Battle of the compressors
- Thread starter MatrixClaw
- Start date
Boudoir Guitar
Rock Star
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- 4,892
The "GT" stands for Grand Touring.
ragingplatypi
Shredder
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- 1,220
Ah, but what’s more fun? Be honest!
AFKAEjay(retired)
Roadie
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- 828
honestly, I appreciate having the core of my rig steady…so i can choose my battles regarding trying new stuff.
newpedals
Roadie
- Messages
- 667
I have had a brief affair with a compressor. I think it was an optical one, cheap one too. The Mooer yellow comp. I had borrowed it from a friend for covering a few songs.
Her dad who is into country had tried many compressors, and schooled me once on them. He said any unit with a blend knob is the key to finding one you will enjoy.
I never use compressors. Maybe I am bad at dialing them, but I hate losing my dynamics. I also don't play high gain, so don't have to use noise gates either.
If pedalboard real estate is an issue, kindly try mini pedals like the abovementioned mooer or those like the ones by xotic.
Her dad who is into country had tried many compressors, and schooled me once on them. He said any unit with a blend knob is the key to finding one you will enjoy.
I never use compressors. Maybe I am bad at dialing them, but I hate losing my dynamics. I also don't play high gain, so don't have to use noise gates either.
If pedalboard real estate is an issue, kindly try mini pedals like the abovementioned mooer or those like the ones by xotic.
JasonE
Roadie
- Messages
- 886
I went down the path of really checking out compressor pedals about a year and a half ago. I have a pretty good stock of compressor pedals now. I have some I like very much. I did my research before buying. What was interesting to me is that two that I had and liked when I started this journey are now the two I like the least of the ones I have. The one that made my board is the Source Audio Atlas. It does everything you want and more. I love that it has presets in it. I have it setup where I can switch between two very different compressors by holding the footswitch down for two seconds. If you are into programming digital things like a plugin in your DAW, give this one a look. I has a ton of features in it and it works very well. I bought a cable to connect it to my phone so I can adjust things in it that are only able to be adjusted in the software with the app on my phone.
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I've heard some cats over the years strumming them chords on their Clean Channel
without any compression, and then switch over to ripping High Gain with a ton of
Compression (from the natural response of tubes pushed into clipping, and cascading gain
stages) who ponder the Eternal Question: "Why is my Clean so loud and then I disappear
in the mix when I switch Channels/Presets?)
Spiky cleans with a brutal picking hand are deadly, and should be outlawed. Comp that shit!
without any compression, and then switch over to ripping High Gain with a ton of
Compression (from the natural response of tubes pushed into clipping, and cascading gain
stages) who ponder the Eternal Question: "Why is my Clean so loud and then I disappear
in the mix when I switch Channels/Presets?)
Spiky cleans with a brutal picking hand are deadly, and should be outlawed. Comp that shit!
MatrixClaw
Roadie
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- 176
This is at the top of my list right now. I totally forgot about the Atlas, but is one I was considering before I got the Bloom. I was afraid I'd have to be glued to my phone tweaking it, like some of their other pedals I've owned and didn't like the experience of, but I didn't realize it has an Alt switch on the top and you're actually getting a TON of adjustability right on the pedal itself. It can also do the 1176 and multiband comp, plus it has a gate and EQ. Super interesting!
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I am super leery of anything digital when it comes to Comp.... mostly because
Comps are early in the chain (generally) and if they are digital you will have
an A/D/A conversion right from the jump.... and then maybe a few more
down the line.
Maybe not a concern for others. Massive no go from me. Using digital compression
in a DAW is one thing.... having it in a pedal when there may be other A/D/A
conversions going on in the form of delays and reverbs (or modulation) is just not
something I would personally do.
Comps are early in the chain (generally) and if they are digital you will have
an A/D/A conversion right from the jump.... and then maybe a few more
down the line.
Maybe not a concern for others. Massive no go from me. Using digital compression
in a DAW is one thing.... having it in a pedal when there may be other A/D/A
conversions going on in the form of delays and reverbs (or modulation) is just not
something I would personally do.
JasonE
Roadie
- Messages
- 886
There is a 3 way toggle switch no the top of the pedal that lets you select the type of compressor. They are actually just saved settings slots. You can put whatever you want in them. You can have the footswitch set up for 2 seconds or 4 seconds hold to switch between the A and B slots in each of the 3 switch settings. This is what made this pedal go on my board. It is really nice to have one compressor set up for smooth operation like an optical compressor and another that has a tight squish to it and be able to switch between them in 2 seconds.
You can run stereo compressors too. It has EQ for each and the gate. It really does everything. I have been more than happy with it.
I was concerned with this when I bought the Atlas. I have not noticed any latency in it. It seems to have really good converters in it. It is also currently the only digital pedal on my board so it isn't adding up with any others, yet. I just purchased the SQ EQ2. It will be here this week. I am expecting to put that on my board as well. I can't see me ever having more than these two so I think it will still be okay. You also have to make sure you are giving them enough amperage with the power to keep them running at their pique performance.I am super leery of anything digital when it comes to Comp.... mostly because
Comps are early in the chain (generally) and if they are digital you will have
an A/D/A conversion right from the jump.... and then maybe a few more
down the line.
Maybe not a concern for others. Massive no go from me. Using digital compression
in a DAW is one thing.... having it in a pedal when there may be other A/D/A
conversions going on in the form of delays and reverbs (or modulation) is just not
something I would personally do.
- Messages
- 6,099
My Keeley Compressor + is on 100% of the time basically. The dry blend knob is invaluable
itchyfingers
Roadie
- Messages
- 695
I used to always have a comp on my pedalboard. The Dynacomp, Ross, & Diamond were my favorite - all simple 2 knobbers. Now whenever I use them, I feel like they kill my right hand dynamics, even at low settings. Compression from the amp only these days.
Someoldqueenorother
Groupie
- Messages
- 95
I don't use much gain, lots of clean sounds. There are two compressors I really love. The original Diamond compressor was my go-to for ages, sold that, and recently bought the Comp Jr. Just as good as how I remember the original.
The revelation has been picking up an Orange Kongpressor. For clean jangle it is superb and you can really get squishy and big sounding with it at other settings. I picked mine up for well under $100 s/h and it beats a lot of more expensive comps for my tastes.
The revelation has been picking up an Orange Kongpressor. For clean jangle it is superb and you can really get squishy and big sounding with it at other settings. I picked mine up for well under $100 s/h and it beats a lot of more expensive comps for my tastes.
I’ve had an on again off again comp relationship for years. Had a barber tone press on the board for a few years. I didn’t use it a ton live, but I did really like it. I didn’t use them much in the original axe-fx when I went to that rig.
Years later I built another large board and put the mooer yellow comp which is supposedly a diamond clone. That tilt eq was super useful, overall I liked it. There was something I wasn’t happy with, I think it was something about too much or not enough volume at relatively squishy levels of compression. I use a crunchy sound as my base tone, and what I was trying to do was set the compressor to clamp down on the dynamics and the volume to lower the input gain to the amp enough to get a clean tone and hopefully with some sparkle from the tilt control. Sort of like using the compressor as a clean channel essentially. With that pedal, I couldn’t get it to work the way I wanted. Maybe it’s not even possible who knows.
I’m currently happy with the new comps in the FM9. If I were buying a standalone comp pedal today, the first one I’d order is the wampler ego. If that didn’t do it I might try one of the various 1176 pedals but I think I’d go with the ego before any of those.
D
Years later I built another large board and put the mooer yellow comp which is supposedly a diamond clone. That tilt eq was super useful, overall I liked it. There was something I wasn’t happy with, I think it was something about too much or not enough volume at relatively squishy levels of compression. I use a crunchy sound as my base tone, and what I was trying to do was set the compressor to clamp down on the dynamics and the volume to lower the input gain to the amp enough to get a clean tone and hopefully with some sparkle from the tilt control. Sort of like using the compressor as a clean channel essentially. With that pedal, I couldn’t get it to work the way I wanted. Maybe it’s not even possible who knows.
I’m currently happy with the new comps in the FM9. If I were buying a standalone comp pedal today, the first one I’d order is the wampler ego. If that didn’t do it I might try one of the various 1176 pedals but I think I’d go with the ego before any of those.
D
The new Cali76 stacked is superb.
eric.chambers
Newbie
- Messages
- 10
The only compressor I've liked is the Diamond. It just makes everything sound better. It'll get a bit squishy if you want it to, but I think most people use it in much more subtle way. One of those pedals that doesn't seem like it's doing much until you turn it off. Sounds great on bass as well.
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