PRS Pedals - who's got the trio? (date-stamp Jan 2023)

[j.a.]

As far as coloration, I don't hear any. The guitar sounds the same to me when the pedal is bypassed and when it's active, minus any compression. It's very transparent to my ears.

Now the noise. I'm not going to say it's true on every pedal, but I do hear a bit of noise introduced when the pedal is on. Going through the amp, I discounted it - I sometimes get noise from suspected interference or whatever the conditions of the day are. But at the very end of the clip, I plugged the pedal directly into my interface with no input, no processing of any kind. It's bypassed for about 5 seconds, and I think you can clearly hear where it kicks in. All that said, there's not very much noise at all. In a clean setting, I don't think it's noticeable unless you're playing solo in a very quiet situation. With OD or distortion, everything is multiplied, so it's more noticeable there, but in my mind, it doesn't rise to a level that makes it unusable. I did have a heater running when I recorded, but I tried it afterwards with the heater off and I didn't notice a difference. The heater was off for the very last clip, so that's just pure pedal.

Many thanks for theses tests!

I’m happy you covered the noise as that’s the point I was wondering the most. I have a Xotic SP compressor that increase the hum in single coils bothering me a lot, yes, it’s a nice compressor but quite noisy imho. So I was thinking in trying Mary Cries but it’s hard to get it locally in Australia.

The other I’d like to try is the Horsemeat, however as I have a Tumnus and Thorpe FX The Dane, I keep telling myself, I don’t need another OD

 

[Longneck Tenon]

The classic opto-compressor is the Teletronix (Universal Audio) LA-2A, a $4500 tube optical compressor that's still in production, and a studio classic. It's a two-knob compressor (there's a switch on the front panel for setting the output level to pro level or consumer level, but the controls are two knobs).

Teletronix® LA-2A Classic Leveling Amplifier | Universal Audio

Audio professionals revere the LA-2A. The original was immediately acknowledged for its smooth, natural compression characteristics. Its tube-driven electro-optical attenuator allows instantaneous gain reduction with no increase in harmonic distortion.

www.uaudio.com

On a classic opto-compressor the ratio is fixed, and the two knobs are interactive, just input level and output, but that's what controls the operation of the device.

There are no threshold, attack and release controls, everything is about how the two knobs interact.

Not only is it the easiest compressor in the world to use, it's one of the best sounding for vocals and guitar solos, and it's been my absolute first choice for lead guitar on every recording I've ever mixed. And I've tried just about everything. It's hard to make a recording sound bad with an LA-2A.

This pedal is supposed to be an opto-compressor. I haven't tried one, so I can't say how it sounds, but there's nothing at all wrong with 2 knobs on an opto-compressor, they're all that's needed (and all that's desirable, really) with that type of circuit.

Both my Keeley and the Mary Cries are 2 knob designs and I actually prefer the simplicity of them. The PRS has a very transparent quality to it throughout while I find that the compression has to be in a certain ratio to remain transparent, but that is easy enough to adjust.

 

[Black Plaid]

The Mary Cries is the only guitar pedal compressor I've ever tried where I didn't wish it had a mix knob. It's so good.

The Horsemeat ... well, it's a tube-screamer with more knobs. Sorry to say that, but I really don't like the clean-signal-mixed-in-sound of those types.

 

[darkbluemurder]

The Mary Cries is the only guitar pedal compressor I've ever tried where I didn't wish it had a mix knob. It's so good.

The Horsemeat ... well, it's a tube-screamer with more knobs. Sorry to say that, but I really don't like the clean-signal-mixed-in-sound of those types.

Interesting - I did not even notice the clean signal mixed in, even though that is something that always irritated me with the Tube Screamer and still does on all other pedals that have it. IMHO this feature is much more useful for bass.

 

[Longneck Tenon]

Many thanks for theses tests!

I’m happy you covered the noise as that’s the point I was wondering the most. I have a Xotic SP compressor that increase the hum in single coils bothering me a lot, yes, it’s a nice compressor but quite noisy imho. So I was thinking in trying Mary Cries but it’s hard to get it locally in Australia.

The other I’d like to try is the Horsemeat, however as I have a Tumnus and Thorpe FX The Dane, I keep telling myself, I don’t need another OD

I’m building a pedalboard for my son who plays through my silver face Vibrolux Reverb. (I have another one that I run wet/dry with a Supro Keeley 12). For a medium overdrive I am going to give him the option of my J Rockett Archer or a Way Huge Red Llama. Whatever he doesn’t use I will put on my board, but I’m pretty sure he will take the Red Llama.

 

[shinksma]

The Horsemeat ... well, it's a tube-screamer with more knobs. Sorry to say that, but I really don't like the clean-signal-mixed-in-sound of those types.

Hmm, maybe that's why I like it - I have a bunch of OD/dirt pedals that just overdrive/distort, and no clean signal is mixed in, so the Horsemeat is "different" and therefore interesting.

It has stayed on my board, and I ended up putting a RAT clone in where the Oxblood had been.