Off Topic Hunt for the ultimate compressor pedal!

[gtrman66]

I am currently on the hunt for a compressor pedal for my board and was curious to see what fellow forumites are using. My board currently has a tuner, wah, whammy, overdrive, phase 90 and flanger going into an exotic ep booster and has been performing great with very little noise. My current group plays mostly classic 80's and 90's rock so I need a comp that plays well with a distorted high gain amp. I tried out an exotix sp comp but it added too much noise when put in with my other pedals. Any suggestions would be most helpful.
Thanks!

 

[Pott]

I'm not sure what you mean by ultimate, but on the cheap side my boards have always had either a Marshall compressor or the comp side of the Visual Sound route 66. Love them both: cheap, easy to use, and sound exactly like I want my compressors to be (discreet, but adding that little extra balance for funk or chicken picking). I don't use one for very high gain stuff though so I couldn't tell how well they play before a high gain amp sound though...

 

[DrugDM]

Suhr Koji compressor is the way to go. I also tried the Xotic sp and found it added too much noise. the Suhr Koji is quiet and incredibly versatile. I will never need another compressor again. You can check out some demo's on you tube.
Enjoy.

 

[mikeller]

I currently have a Wampler EGO that is very good and quiet. That being said my nod would go to the Barber Tone Press....

 

[mtrejo]

I have a keeley compressor. Very dial-in-able. I tried a different brand first (can't remember, and not helpful, I know) but I returned it and got the keeley. Did exactly what I wanted.

 

[agt]

Damage Control Liquid Blues for TONE more so than compression, although the compression is great. The overdrive is very usable, but I like it for the compressor circuit and the treble control and I tend to run it clean with other pedals down the line to add dirt. No controls other than threshold, but the warmth that the tube circuitry adds is something that I have tried to find in other pedals without success. I have wanted to find a substitute because that pedal (i) is large and (ii) uses a non-standard power supply. That pedal is discontinued but you might be able to find one.

The Wampler Ego is the closest substitute I have found. It is a great sounding unit with plenty of controls. Not noisy.

I have both on my pedalboard.

 

[Norrin Radd]

Suhr Koji compressor is the way to go. I also tried the Xotic sp and found it added too much noise. the Suhr Koji is quiet and incredibly versatile. I will never need another compressor again. You can check out some demo's on you tube.
Enjoy.

Another vote for the koji.

 

[matty76]

I had a keeley and never really felt like it did what I wanted it to, it was just ok.
bought xotic sp compressor and it is an amazing little pedal.
it adds something to the fullness of the overall sound, and doesn't have a bad setting no matter where I set it.
also love the small footprint, it fits nicely on my board, I can just leave it on most of the time.

 

[ozzyrules]

I love this thread, as I am also in the market. So far, Wampler Ego is what I'm leaning towards. The Keely sounds great also(Youtube clips). I'll be interested to see where this thread goes????

 

[Voo]

+1 on Xotic
I really liked the Keeley 4 knob compressor (Don't recall the actual name)

 

[jbert]

I'm very happy with this one. I had a 2 knob Keeley for years and this replaced it.

Forest Green Compressor | Mad Professor Amplification

 

[Pablo]

I use a Homebrew Electronics CPR - it's not a studio effect and as such it has limited options, but it's very quiet, sounds great and does exactly what I want it to do... so it's a keeper. When I picked it up, I tried a host of compressors - the CPR simply sounded the best to me.

Cheers

Eske

 

[odur]

Check out CompNova from T-Rex...

 

[spkirby]

Owned a Barber Tone Press and a Wampler Ego in the past but now have a Bearfoot Pale Green Compressor, easily the most toneful of the lot.

 

[beej]

So many choices with a wide variety of sounds. I had a few Orange Squeezer clones over the years and loved them for that great squashy clean sound. The Analogman one is still my favourite.

These days I have the SP comp on my board. Pretty versatile, small footprint, can be had for cheap, can get very squashy or you can set it so it works well into a distorted amp.

 

[tekwerk]

Analog Man Juicer. If you want two in one, get the Mini Bi-Comp
For really clean studio compression, the Carl Martin is still my favorite.
Maddi

 

[Bowks]

For proper rack compressor in a box style units, check out the Empress Compressor. If that takes up too much space on the board, then look at the MXR Bass Compressor. Don't be put off by the word 'Bass', these are turning up on a lot of guitarist's pedalboards where they are looking for a versatile compressor.

For classic sounding studio compression in a pedal, look at the Cali76 from Origin Effects.

Do some reading up at Ovnilab, where they review all the compressors in the world pretty much!

 

[ozzyrules]

For proper rack compressor in a box style units, check out the Empress Compressor. If that takes up too much space on the board, then look at the MXR Bass Compressor. Don't be put off by the word 'Bass', these are turning up on a lot of guitarist's pedalboards where they are looking for a versatile compressor.

For classic sounding studio compression in a pedal, look at the Cali76 from Origin Effects.

Do some reading up at Ovnilab, where they review all the compressors in the world pretty much!

Interesting, how different is it from the MXR cp202 custom comp? I wouldn't trade my MXR Carbon Copy Delay for any other delay pedal(had a TC Electronics & hated it). That being said, I'm looking at MXR, but in all likelihood, it will be the Wampler or the Suhr.

 

[Bowks]

Interesting, how different is it from the MXR cp202 custom comp? I wouldn't trade my MXR Carbon Copy Delay for any other delay pedal(had a TC Electronics & hated it). That being said, I'm looking at MXR, but in all likelihood, it will be the Wampler or the Suhr.

The advantages of the Empress and MXR units are in the controls and the metering. The majority of 'guitar' compressors have a fixed ratio and to an extent, fixed attack and release. These studio style units have proper metering, a choice of switchable ratios and control over the attack and release. This means you can see what the compressor is doing to the signal and have a lot more control over it.

It will do everything the Dynacomp will do, with compression as an effect, but it will also be a lot more useful for evening out the signal on picked chord passages and taming any spikes in signal is that's what you want it to do.

 

[ozzyrules]

Thanks Bowks. That is very helpful. Last thing, is the pedal "quiet" at higher gain setting and higher volumes?