Compressor pedal... do I need one?

[Streetsleeper]

Re: Compressor pedal... do I need one?

Only one way to settle this! I'll re-borrow a friends compressor pedal and mess around with it a while. It's a Vox Snake Charmer that sounded cool for some clean guitar parts, but I didn't try using it as part of my board....

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Compressor pedal... do I need one?

I guess I know what you are trying to say...... but in this case...????? I am lost, what are you trying to say? Tone is in the fingers.... yea, yea, yea, whatever, heard all that, been there,...... lets help him buy a compressor!!!!!!!!!!!! a modulation pedal, a really good distortion pedal..... I guarantee, everyone of those will change his tone!!!

Geese, sometimes, you are so damn cerebral on this stuff! Other times you offer genuine insight.... and then there are the statements like above. I don't know what to say.

Is that speaker half full?:scratchch

Here is what I mean...

Above in post number 11, Streetsleeper said he was "not totally happy with the sound" and at times "The distortion can sound a little mushy at times"...

So, I said a pedal or effect is not a fix for a bad sound...

I don't know whats hard to understand about that statement...if I have a guitar and amp combo that I do not love then adding a pedal to the mix is not going to make me love that sound...it is clearly in the guitar or amp.

On top of that, in reference to this talk being about a compressor if his distortion is mushy then he needs more clarity and cut...a compressor doesn't do that, in fact in 99 out of 100 situations it'll make it worse.

So, I stand by my statement that a compressor or any other effect pedal or device is not what he needs to "fix" the tone he has...effects are made to enhance tones, not be tones...

If you are unhappy with your base sound of your guitar and amp then no amount of pedals, rack gear or anything else is going to make you happy with the sound you are getting.

As for tone is in the fingers if you read my posts you'd know I think that is BS...tone is in the gear but adding more gear on top of gear you don't already like isn't going to make you like it...

 

[Streetsleeper]

Re: Compressor pedal... do I need one?

I appreciate your input guys. Its just a curiosity thing really as at one time or another I've spent time with most pedals/ FX available. For whatever reason I've not really gotten round to compressors and as they are a very common thing I was asking am I missing out on something really useful to my overall sound.

I'm guessing from the responses that I'm not but I'll have a bit of an experiment with one..

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Compressor pedal... do I need one?

Only one way to settle this! I'll re-borrow a friends compressor pedal and mess around with it a while. It's a Vox Snake Charmer that sounded cool for some clean guitar parts, but I didn't try using it as part of my board....

Trying something is the only you will know if it will work for you.

I am all but positive you will not like what you hear but you should try it.

Compressors are funny beasts...

We as guitar players spend hours and hours looking for the perfect amps and guitars that clean up with right hand picking and volume knob tweaks...we spend hours reading about pots for guitars that have an even roll off for good clean up...we spend weeks researching overdrive pedals that sound natural, let the guitars sound come thru and clean up like an amp and then we spend thousands of dollars on these rigs and I am amazed by the number of guys that put a compressor in their signal chain and leave it on all the time...

A compressor by definition squashes your playing dymanics...

They are good tools and have their place...Chet style finger picking where the thumb/bass notes cover up the melody lines...a comp will fix that.

Slide guitar with little grit from the amp and lacks sustain...a comp will fix that.

Making an acoustic guitar sit in a live mix w/o blasting folks...a comp will fix that.

They can even be used as a bit of a dummy system for adding sustain but I don't see your needs benefiting form a comp but try it and see!

 

[briggleman]

Re: Compressor pedal... do I need one?

What he means is that a compressor is more of a tool than a tone shaper/changer. If a compressor changes your tone, it's actually a pretty crappy compressor.

Compressors change dynamics, not tone. They soften the attack of loud transients (i.e. pick attack), and increase the level of fading notes. Basically, they level off your playing and make it sound more consistent.

Every compressor has a threshold, which is either pre-set (in cheap, simple pedals) or controllable (in studio compressors or high end pedals). When the input signal exceeds that threshold, compression is applied and the output level is reduced. Attack sets how quickly the compression is applied, and Release specifies how long the level is maintained after the input goes back under the threshold.

The end result is a signal that has less dynamic variance. You can use a compressor to smooth off sharp pick attack, increase sustain, completely squash all dynamics, or some combination of those.

You cannot, however, change your tone with a compressor.

I now know my definition of tone is entirely different than yours.

No biggie. I am guessing by your post that you did not even bother to go to the youtube video I provided the original poster. Really informative and everything you define about a compressor's function..... totally true.... but Hell Yes, it changes tone!, Harmonics, dynamics, loudness, softness,.... what do you think tone is??????????

TGWIF's later posting now brings into focus what I did not understand about his comment. I see where he is coming from now with his view of the base sound (guitar and amp), if that is not happening, then he is right, nothing will help.

I came at the issue from a different perspective.... that the base product is Okay, just does not fill the need, the OP wants to expand the sound to something better and maybe a compressor will get that extra something that makes him giggle.... I don't know, I just play guitar and enjoy it.... and I still experiment like hell trying to find that elusive tone that will make me giggle!

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: Compressor pedal... do I need one?

I now know my definition of tone is entirely different than yours.

No biggie. I am guessing by your post that you did not even bother to go to the youtube video I provided the original poster. Really informative and everything you define about a compressor's function..... totally true.... but Hell Yes, it changes tone!, Harmonics, dynamics, loudness, softness,.... what do you think tone is??????????

TGWIF's later posting now brings into focus what I did not understand about his comment. I see where he is coming from now with his view of the base sound (guitar and amp), if that is not happening, then he is right, nothing will help.

I came at the issue from a different perspective.... that the base product is Okay, just does not fill the need, the OP wants to expand the sound to something better and maybe a compressor will get that extra something that makes him giggle.... I don't know, I just play guitar and enjoy it.... and I still experiment like hell trying to find that elusive tone that will make me giggle!

A compressor doesn't change tone. I stand by that. It might emphasize elements of your tone that were there to begin with, but it won't fundamentally change anything about your tone.

 

[briggleman]

Re: Compressor pedal... do I need one?

A compressor doesn't change tone. I stand by that. It might emphasize elements of your tone that were there to begin with, but it won't fundamentally change anything about your tone.

Now I am curious.... what do you think changes tone? and I am not trying to start a debate or act like an A$$, just trying to understand where you are coming from.

 

[frankfalbo]

Re: Compressor pedal... do I need one?

Many guitar compressors have an EQ curve to them. When we tested the Keeley it had a slight mid hump and high and low fall aways. Some people say it sounds the most "natural" and doesn't change your tone. I'm sure it's a compensation for the way a compressor pushes down the guitar's midrangey hump, but in the end we went with a flatter frequency response for the Double Back.

Compressors absolutely change your tone. I'm not saying they act like multi-band compressors, but when you are above the threshold, the strongest frequency content is what drives the input sensor to squash down the signal. Then, there is recovery time. If we say your tonal content is comprised of the initial attack (crisp and trebly plus low end thump) the early envelope (upper midrange) and the decay (warm, less harmonic content, more fundamental) then a compressor can brick wall the attack, release slowly over the early envelope, and eventually add 20-60dB to the decay. That loosely translates into less mids and high mids, more highs and lows. Switch to a bridge JB for your guitar solo, and now it could totally emphasize the upper mids. Same with a Tele lead pickup.
Tone changes are the result of increasing the amplitude of certain frequencies, right? A compressor does exactly that, but dependent upon the frequencies contained in the source signal at the time of the squish or boost. If part of "
your tone is that "in your face" resonant peak of a pickup that sends your amp over the cliff when you dig in hard, the compressor will subdue it. If your amp has loose bass, a compressor can make it worse by woofing out your sustained notes.
To suggest a good compressor doesn't change your tone is really more of a studio thing. Once your track is recorded, and your tone has been achieved with your amp, cab, mics, etc. a good compressor will just control amplitude and you will not hear it as a tonal shift.

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: Compressor pedal... do I need one?

Many guitar compressors have an EQ curve to them. When we tested the Keeley it had a slight mid hump and high and low fall aways. Some people say it sounds the most "natural" and doesn't change your tone. I'm sure it's a compensation for the way a compressor pushes down the guitar's midrangey hump, but in the end we went with a flatter frequency response for the Double Back.

Compressors absolutely change your tone. I'm not saying they act like multi-band compressors, but when you are above the threshold, the strongest frequency content is what drives the input sensor to squash down the signal. Then, there is recovery time. If we say your tonal content is comprised of the initial attack (crisp and trebly plus low end thump) the early envelope (upper midrange) and the decay (warm, less harmonic content, more fundamental) then a compressor can brick wall the attack, release slowly over the early envelope, and eventually add 20-60dB to the decay. That loosely translates into less mids and high mids, more highs and lows. Switch to a bridge JB for your guitar solo, and now it could totally emphasize the upper mids. Same with a Tele lead pickup.
Tone changes are the result of increasing the amplitude of certain frequencies, right? A compressor does exactly that, but dependent upon the frequencies contained in the source signal at the time of the squish or boost. If part of "
your tone is that "in your face" resonant peak of a pickup that sends your amp over the cliff when you dig in hard, the compressor will subdue it. If your amp has loose bass, a compressor can make it worse by woofing out your sustained notes.
To suggest a good compressor doesn't change your tone is really more of a studio thing. Once your track is recorded, and your tone has been achieved with your amp, cab, mics, etc. a good compressor will just control amplitude and you will not hear it as a tonal shift.

Ok, now I see where you guys are coming from. When I think of a "good compressor", I'm thinking of the high end studio comps that aren't supposed to colour tone (or at least do so in a very subtle, very pleasing way). Most guitar comp pedals are a far cry from studio compressors in terms of design and quality.

Yes, if you think of it that way, a compressor will change your tone, especially if you're applying gain and other effects after it in the chain.

This is probably why I'm by and large frustrated by guitar comps, because most of my experience with compressors is in a studio setting where you're (almost always) trying to avoid changing the tone of the recorded track. I find that there are very few truly transparent pedal comps. The Empress is the best in that regard IMO, and the Wampler Ego Compressor is a close second.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Compressor pedal... do I need one?

The only way I like compressors is as an effect. eg the squished nature of Under the Bridge and Soul to Squeeze by the RHCP.
Live, obviously they can be used to tame acoustics as has been mentioned, but I see these type of applications as a production element, not a guitar effect as such.

 

[Hellion]

Re: Compressor pedal... do I need one?

There are loads of players that don't need/want/use them, but it's an integral part of my overall sound.

 

[Aceman]

Re: Compressor pedal... do I need one?

I don't think I know many/any that have just messed around/experimented with a compressor and ended up liking them.

I use my compressor with my Acoustic and I amp just strumming the hell out of it and maybe digging in WAY too hard or trying to pick a quick arpeggio or a few grace notes and may not hit very well while singing and playing. The comp keeps it from sounding like a random volume pile of crap.

I also use it with my LP Studio with P-90's, particulalrly when Jazzing on the neck. The bass can sometimes just BOOM and sound crappy. The comp keeps that boom from coming through.

On occasion, I have used the compressor for a solo boost. Basically, a clean gain just to make things louder and add some sustain. This is especially true when playing clen/cleaner/or just a little gritty.

I have also set it for max squash/pluck to do Police songs etc...when playing in an 80's band, in the 80's.

That's what i do with mine. Notice that none of that was just messing around with it.