Recommend a compressor!

[adrianlee]

I SWEAR BY MY BOSS CS-2! Beside my tuner, it may be the oldest pedal on my board and it's survived many changes in my board. Makes a nasty boost, great and effective compression that doesn't dull the high end, or cut the low end. Plenty of compression is available. I actually was surprised to see I preferred it to my Pigtronix Philosopher's Tone. The CS-2 uses a VCA as opposed to the optical compression of the Pigtronix. I only paid like 50-something for me, but they've grown in price. I MUCH prefer it to the CS-3, as the CS-2 sounds more organic. The CS-3 has a fake, plasticy sound to it. I can't describe it more than that; but the tone knob is useful. I have found the CS-2's attack knob serves better than a tone as it doesn't color the sound, just accentuates pick attack and high end (in a way that I really like). Damn, I love that pedal.

Why don't you just marry it, god.

[Baxandall]

Barber Tone Press. Easy to use, easy to dial in, easy on the wallet basically.

Does the job right and plays well on the board.

Hey, it's a Barber.

[BlindtoFaith]

The Strymon rules!

[Baxandall]

I had a Barber Tone Press and it didn't sound bad it just didn't seem to make enough difference it the signal or sustain to justify keeping it.
Maybe that would be the case with any compressor in my set up though.
I was using it with humbuckers and a lot of Fuzz and Reverb. Maybe that kind of drowned out it's effects.
It worked pretty good as a boost though and you can find them for about $100.

I don't understand the lack of sustain but the signal impression I do. You and i play pretty high gain setups therefore I do believe a compressor is less dominant in the setup than in a cleaner to clean tone setup.

I think compressors really shine in a clean to lightly driven signal myself. After that they tend to give the squash. A squash that was very useful with the layers and layers of guitars in Smashing Pumpkins albums but not so much live with a killer rig to begin with... This is why I think the Barber is a good compressor. It lets that drive come through but also allows the compressor to do it's work, almost making it transparent. Sustain is great, signal degradation is dialed out.

[Gone Fission]

-1 on the Dyna Comp, had one and traded it pretty fast:
I know everyone Loves them but I just couldn't use it.

I have tried the Dyna-4Knob Keeley-Soul Preacher and keep coming back to the same Squarebutton Ibanez compressor 2:
It has perfect squish.
<snip>

Funny enough, the Compressor II (CP-835) is firmly in the Dyna Comp family. All the Ibanez comp pedals, and I think all of the Boss CS pedals, too. The VCA chips may vary, and some of the other details, like that the Ibby and Boss stuff add buffer circuits.

Very interesting that the differences weren't remotely trivial to you. It's kind of like how "it's a Big Muff" covers a pretty frakking wide swath.

[MEC]

I had a Barber Tone Press and it didn't sound bad it just didn't seem to make enough difference it the signal or sustain to justify keeping it.
Maybe that would be the case with any compressor in my set up though.
I was using it with humbuckers and a lot of Fuzz and Reverb. Maybe that kind of drowned out it's effects.
It worked pretty good as a boost though and you can find them for about $100.

I don't understand the lack of sustain but the signal impression I do. You and i play pretty high gain setups therefore I do believe a compressor is less dominant in the setup than in a cleaner to clean tone setup.

I think compressors really shine in a clean to lightly driven signal myself. After that they tend to give the squash. A squash that was very useful with the layers and layers of guitars in Smashing Pumpkins albums but not so much live with a killer rig to begin with... This is why I think the Barber is a good compressor. It lets that drive come through but also allows the compressor to do it's work, almost making it transparent. Sustain is great, signal degradation is dialed out.

Yeah, it didn't have a lack of sustain, it just didn't add enough more sustain on top of what I already had to justify keeping. It did smooth the sustain out and had a nice decay. You are definitely right about it making a bigger difference with a clean setup though.

[hbombgraphics]

-1 on the Dyna Comp, had one and traded it pretty fast:
I know everyone Loves them but I just couldn't use it.

I have tried the Dyna-4Knob Keeley-Soul Preacher and keep coming back to the same Squarebutton Ibanez compressor 2:
It has perfect squish.
<snip>

Funny enough, the Compressor II (CP-835) is firmly in the Dyna Comp family. All the Ibanez comp pedals, and I think all of the Boss CS pedals, too. The VCA chips may vary, and some of the other details, like that the Ibby and Boss stuff add buffer circuits.

Very interesting that the differences weren't remotely trivial to you. It's kind of like how "it's a Big Muff" covers a pretty frakking wide swath.

Yeah I had a friend try my Ibanez and he always said it was just a rehoused DynaComp: But there is something about it that is just different: Maybe it is the 30 year old components. I think from pedal to pedal the new MXR and Boss stuff is probably more consistant but with those older pedals sometimes you find a Gem.

[dubkitty]

i have Mauer's old Philosopher's Tone. i like it OK, but it can be kind of aggravating in that it has a fixed ratio and can be hard to set so it doesn't pump on the pick attacks especially on clean sounds...i have to tweak it very precisely. the Grit is totally useless. the Blend can be handy but i don't use it much unless i'm in a Johnny Marr mood, and the tone control is useful. i've found that i prefer running it on 12V rather than 15V, which makes it quite a bit warmer and perhaps a bit less over-sensitive on the attacks. i could love it better, but i really prefer the sound of optical compression and everything else i like costs a fucking mint and/or takes up a half-acre of pedalboard space. new it's a bit much; used i'm cool with the cost. i listened to about 5000 demos, and i really don't like most of the compressors everyone raves about, the Barber and the Keeley and the Mad Professor ($350 for a MXR-sized stompbox compressor? seriously?) and so forth. if'n the Malekko works it'd be the obvious drug of choice, but the other tiny Malekkos haven't sounded wonderful to me and thus i'm agnostic.

[CaptainWampum]

Nobody likey Black Finger?

[StopReferencing]

Nobody likey Black Finger?

I really liked the Black Finger - don't remember getting LOTS of squish, more like a sweet preamp sound or something. That said, I hate having pedals with tubes in them, and that power supply was a total pain in my rectum.

[dubkitty]

i haven't tried the Black Finger. it sounds a little weird in the demos i've heard, but i suspect a NOS tube would nice it up considerably. a GE--can you tell that i love old GE 12AX tubes?--or maybe an Amperex. it's awfully huge, though.

[StopReferencing]

i haven't tried the Black Finger. it sounds a little weird in the demos i've heard, but i suspect a NOS tube would nice it up considerably. a GE--can you tell that i love old GE 12AX tubes?--or maybe an Amperex. it's awfully huge, though.

If it's even using the tubes properly/effectively. Backlighting FTL.

[dubkitty]

well, there's that, too.

[Scruffie]

i haven't tried the Black Finger. it sounds a little weird in the demos i've heard, but i suspect a NOS tube would nice it up considerably. a GE--can you tell that i love old GE 12AX tubes?--or maybe an Amperex. it's awfully huge, though.

If it's even using the tubes properly/effectively. Backlighting FTL.

It uses them at a High Voltage

[dubkitty]

i'll probably get one eventually. what i really want from compression is that huge, fat Stephen Stills sound from Buffalo Springfield and the first Crosby Stills and Nash album, and that's all tube console gear.