Compression pedals. What have you tried?

[gtrwiz]

Originally posted by The Dog Boy Had a Boss CS-3 for a while.....sold it to get this: Shwing!...

 

 

a buddy of mine loves his Carl Martin, but I've never really messed with it...

[cantoXIII]

musician's friend has some rocktek compressors they're throwing out for $9.99. now i understand that you get what you pay for, but is this pedal even worth getting for that price? it's going to be extremely low quality, yes, but i've never used a compressor before in my entire life and i'm interested in trying this out for the sole reason of the extremely low price.

 

is it worth it?

[bobbtoz]

How do you guys think a Barber Tone Press will work w/ a bogner Shiva. I play primarily on the od channel and need something to push the shiva. I like the way compressors are able to do this over od's, although my keeley rat is sounding great pushing the od channel of the shiva.

[Jeztastic]

Am I the only guy here with a Pearl CO 04?

 

 

Anyway, it sustains for ever - I use it for lead... I generally kick it in after i've plucked a note, to enable it to sustain. It's noisy as hell though, and good for nothing else.

 

I want something else to even out my general playing - something very transparent that you don't notice till it's off. Looks from this thread like i need a tonepress....

[bluez4u]

 

Originally posted by bobbtoz How do you guys think a Barber Tone Press will work w/ a bogner Shiva. I play primarily on the od channel and need something to push the shiva. I like the way compressors are able to do this over od's, although my keeley rat is sounding great pushing the od channel of the shiva.

 

 

I use mine on the mark iv, but have a ton of other pedals running in it and thru it as well. I usually kick it on when playing lead and have the wet/dry mix and compression at about 12 and use it mainly as a boost. (the wet/dry is the {censored}) It adds a really sweet edge that I'm sold on. Just enough to add some boost and a tad of compression. The head has compression but along with the tone press... it just does trick..its kinda hard to describe. Great pedal, I don't think I've ever heard anything bad about..

[bluez4u]

just another quick note, I use it in the gain channel with the gain cranked up.

[Blungo]

 

Originally posted by gtrwiz Vintage Dynacomp, just about every Ross clone (analogman, keeley, etc.), Boss's crappy comp, Maxon... I should state that I really don't like the tone of Ross or Dynacomp type of comps, they sound fake to me. What I love about the Demeter, is that it's extemely transparent, I keep it set pretty mild too. I would be interested in trying the Barber Tone Press...

 

 

I'd like to hear the Demeter, does it cut the highs like so many comps do?

[gtrwiz]

Not at all, in fact, to my ears it's the only comp that I've tried that enhances your tone instead of sucking the life out of it...

[woude]

I played the keeley comp, (w. external attack knob) the diamond compressor and the barber tone press (but only short). I like them all, but they are really different from each other. The keeley compressor goes way further than the diamond compressor, but the diamond compressor has this 'tone' knob that makes it much more usable than the keeley imo. The keeley was more noisy too. The tone press sounds like a crossover between the keeley and the diamond, I should try it again...

 

btw: I don't really care for over-the-top compression, I like it subtle. Read my review of the diamond pedal in the review section.

[Blungo]

 

Originally posted by gtrwiz Not at all, in fact, to my ears it's the only comp that I've tried that enhances your tone instead of sucking the life out of it...

 

 

Interesting. I'll make it a point to check one out when i can. Thanks.

[threm]

I still have all these comps (possibly forgot one or two)

 

Analogman Comprossor

Analogman Juicer

Carl Martin

Diamond

Gollmer

Guyatone ST2

HBE CPR

McSqueeze

Mr.Squishy

TC Sust+

 

If I should choose one it would be the Diamond.

If you wonder why, here are some opinions

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?threadid=108187

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?threadid=112219

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?threadid=110896

[thomasmiranda]

I noticed that the Marshall ED-1 hasn't even been mentioned. I have one and love it, seems pretty transparent to me(I'm no expert a lot of you guys though)

You should at least give it a try, its true bypass and built like a tank and will give you sustain for days (if you can handle the noise it gives off when cranked, but I understand all comp's are this way)

[Cruachan]

I've tried a CS-2 (Still own and use), CS-3, CP-9, CP-5 and an Orange Squeezer clone. I really like the CS-2, but if I can sort out a couple of issues I'm having with the OS then I think I'll switch to it. Main problem is that the CS-2 is my board input, so provides my signal buffering.

[mischultz]

Guyatone ST2

BOSS CS1

Toadworks Mr Squishy

Maxon CP101

Barber Tone Press

Pedalworx McSqueeze

 

I'd love to get a Diamond at some point for the acoustic rig.

 

For me, the McSqueeze bumped the Tone Press with a Strat/low wattage EL84 set up. It pops a little more to my ear in this particular chain.

 

Best,

 

Michael

[Noak]

I previously owned a marshall ED1 compressor. It was OK but it was tone sucking and a bit distorted when compressing hard. Sold it because I did not need it for the moment and i didn't like it that much.

 

However i've been playing some more country lately and since i bought a stratocaster this week i figured i'd need a compressor to go with it. So i went to the store a week ago and tried out the Emma transMORGrifier. It was great! Much more transparent than the marshall, only compressing and making the sound a bit warmer. My favourite compressor!

[Picker]

Fist I've every heard of a Keeley comp. being noisy.

 

I have the Keeley and it's dead quiet, transparent and sweet.

 

nice pedal.

[cubistguitar]

I use the Demeter Opto Compulator also.

Amazing clean guitar tone, it seems to fatten the lower mids without touching the rest of the signal.

It's like there is just more of your guitar. It also does a great squashed sound too, but i have mine set very light with a slight volume bump. You don't know it's on but you know when it's off.

[phishmarisol]

Tried most of them, owned many of them. They are a mystery wrapped in an enigma. I currently own Keeley, CompRossor, Diamond, and Barber. Gonna get rid of some of them soon though and hopefully never buy another again!

[BandofThievesâ„¢]

Own and use list;

DBX 166

DBX 160

Valley

Analogman

Keeley

Teese

Fender

Boss

Mxr

Maxon

Behringer

My favorite being the DBX units.

For a floor model I've been using the Teese.It serves my needs right now.I wish the adaptor plug was on the opposite side but it doesn't eat a battery..

I wanted to like the Boss but it was noiey with a no-gain jc120.I hate noise/hiss...

[vanguard]

got an am juicer which i really like. running it with a clean boosted klon is unbelieveable. fattest clean tone i've ever had. it just fills the whole room.

[boogiesurfer]

Yes Gtrwiz, Gorilla, and Cubist. After reading all the posts, I don't really think there is anything better than the Demeter Compulator. Clean tones with it are amazingly clear, clean, etc., with no adverse affect on my tone. . . keep it on all the time. Would sure like to do a side by side comparison with the Barber and Maxon though:thu:

[gtrwiz]

Thanks, and yeah the Barber is the first comp that I've wanted to try since I got my Compulator. Mainley for the blend control... but tone-wise I'm happy where I am.

[89strat]

Marshall Ed-1 : I don't know, I think it sounds weird, there's some inherent noise in there that it produces that makes me nauseaus. I can't put my finger on it. I bought it because my name is Ed and I thought it would look cool to see Marshall and Ed on my board.

 

Boss CS-3 : This is the compressor for people that need a reason to not use compressors. All noise, nothing useable. Very squashy like the dyna comps, but not mojo to it.

 

Guyatone ST-2 : If I wasn't so afraid of it breaking it would be great. Similar idea to the tone press but with a choice of going clean or squashy. Definitely better than the boss and marshall.

 

Route 66: I had both the new version and the old version. This one can be very dyna comp sounding and is great for lead playing. Actually, it's really really good for lead playing, but for rythm stuff, I didn't like it. It was kind of dark sounding. Also, does this thing need to be this big? I understand in the spring they'll be reintroducing them in smaller boxes.

 

Tone Press : Yeah, it's the best. It will make whatever you play sound better. It's like plugging your acoustic or electric into a studio. It can get squashy also. It's almost too refined, and in my opinion, is a great lead boost besides. My second favorite.

 

Dyna Comp : This is my favorite. I don't know why, it just does something to my tone that I like. I only use it for a couple of tunes. It sounds like crap with my acoustic, and not bad with my les paul, but with my strat, It sustains better than the others, almost infinitely, and there's plenty of squash. I'm a big fan of Edge and David Gilmour, and this pedal gets me there. I never get the sensitivity up past 10:00. After that, it's really squashy. I had a couple of the newer ones, they're not that bad. But the one on my board is from the early 80's with the led and A/C input just before they switched to dunlop. It's a little quieter and more in control than the newer ones.

 

I would love the try a compressor that can get me both the dyna comp sound and something cleaner like the Tone press. I'm thinking the Keeley is closer to a better sounding dyna comp, but I can't spend so much money on something just to see how it sounds. Maybe next time I'm in the city I'll try one out, if I can find one.