Recommend me a Compressor pedal...

[Zhangliqun]

I want something as transparent and musical as possible and price is no object -- within reason anyway...

I want to play clean blues on my Strat and have more sustain, and part of that formula will be next year's refret and (possibly plek).

But in the meantime I'd like to use a comp without getting this dorky, cardboard box tone that most stompbox compressors give you.

 

[GandLMan]

Re: Recommend me a Compressor pedal...

Two awesome compressor's Im jonesing for . . . . Aya R Comp and the Keeley Compressor.

 

[Hoss]

Re: Recommend me a Compressor pedal...

barber tone press!

from all i've heard...it's sounds like just the ticket!?

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Recommend me a Compressor pedal...

Just took a peek at the Tone Press. The parallel compression idea is one that I played with myself years ago by breaking the signal in two and running it into a minimixer, one channel direct signal and the other compressed. It was definitely better than a straight compressor but not very practical to take to a gig.

Will have to check one out.

 

[drpietrzak]

Re: Recommend me a Compressor pedal...

Marshall ED-1 is also pretty good.

 

[fretburner]

Re: Recommend me a Compressor pedal...

is mxr's dynacomp any good? or does it color your sound too much?

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: Recommend me a Compressor pedal...

is mxr's dynacomp any good? or does it color your sound too much?

It probably colors your tone more than any other compressor out there. It's almost an OD IMO.

 

[joelap]

Re: Recommend me a Compressor pedal...

Zhang, if you feel like bustin out the soldering iron (and don't mind a pedal that uses a bipolar power supply) look into the Craig Anderton compressor. I havent heard soundclips, but the diystompboxes forum hails it as a studio-quality compressor. In other words, its a really good subtle compressor pedal. Downsides, I couldnt find any soundclips, and it requires 2 power sources of +9Volt and -9Volt. That means, you'll need two batteries, or one battery and a DC-in jack.

If not that, a ross comp clone is the industry standard that all other compressors are based off of.

 

[fretburner]

Re: Recommend me a Compressor pedal...

It probably colors your tone more than any other compressor out there. It's almost an OD IMO.

and i was thinking of buying one. bah.

thanks for the heads up man!

i guess you really can't get a transparent compressor for that price. i'm not a fan of compressors but i wanna experiment and for an "experiment" the dynacomp is perhaps the only "decent" one within my price range.

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Recommend me a Compressor pedal...

The Homebrew CPR is great!

NO guitar compressor is going to be transparent, simply becuase of the amount of compression you need on a guitar signal before you can really hear a difference.

 

[OlinMusic]

Re: Recommend me a Compressor pedal...

Zhang - I know your playing, and you are quite a player with a vicious attack. I say Keeley all the way.

The Maxon is pretty good I hear and cheaper! I use a TC Elec G Major and I do like the compressor in there as well.

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Recommend me a Compressor pedal...

If not that, a ross comp clone is the industry standard that all other compressors are based off of.

Huh??
By a far shot, not ours

 

[LesStrat]

Re: Recommend me a Compressor pedal...

I like my dynacomp.

But I haven't tried the carl martin.

 

[ParameterMan]

Re: Recommend me a Compressor pedal...

To my mind, there's nothing more musical than an Orange Squeezer. AnalogMan makes a nice reissue, as do a number of others.

Somewhere towards the bottom of this page he's got a couple sound samples of it.

http://www.analogman.com/rossmod.htm#os

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Recommend me a Compressor pedal...

Zhang - I know your playing, and you are quite a player with a vicious attack. I say Keeley all the way.

The Maxon is pretty good I hear and cheaper! I use a TC Elec G Major and I do like the compressor in there as well.

What's special about the Keeley? I'm not disputing you, just looking for the pros and cons of each box.

The parallel compression thing with the Barber Tone Press makes it the front runner right now so I'm wondering what the Keeley has that can top that.

 

[Chaos]

Re: Recommend me a Compressor pedal...

If price isn't an issue, look at a Blackbox "Oxygen"

For a reasonably priced compressor check out a Guyatone ST2 (microeffect). It is very transparent and has a blend switch to mix wet and dry signals.

 

[Falstaff]

Re: Recommend me a Compressor pedal...

The Janglebox is pretty freakin' great.

 

[MartinSixStringCustoms]

Re: Recommend me a Compressor pedal...

NO guitar compressor is going to be transparent, simply becuase of the amount of compression you need on a guitar signal before you can really hear a difference.

I agree. I'm using a Teese FK-1. Solid construction (some of the best I've seen for sure), and its relatively quiet.

 

[Great_Kazoo]

Re: Recommend me a Compressor pedal...

It probably colors your tone more than any other compressor out there. It's almost an OD IMO.

Hmm...i'm still using the MXR Dynacomp I bought in 1984 and love it--and a
couple of people that also have them that used mine have told me that my
unit noticeably doesn't add any unwanted color!?! Maybe some spotty quality
control?

 

[baritone]

Re: Recommend me a Compressor pedal...

This may not be what you're looking for, but I have the DigiTech Main Squeeze. It can be used to dial in dramatic "breathing" sounds, which I think sound terrible if you are serious about your compression. But for subtle settings, the way compression should be done, it sounds perfect.