Pedals/Effects compression

snarf

snarf

making guitars wish they were still trees
I don't remember who it was, but somebody was asking about compressors in one of the recent AAP sessions. Brian Wampler posted a cool vid about using compression a while back that I just thought about today. Take a look if you're so inclined. As always, it's a fun and informational watch. Kind of like Griff, the guy hears stuff that I wouldn't begin to notice sometimes.

 
CaptainMoto

CaptainMoto

Blues Voyager
One of the first pedals I purchased when I started building my rig was a compressor.
At that time I really didn't understand compression that well but, I liked what it did.

Overtime, as I began diving into recording/mixing I've learned more about compression and now have 2 on my pedal board, 2 in my recording gear rack as well as, many compressor plug ins.
I'm still learning but, I can say I know that compressors are very powerful tools.
 
mountain man

mountain man

Still got the Blues!
I have a pigtronix philosophers tone micro compressor. I rarely use it. I recently was playing the ceramic pup Jeff Beck and really like the tone while using my compressor pedal. I should probably record things and then I would use compressors with mixing. But for guys like me that usually play at the house to Griff's instructional videos or to YouTube videos practicing songs I find the last thing I need to do is use a compressor. I need to be able to cut through the mix and have as much amplitude as possible so I can hear what I'm doing and hear the tone of my guitars and what I hands are doing. I need to hear if I'm making mistakes or if those b5ths sound good how I'm using them......... :Beer:
 
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CaptainMoto

CaptainMoto

Blues Voyager
mountain man said:
I have a pigtronix philosophers tone micro compressor. I rarely use it. I recently was playing the ceramic pup Jeff Beck and really like the tone while using my compressor pedal. I should probably record things and then I would use compressors with mixing. But for guys like me that usually play at the house to Griff's instructional videos or to YouTube videos practicing songs I find the last thing I need to do is use a compressor. I need to be able to cut through the mix and have as much amplitude as much possible so I can hear what I'm doing and hear the tone of my guitars and what I hands are doing. I need to hear if I'm making mistakes or if those b5ths sound good how I'm using them......... :Beer:
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Hey Mountain Man,
I wouldn't necessarily recommend getting a compressor however, your comment caught my eye.
"I need to be able to cut through the mix and have as much amplitude as much possible so I can hear what I'm doing"
That's where compressors excel.
 
mountain man

mountain man

Still got the Blues!
CaptainMoto said:
Hey Mountain Man,
I wouldn't necessarily recommend getting a compressor however, your comment caught my eye.
"I need to be able to cut through the mix and have as much amplitude as much possible so I can hear what I'm doing"
That's where compressors excel.
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I have not found that to be the case. But I see I need to go back and edit my grammar. :Beer:
 
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mountain man

mountain man

Still got the Blues!
CaptainMoto said:
This is a place to learn the blues, not a place to learn grammar.
(y)
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Uh huh. Apparently spell check didn't pick that up. I am very comfortable with the fact that I spell atrocious and if spell check didn't exist even more people than you or the few others that noticed this incorrect spelling would know. I'm retired and successfully made it through a career in engineering without having to have perfect grammar or spelling.
 
A

Al Holloway

Devizes UK
mountain man said:
Really? I have never heard that one. Got any lawyer jokes? Can we get this thread back on track without further insults?
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No Insult I spent 40 years as either a engineer or software engineer with major problems with spelling and grammer. Call it a life story.

cheers

Al.
 
Rancid Rumpboogie

Rancid Rumpboogie

Blues Mangler
Finding a compressor that works for you is not easy ... they are not all the same, far from it. You need to know what it is that you want your compressor to do. For me, that was great CLEAN sustain. I tried 5 or 6 compressors, some of them "high end" like the Rivera Sustain Shaman http://www.rivera.com/product/pedals/sustain-shaman/ that was supposed to be the greatest thing since sliced bread. All it did was turn my rig into a howling banshee. Failure after failure. Finally found one that does what I want it to do! The original Pigtronix Philosopher's Tone Germanium Gold! They have been discontinued and now all they offer is their mini version, but you can still find the original if you look. I have two ... bought a 2nd one soon as I found out they were to be discontinued. I designed my compact pedal board around this pedal and my Okko Diablo Gain+, my two most-indispensable pedals ... well, then I found my J Rockett Dude and now I have three indispensable pedals.


The Philosopher's Tone can be run on 18V for notably more headroom, and that's how I run mine. If you look in the pic, just above the PT is a small black "box". That is an Xotic voltage doubler ... and you see another one of those just above my Xotic EP Booster to run that on 18V as well.
COMPACT BOARD 2.jpg
 
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