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.
Reliability/Durability:
Never failed.
Ease of Use:
A piece of cake !
Customer Support:
Never needed. Maybe Analogman can help ?
Overall Rating:
Great for adding some extra "cream" to Jazz, Blues, Rock, Funk sounds as long as you know what you are doing.
