How do you choose a compressor?

[Hotspur]

I'm thinking of adding a compressor to my board. I tend to be a fairly bluesy player, so I don't really want too much compression, and I like relying on my tubes to compress my signal without taking away feel (playing mostly in a vintage-marshall mid-gain kind of space), but I'd love to add one and a volume pedal so I could do some swells for ambient stuff, and maybe also as a bit of a boost for some solos.

Only ... how the heck do you choose? With almost every other effect, it feels like you can really hear the difference from one pedal to another. Demo videos can give you a good sense of the range of the pedal, it's strengths and weaknesses, but with compressors it's almost impossible to hear any sort of differences.

What makes a good compressor? What makes compressors different from one another? It just seems so hard to tell one way or the other. I mean, is it just, "Get a Keely and stop worrying about it?" but what about the Keely makes it so popular? (I do like that it was a level knob so I can use it as a clean boost).

 

[Simon Says]

I'm one who hates compressors. Number of reasons but noise and clunky tone of most makes the top list why. Saying that I absolutely adore Origin Cali76 CD for what it does. I set mine with gentle compression passing about half my unprocessed tone with balance knob. This thing is quiet and gives the least flavour of all compressors I have tried before. For cleans its always on. Talks well with edge of breakup tones too. You can dig in in your strings and amp still breaks nicely with Cali76 in between

 

[andy474x]

I had to go through a small number of comps before I found one I liked. Basically I had a hard time dialing out the poppy front end attack and still getting decent sustain. The one I ended up with was the Walrus Deep Six, I set mine similar to how @Simon Says does his. Really appreciate having a blend knob. I’ve heard the Cali76 is fantastic too, but I just had to try them to see what I liked, and the Deep Six just happened to be the one I got my hands on and liked. My local shop, at the time, wasn’t an Origin dealer.

So, yeah, they’re out there, just have to try some and see what sticks!

 

[bodia]

You should really check out the Drybell Unit 67. FANTASTIC pedal.

 

[Going Modal]

Choosing a compressor is not an easy task. I'm somewhat in the "I don't like compressors" camp; however, I've come to appreciate occasionally how they can even-out your dynamics/volume (i.e., makes you sound like a better player) and also how you can emphasize certain dynamics in your playing without spiking/dropping the volume noticeably. So, I guess I don't not-like them anymore, really...

Back to your question: You almost have to try a bunch of them out, and--for me--it comes down to feel. I like what a compressor does, and yes I realize that it's "squeezing" the signal, but... I don't want to feel like it's squishing the heck out of me. Some of them almost make me feel claustrophobic or they mess with my brain/ears because there's a strong disconnect between what my ears hear vs. what my hands just did on the guitar. Disorienting, almost. My favorites have tended to be the Barber Tone Press and the newer Keely Compressor Plus. Incidentally, both of those have a blend knob to bring in some of the unadulterated signal--some compressor purists will say that this defeats the whole purpose, but I don't care, it sounds/feels good and I like it, and there's no rules anyway.

 

[Draconomics]

Back to your question: You almost have to try a bunch of them out, and--for me--it comes down to feel. I like what a compressor does, and yes I realize that it's "squeezing" the signal, but... I don't want to feel like it's squishing the heck out of me. Some of them almost make me feel claustrophobic or they mess with my brain/ears because there's a strong disconnect between what my ears hear vs. what my hands just did on the guitar. Disorienting, almost. My favorites have tended to be the Barber Tone Press and the newer Keely Compressor Plus. Incidentally, both of those have a blend knob to bring in some of the unadulterated signal--some compressor purists will say that this defeats the whole purpose, but I don't care, it sounds/feels good and I like it, and there's no rules anyway.

Pretty much in agreement. I like compressors to a point. When the dynamics of playing begin to get effed due to the compressor making everything the same volume, then I'm not for it. What I want in a compressor is to give my cleans a bit more fullness and add some volume to single coil tones. Sometimes run it before an OD for a gentle boost, and that's it really. Some compressors are key items in certain tones due to the way they alter the overall tone (say Trey Anastasio and the Ross) some are almost more of a booster than a compressor (I remember Pete Towsend was running a Dyna-Comp full blast into his amps) so you really have to just know what your'e after and try as many as possible.

BTW, I currently run a Keeley. Don't see any need to use anything else. There are some others I've had my eye on, but I think the Keeley is fine and a great pedal.

 

[CandidPicker]

Will 2nd the Origin Cali and Drybell Unit 67...

Will offer one additional compressor for folks on a tighter budget...

The Wampler Ego Compressor, available in standard Boss or mini-compact size. The advantages is that it "passes the test" regards how well the effect functions and is versatile in its own right. Used sparingly, the Ego provides compression in a more subtle manner, and the level and blend knobs dials in the effect more or less to your tastes, with dry or wet signal processed accordingly.

IIRC, the savings are substantial over higher priced devices. While the Cali and Unit 67 have more bells and whistles, the Ego Compressor does what you need when you need it, for less cash.

Both effects are low-noise floor. You might experience some ambient noise stacking overdrive or distortion/fuzz effects, but that is expected...

Here are some vids to listen to for comparison:

 

[Hotspur]

Can somebody give me a sense of how much you need an attack control? I don't really understand what those do compared to the sustain dial.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Can somebody give me a sense of how much you need an attack control? I don't really understand what those do compared to the sustain dial.

The attack control sets the time of how fast (or slow) the compressor “grabs” the note. Slower times let more of the initial signal pass through before the compressor starts working.

 

[CandidPicker]

Can somebody give me a sense of how much you need an attack control? I don't really understand what those do compared to the sustain dial.

IIRC, attack is how quickly compression reacts to pick attack. (Read: how much delay time between the picked note and when compression occurs). I'm not up on the audio details, but wiki is relatively good describing what attack and release do regards compression.

See wiki here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_range_compression

 

[Going Modal]

Can somebody give me a sense of how much you need an attack control? I don't really understand what those do compared to the sustain dial.

I see that bodia has already posted a Pete Thorn video. But I've found this other one particularly helpful in understanding what all those compressor controls do:

 

[CandidPicker]

I see that bodia has already posted a Pete Thorn video. But I've found this other one particularly helpful in understanding what all those compressor controls do:

Thanks for that. Pete did well with his instruction.

 

[jak3af3r]

Will 2nd the Origin Cali and Drybell Unit 67...

Will offer one additional compressor for folks on a tighter budget...

The Wampler Ego Compressor, available in standard Boss or mini-compact size. The advantages is that it "passes the test" regards how well the effect functions and is versatile in its own right. Used sparingly, the Ego provides compression in a more subtle manner, and the level and blend knobs dials in the effect more or less to your tastes, with dry or wet signal processed accordingly.

IIRC, the savings are substantial over higher priced devices. While the Cali and Unit 67 have more bells and whistles, the Ego Compressor does what you need when you need it, for less cash.

Both effects are low-noise floor. You might experience some ambient noise stacking overdrive or distortion/fuzz effects, but that is expected...

Here are some vids to listen to for comparison:

I'm a big Wampler fan and have both sizes of the Ego. Like you said, they're both extremely quiet. They also have, what I think, the most important control; blend.