Sustainer

I use a couple older Fender tube heads through a 2x12 Fender cab loaded with Celestion Vintage 30's and a Fender 2x12 Fender Blues Deville with either an American Strat or an American Tele. I use this after a Keeley BD-2, a Rat, and a Big Muff and play rockabilly, classic rock, modern rock, and indie rock. I have a lot of pedals, but I usually keep it simple. This Commander Sustainer is always in my chain and spends a lot more time on than off. I have a 70's block logo DynaComp that sounds very good, but I prefer this because A. it sounds just as good if not better B. I'm trying to keep the DynaComp in the same pristine condition it's in. This is a great pedal, and an even better pedal for the price.

Well, it's plastic, so I wouldn't stomp on it too hard. The inside looks all right. I had to resolder a connection on the input jack once, but bear in mind it's 20+ years old. Someone else mentioned that the circuit board is held in place by the knobs on the pot shafts, and that's true. Really, it seems pretty reliable, though. I'm not worried about it fizzling out so much I am an amplifier falling on it, which isn't likely to happen.

Easy as hell. Only two knobs and there are more good sounds in this pedal than bad ones, but of course it helps if you know how to use a compressor/sustainer and what it's for.

MXR is Dunlop now, and this pedal hasn't been made for years, so zilch.

Again, I play a couple different schools of rock, and this suits them all very well. I've been playing for about 15 years and have owned and tried a number of compressors and sustainers, and I'd consider this one of those cool classics that most people for one reason or another simply shrug off or disregard for unjustified reason. If you see one of these, try it out, A/B it with the Boss or MXR that costs 3x as much and I think you'll be impressed with the former. Obviously a Boss or a DynaComp will be significantly more sturdy, but in terms of sound, I choose this, and I like this pedal enough that I may take the time to mount it in a Hammond enclosure to ensure its protection.

this is of the commande series a much maligned cheaper plastic line of MXR pedals made in the late 70's and early 80's but to my ears this is a great pedal , it is better and brighter than other compressors I've used and it focusses more on the sustaining properties than on the compressing ones and it sustains very well it doesn't breath let many compressors of that era, it is very nice in front of an amp with a nice overdriven front end especially with single coils

even though its plastic it is rugged, although it bothers me that the circuit board is suspended by the mounting of the pots

2 knobs, no problem

its all pretty simple, the companies changed hands and they were pretty ashamed of this series

very nice find, i just checked out the preamp in the same series and i have an excellent opinion of that effect too these commande series pedals need to be looked into, they were looked down on for so long because of their almost anti MXR construction qualities but the sounds are very good, even better than some of their more vaulted cousins