Compressor pedals - getting lost

Harborne_Blue

So long story short - been away for a while, now really back into playing and... Bought a CS-3 for my main board and just cannot gt on with it. After a lot of fiddling, it's giving my tele more punch but does sweet FA without more fiddling for the strat.
Looking for something that fits with my blues-y Moore - SRV vibe... Any ideas? So many out there that I don't know where to start!

Zoolooter

The new Keeley Compressor Plus looks ok, some nice YT demos

dcg

FWIW, I tried Boss, Keeley, and MI compressors - and generally found that they squashed the basic tone too much (especially, as it happens, the CS3); this could be amusing, but wasn't useful most of the time.  I then bought a Wampler Ego Compressor, and set it to act much more as boost.  This, and the fact it has both a blend and tone knob, gave me much more control over the actual compression.  Took some calibration to set it right, but I now leave the EC on the whole time, and haven't looked elsewhere.  Gave me what I wanted. 

markblack

I had the Wampler ego. Worth a look. 

Boromedic

Hey, try this place for Comp reviews and advice:
http://www.ovnilab.com/

He also has a recommendation list in there too, might be worth a look:
http://www.ovnilab.com/reviews/toppicks.shtml

JezWynd

Hey, try this place for Comp reviews and advice:
http://www.ovnilab.com/

Just to note: He's a bass player and reviews are focussed around suitability for bass.

Boromedic

Yeah sorry I should have stated that too, although I still find his reviews useful.

DesVegas

Have you tried the cs3 in a different position on your board? Ie after overdrives

hotpickups

If you can get your hands on a Dinasaural compressor that blends in your original signal brilliantly 

xpia98jf

If you play blues why do you need a compressor?

Harborne_Blue

pia98jf said:

If you play blues why do you need a compressor?

More punch on the solos, crisp on arpeggios. And they just sound nice :-)

fretfinder

I've tried a few compressors over the years and never got on with any of them. I've concluded that for me, playing blues and classic rock through a decent valve amp and good OD pedals, a compressor just isn't necessary.

Cirrus

Get this:


No, I'm not joking.

xpia98jf

Harborne_Blue said:

pia98jf said:

If you play blues why do you need a compressor?

More punch on the solos, crisp on arpeggios. And they just sound nice :-)

If you say so. I don't seem to remember SRV worrying about that (or any other blues player I can think of for that matter).

Jimbro66

Others have mentioned the Wampler Ego and for what you want to achieve it would be a very good choice. The blend control makes all the difference. You can of course also use it like a standard compressor for that country guitar sound. Good for slide playing too if you want to stay fairly clean.

Suitable for blues? Well, the definition of blues seems to cover a lot of territory so let your own ears be the judge

Fretwired

Wampler Ego although I now use a Strymon OB1 which is a compressor, clean boost and treble boost all in one package. Works well with my Strat.

JezWynd

Cirrus said:

Get this:


No, I'm not joking.

Very nice comp. With a single coils it does fantastic chicken pickin' style compression with the defined attack and the Direct switch to mix in unaffected sound. One of the brightest, spankiest (is that even a word?) comps around. Quite a find.

ICBM

Compressor pedals can just get lost.






It's odd - I like the sound of compression when it's used by others on recordings, and I can even use it myself for recording, but I absolutely can't stand it for live playing. It totally robs the dynamics and the presence in the mix, unless you turn the level up far enough and then it suddenly becomes too loud and insensitive. Yes, I know that reducing dynamics is what they're meant to do .

I do still own a compressor (Boss CS-2) but I never use it. Last time I did, I ended up constantly turning the compression down until it was basically off, and even then it still sounded better when I did actually turn it off. And yet I can't quite bring myself to get rid of it because I plug it in at home and like the sound of it...

stefken147

Recently picked up a Diamond Compressor on here and love it.

Cirrus

ICBM said:

And yet I can't quite bring myself to get rid of it because I plug it in at home and like the sound of it...

And therein is an interesting point; to a large extent, pedals that affect dynamics can only be judged in relation to the context they're in; a dymamic range change in isolation doesn't mean as much as one when there's something else to have a volume relative to - drums, bass, vocals etc. Once those are in play, you have a mix you can either get lost within, stand out too much from, sit just right in the pocket etc.

StuartMac290

pia98jf said:

Harborne_Blue said:

pia98jf said:

If you play blues why do you need a compressor?

More punch on the solos, crisp on arpeggios. And they just sound nice :-)

If you say so. I don't seem to remember SRV worrying about that (or any other blues player I can think of for that matter).

Perhaps not, but his signal was compressed hard in the mix much of the time, most likely through an 1176.