Thoughts on a good compressor??

[fuzzbuzzfuzz]

I have drawers full of compressors of various brands from the huge tube EHX Black Finger to a diddy Malekko Comp. Not particularly found the magic one yet!

If it were available at a nice price, I think the Wampler mini–Ego Comp with clean blend would suffice - bring back some tone with the clean inserted and saves space.

Oddly one I did bond with for a while was the DOD FX80.

The snag I find is general placement. I'd rather not mess with my drives or fuzzes but placed after in the chain a comp completely vanquishes any volume jumps that are required.

[Pepe]

The snag I find is general placement. I'd rather not mess with my drives or fuzzes but placed after in the chain a comp completely vanquishes any volume jumps that are required.

Well, that sounds as if a compressor is not the main effect for you. I also don't like my playing dynamics to be altered or restricted, but exactly that is the purpose of a compressor. Boosters are great for me, though. And limiters for recording.

The only compressor that I liked on the spot is the rare KORG CMP-1 from 1984 that I bought in March 2023. Its two knobs and a toggle switch as the only controls make it look like a direct copy of the then already discontinued BOSS CS-1. But as it is with all the KORG modules and pedals (that were, as I recently found out, engineered by Hiroaki Nishijima, the designer of the legendary MS-20 synthesizer) it was not a clone. It is such a very well-tailored pedal that made me wonder why the noisy and unnatural sounding CS-3 came into being two years later. After I purchased the CMP-1 Laurie wrote that its circuit was similar to the one that he was contemplating in this thread.

[The_Doc]

I’ve recently changed how I use a compressor and now place it last in the chain. I picked up on this from the guide sheet that came with a 2 knob Keeley compressor. I was very sceptical at first but it works really well after the boost, distortion and overdrive.

I’m using it with a Roland JC-40 and it might not be as effective with a tube amp and their natural compression.

I think this Keeley is based on the old Ross compressor.