Interesting... Not sure why people assume that large pedalboards require some kind of tap dancing. Switchers abd midi controls are available to eliminate any hassle for that but besides that, even for someone like me who has a board with with 13 pedals, 4 or 5 of those stay on throughout a song or set, some are used sparingly, only for emergency and so forth. Well worth the money and not as nearly as complicated as people tend to believe.
The myth of pedalboard seems to stem more from a fear of pedals due to unfamiliarity rather than experience. I've never seen people who play with pedals say something like "Yeah, those darn pedals! I accidentally hit the wrong pedal/pedals during the song and it ruined the vibe". If that were too happen, that would be due to bad placement on the board (say you have a fuzz pedal too close to a delay pedal and you mean to turn the delay pedal on but you accidentally hit both, imagine that causing a huge volume boost, a blur of sound and the delay would undoubtedly clash with the delay creating am uncomfortable mess for both the player and the audience). This is a very rare occurrence, yet people who play with no pedals believe it to be a common thing.
It's as non-pedal players believe that pedal players are generally too reliant on pedals rather than instinct. That generally is not the case.
This ideal isn't a huge deal, just wanted to clear that small thing up
Anyway, came across this and a compressor with a germanium/silicon transistor boost really appeals to me. I have no need for it but it seems like a great pedal to kill 2 birds with one stone
I have been getting more into compressors lately. Verily navigating what is the unforgiving learning curve in which the process to get better tones from that of a pedal which is capable of easily killing your guitar's natural tone as well as your dynamics. Not too much unlike a noise gate (the opposite of a compressor). I hated compressors for over 25 years, now I love them as much as anything else I own. I have 3 compressors and wouldn't mind added this Pigtronix into the pedal collection. They are always on pedals.
Once you learn the greatness that is a good compressor pedal, you can play your favorite tube amp at volume 1 or 2 out of 10 make that amp feel like it's cracked if you know what you're doing.⁴ Balancing levels, retaining the natural dynamics as if the pedal was never on but yet improving your core tone and increasing both your amp's natural harmonic content and sustain is a miracle of modern engineering!
Single channel board copy by https://www.flickr.com/photos/152274366@N08/
