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Need Compressor Professor help.

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  • Need Compressor Professor help.

    Hello.
    At home -at night, playing quietly, would a compressor that is on at all times help give me any more highs? (don't want to buy an EQ just yet) I have my bedroom pedalboard as follows: Strat HSS, HOF reverb, Sparkle drive on clean with treb full up, no dist., Maxon chorus. My amp is a new Super Champ X2, clean channel, all treb, no mid or bass, and at such low levels - 1.5 vol., it still lacks some high end. Believe it or not. I have no guitar set w/strat bridge. It is my stage guitar that I like to play and stay comfortable with.
    So is there any place in this line up where a compressor could help? I am thinking not, but maybe someone who knows can save me time and effort.
    Thank you so much in advance (think I'll call that TYSMIA) - hey, these acronyms have to start somewhere? right?
    Steven Buffington

  • #2
    Re: Need Compressor Professor help.

    not really, no.
    Dynacomps actually knock off some high end. Most comps knock off a little high end to reduce noise.
    "Technique is really the elimination of the unneccessary ... it is a constant effort to avoid any personal impediment or obstacle to acheive the smooth flow of energy and intent"
    Yehudi Menuhin

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    • #3
      Re: Need Compressor Professor help.

      Yeah,
      Kinda thought so. With my seemingly inevitable forced retirement, I might be trading some good stuff for a bedroom AND a living room Fender Princeton Reverb Re- Issue. Just can't beat that for low end clean and snap. Had one stolen, one I let go of. I should be much smarter for my age.
      Thanks for chiming, gibson175.....BTW that turntable reminds me of 3 whole years turned down to 16, learning everything I could an octave lower. Way off topic, but if you were ever there, it was magic to find out how to play a riff, and there were so many to learn in the mid-late 60's.
      SJB

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      • #4
        Re: Need Compressor Professor help.

        Originally posted by gibson175 View Post
        not really, no.
        Dynacomps actually knock off some high end. Most comps knock off a little high end to reduce noise.
        This has been my experience as well... great for sustain, to even out levels, and even for a boost. But they tend to deaden those sparkling highs a bit.
        Originally posted by The Commodores?
        "Chicken Brown Chicken Brown Cow"

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        • #5
          Re: Need Compressor Professor help.

          I wrote a blog post on the role of a compressor and what it actually does, but I don't think it will help here. You seem to be adding a lot of high end to the signal to begin with, and a compressor will knock that spike in the frequencies down further. I think what would help the best is a good set of headphones.
          Administrator of the SDUGF

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          • #6
            Re: Need Compressor Professor help.

            Originally posted by Mincer View Post
            I wrote a blog post on the role of a compressor and what it actually does, but I don't think it will help here. You seem to be adding a lot of high end to the signal to begin with, and a compressor will knock that spike in the frequencies down further. I think what would help the best is a good set of headphones.
            Thanks for the article, Compression is an effect I still can't quite wrap my mind around...I just know I like it lol

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            • #7
              Re: Need Compressor Professor help.

              You might find more of what you are after if you ditch all your pedals and let the modelling technology in the amp do what it is designed to do. Its got plenty of overdrive and effect options built in.
              That will at least give you all the high end and clarity that is possible with the rig. However, your rig might need some maintenance.
              Tung sol preamp tubes are nice for top end clarity. It is a cheap, easy and reversible mod. You might also want to have a look at fresh power tubes too. As they age, they definitely lose a lot of top end. JJ's are awesome, not because they are the brightest (far from it) but because they have massive headroom and a wide frequency response. They will also outlast any other 6v6 on the market due to their design and construction...they are closer to a 6l6 in that respect. Tung sols into jjs is a really great combination for clarity, chime and durability. A fresh set of tubes costs less than a nice compressor or eq pedal.
              If you still want more, a friend of mine had great success by upgrading the speaker in his X2 to a ragin cajun.
              That should cover getting the amp to sound as good as possible.
              Last edited by Chickenwings; 11-23-2015, 04:13 PM.
              "Technique is really the elimination of the unneccessary ... it is a constant effort to avoid any personal impediment or obstacle to acheive the smooth flow of energy and intent"
              Yehudi Menuhin

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              • #8
                Re: Need Compressor Professor help.

                I use my BOSS CS-3 to boost the attack and give it a bit more of an edge depending on what amp I am playing through. It's tone knob, slow attack (attack fully clockwise) and make-up gain allow me to inject a little extra upper mids where the EQ boosting energy is predominantly on the attack of the note. It's the old late '70s Cali hard rock vibe where you want most of the sonic energy at the attack of the note... sort of playing with the sustain and attack until it's just right.

                You gotta keep the sustain knob low for this to work or the compressor will start to just squash everything. A lot of guitar compressor circuits work differently than traditional ADSR dynamics processors... so there will be variety to how each pedal design works. My Orange Squeezer actually adds a little harmonic distortion that's like a very subtle exciter giving the signal a nice chirpy attack and the sustain a bit of extra sheen.

                There are a lot of compressor circuits out there that are poor at giving the guitar some "lift" and are great at just mashing the signal... the CS-3 is an old cheap standby for injecting a little extra snap, crackle and pop into anyones guitar tone... you just have to forget about the "sustain" part of it... that works against the "lift".
                Best amp tech I've ever had and hands down one of the best electronic/sound wizards in the NC Piedmont.

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                • #9
                  Re: Need Compressor Professor help.

                  Some cut and paste quoting - If you still want more, a friend of mine had great success by upgrading the speaker in his X2 to a ragin cajun.


                  +1 on the Ragin Cajun for your small Fender.

                  Upgraded the small 10 inch stock in my amp with the Cajun. The new speaker made the amp sound like a heavy blanket was removed from the amp. It has peaked bass and highs - they are a firm bass and smooth highs. The mids are relatively flat - without a midrange hump. Check out the Eminence site for actual specs.

                  It made the tube screamer actually scream clearly. And the amp is very articulate played clean.
                  That is not dead which can eternal lie,
                  And with strange aeons even death may die.

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