Compressors

[Boon]

Hi all, I was wondering what kind of compressor was the most common among the shadows affictionados? (If they are common item in your arsenal) I've more or less always used boss and recently acquired a boss cpx1 to which I've only applied practice time and house playing. I knew exactly where I was with the cs3 onstage so I've been A/B testing at civil volumes and found that the cpx1 does what it says and is really quite transparent. You can almost feel it changing intensity if that's the right word as you change from heavy to light playing but it never gets in the way. Has anyone else tried it? And if so do you miss a smidgeon of what I can only describe as CHUG as you dig in! I might need to spend more time with it.
I've also just ordered a baby blue from Stanley fx so that might have to wait.
Cheers
Boon

[dave robinson]

Rule of thumb amongst sound recordists is that If you can hear a compressor working, you are mis-using it.
I have used rack mount stuff in the studio for years, DBX, Drawmer even Zoom on the 2200, but it's all in the software in Logic Pro X these days.
You can make things sound better by using a compressor, but it's easier to make things worse -so beware.

[roger bayliss]

I use an EHX Platform Compressor on my pedal board which has a clean boost built in and swell. I find that multi-band compressors work best as they compress the full range of frequencies like a studio compressor would. Some compressors for guitars are not multi-band and can affect certain parts of the frequency spectrum whilst not affecting others. Some are often used for increasing sustain. I have tried a few different pedal compressors, but for me a multi-band compressor seems best. Like Dave says, too much compression can spoil results and really not something I would use too much of.

The EHX unit has great attack and hoid and used subtlety can have the effect of thickening or flattening the tone without changing it too much.

I only use small values of compression ratio.

Here's a live sound recording I did with that compressor. The echo is the Baby Blue.

https://youtu.be/qawrDShYjC0

[davec]

Be clear what we're talking about.

Studio Compressors (rack-mounted) are complex and versatile pieces of kit, with a lot of controllable parameters. In the hands of a sound engineer they can transform an entire recording. In the UK Pultecs and Altecs were preferred, in the US the favourite was the UREI 1176.

Compression/Sustain pedals are another thing altogether. They are made down to a price and offer little control over the parameters. The early ones such as Ross and MXR were simple and crude with few controls. They each have a distinctive (almost intrusive) sound but can be thought of as an instrument in their own right. The MXR in particular is an important ingredient of "Chicken Pickin' ".

Some guitarists owe their studio sound to compressors. Roger McGuinn (Byrds) got his famous "jangle" by using two studio compressors in parallel -- one to increase the sustain of the higher frequencies. Lowell George (Little Feat) used two 1176s in series to give almost infinite sustain when playing slide guitar. Both struggled to recreate their sound live: McGuinn had a Ross-type compressor built into his signature Ricky, and George used a couple of MXRs on his pedal-board.

Simon Keats of Origin Effects in Buckinghamshire has spent years recreating the UREI 1176 studio quality compressor in simplified pedal format. His pedals are known as Cali76 (parallel) or SlideRig (series). https://origineffects.com/product-category/compressors/

This is worth watching. The presenter, Jay LeonardJ, is a great demo guitarist -- if you can get past his excitable manner .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utd7PvDPPEI

The first part (Cali76 Compact Deluxe), from 2:45 on, gives an excellent demo of three ways you can use a compressor pedal (not necessarily a Cali76) to achieve a given sound. The second part (SlideRig Compact Deluxe), from 7:50 on, is about infinite sustain.

DaveC.

[Boon]

Thanks for replies and demos guys, I'm more at home with the cp1x now. If you havnt tried one into a clean amp with no fx yet then you should spend a half hour at your local trinket emporium and give it a go, its pretty awesome. Or search YouTube, i won't be rushing back to the old pedal.

[roger bayliss]

The Cali 76 actually comes in 5 different models and it is a great compressor. I think I would go for the deluxe model which has controls like a studio compressor and a blend knob for putting some of the original signal back in. It's worth watching the uTube examples to see how it benefits the clean guitar sounds. Really brings them to life and balances it out. Chicken pickers use them a lot.

[Boon]

I havnt seen one of those in use but its intriguing, I will attempt to locate one as soon as this epidemic is over, maybe a Glasgow store? Were in the sticks here and although musos get a great service from our local shop theres only so much a single store can accommodate. Its great to have a peek at how someone else builds there sound/tone especially when your looking at the same outcome! Im enjoying the baby blue, its the total opposite of how I attempted to recreate a snappy Hank sound in the past but it really works! Very impressed
Regards
Shaun