I need a Compressor Stomp Pedal

[Kramer]

I need a compressor stomp pedal, mostly for clean stuff. I would appreciate any suggestions or first hand knowledge. The average price seems to be around 100 bucks for most of the pedals I've looked at except for a few high end models that were over 200 dollars. I'm looking for something in the 100 dollar range being that I only need it for clean stuff at live gigs. Thanks.

[Big Kenny]

Barber Tone Press, thank me later. It is the only compressor I know of that has an active blend(parallel compression). The ability to keep the original guitar signal and compress to taste. Also had internal eq adjustment

[Tadpui]

I guess I don't understand how blending the original, uncompressed signal would keep from defeating the compression. Think about it: the compressed signal has the louder parts attenuated and the quieter parts boosted. When mixed in with the original signal, now the louder parts are loud again and the quieter parts are masked by the compressed signal's boosted quiet parts.

Anyways, give a try to the Electro Harmonix Blackfinger for some opto- compression, or I personally use the Boss CS3 for some pretty extreme sustain and squishing of the signal.

[Lt. Bob]

and, of course, that old reliable MXR DynaComp

[GONZO-X]

BARBER Tone Press.

a/b'd it against a keeley, bought the barber.

they're both good, but i really like the blend function.

plus, i can use it as a pure class A clean boost if'n i wanna

[Big Kenny]

Originally Posted by Tadpui

I guess I don't understand how blending the original, uncompressed signal would keep from defeating the compression. Think about it: the compressed signal has the louder parts attenuated and the quieter parts boosted. When mixed in with the original signal, now the louder parts are loud again and the quieter parts are masked by the compressed signal's boosted quiet parts.

Anyways, give a try to the Electro Harmonix Blackfinger for some opto- compression, or I personally use the Boss CS3 for some pretty extreme sustain and squishing of the signal.

Conpressors will put their "stamp" on a signal and often change the guitar tone completely. Why wouldn't you want some control over that???

[cephus]

I have a dyna comp and used the one in my Se50 before. I could never get used to the way that they mush up the tone. Plus I play pretty hard, so every note has a little weirdness at the beginning of every note. I think that the parallel thing sounds kind of interesting, though

[RandyW]

Kind of late now to ask since I've already ordered one. But have any of you tryed the Aphex Punch Factory compressor out. I've been running through a Focusrite Penta which sounds great but would like something more portable when out of the studio.


Just did some searching found a review by someone that owns both.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/deta...eviews/#anchor

[GONZO-X]

Barber Tone Press Blend control:

IF YOU'VE EVER....
mixed a song, and put effects on a track...

versus, running the effects on it's own fader, and 'blending' it in with the original dry track.

you'll hear how distinctly clear, the dry track is, along with the effects..

the blend effect, allows you to control how much of the original 'attack' of the pick on the string comes through, versus what the compression effect does to the sound.

it makes the compressor.... VARIABLE.

which translates into control of your effect level.

to me, it's a no brainer.

you can also take the blend control all the way clockwise, and it works exactly like any other compressor 'without' a blend control.

brilliant!

[mrface2112]

i bought an old Boss CS2 for $40 locally and it's really useful. it's got a little bit of its own "sound" but it's smooth and flexible and quite useful. i tend to use it on those songs where i play rhythm with arpeggiations so the arpeggiations are brought up to the level of the strumming (or the strumming's brought down to the level of the arpeggiations, take your pick).

might not be what you're looking for, but i like mine. it's a LOT nicer than the current CS3, IMO.


cheers,
wade

[Lt. Bob]

oooh ..... I can see the point of the 'blender' control.
I've always hated comps for guitar because of what they do to the attack ..... but this way you'd still have some of the unaltered attack available ..... cool idea.
How much?

[GONZO-X]

http://www.barberelectronics.com/tonepress.htm

[jfrog]

Originally Posted by Lt. Bob

and, of course, that old reliable MXR DynaComp

and the MXR Super comp, which is an updated version of the Dynacomp and adds an "attack control" (helps preserve initial attack if you want)

[Kramer]

I'm going to go with the Barber. I'm glad I posted this thread because I had never heard of the Tone press before. Thanks for the help.

[Lt. Bob]

good idea ..... I may have to get one too ...... looks like a very good idea.

[Tadpui]

Very interesting with the blend control. I guess I'd have to hear it to understand how it doesn't totally defeat the compression in the first place.

[jfrog]

Originally Posted by Lt. Bob

good idea ..... I may have to get one too ...... looks like a very good idea.

How much are they?

[Lt. Bob]

$150 ....... not bad if it's a really good pedal.

[ggunn]

Originally Posted by GONZO-X

http://www.barberelectronics.com/tonepress.htm

From their website:

"The most glaring drawback of popular classic compressors (and their clones) is that they reverse the guitar’s phase and cause a “pop” (squashed attack anyone?) at the beginning of every note.

Many stompboxes reverse phase; it has to do with whether the signal goes through an even or odd number of gain stages (each one inverts the signal) in processing. Reversing absolute phase, in and of itself, has no effect on the sound of your guitar.

The pop at the beginning of a highly compressed attack is the lag time between the onset of the attack and the compressor's gain reduction response. On some floor units you can adjust the attack response time to reduce the pop, but the pop is not there because of phase inversion.

Am I missing something? I'm not saying that their unit doesn't sound good (I've never heard one that I know of), but this reasoning doesn't make sense to me.

[GONZO-X]

hehehehe

hm.

all i can say is, i bought it over the keeley, cuz it did what i wanted it to do better.

and the keeley is an excellent pedal!

the blend works. it still compresses the guitar exactly as you'd expect, but allows some of the initial attack through, in PARALLEL with the compressed signal.



check the harmony central reviews...

i've played with the MXR dynacomp, dbx rack mounts, original Ross, and none of them sounded as good as the tone press.