Compressors make things sound good

gearaddict

I've never understood what compressors are for, except that I thought they were things that happened to other people. But I just discovered that switching on the compressor in my modeller (GSP1101) makes it sound a lot better!

Who'd have thunk it?

I still have no idea what they are meant to do.

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

I was in a similar boat, but this recent video helped clarify things a bit...

Sassafras

Some make things sound better, others make things sound dull and lifeless,
Depends how you set them really.

Caffeine_Vampire

They squash the highs and lift the lows and make your fingers sound as though they know what they’re talking about

grappagreen

With some stylistics considerations aside I hate the feel of compression .. for live guitar.. 

Great when tracking/mixing of course but even set lightly and parallel on a guitar into an amp it feels to me like someone just hit the 'feel disconnect' button. It's personal of course but I want maximum dynamics and the ability to control what comes out with pick/fingers. Playing something with a decent dynamic range also forces you to be a better player (or take up the recorder or something if you can't stand sounding like you suck for a while!)

Si