Compressor

Reading some of the older ratings one can come to the conclusion, that some people are playing FX instead of guitar. Naturally, a setup that includes zillions of single floor FX boxes won't be quiet unless you have some help from Mr. Bradshaw or Mr. Cornish. Especially bad cables  are very harmful to the overall sound. Mainly the connection between the guitar and the first-in-line FX weakens the sound so much that it will never recover on its way to the amp. So, maybe there are different qualities around but my RC is dead quiet even when turned up. When you have to rate the sound of a stompbox you always have to know what it is used for. My setup: guitar -> Tech21 Double Drive -> RC -> Fender Amp (Twin, Blues Junior or Bassman). As far as I know, the RC doesn't have a useful buffering stage. By using the Tech21 DD as the first FX I make sure that its unbypassed buffer always keeps my signal up in order to minimize the treble loss induced by the RC. The Ross Compressor has a nice smooth sound that just adds a little "thickness" while taking away some of the upper trebles (estimated 1-5% with the setup mentioned above). For everyone who is looking for such a vintage effect I would recommend the RC. Everyone else who might be looking for a modern compressor to get an uncoloured sound-compression should try the dbx product range. To the guys who want to use as much Fx as possible in order to make their guitars sound like anything but a guitar the only way to avoid (extra) noise is to buy a TC G-Major or G-Force (alternatively, if you have the money, try the Eventide). Remember the fact that every single inch of wire that you add to your setup will hurt the sound ! One can argue but: A good buffering stage is way better than ANY true-bypass. Just think about it: You might need 10cm of cable to connect 2 FX and it takes – let’s say - about 5 cm for the true bypass wiring. 5 boxes connected that way and switch to their true bypass equals 65 cm of cable = resistance and capacity = loss of tone. These are the basic consideration BEFORE using any (vintage) FX !  Especially those largely unbuffered like the RC.

Never failed.

A piece of cake !

Never needed. Maybe Analogman can help ?

Great for adding some extra "cream" to Jazz, Blues, Rock, Funk sounds as long as you know what you are doing.

I am using it with a G&L Legacy, Vox Wah, TS9 Tube Screamer, Expandora, Line 6 Delay modeler into Fender CS Dual Professional.  Its not terribly noisy, but as with any vintage pedal i'm sure some are noisier than others.  If yours is noisy you might want to get it checked out.  The compression colors my sound far less than the Dyna Comp - i believe one reviewer likened the effect to an Exciter - this may be an acurate description. Overall, i like it quite a lot.

Its quite an old pedal - therefore, i always keep my Dyna Comp on the pedal board - it was inoperational when i recieved it - just had to get some work done on the switch. I must say though, it is older than i am and still working - if the 30$ i spent to get it working is the only time its been serviced - that says soemthing for reliability.

Grey Ross Compressor Quite easy to use, only 2 knobs -

The company is out of business, however, as mine was initially inoperational, i got it serviced at a local amp tech - i don't think it would be difficult to find someone who can fix it for you.

I Play mostly jazz and Blues and in this context it works quite well.  Relatively clean pedal - seems to color my sound less than the Dyna comp  - though the dyna comp sound is desireable in some contexts. If i lost it, well i would try to find another free one - i certainly wouldnt pay 300-400$ for one - though some may think it worth it - there are several fine compressors out there in that price range - even copies of this one - that would be far more reliable and come with factory support.

It's a "10" in my book, but I'm giving it a 9 because it honestly isn't a "universal" compressor-- if you want an over-the-top, buttery, super compressed sound, this ISN"T the pedal.  It does light compression/harmonic enhancement better than any other I've tried, but it DOESN'T handle a lot of standard "compression" needs so well.  (I tend to "hear" compression and sustain as two different things, and this is more of a sustain/enhancer pedal than a typical compressor). My rig:  '51 Broadcaster (or '74 Tele Thinline/'52 Gibson ES-125) -->> Ross comp --->> Ernie Ball volume pedal -->>  Crowther HotCake (or Vox Valve-tone)-->> '64 Vox AC30 (or '66 Gretsch Dual Twin/'72 Twin Reverb) I've owned mine for 18 years (so I'm DOUBLE biased, I love it AND I didn't pay the stupid prices *laughs*).  It's the best subtle sustain pedal I've heard, hands down.  If you're having noise problems, open it up-- I've had to replace the diode in the center of the board twice, which about every ten years you can hear the noise floor start getting static-y when a battery is in it (nice thing about Ross pedals, when the battery is dead they still operate in the "off" position).  I don't know a thing about the electrical reasons for the diode dilemma-- but I know it happens (the diode actually burst the first time-- after months of getting noisier and noisier-- the pedal still worked, but was noisy as hell and the bottom end slowly disappeared). The best I can describe it's "perfect" tone is that you can play loud, sustained portions of songs without losing any definition to your playing-- chords sound bigger, leads sound clearer, lusher, even with a distortion box.  I'm not a big Phish fan, but I can tell for a fact that his super saturated compressed tone is NOT just a Ross Compressor.  As some other's have stated, a hollowbody guitar and volume knob is probably 90% responsible for that...  The Ross works best for a light sustain or to push the front of a tube amp lightly.  For a 'Stones, or early Who, tubey rhythm sound, a Tele through the Ross into an AC30 is impeccable.  And kick in a good Tubescreamer-ish overdrive and the sound can make you wet yourself with it's "umpph!"  Without sounding metallic or nasally. Works best with the level high and the sustain somewhere between 9 and 1.  Cranked it's noisy as hell, and not very good sounding-- but MOST pedals suck with the settings cranked (TS-808's are worthless with the tone cranked in my opinion). Raving as I am, I wouldn't hesitate to steer high-gain users away from it--  I've seen some Mesa users here say they love it, but I would not use this pedal with a Mesa, a Marshall, or similar.  Nor with a Les Paul (just adds to the funky murkiness I associate with Les Pauls). For players who center their sound around "vintage" tones, however, and those who use pedals for mostly "subtle" means-- it's a perfect 10!

Considering mine is left on 60-75% of the time, and has toured for two decades, I'm happy with just replacing a diode twice.  Not perfect, but pretty close.  I use an original Dynacomp for a backup, 'cause the Ross is too damned expensive to carry a backup.

I've got a grey original one.  Two knobs- "Level", "Sustain".  They both turn... pretty simple.

Not around anymore, but Analogman can fix 'em for pretty cheap.  (He makes his own clone, too).

If you already have great tone-- good guitars, amps, technique-- this will be your favorite pedal, simple as it is.  Just dial in your normal tone, and then set the Ross so when it's engaged you barely notice it.  Now play your normal style-- kick it in when you get bored or want to show off!  *laughs* I would recommend it highly for any "vintage" tone hounds-- blues, indie rock, classic rock, folk, country...  If you've got a Matchless or a Vox, you NEED this pedal-- trust me.  But probably NOT for hard rock, metal, other modern sounds (I'd probably rate it a 3 or 4 for that). If it was stolen (which it almost was at a gig) or lost, I'd replace it immediately.  Hopefully NOT at Ebay prices, but if I had to I would. If you hate this thing, hey-- everybody's different (I'm tempted to say "you're not a very good player", but my mommy taught be better)...  If you do hate it, then you either bought it from a shop, where you could have played it first, or bought it on the internet, in which case you can turn around and resell it-- that's what's great about Ebay!