So, Compressors...

[Ming Chow]

Black Finger

[thom's thumb]

First post addresses compressors that I'm contemplating (Tone Press, Diamond, etc.) and what I want one for. But I was hoping this would take a "this is why I ____ compressors" discussion.

 

So do I need one or not? Comp haters, why you be hatin'? Comp lovers, why do you love 'em?

[Stevenglass]

 

First post addresses compressors that I'm contemplating (Tone Press, Diamond, etc.) and what I want one for. But I was hoping this would take a "this is why I ____ compressors" discussion. So do I need one or not? Comp haters, why you be hatin'? Comp lovers, why do you love 'em?

 

 

Okay. Comp. Depends on comp for what you want. Lets start on what a comp does in a nutshell. It compresses! It takes your tone and evens it out to get a consistent sound, it brings everything to the same volume. I switched to a compress and can't play without one(i can but i'd prefer not too). Here's my philosphers tone uses. It gets me more quack from my strat, a more percussive sound, more control over my sound, way better sustain. It depends what you want. It evens out your tone so perfect, so if you have never played one go play one. I don't know what's readily available to you, but i know you will be able to play a boss cs-3. Some people really hate it and it kind of turns them off to the effect. I love it for certain applications though.

[ToneWickerMan]

I will say I never actually played TOTALLY clean until I got a compressor... now the cleans sound so goood it is sometimes hard to turn on the fuzz.

[jimash]

The thing with a compressor is that by evening out your volume swings it brings out nuance and actually makes a wider variety of playing dynamics possible.

It also feeds a nice consistent level to the rest of the whatever you are using which helps nail a sound.

And it makes the volume pot on the guitar more usable for even more nuance.

I have had an orange squeezer, and an MXR limiter, and I have a Boss Cs-1. Recently I became disenchanted with the CS-1 ( maybe the lightbulb is wearing out)

So I looked all around.

And ended up with El Cheapo, Belcat Compressor. I like it. And it has an attack knob which lets me delay the attack of the compression, which reduces certain artifacts of hard hitting and tapping, while upping sustain.

I almost got a Digitech Main Squeeze cause it has DBX in it, but a compressor should not need a tone knob.

[IRG]

The Mad Prof FGC is great. Gives you the option of being a compressor, or a sustainer - where it adds something, yes sustain, but just an added all around fullness to your tone, without being compressed. But the compressed mode acts like a more traditional comp, but sounds great. I use this mode now more than I used to. The tone control does just enough, to fatten up single coils, or add a little high sparkle to humbuckers if needed. It works great as a boost for me too, and adds a lot running into my overdrives. Highly recommended.