Compressors... whats your pick?

[Stacco]

I have an HBE and I leave it on most of the time, sounds very natural. it DOES soften up the Devi fuzzes a bit, so I do take t off for recording. When I'm jamming I'm usually so much into playing that I actually don't notice that kind of shit. But yeah, HBE comp, lovely, long decaaaaaay

[hasblueshoes]

I've got a Boss Cs-2 that I was hoping would get me into some longer sustain with fuzz pedals but it still isn't quite what I was hoping for, better than without it. I wanted more than 2 knobs too, although I probably should have looked at it the other way and found the sustain I wanted. Still it was a MIJ Boss for about $40 so I'm not too broken up about it. My best setting is to turn everything up, let the little hiss run into the fuzz and get a little crackle going on.

[basti moon]

Feel like I've answered this a few times before, but mew- different forum incarnations, smileys.
For compression, I use an act called "feedbacker" in an environment called LLOOPP for max/MSP. You can do whatevers you wants and have as much compression you wants; enough for everything to say ssssssshhhhh, or just make a sound when you wants to, or say nothing except when you play. And it has a graphic EQ.
If I play only analog I use nothing. My Ænima takes care of the rest

[metalmariachi]

I use nothing, what compression I do get usually comes from natural tube amp compression.
I do own one which is around here some where.

Keith

[Caesar]

I have a Boss CS-3. I use it very little. I may eventually get a Black Finger, but I have other thing higher up on the priority list.

[fiery umbrellas]

I'm in love with the Barber Tone Press.

The Diamond is also quite lovely, but it's a totally different beast since it's not mimicking a "guitar" compressor.

I have a Boss CS-3. I use it very little. I may eventually get a Black Finger, but I have other thing higher up on the priority list.

Perhaps you should consider getting the CS-3 modded. I seem to remember several companies who do mods to make it a bit more like a CS-2. I think it's actually kind of a cool pedal when you want that way over the top squashed sound, but it's definitely not a "set it and forget it" kind of effect.

[Ghost Hip]

I never fully understood compression, I figured if I needed it some one would suggest it to me. From what I understand it helps keep things at the same level and sustains notes. The basis of my sound for my music is clean guitar, I set the overdrive pedal louder than the clean signal, and I set my fuzz louder than the overdrive. This seems to me the opposite of what a compressor does. As far as sustain... I'm usually happy with what I get. After all I'm pushing a fuzz pedal with an overdrive pedal, a little finger vibrato and my note is back.

So if you took the time to read this, do I need/want a compressor for my guitar?

[Ghost Hip]

Thanks sir, I'll take a look at those.

[Stacco]

Ive got ANOTHER compressor, which isn't really a compressor, but it does the compressor Blend Knob-barber thing great if you want it to, and sooooo much more!!!

Check it out,I thoroughly recommend this pedal to y'all:

http://www.pigtronix.com/products08/attacksustain.html

http://www.proguitarshop.com/product.ph ... egoryID=40

[hasblueshoes]

There's a little guyatone, the st-2 I think, that can add clean but it is a fixed amount. And the BYOC 5 knob compressor has a blend knob as well.

[Ghost Hip]

Ive got ANOTHER compressor, which isn't really a compressor, but it does the compressor Blend Knob-barber thing great if you want it to, and sooooo much more!!!

Check it out,I thoroughly recommend this pedal to y'all:

http://www.pigtronix.com/products08/attacksustain.html

http://www.proguitarshop.com/product.ph ... egoryID=40

Now thats something I'd use! ....if I had the money.

[Stacco]

I bought mine here, Jared! Of Koyl... Where the FUCK are you Koyl????!!! (Writes note to self to e-mail Koyl), the price was very fair, but I tell you, I've gotten a LOT of usage out of it. Worth your pennies, I love Pigtronix!

[glitch]

There's a little guyatone, the st-2 I think, that can add clean but it is a fixed amount.

Yeah, I've got a couple of these little guys by now, and I love 'em.

I'm a victim of my heritage down South, and I soaked up the whole Nashville-style "chicken pickin'" clean guitar sound, as well as a lot of pinch harmonics inherited from doing Southern Boogie covers. I haven't actually played those particular types of tunes in years, but my fingers (and my ears) still know 'em.

Which basically translates to a clean Tele tone with the low end scooped out and compressed like crazy. The ST-2 (especially in conjunction with my Devi 25) hits that sound spot-on. Works great on my Stick too!

-- glitch.@#$%!

[Stacco]

Works great on my Stick too!

-- glitch.@#$%![/color]

GASP! Im looking for my own little Tony Levin!! Wanna come to Spain and form a band??? Tell me all about your stick, got midi? (I remenber you posting thoroughly about midi a few months back) you bi amping it???!!!!

[glitch]

GASP! Im looking for my own little Tony Levin!!

Hah! Those are pretty big -- actually, frickin' huge -- shoes to fill, and far beyond my Stick chops, Stacco.

FWIW, I hear that Tony is playing Stick more than ever before on the current King Crimson tour. And his last solo album was 100% Stick oriented. So if they're going to be playing anywhere near you, you might be interested in seeing 'em.

Wanna come to Spain and form a band???

Oh man, don't tempt me. My culture shock here regularly takes me on a roller-coaster, believing that this place rocks/sucks. Right now, I'm kinda on the down side, and Europe was actually first choice before Vienna broke our hearts, but that's another story.

Tell me all about your stick, got midi? (I remenber you posting thoroughly about midi a few months back) you bi amping it???!!!!

Okay, I've had three Sticks so far. Judging from your above comment, you'd probably most dig the 1980's 10-string Polycarbonate I had with a Stickup. That one was the top line model during the 80's, and I could just *nail* Levin's Stick tone with no effort whatsoever. Unfortunately, that one got stolen from our apartment when we were off on travel last year.

My second one is a 12-string Maple, with the Active pickup. This one's very "acoustic" sounding, and good for a lot of traditional, intricate Stick playing, as well as Jazz Stick. Unfortunately, my talents don't lie very far in that direction (kinda like comparing a classically trained guitarist against a guy standing in his garage -- guess which one is me). However, this one does have MIDI on its Melody half. I've used it with my VG units and had some really good results.

I would usually bi-amp those two (hey, that's half the fun), with a mix-&-match of setups between my Galien-Kruger combo bass amp, a full-range powered PA monitor, a little EH battery-powered busking amp, my Vox Tonelab, and my Roland VG stuff. Most entertaining of all, though really, is being able to run two different effect chains simultaneously, rather than two different amps.

My third, and newest, Stick is a 10-string Alto (smaller, guitar-range) Stick with the top line PASV-4 pickup. It sounds so sweet; I miss it a lot while it's in storage. I'm a bit of a heretic to the Stick community with this one (they're kinda used to it from me though, since I was always one of the computer/effects guys).

This is for two reasons: First, I'm using a tuning that is completely of my own design. I wanted the maximum amount of overlap between the Bass [sic] and Melody sides, so that I could play a note with one tone through one side, then the exact same note with a different tone through the other side.

Second, with my Alto I started experimenting with what's called "lap tapping". If you've seen videos of tapping guitarists like Eric Mondrian, you might know what I mean. I merely started thinking that such two-handed styles would work even better on Stick, so I began resting it on my lap (instead of standing it upright) and playing it the same way as those lap guitarists.

BTW, I wanted my Alto to have a more cohesive tone overall, so I don't usually bi-amp that one. I merge the two sides about halfway down the effects chain so that it sounds more like a single instrument.

Okay, sorry to derail the whole thread, but it seems I'm kinda good at that....

-- glitch.@#$%!