BYOC or the Empress suit your tastes/needs. The Boss units have the variable recovery time, and decent build quality, so you won't go wrong there either.

Most of the decent compressors can be gotten in good shape on the 2nd hand market. My sense is that folks who own compressors are a little more thoughtful in their signal processing. Alternatively, some folks buy one, don't know how to use them, can't figure out if the damn thing is on or off, and just decide to sell it. If you buy a 2nd hand one it will either be from someone who was gentle in their use, or didn't use it much at all. Either way, a 2nd hand one will likely be in better shape than your average 2nd hand fuzzbox.

I've had a bunch of different compressors over the years, having gotten my first (a Univox Uni-Comp) somewhere around 1977. Currently I have a bunch of different ones that I've built or bought: modded Dynacomp, modded Orange Squeezer, SSM2166-based compressor, an Ashly SC-55 rackmount, an Alesis Nano-compressor, a DBX MC6 Mini-Comp, a PAiA/Anderton dual limiter, a PAiA Stereo Compressor, and probably others I've forgotten about. They all sound similar in some ways and different in others. I'm very partial to the SSM2166 chip because it includes an adjustable downward expansion feature that kills the noise when you stop playing. Reduces the need for aggressive (and intrusive) noise-gating later in the signal path. I wish someone made a commercial product with them. No sense torturing you about it, though.


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## Latiator (Jul 18, 2007)

mhammer said:


> I don't recommend for or against them. They're decent products which may or may not sound "best" to your ears. They certainly have a small footprint, which is nice, simple operation and decent build quality. You may or may not find that the additional features of a 5-knob Keeley or BYOC or the Empress suit your tastes/needs. The Boss units have the variable recovery time, and decent build quality, so you won't go wrong there either...
> ...having gotten my first (a Univox Uni-Comp) somewhere around 1977. Currently I have a bunch of different ones that I've built or bought: modded Dynacomp, modded Orange Squeezer, SSM2166-based compressor, an Ashly SC-55 rackmount, an Alesis Nano-compressor, a DBX MC6 Mini-Comp, a PAiA/Anderton dual limiter, a PAiA Stereo Compressor, and probably others I've forgotten about. They all sound similar in some ways and different in others. I'm very partial to the SSM2166 chip because it includes an adjustable downward expansion feature that kills the noise when you stop playing. Reduces the need for aggressive (and intrusive) noise-gating later in the signal path.





mhammer said:


> No sense torturing you about it, though.


Ha!!


mhammer said:


> My sense is that folks who own compressors are a little more thoughtful in their signal processing.


You know, I've been entertaining a pre-owned pedal in this case for the very reason you had mentioned, this further solidifies the notion. Perhaps you have one you'd like to part with? Nudge, nudge. 
If the Empress is truly a cut above the rest, or another higher-end compressor pedal for that matter, I won't kick the idea outta bed.


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

When I picked up my compressor off of Scott at http://www.axeandyoushallreceive.com/catalog/compression,
he asked me what I wanted and how tweakable I wanted it.
The two choices he suggested at that time were the Empress, for tweakability and the Diamond for simplicity.
Both good choices imo.

So, what's the deal with an optical compressor? 

Another informative thread, I likey.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

The "deal with optical" is that they can be quieter, cleaner, and can tolerate much bigger signals.

Some history....

Many of the compressors we are most familiar with used a CA or LM3080 transconductance amplifier. Hell, most of the synths in the world relied on them. As useful a chip as they are/were, they couldn't handle very much signal. Anything over 100mv or so and they would clip. So the traditional strategy was to attenuate the signal prior to it reaching the 3080, then boost back up. As any audiophile would proclaim, that is so wrong on so many levels. Ideally, one always wants to have lots of input headroom so that you can hit the circuit with as hot a signal as possible. With 3080 chips, the post-chip boost would amplify whatever hiss was acquired up to that point. This is why, even though the 3080 did the job for us admirably for so many years, companies have switched to other OTA chips like the LM13600/13700 or the 2180 from THAT Corp.

Okay, back to optical advantages. ALL compressors, limiters, and noise gates (and auto-wahs) have what is referred to as a "sidechain". This is a sort of parallel circuit that detects the level of the signal _at this very moment_ and adjusts the gain or attenuation of the circuit proportional to that. The detection part is referred to variously as the envelope follower, envelope detector, rectifier section, and probably some other names. It eliminates one half of the signal, whether the negative OR positive-going portion, and attempts to identify the "average" of what remains. What it produces is a fluctuating voltage that "represents" the audio signal. It is then fed to some sort of control element. If you look at page 10 here - http://hammer.ampage.org/files/Autowah.PDF - I have a table that provides a sort of comparison of the various kinds of control elements and their strengths and weaknesses. I wouldn't call it absolutely objective, but I suspect many people would be in general agreement with the points made.

Producing an envelope signal for guitar is tough slogging. The central difficulty is that one needs to strike a balance between the two R's - responsiveness and ripple. Remember that your guitar signal is a composite of many different sounds. The momentary peak of a note on your low E comes more intermittently than the peaks of notes on your high E. The result is that the envelope signal is anything BUT a simple line drawing that goes up and then goes down. There are many moment to moment changes, produced by this composite signal, including "beats" from worn strings and intermodulation from notes that are close to each other, referred to as ripple. If the circuit averages all of that out to produce a smoother control signal, you end up having something that is so sluggish as to miss the beginnings of notes. On the other hand, if you engineer it to be so responsive as to catch the beginning nuances of everything, you end up with an envelope signal that responds to every little teeny momentary blip. Just imagine what your speedometer would look like if it digitally recalibrated your current speed to the 1/2 kph every half second and showed it on a digital display. It would be thoroughly unusable, and just a blur of constantly-changing numbers on the dashboard display.

If the envelope follower does not remove a lot of the ripple AND you use a control element that responds quickly, you WILL hear that ripple, especially as the note dies out. Indeed, 90%+ of all ripple occurs during the sustain and decay phase of a strummed note or chord. When the circuit does not take the appropriate steps to either prevent ripple or smudge it out of audibility, many people will report hearing something that _sounds like_ distortion. It is not distortion, strictly speaking, but simply VERY fast fluctuations in volume (or in the case of autowahs, filter frequency). Think of the Simpsons' Groundskeeper Willie holding an "R" for a bit and quadruple the speed on that.

Okay, what does this have to do with optical? Photocells (which are the heart of "optical" compressors) react to light shining on them, much like your eye does. And, like your eye, when the light goes away, it takes some time for them to revert back to their "off" resistance. Photocells vary in how quickly they respond and adjust. Some are faster than others, and some will have equivalent "on" changes (in terms of speed) but one may settle back down to "off" a little faster than another. Whatever their similarities and differences, the reaction-time of photocells is generally always slower than OTA chips (like the 3080 or 13600, et al) or FETs (as used in the Orange Squeezer).

Why is this good? Because you can implement an envelope-follower/rectifier that is very responsive, but the slightly sluggish response time of the photocell effectively eliminates a lot of the ripple by being too slow to respond to it. Like your buddy who has had a little too much to drink, it can follow the general gist of the _party_, but can't follow the _chatter_. So, not only is it the case that you get less actual distortion by using a photocell (photocells do not distort, they only change resistance), but you get less _apparent_ distortion by smoothing out the ripple. That is not to say that a compressor becomes wonderful simply by virtue of using photocells, but they CAN sidestep a lot of problems/challenges that can crop up in a FET or OTA-based compressor of similar complexity.

One of the niftiest optical compressor designs out there is the "Joe Cheep" compressor, shown here: http://dt.prohosting.com/hacks/joecheep_schem.gif There is only a fixed resistor and a photocell between the input and output jacks...at least as far as the audio signal is concerned. The rest is envelope follower and indicator circuitry. It is literally an optical volume pot and nothing more. Hard to get cleaner and quieter.

Sidenote: One of the reasons why the Orange Squeezer is treasured by so many is that it has a very fast decay/recovery time. Remember I said that most of the ripple occurs as the note is dying out? Well, the OS is set to carry out its action principally at the _start_ of the note, before all of that decay-related ripple kicks in. Because it acts a lot more like a peak-limiter in that fashion, than like a circuit intended to _maintain_ the hot and cool parts of the signal at some average level, you hear VERY little ripple in its functioning. So, despite the ridiculous minimalism of its circuit, and the very crude envelope extraction it does, musicians often call it "transparent". I can assure you that you would hate it and complain about the "distortion" if the recovery time was increased, but since it gets in and out so fast, it doesn't ever show you the ripple you would have heard if it took its time.

There. Clearer now?


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## -mbro- (Apr 3, 2010)

*Im a big fan of these mods. They turn good pedals into great pedals by replacing key components. Heres how monte describes it

Attack* – I’ve been asked if I could smooth out the attack of the effect. With the Ultra Plus Mod I have accomplished this by smoothing out the attack and giving it a more natural feel.

*Warmth* – With my original Opto Mod it was my intention to preserve all the original signals frequency content while lessening noise. I have maintained all those improvements but I have added a bit of warmth and thickness to the affect. With the Ultra Plus, Warmth and Thickness increase as you dial up the Sustain Pot. This is a very cool feature of the Ultra Plus Mod.

*Sparkle* – Most inexpensive compressors shave a bit of the high end from the signal leaving the effect sounding a bit dull and lifeless. With the Ultra Plus Mod I wanted to add a bit of high end Sparkle to the effect. The harshness of the stock CS-3 has been eliminated and a very smooth high end Sparkle has been added to the affect.

*Harmonic Content* – I am a Pinched Harmonic Addict! Take a listen to Roy Buchanan on the 1962 recording of "Potato Peeler". Another guitarist that frequently uses pinched harmonics is Eric Johnson. The effect happens when subtle harmonics are amplified. Pinched Harmonics require that fundamental frequency content be preserved. The timbre of Pinched Harmonics is greatly affected by a guitarist’s ability to maintain fundamental frequency content in their signal path. The Ultra Plus enhances the fundamental frequency content from your instrument and thus making Pinched Harmonics more musically pleasing.


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## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

...for me, a "blend" knob is crucial/essential. my barber tone press had one, so does my wampler ego.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

Latiator said:


> Can you go into more detail about how "Bees knees" your pedal is mbro?Hmm, is it the one featured here Milkman? http://www.axeandyoushallreceive.com/product/byoc-5-knob-compressor-pre-built-pedalWhat else do you know about these pedals?


Yes, that's the one. I had a BYOC Wah kit and it was great. 

I know a couple of guys who have tried either building the BYOC kits or who have bought prebuilt units and they have nothing but positive comments.

As for the guy who sells them (Axe and you Shall Receive), you'll look long and hard to find better service.

Scott's the man for tone in my area.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

High-end compressor/liiter units often use what is referred to as a "multi-band" approach. That is, there is separate compression for the different portions of the spectrum. Obviously, or maybe not so immediately obviously, the bass range requires different responsiveness than the treble and mids. Moreover, the ripple is much more audible in the bass end. Try to use one envelope follower for the entire spectrum, and you tend to lose treble.

While this is a great approach, it makes the circuitry that much more complicated. The bonehead solution is to simply blend in some clean signal with the monolithic compressed signal. This lets the harmonic content of the initial transient/peak/pick-attack be audible withut obligating the designer to figure out how to compress the various portions of the spectrum separately.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

david henman said:


> ...for me, a "blend" knob is crucial/essential. my barber tone press had one, so does my wampler ego.


The ratio knob on the five button BYOC does the same.

Prebuilt is $135 USD. If you build it yourself it's $98.

No, I have no connection with AXE and you shall receive other than as a customer.


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## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

Milkman said:


> The ratio knob on the five button BYOC does the same.Prebuilt is $135 USD.No, I have no connection with AXE and you shall receive other than as a customer.



...same here, but i always welcome the opportunity to give them my business.
can just about anyone build a BYOC?


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

david henman said:


> ...same here, but i always welcome the opportunity to give them my business.can just about anyone build a BYOC?


I can and I'm not a technician by any stretch.

If you can rewire a guitar or swap out a pickup, ie if you can do simple soldering, you can do this.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

There are a few simple requirements to building one of their units successfully:

1) _Have a decent soldering iron _with a fine enough tip and enough wattage (35-40W is sufficient). Pistol-type soldering "guns" won't cut it.

2) _Know what a good solder joint does and doesn't look like_. For beginners, I'd recommend havng some methyl hydrate (mineral spîrits) on hand to dissolve the solder flux. Flux is not a real problem, but it is shiny, and makes it difficult to detect the presence of solder bridges and other consequences of bad solder joints. Clean the flux off the board with some methyl hydrate and a q-tip and you'll be in a more favourable position to say "Nope, that's not likely it" should the thing not fire up first time. It can sometimes help to scrape any tarnish that might have accumulated on the pot solder lugs or component leads with a utility/X-acto knife. Solder likes shiny surfaces and takes its sweet time on tarnished ones. When you have to apply heat for a longer period to get the solder to flow, that's when you run into heat-related issues. See #5 below.

3) _Be good to your wire_. They provide you with enough wire but it's up to you to cut, strip, tin and solder it. It's not indestructible and can fracture. I like to get myself some heat-shrink tubing and slip a bit over the wire and solder lugs of switches and pots. It provides some strain relief, and also reduces the likelihood of "It worked before I boxed it up" phenomena. BYOC does not make use of the little positioning tabs on pots (which normally require the drilling of a second hole for each pot), which means that pots can be twisted around when tightening the nuts on the outside. Twisting the pot around can result in the wire being tugged to hard and breaking, or a solder lug being moved to where it touches somethng it shouldn't. THAT'S where the little bit of heat shrink slipped over top helps out by both insulating against accidental connections, and by providing some protection against fracture. A length of 3/16 should set you back maybe $2 and last you for several pedals.

4) _Follow the instructions _and do things in the suggested order.

5) If stompswitches failed as often as hobbyists think they do, the switch-manufacturer would go out of business in a flash. The secret is to _minimize the heat accumulation in the switch_. There will be some grease inside the switch, and if it gets too much heat applied it will liquify, flow along the contacts inside, and act as an insulator, rendering the switch intermittent or sometimes non-functional. You can reduce the likelihood of that happening via a few simple strategies:
- scrape the solder tabs of the switch so they are shiny and "willing"
- tin the wire
- tin the switch solder tabs, a few at a time, either leaving a bit of time for the unit to cool down or sinking away the heat by some means
- the internal contacts are like banana-shaped see-saws, with the grease sitting in the middle on the pivot point; when you lift those rocker contacts out of electrical contact you also lift them out of thermal contact; using your meter, identify which of the outside lugs is NOT connected to the middle/common at the moment, and solder the relevant wires to them; let it cool down, push the switch, and now solder the relevant wires to the other set of outside lugs; let it cool down and do the middle lugs.
It's not as complicated as it sounds. The overarching strategy is you want to make the solder joints as efficiently as possible and keep heat from building up.

John Mayer reputedly made himself a BYOC tremolo. This is a guy who dated Jessica Simpson. If he can do that AND make a BYOC pedal, how hard could it be?


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## 4345567 (Jun 26, 2008)

__________


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## 4345567 (Jun 26, 2008)

__________


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## Latiator (Jul 18, 2007)

I'm sincerely glad that I asked for your points of view. I have to put a globe valve somewhere in this pipeline of information to help me sift through it all.


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

Another +1 for the Tone Press. I'm on my second Tone Press and the blend knob is what sells me on it too. Makes it super-versatile. I like that I can get a light compression tone as well as my regular tone. Really thickens things up without the spongyness of compression.


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## Latiator (Jul 18, 2007)

From what I gather, I can't really go wrong with the Empress, the Barber Tone Press and Wampler Ego. What about the opticial compressors? Are the benefits worth the research and eventual aquisition? There are lots of pedals that promise the world, like the BBE Opto Stomp: http://www.bbesound.com/products/stomp-boxes/opto-stomp.aspx 
the Opto Compulator: http://www.demeteramps.com/products/pedals/comp1.html
the Joemeek FloorQ: http://www.joemeek.com/floorq.html


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

The Demeter and BBE pedals might be the ticket for you, but with few things to twiddle, clearly your're going to have to be the player they have in mind, because you're not going to be able to reconfigure it to be a different sounding pedal. The Demeter does have an internal trimot for setting gain, which is nice. The Joemeek, on the other hand, is the complete opposite, trying to be everything to everybody. That can be wonderful in the studio, but frustrating live if you need to keep replicating sounds/settings.

No one has so far mentioned the Janglebox. http://janglebox.com/


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## Latiator (Jul 18, 2007)

mhammer said:


> The Demeter and BBE pedals might be the ticket for you, but with few things to twiddle, clearly your're going to have to be the player they have in mind, because you're not going to be able to reconfigure it to be a different sounding pedal. The Demeter does have an internal trimot for setting gain, which is nice...No one has so far mentioned the Janglebox. http://janglebox.com/


Mmm, yes of course. I got caught up in the whole optical compression thing. 
The Jangle Box looks to be a good find, the JB2 perhaps: http://janglebox.com/jangle_jb2.htm


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## bzrkrage (Mar 20, 2011)

I'm new to compressors, I thought that there was no difference when I first got mine.
But now, I've tried the Boss CS-3, found not to my taste ( Not to be left on all the time, punky in the high gain)

I have just picked up a Toadworks 'Mr Squishy' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjFsYIioFzU

And I love it.
I leave it on almost all the time.
Hey, I did say I wasn't very good at this, but that's my 2cents worth.


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## Latiator (Jul 18, 2007)

Thanks for the link bzrkrage, by the sounds of the demo, it's a pretty competent pedal in clean. Do you find Mr. Squishy to be a versatile pedal? 
Tom Quayle is quite a well versed guitarist as well, being a fusion/jazz player.


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## itf? (May 27, 2009)

Diamond Compressor all the way. VERY quiet and can go from barely noticeable to very "squishy". It's also the most transparent sounding comp I've ever used and the only one that has maintained its position on my board for over 3 years now.


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## hummingway (Aug 4, 2011)

I don't use compression much outside of the studio but I do have some interesting choices. I have an Electro-Harmonix Black Finger which uses a dual source optoisolator and two 12AX7 tubes one on the compression stage and one on the gain stage. You can get a lot of different effects from it and at one time I used it more. The compressor in my TC Electronics G-System is reasonably transparent which can be nice. It's also pretty quiet but it doesn't have the flexibility of the Black Finger. 

In the studio I use a table top TL Audio Fatman. It's not a pedal nor is a it a rackmount which is sort of strange but it sounds really good. Again it's a tube compressor. They don't make them any more and it wasn't as cheap as most pedals and mostly useful as a device that is always part of your sound. I have one more rack mount that I use to use as part of my acoustic setup. It's a Focusrite and a really good sounding compressor. It's a model they don't make anymore but for acoustic it's really nice.


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## sivs (Aug 5, 2009)

i'd have to agree with the Diamond. I've also heard that the empress is great, but the Diamond turned me from a guy who really didn't like compressors to one who uses it for almost all of my clean tones. Great pedals.


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## Latiator (Jul 18, 2007)

itf?, hummingway and sivs, thanks for more suggestions. I thought about the Blackfinger, there's a used one at the local Loan & Persuade but I think they're still asking over two bills for the sucker. I wondered what the TC Electronics Compressors were like, the G-System would be great but...ha...she's..$..well, good on ya for having one :wave:. I'm diggin' the Diamond though guys, and it's in my budget. It might just be my next victim.


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

Check the pedal emporium, Diamond alert.


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## Latiator (Jul 18, 2007)

Thanks very much for the heads up sulphur. However, I have some gift cars kicking around so I'll likely use them up on this seeing as how L&M deals with this brand.


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## 4345567 (Jun 26, 2008)

__________


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## georgemg (Jul 17, 2011)

My favorite compressor is the Keeley. It is a bit expensive but its worth it for the sound. I use it for clean sounds and to punch up my distorted sound sometimes, and it works great for both. 

If you want something that's a bit more reasonable though, the MXR Custom Comp is pretty good too. I use that one on my small board and it gets a really good sound for the price (I bought mine for $100 used but they're only about $125 retail).


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## Jeff B. (Feb 20, 2010)

JustNick has made a simplified and interesting video on compressors that's worth watching. His video on buffers is also worth a look.

[video=youtube;hMSCKz4GRZY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMSCKz4GRZY[/video]


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## Latiator (Jul 18, 2007)

Thank you Jeff, very nice video.


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