Playing with a compressor

12Pack

12Pack

Dyslexic b00n
Currently have a cheap Rogue vintage compressor in my pedal line up and I think I will be pulling it out. To me it was nice to have a balanced output level of sound but now I think it is a curse as I can't easily lay back finger picking to play lightly and then build to play heavier....

Is there more to a Compressor in a pedal live set up that I'm missing?

idn_smilie
 
Don't use it as an "on all the time" pedal, just kick it on when you need it...

Also, are you setting it correctly? The best way to set a compressor goes like this...

1. Turn the sustain or compression threshold all the way down
2. set the level control to unity (match the levels with effect on or off)...
3. Increase sustain or threshold control until you hear a slight volume drop
4. Decrease sustain or threshold until levels match

That sets the optimum compression while still leaving you a decent level of dynamics and doesn't squash the sound...
 
jelloman said:
Don't use it as an "on all the time" pedal, just kick it on when you need it...

Also, are you setting it correctly? The best way to set a compressor goes like this...

1. Turn the sustain or compression threshold all the way down
2. set the level control to unity (match the levels with effect on or off)...
3. Increase sustain or threshold control until you hear a slight volume drop
4. Decrease sustain or threshold until levels match

That sets the optimum compression while still leaving you a decent level of dynamics and doesn't squash the sound...
Click to expand...


I need compressor school.... thanks! I just turn knobs until I think it sounds good without really understanding what I am doing. Sort of like boobies.
 
A compressor is an effect that has a bit of a learning curve. It's not like delay where you can instantly hear what it's doing.
Jello's suggestions for setting it up will put you where you need to be and you may find you can tweak it a bit to taste.
I like that it can really smooth out your sound even with gain. I like to use them for sustain and not so much for that RHCP squashed sound.
 
I use mine for certain things with certain guitars. I use it quite a bit more for clean sounds with single coil guitars like my strat or tele. I usually only use it with humbuckers if I’m needing a country lead guitar sound. I also like compressors with a blend control so that the compression sits “behind” the dry sound to fatten it up without me feeling the compressor open and close.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
I picked up a Keeley Comp a couple weeks back when they went on sale. It’s my favorite one that I have owned. You can dial back in the attack, which it layers over the compressed sound. Makes for some cool picking.
 
Cheese Grits said:
I picked up a Keeley Comp a couple weeks back when they went on sale. It’s my favorite one that I have owned. You can dial back in the attack, which it layers over the compressed sound. Makes for some cool picking.
Click to expand...

That's a funny pedal for Keeley. Prior to it's release, the description of the Bassist/GC-2 talked about how parallel compression is a fix that doesn't work, and people should just turn down the threshold. But he's obviously changed his tune for the sake of sales.
 
Maybe I need a better comp than my ancient Boss CS-2. I just cannot get that thing to work right. I know how to use a compressor, but I think I've played without one for so long that I refuse to alter my right hand to accomodate it.
 
Help!I'maRock! said:
That's a funny pedal for Keeley. Prior to it's release, the description of the Bassist/GC-2 talked about how parallel compression is a fix that doesn't work, and people should just turn down the threshold. But he's obviously changed his tune for the sake of sales.
Click to expand...
Well, it sounds nice to my ears. :weebs:
 
I don't know if I could play a single coil without a compressor. It borders on heresy just thinking about it.

But seriously, it's all about context and proportion. Not all compressors are created equal, and a little can go a long way. I keep two compressors on my pedal board, I have the MXR DynaComp at the beginning of the chain, and my Tokai at the end to act as a clean boost. I've owned a bunch of different comps over the years, mostly BOSS or similar. All of them, as well as my Tokai are fairly smooth and unobtrusive, and easy to dial in. This being my first DynaComp, I'm still adjusting to just how MUCH it is. There's no subtlety with that thing. It's a compressor for people who really, really like compression. It colors the sound significantly more noticeably than any of the others I've owned. It definitely has a learning curve.

To me, they are an essential part of any rig, but it's very easy to over do it, or make your sound worse if you don't adjust it properly for the context.
 
As Mark said, I also like them for a clean country lead sound. Otherwise I like dynamics and compression is the opposite. I haven't fiddled around enough to see how much dynamics you can retain with the compressor. I'm not that patient. Country leads, yes. Or sometimes with some prog rock Big Muff leads. Otherwise it's off when I want to use my guitar volume knob to trigger the distortion in my Marshall.
 
I plugged in the Black Strat of Doom yesterday for the first time in a long while. Of all my Strats, that one is the least noisy except for my EMG DG20 David Gilmour equipped Strat...

The MXR makes it virtually unusable. Gebus Henri Kreesto! I was both shocked, and highly irritated by how much awful noise it added to an otherwise exceptionally quiet guitar signal. Forget stepping on a dirt pedal... That just made it horror film sound effects without touching the fretboard.

Goes back to my earlier post... Not all compressors are created equal. As much as I like the MXR to tighten up my sloppy technique and add sustain to my Humbucker equipped guitars and the White Strat of Chimey Goodness, it is horrendous with this guitar. I'm sure I could have dialed it in to a point where most of the noise was mitigated, but in doing so I'd lose all of the benefit of having it to begin with.

Conversely, my Tokai when moved to the front of the chain does not suffer the same atrocious noise issue with that same guitar, and I can actually take advantage of what it is there to do.

You must choose... Wisely.
 
OGG said:
I plugged in the Black Strat of Doom yesterday for the first time in a long while. Of all my Strats, that one is the least noisy except for my EMG DG20 David Gilmour equipped Strat...

The MXR makes it virtually unusable. Gebus Henri Kreesto! I was both shocked, and highly irritated by how much awful noise it added to an otherwise exceptionally quiet guitar signal. Forget stepping on a dirt pedal... That just made it horror film sound effects without touching the fretboard.

Goes back to my earlier post... Not all compressors are created equal. As much as I like the MXR to tighten up my sloppy technique and add sustain to my Humbucker equipped guitars and the White Strat of Chimey Goodness, it is horrendous with this guitar. I'm sure I could have dialed it in to a point where most of the noise was mitigated, but in doing so I'd lose all of the benefit of having it to begin with.

Conversely, my Tokai when moved to the front of the chain does not suffer the same atrocious noise issue with that same guitar, and I can actually take advantage of what it is there to do.

You must choose... Wisely.
Click to expand...

Good to hear you are plugging in. How are the hands coming along?
 
Psychotronic said:
Maybe I need a better comp than my ancient Boss CS-2. I just cannot get that thing to work right. I know how to use a compressor, but I think I've played without one for so long that I refuse to alter my right hand to accomodate it.
Click to expand...
I’d try something with a blend control. That made all the difference for me. I’ve been using the Wamper Ego compressors for the last few years (mostly with my single coil guitars) but the blend control seems to be available from several sources now if you’re not a Wampler fan.
 
rickenvox said:
As Mark said, I also like them for a clean country lead sound. Otherwise I like dynamics and compression is the opposite. I haven't fiddled around enough to see how much dynamics you can retain with the compressor. I'm not that patient. Country leads, yes. Or sometimes with some prog rock Big Muff leads. Otherwise it's off when I want to use my guitar volume knob to trigger the distortion in my Marshall.
Click to expand...
Sometimes with my tele or the single coil stats I’ll use the compressor to drive the amp as well as give some extra compression and it can be nicer than an overdrive pedal for some things.
 
My app is for clean sounds, it can give me the honk when playing funk and the squish when playing country leads. For OD type sounds, it is similar to Neal Schon's solo in "Who's Crying Now".
 
Bob411 said:
Good to hear you are plugging in. How are the hands coming along?
Click to expand...
Right hand has come a long, long way. It's doing really well. It is still weak, and it still hurts when over-exerted, but it no longer hurts 24/7 like it used to.

Left hand surgery was originally scheduled for September 14, as I think I mentioned here, it got postponed. Was rescheduled for October 17th (yup, two days ago), but I found out late Thursday of last week that I had to be in court in downtown San Diego to testify in a trial (no, I didn't do anything, it was a civil case I was a witness for), so once again I had to postpone it. Probably just as well, because I've had this lingering bronchial sickness bullshit that's been going around for several weeks now with no sign of letting up. Chances are pretty good my surgeon would have made me reschedule anyways due to that.

So, probably going to be mid November before it happens.

In the meantime, I'm still waiting on an arthogram of both hips (a really "fun" procedure wherein they use what looks like an embalming needle to inject dye into the joint and take "contrast x-rays") which follows the two 1.5 hour MRIs on them. That's gonna blow goats, but it needs to happen. Should have happened already, but between the imaging center and that Surgeon's referral person, it keeps getting screwed up.

The Steroid Injections I got in my knees last month worked remarkably well in terms of mitigating the pain. I had a few weeks of very welcome relief... But as I expected, the one on the totally FUBAR left knee not only wore off way too quickly, but it's quite apparent that more damage was sustained in the interim. Now it hurts worse than before and is much less stable.

What a drag it is getting old.
 
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