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Hello,

My second guitarist is in the market for a compressor. She plays finger style, and upon moving to electric, I advised her that a bit of compression could help her maintain clarity and dynamic control. I'm a fan of the EHX Soul Preacher, I always leave it on, and it hits those fuzzes with a little extra push that I just love. We want to stay under the 100 dollar mark so any suggests? I hear the MXR dyna comp is not very transparent and colors the tone. There is a Boss CS-3 on my local craiglist for 60/obo. Any experience with the MXR Super Comp? Thoughts/suggestions?

Most compressor pedals will color the sound if you crank up the effect, but they can stay pretty subtle. BBE makes a couple that are pretty good, and inexpensive too. I have the Comp Stomp, which is the same as the Orange Squash (Dan Armstrong Orange Squeezer) and there's also an optical compressor called the Opto Stomp, I believe.

i was wondering this same thing, i have been wondering whats good for bass though. i really still don't understand the idea of compressors...

I don't know about for guitars, but a guy over at TalkBass who goes by Bongomania is kind of the local expert on compressors, and has done a LOT of pretty thorough reviews of them. His megathread is here: http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=229874, his compressor / preamp FAQ is here: http://www.ovnilab.com/faq.shtml, and his mega-compressor-review webpage is here: http://www.ovnilab.com/index.shtml, AND his top picks (with best cheap compressors section) is here: http://www.ovnilab.com/reviews/toppicks.shtml

someone needs to box the RNC.

actually i should mount it under my board in a bypass loop.

jrmy wrote:I don't know about for guitars, but a guy over at TalkBass who goes by Bongomania is kind of the local expert on compressors, and has done a LOT of pretty thorough reviews of them. His megathread is here: http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=229874, his compressor / preamp FAQ is here: http://www.ovnilab.com/faq.shtml, and his mega-compressor-review webpage is here: http://www.ovnilab.com/index.shtml, AND his top picks (with best cheap compressors section) is here: http://www.ovnilab.com/reviews/toppicks.shtml

Definitely check out Bongo's website. He has a bit of a bass-centered slant on some of the reviews, but he's very nice and helpful. I exchanged messages with him, telling him what I wanted out of a compressor and he steered me to exactly the right one (Pigtronix Philosopher's Tone).

craig wrote:i was wondering this same thing, i have been wondering whats good for bass though. i really still don't understand the idea of compressors...

For bass, I use a 4-knob keeley because it's ultra clean, I can adjust the "attack" slower to get a better comp sound for bass, and the gain(?) allows for adjustment on input strength differences between bass and guitar.

MIJ CS-3
Dynacomp
That's what i say.
Basically any comp will be noisy though, as it will boost your pups hum and other misc frequencies that are about.

I know in the DIY realm there are several designs that leave your tone uncoloured and suit your needs however i'm not so sure about the commercial world of compressors.

I'd certainly say that alot of the products like the Dynacomp aren't what you're looking for but i'd suggest looking for an Optical compressor, they have a smoother attack and tend to colour the tone less and don't add that 'quack' to a guitars sound...

I guess you're after one of those ones that are usually described as "When it's on I can't tell it's there, but when I switch it off, something's missing from my playing"... i'll have a look round for some commercial designs... right now all I can think of is the Pigtronix pedal which is way above $100..

Edit: Speaking of DIY... considered building your own? http://buildyourownclone.com/opticomp.html Under $100 and a nice pedal.

i talked to a pretty knowledgable compressor guy- he said get the cs-2 if possible-- but he said the cs3 isnt really that bad of a pedal-- just an fyi

I have the Danelectro Fish 'n Chips and I'm pretty happy with it.

But correct me if I'm wrong - for preserving playing dynamics I'd advise to rather NOT use a compressor. It'll compress away the dynamics.

But correct me if I'm wrong - for preserving playing dynamics I'd advise to rather NOT use a compressor. It'll compress away the dynamics.

Not necessarily. Depends on how much compression you add. Playing at high volume, it could potentially keep your dynamics under control, i.e. in playing open cords, air-y chords or complex chord, it would keep your low strings from overpowering and drowning out your highs.