Compressor/Sustainer

[cdcharley]

Does anyone have any experience with compressors/sustainer pedals? I've been reading up on them a bit and it seems there suited more for a clean, studio environement.I'm wodering how they would work with a VM using guitar pots for cleanup--would you get more clean sustain? How do they work with high dynamic running hard? any expeiences or info would be appreciated---many thanks

[TonyC]

I've been using compressors for many years and yes, I usually only use them with a cleainsh sound. If the amp is at high gain it is already compressing the sound heavily. Adding a compressor will increase the noise and the risk of unmanageable feedback. A compressor used with a more crunchy sound can however work very well.

Depending on how you set the controls on the compressor, you can get all from a light increase of sustain to a really long sustain. With the attack control you can set the amount of pick attack to be emphasized. Think of a chicken pickin' type of sound. If you use a volume pedal you can almost get a steel guitar sound with the right bending technique. Compressors are also very commonly used when playing clean pop rhythms, but can also be very useful for blues.

Check this clip with Philip Sayce, listen to the very first notes he plays...



I don't know if he uses a compressor or if it's the camera's auto gain doing the compression, but that sound is a typical compressed clean sound with a pronounced pick sound. Personally I love it.

You can read a review on lots of compressors here...

http://www.muzique.com/comp.htm

Also check out the Boss CS-3, it's a very good pedal.

Try as many as you can since they can sound very different.

[slowpokerhino]

I agree with Tony completely. I play a lot of stuff that mixes chords with single notes & I use the compressor to even out the levels. Without one the single notes tend to get buried and the chords jump out too much. I play with a very clean to slightly overdriven tone most of the time. For higher gain stuff I don't use it. It will interfere with using your volume pot to clean up the gain. I usually run it after my OD pedal so that it doesn't plus it keeps the guitars volume constant if I turn down to clean up. I guess you could try putting it in the loop, but I've never tried that.
My favorite is the Keeley Compressor, but by all means try a few if you can and find the one that works best for you. Our other guitarist prefers his Boss to the Keeley so you never know.

[cdcharley]

Thanks fellas for the input--much appreciated!

[bluesbrother]

Hi tony,
Nice tone this phillip got, he sounds great , only sometimes it is more schredding
than blues if you'd ask me.I hear no compressor in this , more a cranked amp that
gets its own natural compression.Just my thoughts..... :

[TonyC]

Hi tony,
Nice tone this phillip got, he sounds great , only sometimes it is more schredding
than blues if you'd ask me.I hear no compressor in this , more a cranked amp that
gets its own natural compression.Just my thoughts..... :

I was talking about the very first clean riff.

[bluesbrother]

Look at Phillipe Sayce -guitars and gear
The man does not even have a compressor!! His sound come from a TS808 or
a silicon Fuzface or a germanium Fuzzface.... :(

Hi tony,
Nice tone this phillip got, he sounds great , only sometimes it is more schredding
than blues if you'd ask me.I hear no compressor in this , more a cranked amp that
gets its own natural compression.Just my thoughts..... :

I was talking about the very first clean riff.

[TonyC]

Look at Phillipe Sayce -guitars and gear
The man does not even have a compressor!! His sound come from a TS808 or
a silicon Fuzface or a germanium Fuzzface.... :(

Well, I’m still talking about the very first CLEAN riff, and as I say in my very first post it could be the camera’s auto gain doing the compression. I just wanted to show an example of how a clean compressed guitar sounds, not talk about specific pedals.