Compressor pedal recommendations?

[tremoloman***]

Some of my Strats are too bright sounding when I use a hard rock style distortion. I got a DOD Milkbox compressor to try to tone it down a bit but all it does is add loads of hum and noise. It was on sale for $30, so I guess I got what I paid for.

What do you use for a compressor? Any recommendations?


Regards,
tremoloman

[Tim]

Tremolo,

Why don't you try an EQ pedal to tone down those bright high treble sounds?

[SuperSwede]

I use the Tonelabs built in compressor, but I had a Boss CS-2 before and it was great. The newer CS-3 is probably even better, but I havent tried that one.

[jpfeifer]

Hi Tremoloman,

I'm not sure a compressor is what you need if you're trying to tame the high end of your Strat through a distortion pedal. A compressor will give you more sustain and fatten up the sound a little. But it probably won't affect the EQ that much. You might try using a different distortion pedal with a tone control on it so that you can turn down the highs on the distortion box itself.

Compressors will tend to be a little noisy anyway, especially when you use them in front of a distortion pedal. A compressor is really just an automatic gain control circuit. It does this by turning up the signal as it fades out and turning it down when you play hard. This gives the overal smoothing out of the signal to make it sound like it is sustaining more. The main issue with compressors is that they gain up your signal as it fades off, which also turns up any noise too. This is why they're a little noisy.

There's a lot of decent compressor pedals out there these days. Currently I use the one in my Vox Valvetronix amp. But in the past I used one of those Boss Compressor/Sustainer pedals (CS-3). (these have a tone control on them too)

-- Jim

[SuperSwede]

There is a lot of really nice Boss pedals.. I had a Enhancer and it works miracles on your tone if you use a lot of pedals. It also increases the clarity.

Jim is right that compressor pedals will give you some hum, but imho the BOSS compressor is the least noisy compressor in pedal form.

[tremoloman***]

Thanks for the advice guys. I wound up with the latest Boss model and it cleared up the highs when I switch from distortion to clean. I use it mainl;y for the beginning of Rush's "Where's My Thing?" from the 'Roll The Bones' album. The intro chords are so harsh when I have my rig setup for a rock sound without "toning" it down so to speak.

[ibanez_freak36]

Hey Tremoloman, if it works for my 80's sound maybe it will work for you. Try to run a combination of 3 sounds with your compressor. I try to run my Digitech RP 300, on my distrton channel preset it is comprised of a Icebox Chorus, mixed with a Noise Gate and Hall reverb. They shold be enough to emit the high end and if you turn the treble down you will get the tube style cruch with no buzz, I hope that helps a little, because as you know the gate helps muff the buzzzz

Chris

[SuperSwede]

Tremoloman, you cant go wrong with a Boss pedal!
So whats the latest model number? CS-?
It will be great for snappy country leads as well

[tremoloman***]

I haven't found the right setup for me with the Boss CS-3 just yet. It either sounds like its taking over my sound or its doing nothing. Maybe some of you with this pedal could post the settings of the knobs you find work best?

Hell... maybe that's a good idea for all pedals?!?

[Cranium]

Sorry to bring up the post again but, I also got a CS-3 and the sound becomes kinda punchy, and you sort of hear the picking more loud, so I also thought maybe some of you can give me some recommendations for the setting, does "attack" change the sensetivity to picking? And does the tone knob give you the harshness?


Edit: Nevermind now, I found a nice setting that doesn't increase the picking sound too much and it hums less, I put level and tone at around 12 o'clock, attack around 3 o'clock and sustain also around 12/12:30 It doesn't sustain like Gary Moore on Parisienne Walkways (If you haven't heard the live recording, he sustains a note for like 40-60 seconds ) but it really improves the sound (depending on your preferences).

[tremoloman***]

Nevermind now, I found a nice setting that doesn't increase the picking sound too much and it hums less, I put level and tone at around 12 o'clock, attack around 3 o'clock and sustain also around 12/12:30 It doesn't sustain like Gary Moore on Parisienne Walkways (If you haven't heard the live recording, he sustains a note for like 40-60 seconds ) but it really improves the sound (depending on your preferences).

Thanks for posting your settings... I'll give them a try on my equipment tonight. I still haven't found the right setting for the Boss pedal yet. It's tough!

[Cranium]

By the way, remember to put it before the distortion/drive pedal, I put it after it the first time and it got really noisy, but if you use it before the overdrive pedal it fattens the tone nicely, I like it alot!