What Compressor?

stickyfiddle

Let's say I'm playing pop, rock & soul covers and wanted a compressor to give me just a bit more from my cleans, without adding dirt. I'm thinking the Motown, funk, disco stuff up as far as Nile Rodgers and Bruno Mars sorts of vibes. 

So what's good these days? The Keeley 4-knob was always the daddy in the old times before the boutique thing really kicked off, so their Comp Plus has appeal. And these days I'm in love with Origin and already have a bunch of theirs, so the Cali76 seems like a foolproof option esp as I already love the bass version, but that's for a different use case. 

Anything else? Fat General? 

Any comp-fiends able to chime in? 

mo6020

Cali76 is my favourite, followed by the Analogman CompROSSor, but I really only use compression when I'm playing slide so my use case is completely different to yours... 

stickyfiddle

mo6020 said:

Cali76 is my favourite, followed by the Analogman CompROSSor, but I really only use compression when I'm playing slide so my use case is completely different to yours... 

haha yeah that’s been my main use case before, for which I’ve used an old BYOC clone of a DynaComp that I’ve had forever. 

Beexter

The Cali76 is ace but I also have the Suhr Woodshed which I'm very pleased with. The Suhr Koji is also excellent.

munckee

I really like the wampler ego, I think anything with a blend should be decent that seems to be the magic dial.  

digitalkettle

The idiot-proof Drybell Unit67?

MaxA867

I’ve settled on a Jackson Audio Bloom v2, great sounding compressor, only three controls on the compressor side (volume, blend, comp) but just makes my cleans “better.” EQ built in too which is great for taking a bit of the punch out of a humbucker guitar for funk lines. Also MIDI controllable if that’s your thing. 

EricTheWeary

Echoline do a compressor I notice as I was looking at their Easter sale. Doesn't really say it's for funk, more that Gilmourish endless sustain idea, but it does have a blend. 
 
The new J Rockett Airchild I notice is very much aimed at that funk type compression. £239 pre order, bloody hell. 

thomasw88

I always liked the rothwell love squeeze the best out of the various ones I had.   

Brad

digitalkettle said:

The idiot-proof Drybell Unit67?

This!

monquixote

munckee said:

I really like the wampler ego, I think anything with a blend should be decent that seems to be the magic dial.  

A hundred times this.

Having a blend control makes compressors so much nicer to use. It's far more important than any other factor IMO. 

Xotic SP and Suhr Koji are two examples, but there are loads of others. 

Matt_McG

I've tried a load of them. I still feel like there's another better compressor out there for me.

However, of those I've tried, the Thorpy Fat General and the Mad Professor Forest Green were the best for the "always on" tone sweetening and subtle sustain thing. I found the Mad Professor slightly easier to dial in, but the Thorpy was quieter and better built.

I didn't gel with the SlideRig (the basic small format version). Something didn't quite work for me in terms of the right balance of squish.

Currently, I have a JoeMeek FloorQ -- review here https://www.ovnilab.com/reviews/floorq.shtml -- which I like and which has an amazingly low noise floor. It's very clean and uncoloured as it's literally a rack compressor in a pedal. You can definitely dial in the funk thing, or the clean sustain thing, or the country quack. However, it doesn't quite add the sweetness that the Fat General or the Forest Green did. 

Wazmeister

Thorpy Fat Gen
Cornish OC1
UAFX Max

pt22

I do like my Fat General, but I’ve been intrigued by the new ‘76 pedals from UA and Wampler. 

I imagine the Wampler is too new, but does anyone have experience with either? All I want for now is sweet (not squashed) clean, even sustain. 

stickyfiddle

Cheers all - I see lots of googling in my future. First port of call is probably going through the ones in the HX One to get a feel for what sort of circuit actually works for me. 

What I can also say is I want something that's Boss/MXR sized, and with top-jacks. Anything else won't fit on my board, and I don't like mini pedals. So that automatically knocks out half the market  

Top of the list from a quick google are probably the new Wampler Ego76/Wong, UA 1176 (I must say their video for the Max made it sound like shit), and the Origin Cali76. 

Instantly I feel like JLJ has the Ego76 doing exactly what I want, so that could be great. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W37xAaL8-E

GavRichList

The Cali compact deluxe is glorious. That should be your purchase. 

nero1701

I quite like Fender's The Bends.

I had the Keeley Compressor + and found it a noisy hiss machine!

stickyfiddle

GavRichList said:

The Cali compact deluxe is glorious. That should be your purchase. 

This is almost certainly where I'm going to end up if I'm honest because the bass one is awesome. I wonder if I could actually try the bass one with the HPF turned all the way down as well. Must be worth a try!

The one thing that's making me think about Wampler is the tone controls. And just the fact that I love Wong... 

Boromedic

The Fat General is the answer, best compressor ever for what you're stating usage wise. 

mgaw

Fat General
DryBell unit 67
OC1
very unobtrusive 

Cali has a stronger flavour

robinbowes

Unit67 - it’s superb.