I'm currently in the market for a compressor pedal, and the Boss CS-3 is the one I'm leaning towards, it seams like the standard bearer of compressor pedals. It may not be the best one, but I can get it used at a good price. So do you guys have any other pedals that you have tried and recommend?

I'm going to be using it to even out the clean tones and get the bass notes to sustain longer. I've heard that compressors work good with uber gain, do you guys have any experience with this?

Lastly, if you have a compressor in your chain, why do you use it? What are you trying to achieve with it? And where in the chain do you put it?

Cheers

I want to get a Keeley Compressor... maybe even the 4 knob version. The 2-knob is pretty much the artist' standard for compressors.

I feel like my hammers and pull-offs sound REALLY weak with my setup and I'd like to boost those softer sounds with the compressor. I think it would also help compress the occasional *twang* or mispick from being too noticed. I have been researching these a lot but I have to admit I haven't had the opportunity to play with too many.

Hardtail

The Keeley compressor does look really nice, but its way more than I want to pay. I was looking to get the Boss for around $40 off of eBay The Keeley cost almost 6 times as much as a used Boss, I really doubt its six times the pedal. But thanks for the suggestion

I been using this one Route 66 (I borrowed it from a friend) and it is really good. I get the results that you are looking for with this pedal. It costs a bit more but that's because it's a 2 in 1. I think that you can get only the compressor if you want.

Just checked out the single pedal version, the Comp 66, looks really nice So what do you use it for Gabriel?

I can get much more sustain for the heavy sounds without adding too much distortion/drive. It makes the distortion sound clearer and more powerful. I also use it to normalize a bit the dynamics when I'm playing a powerful riff or a shred solo. This is very important when you are playing live with a band and even more if there are other guitarists in the band. This one also works great on clean sounds but I don't really use it for it. Maybe it would be useful if you want to play country or any similar style.

You can use a compressor to play arpeggiated chords where you need all of the notes to sort of have the same volume.

I found this

I use a digitech GNX3 and it has a compressor built in. Once you get used to a compressor it is way handy. You could always get a rack unit so you can plug it in and skip the batteries. The floor unit would probably be a bit less pricey though.

I got a compressor in the Boss GT-10, but I want to build up a completely analog rig to train my ears to hear a rig the way it really sounds, as opposed to an emulation of the real thing. Emulation equipment is great, but its still not the real thing I know for a fact one day I will regress back to emulators, but for now I feel going analog is an essential step in my musical journey.

Mudbone, the GT-10 compressor is actually very good. You will have the best of both worlds if you can integrate quality drive/dis/tube preamp with the GT-10 for its programming power and flexibility. The emulation issues in the GT-10 are really in the way it handles dist/amp models. But the effects are all good quality.

I have a GT-10 compressor and limiter at work in this track. In this case, both softer and harder pick strokes are smoothed out to give a more even chugga-chugg response. http://soundcloud.com/cruciform/fire-of-dissent

As to where to put it in the chain, play around and see where YOU like it because that's the only opinion that matters in the final analysis.

The Boss CS-3 is actually decent. However if you get the Monte Allums mod, it is a fine as the Keeley, arguably better. I know Keeley has snob appeal but you can ALWAYS get as good a sound and quality much cheaper.

The guy in the US charges $65 to do the mod, if you ship him a pedal. You can do it yourself cheaper, but unless you are an experienced person working with circuits, well you may be successful, but myself I don't want to do an ugly mod job, even if it does work.

I use it most of the time actually, but you would not exactly know it, unless I was playing real clean with it on. Some compression in front of everything else can make it things very smooth, and it not over done can be used nearly all the time.

I never had an issue with noise. People who complain about noise are turning the effect up a lot more than I ever do. But subtle things can really improve your sound. Such as the BBE Sonic Stomp. I have found that while subtle, the sound is always better with that on, no matter what other effects I am playing, or what my settings are.

I agree with you OzRob, not only is the GT-10's compressor good, almost all of the effects on the GT-10 are good. It really is a great multi-effects processor. The main issue with the GT-10 is the high gain preamp emulators, which sound like a wet fart. However, I've been using the GT-10 in the effects loop of the tube amps I got to great effect. Its just at this moment I want to learn how analog equipment interacts with each other - I feel like it will help me get better results out of emulators in the future. Plus analog equipment feels more "alive", for a lack of a better term.

As far as placement in the chain, I'm going to experiment and see where I like it best, I just want to see where you guys put it and for what reason, maybe it'll give me some ideas

By the way, great track What did you use for your high gain sound?



The CS-3 is the one I'm leaning towards at the moment. I'm sure the Keeley is a great pedal, but it cost 5-6 times as much as a used Boss, and I don't think its 5-6 times the pedal. I'm watching a Monte Allums CS-3 on eBay at the moment, but I don't think I'll get it, I want to know how the original sounds, I might actually be satisfied with it

So how is that Sonic Stomp holding up? Some of BBE's stuff have questionable reliability.

Yep. Fair enough.



I don't play live but for most of what I'm doing now, I just go...

Gtr -> GT-10 [CMP->LMTR] -> DGT out -> PC

...where I do the majority of the tone shaping with Guitar Rig 4. My chain gives me all my guitar sound with the signal evened out for working with.


Thx. It's Rammfire.

If you decided to go analog, I have one piece of advice for you. Get CS3. It's a standard comp stomp that works well, and you will be completely satisfied. Nothing bad about it. There is no use for spending more cash on expensive compressors, because the difference in sound is not that big to notice. Compressor doesn't color the sound, so no one will notice if you have better compressor or not. Any will do, and Boss is standard in the industry.