Dan Armstrong Orange Squeezer

[the guy who invented fire]

I love this circuit...very cool squishy compression with a very natural and musical high end tweak, lots of fat harmonics and with the compression a minimum and the gain maxed out a very, very cool sort of gritty boost with some mild compression!

No real point other than to praise this cool, old funky circuit!

FWIW and for those that might wonder my Orange Squeezer clone of choice is a Hartman Compressor. It's very well made, uses choice NOS parts and Theo offers some of the best customer service in the biz!

 

[DankStar]

Re: Dan Armstrong Orange Squeezer

Got a ggg board around, need to populate it!

 

[Agileguy_101]

Re: Dan Armstrong Orange Squeezer

What do you think of Mike Piera's take on the OS?

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Dan Armstrong Orange Squeezer

ive never been a fan of compressors, but ill admit ive never spent much time with them. If i did tho, id get a Hartman too. Hes a great operator.

 

[Surgeon]

Re: Dan Armstrong Orange Squeezer

I built one which I liked good enough but then sold to Andrew. It was nice but a bit too subtle for me... That Dan Armstrong sure made many awesome circuits. His blue clipper is a very cool unit, so are his red ranger, purple peaker and green ringer.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Dan Armstrong Orange Squeezer

Got a ggg board around, need to populate it!

Go for it, just make sure to use the right parts!

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Dan Armstrong Orange Squeezer

What do you think of Mike Piera's take on the OS?

Well, Dan changed the original OS a few times so much like PAF's or Clyde McCoy wah pedals every builders take is correct to a specific example and slightly different.

Both the Hartman and the AnalogMan are good and clearly in the same camp in terms of tone.

The Hartman seems to be slightly softer sounding and have a little more gain on tap, which is good if you want to use it more for the gritty boost while the AM is a little harder sounding overall.

Also I have to be honest...I haven't been able to do a direct A/B comparison...I tried the AM Juicer and then tried the Hartman. the Hartman I tried was then offered to me so I bought it. I've thought about getting a Juicer to do a direct A/B but I like the Hartman so much most of me is like "why bother?!"

Both are great units but since the Hartman has an external ratio (comp) knob it's easier to dial in and slightly more useful.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Dan Armstrong Orange Squeezer

ive never been a fan of compressors, but ill admit ive never spent much time with them. If i did tho, id get a Hartman too. Hes a great operator.

Ya know, I'm not a comp guy myself. I have a pair of comps here in case I need one and the Hartman just sort of fell in my lap, it was a good deal so I bought it and ended up loving it.

It's not on my board because I simply don't use it enough but it's such a handy tool to have.

I will mention this though...last gig I did I tossed it on my mini gig board just for kicks and did end up using it some for slide just the guitar into the comp into the amp and at one point ran the comp into my OD pedal...DAMN what a sound that was!!!

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Dan Armstrong Orange Squeezer

I built one which I liked good enough but then sold to Andrew. It was nice but a bit too subtle for me... That Dan Armstrong sure made many awesome circuits. His blue clipper is a very cool unit, so are his red ranger, purple peaker and green ringer.

Interesting...I find the OS circuit anything but subtle...it's got a sort of high end roll off and a very sort of squishy attack if the comp is up past about 9 o'clock.

Dan did have some cool boxes...I always dig the Green Ringer too!

 

[Surgeon]

Re: Dan Armstrong Orange Squeezer

Subtle might be the wrong word but, even with the high-end roll-off it's still not as good (to my ears of course) as my Ross Comp. They are quite different and would be used with different intents tone-wise but for the few times I want/need compression, the Ross is just what I need...

Interesting...I find the OS circuit anything but subtle...it's got a sort of high end roll off and a very sort of squishy attack if the comp is up past about 9 o'clock.

Dan did have some cool boxes...I always dig the Green Ringer too!

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Dan Armstrong Orange Squeezer

Subtle might be the wrong word but, even with the high-end roll-off it's still not as good (to my ears of course) as my Ross Comp. They are quite different and would be used with different intents tone-wise but for the few times I want/need compression, the Ross is just what I need...

I feel ya and FWIW I only own 2 comps right now...the Hartman OS clone and a 76 reissue Dyna Comp!

2 very different comps with 2 different sounds that I use for 2 different reasons.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Dan Armstrong Orange Squeezer

My good friend John Stuart plays a lot of pedal steel and slide for various people both in the studio and live. He's quite an amazing guitarist, but i noticed last time i was in the studio he was using two compressors simultaneously for his slide guitar (L series strat into a modified princeton). He tells me a lot of nashville cats are using a dual compressor set up. I cant remember the name of the dual comp thing tho.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Dan Armstrong Orange Squeezer

My good friend John Stuart plays a lot of pedal steel and slide for various people both in the studio and live. He's quite an amazing guitarist, but i noticed last time i was in the studio he was using two compressors simultaneously for his slide guitar (L series strat into a modified princeton). He tells me a lot of nashville cats are using a dual compressor set up. I cant remember the name of the dual comp thing tho.

Some guys do use 2 comps at once...I can't imagine doing it myself but whatever it takes I guess!

I was surprised to find out a lot of guy that use the AM Bi Comp actually stack the 2 sides but they do!

I tried it both with a Bi Comp and with my Hartman and Dyna Comp...it was too much noise and compression for me but liek I said I'm sure it has it purposes!

I rarely use comp anyway and when I do I use it rather mildly and most often on slide guitar like Lowell George or Bonnie Raitt for those times I want or need some sustain but don't want to use a lot of gain to get it...