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Dirty Compressors
Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2021 10:57 pm
by Blood_mountain
Hey all,
I'm gassing for a compressor (I know, right?). I had a Fairfield Accountant before, and love the character it has. I'll probably get one again, but what are some other dirty compressors with interesting character?
Re: Dirty Compressors
Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2021 1:10 am
by alexsga
Re: Dirty Compressors
Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2021 2:33 am
by alexsga
Re: Dirty Compressors
Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2021 11:21 am
by Blood_mountain
Re: Dirty Compressors
Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2021 6:17 pm
by the_bright_undead
I've got an EHX Blackfinger. It's a monster, easily takes up 2.5 pedals' worth of space....but I can't get rid of it as much as i try to, it keeps coming back onto board. And it's one of those annoying EHX pedals with it's own weird power supply that basically has to be taped in place so it won't fall out.
You really wanna try it now, right?!
It can get only a little dirty....if you use the 'normal' and 'LED' modes, and mess with the gain, you can get some bite out of it.
Re: Dirty Compressors
Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2021 8:18 pm
by Blackened Soul
Orange Squeezers "can" be awesome dirty comps.. but... It really comes down to who made it.. I made a few GGG kit ones that turned out incredible [one I modded with bigger input and output caps so it would be bass friendly]: clear, tons of control, gets dirty, can do mega-squash, and I've had a Henryetta engineering one that was: dull, lifeless, the controls did not have much effect..
70s off brand Japanese Dyna Comp clones.. I've played some that literally fall into the unusable for "normal" "nice" and "clean"
Demeter Compulators will get dirty... so will a lot of stuff with a input gain control
also.. when all else fails... run a boost into it and see what happens...
Re: Dirty Compressors
Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2021 8:56 pm
by Blood_mountain
the_bright_undead wrote:I've got an EHX Blackfinger. It's a monster, easily takes up 2.5 pedals' worth of space....but I can't get rid of it as much as i try to, it keeps coming back onto board. And it's one of those annoying EHX pedals with it's own weird power supply that basically has to be taped in place so it won't fall out.
You really wanna try it now, right?!
It can get only a little dirty....if you use the 'normal' and 'LED' modes, and mess with the gain, you can get some bite out of it.
Yeah, it does look pretty rad. And massive. Do you have one with the tubes?
Re: Dirty Compressors
Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2021 9:00 pm
by Blood_mountain
Blackened Soul wrote:Orange Squeezers "can" be awesome dirty comps.. but... It really comes down to who made it.. I made a few GGG kit ones that turned out incredible [one I modded with bigger input and output caps so it would be bass friendly]: clear, tons of control, gets dirty, can do mega-squash, and I've had a Henryetta engineering one that was: dull, lifeless, the controls did not have much effect..
70s off brand Japanese Dyna Comp clones.. I've played some that literally fall into the unusable for "normal" "nice" and "clean"
Demeter Compulators will get dirty... so will a lot of stuff with a input gain control
also.. when all else fails... run a boost into it and see what happens...
I ended up grabbing a Fairfield Accountant again, so we’ll see how they goes. I got a killer deal on a Pettyjohn Chime MKI today too, so I’m going to play around with that as my preamp and experiment with the accountant before and after it. Then into the SSBS mini. Should be able to get a cool range of sounds with those.
Re: Dirty Compressors
Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2021 9:37 pm
by the_bright_undead
Blood_mountain wrote:the_bright_undead wrote:I've got an EHX Blackfinger. It's a monster, easily takes up 2.5 pedals' worth of space....but I can't get rid of it as much as i try to, it keeps coming back onto board. And it's one of those annoying EHX pedals with it's own weird power supply that basically has to be taped in place so it won't fall out.
You really wanna try it now, right?!
It can get only a little dirty....if you use the 'normal' and 'LED' modes, and mess with the gain, you can get some bite out of it.
Yeah, it does look pretty rad. And massive. Do you have one with the tubes?
Yeah, I think it's from early 2000s? I use 12AX7s, till now I have never tried swapping out for something else.
Re: Dirty Compressors
Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2021 1:58 am
by adamajah
I heartily recommend the Mid-fi Magick “i” for dirty compression fun.
In “i” mode with the gain from 8-10 it’s compressed and super tasty like a cooking amp

Re: Dirty Compressors
Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2021 4:06 am
by goroth
Blood_mountain wrote:
I ended up grabbing a Fairfield Accountant again, so we’ll see how they goes. I got a killer deal on a Pettyjohn Chime MKI today too, so I’m going to play around with that as my preamp and experiment with the accountant before and after it. Then into the SSBS mini. Should be able to get a cool range of sounds with those.
Good choice. Accountant is amazing. If I was playing anything other than metal I could easily have it as an always on, end of chain pedal.
Re: Dirty Compressors
Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2021 9:31 am
by Blood_mountain
adamajah wrote:I heartily recommend the Mid-fi Magick “i” for dirty compression fun.
In “i” mode with the gain from 8-10 it’s compressed and super tasty like a cooking amp

This is def on my wish list for overdrives; hadn’t thought of it for compression, but that makes it more appealing!
Re: Dirty Compressors
Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2021 1:13 pm
by adamajah
Blood_mountain wrote:adamajah wrote:I heartily recommend the Mid-fi Magick “i” for dirty compression fun.
In “i” mode with the gain from 8-10 it’s compressed and super tasty like a cooking amp

This is def on my wish list for overdrives; hadn’t thought of it for compression, but that makes it more appealing!
Yeah I don't think it's meant to be a straight up compressor but when you turn up the gain (toggling to 12w mode helps too) it gets nice and squashy
Re: Dirty Compressors
Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2021 1:30 pm
by Blood_mountain
adamajah wrote:Blood_mountain wrote:adamajah wrote:I heartily recommend the Mid-fi Magick “i” for dirty compression fun.
In “i” mode with the gain from 8-10 it’s compressed and super tasty like a cooking amp

This is def on my wish list for overdrives; hadn’t thought of it for compression, but that makes it more appealing!
Yeah I don't think it's meant to be a straight up compressor but when you turn up the gain (toggling to 12w mode helps too) it gets nice and squashy
Doug makes such rad pedals! I recently got a Scrape Flutter from him and such a cool, unique effect.
Changing gears, I'd love to play a Collaboration Devices compressor at some point as well. It looks really cool, but sound clips/demo videos seem few and far between.