NPD - SP Compressor

andyp

Well, a bit of an impulsive decision led me to buy myself an Xotic SP Compressor from @handsomerik this past weekend. It duly arrived yesterday and I spent last night playing more guitar than I have in a few weeks. It's superb!

I was never quite sure what to make of compressors and my brief loan of a mate's Tone City one kinda convinced me that I didn't need or want one. But, the niggle never quite went away so I found myself still watching no end of these on eBay etc. and had pretty much decided to try a Mooer Yellow, if one ever came up for a decent price. Somehow that escalated and I ended up buying this SP - which is a good £30+ more than I've spent on any other pedal (so far) in my two and a bit years of learning guitar. (As it turns out, a mint Mooer Yellow turned up on here the day after I bought this...)

I fired it up last night and am absolutely delighted with it. It just seems to sharpen everything up and I just wanted to sit and play guitar forever last night. I settled quickly on the mid setting (high sounded horrible to me) and the low is a little too subtle and had the level and blend dials either side of noon and there it stayed all night. I can see this just being on all the time. Sitting with my SG and my homebuilt Tele it really brought things to life. It seemed a bit extravagant given my "intermediate" type level of playing, but I'm really chuffed with it.

I think I might want to open it up and change the attack to high as now and again I can hear it cutting in, which I don't want, but for a first couple of hours use it's superb.

Andy

Vaiai

It's one of my favourites - I love the blend option too - I also used the mid but it depends what guitar or even amp you are using I suppose.
Enjoy

Beexter

I had the same revelation when I first tried mine. Always struggled with compressors until I got the SP. Have fun with it. 

andyp

One thing... I don't have the best ears, but it does seem to make things sound darker. I've got an SG Faded (plus my homebuilt Tele) and a DSL5 which does seem to sound dark by default anyway - I have both the mid and treble set at about 1 o'clock with bass at 11. I had to up the mid and treble just a touch with the SP on, not much though.

I think the blend control is the key to this thing.

shuikit

In case you hadn't realised, there are some dip switches inside that are worth a try.

Also, I very recently started running mine on 12v which I prefer and I think it's also ok at 18v.

andyp

Yeah, the pedal came with the original instructions and it shows these dip switches. I think I'm going to adjust the attack but I'll see how I go.

I'm running it on 9v...

DesVegas

+1 I have my compressor on all the time after my fuzz and rat and it's great ( a micro fender one) seems to give my tone direction and clarity

TTBZ

Nice, the SP looks the best of the bunch with the blend control!

I keep thinking about a compressor but not sure if it's worth it considering I play with amp distortion most of the time? Always feel like it'll let me get away with using less gain to get the same feel and sustain, therefore have a better overall sound?