Compressor, Yay or Nay?

[la szum]

Anyone directly compare the 1176 thing the Origin Effects does versus the UA 1176 Pedal???

 

[laxu]

Anyone directly compare the 1176 thing the Origin Effects does versus the UA 1176 Pedal???

Analog vs digital for one.

 

[Alonious_Monk]

A colleague of mine, when I taught Music tech, always told me "if you feel you need compressor on your guitar, you clearly know nothing about guitar".

He said some crazy stuff.

I love having compressor on lower gain rock sounds, no matter what guitar I use, I love the hard attack.

 

[the swede]

With helix (stomp) I mostly just fiddled with sag and bias to manipulate the compression feeling of the amp. But I never had the patience or need to really explore all the compressor effects there.

I have an old Pigtronix Philosophershfers Tone pedal that I used when I played in a band. It worked great as an always on for clean rhythm playing (that was basically my role). When I messed around with it alone I often added more sustain for fun and also it had a fun “grit” knob that added distortion inside the circuit. It’s been on a shelf for many years now because it’s cool looking. I might try it again if I ever manage to put a small board together.

Personally I’m torn between the concept of using it as an effect or using it because it does something good or not using it all.

 

[dbagchee]

There are some good sales this weekend so just ordered the UAFX 1176 - I’m also a compressor newb but this one looks like it can be used a few different ways.

 

[TwistedTape]

View attachment 24777

I have done that....and also convinced myself that the knobs I was moving were doing something!

 

[TwistedTape]

I use a Source Audio Atlas. It is digital, but it does a lot. I have it setup so my guitar goes into the Atlas, through all my drives, back into the Atlas in my HX Stomp. That gives me a choice of comps, an EQ (and an expander I dont really know how to use) and a noise gate before and after all of my drives. Another use of compression is that if you add it before your delay it can change how things sound.

 

[James Freeman]

Got a UA MAX....

3ms of latency and hissy AF before drive pedals to due AD/DA stages, not true bypass.

 

[DrewJD82]

I’ve never used one on guitar until recent times, the Gilmour stuff pretty much demands it and last night I put one between my Ceriatone and the cab block in my AxeFX and quite enjoyed it. Definitely time to snag a pedal or two. I think Gilmour is using the Origin Effects stuff his last couple tours/albums, I’ll probably start there.

 

[James Freeman]

I'm getting better at finding the sweet spot of compression, it involves playing slightly below hard with a pick on the open D and G strings and adjusting the threshold from max to min until I hear a slight volume drop then turning it back up slightly. Then while I play I will further adjust the threshold or ratio if I hear too much squish. That's without a blend/mix knob that can fix the last bit of missing dynamics.

 

[metropolis_4]

After years of experimentation with different pedals and settings, my compressor journey has ended right back where it began:

DynaComp set to robot-eyes

 

[la szum]

Got a UA MAX....

3ms of latency and hissy AF before drive pedals to due AD/DA stages, not true bypass.

View attachment 48498

Yup. The UA Pedals all blow.

The end.

There are way too many cool all-analog pedals out there (especially in dirt, drive, comp arenas).
I can't even fathom stacking a bunch of UA Pedals together in series and comprehending the
results of all that accumulated latency.

Fuck off UA!

Not even a little sorry.

 

[KingsXJJ]

Got a UA MAX....

3ms of latency and hissy AF before drive pedals to due AD/DA stages, not true bypass.

View attachment 48498

I think you may be able to set it to true buffer in the app. The other UAFX pedals I have offer it in the app or on the lower pedals, it’s a switch on the back.

 

[la szum]

I'm getting better at finding the sweet spot of compression, it involves playing slightly below hard with a pick on the open D and G strings and adjusting the threshold from max to min until I hear a slight volume drop then turning it back up slightly. Then while I play I will further adjust the threshold or ratio if I hear too much squish. That's without a blend/mix knob that can fix the last bit of missing dynamics.

I think there are a LOT of ways to use a Comp. James, and that is just one. I prefer it more as
an effect rather than an always on type of thing---especially with clean tones that can get
a bit spikey.

Squish is freaking great in the right context. Very similar in vibe to tube amps and their inherent
compression that softens the attack and smooths the peaks.

 

[James Freeman]

After years of experimentation with different pedals and settings, my compressor journey has ended right back where it began:

DynaComp set to robot-eyes

Do you have a Block logo too?
I wonder how much different it is to the Script logo, because there is a massive difference in the Phase 90 between Block/Script.

 

[James Freeman]

I think there are a LOT of ways to use a Comp. James, and that is just one. I prefer it more as
an effect rather than an always on type of thing---especially with clean tones that can get
a bit spikey.

Totally.
I've learned so far that compressor settings are very sensitive to specific guitars, pickups heights, playing strength, and what you personally want to hear the compressor do.... for that particular song.
Compressor settings are super specific to every element in and out of the signal chain.

 

[James Freeman]

I think you may be able to set it to true buffer in the app.

Nay, the MAX is buffered only.

It sounds good, but has all the digital crap you don't want in a pedal, particularly a dynamic altering pedal that goes before everything else. ie. Latency and elevated AD/DA noise floor.

 

[OrganicZed]

I like a bit of compression on clean tones.

 

[metropolis_4]

Do you have a Block logo too?
I wonder how much different it is to the Script logo, because there is a massive difference in the Phase 90 between Block/Script.

It’s been a while since I had a block logo. I remember the block not being quite as clear and not having quite as nice a top end. It seemed to roll off some highs.

At one point I had one with mods from Monte Allums and it sounded much better.

I’ve heard the newer block logos come with metal film caps and the CA3080 chip so there might be less difference now.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Still love Mooer's Yellow Comp. And the Vetta Comp out of the HX legacy series.
I most often use them to add a little more decay (aka "meat") to leads, but sometimes they're great for rhythm sounds as well, especially in case I don't want to use much gain but still want that meaty quality.