Compressors And Cool Features

[Shadoweclipse13]

I've currently got a compressor that sounds pretty good, but it seems to be very noticeable when on. It could be my ears, or maybe it just isn't my taste. Recently, I found a few demos of the Greer Amps Lamplighter compressor that have really caught my eyes and ears. It's got a mix knob which is interesting. Not something I see on a ton of compressors. Sounds amazing, and I'm thinking about selling my current compressor to buy one.

Anyone ever use a compressor with a wet/dry mix or level control, as opposed to just compression level?

[soggy mittens]

I recently put a compressor back on our singer's board. Used to be set up through a boss ls-2; compressor on one channel for clean and other channel for dirt. But now it's in the full chain, a mooer yellow for settle compression, enough to bring everything to life but not so much to over compress the dirt.
Used to use the xotic SP on my board with the blend less than 50% But I don't do so much of the clean stuff and I like my new amps natural sound enough, love the blending tho.

[Shadoweclipse13]

That's good to know. The compressor I've got now has compression, sustain, and overall level, but it's got a noise gate which isn't something I'd ever use. I'd much rather have a mix control.

Also, I saw your singer's board! It's really cute with all the Mooer's

[FightingPlankton]

Ok, as previously stated in several threads...I'm not a compressor guy. But a buddy of mine is a pedal geek of the worst kind and has tried minimum of 30 compressors and he has finally settled on the wampler ego, which also has a blend knob.
I asked what he thought of the Tc hypergravity since multi band compression makes more sense to me. He said "it sounds too digital" at which point I quoted Metalocalypse and told him I wanted one anyway.
I think he prefers the wsmpler partly because higher price is perceived as higher quality...which is not always the case.
my 2 cents... check out the hypergravity. It has tons of options and a blend knob.
I feel like my playing style differs so much from his, what works for him isn't ideal for me.

[Sid Nitzerglobin]

I seriously prefer a blend knob, although I pretty much only use my compressors on bass going for as natural of a sound as I can manage. Xotic SP, Wampler Ego, and Empress Compressor all sound great to me.

I like the Empress the best, but it's also the priciest. It's got a slightly more full control set and the monitoring is a pretty killer feature for me that works great. I also find it able to squash a bit flatter when desired while retaining a greater degree of transparency to my ears than the SP or Ego.

[Shadoweclipse13]

Ok, as previously stated in several threads...I'm not a compressor guy. But a buddy of mine is a pedal geek of the worst kind and has tried minimum of 30 compressors and he has finally settled on the wampler ego, which also has a blend knob.
I asked what he thought of the Tc hypergravity since multi band compression makes more sense to me. He said "it sounds too digital" at which point I quoted Metalocalypse and told him I wanted one anyway.
I think he prefers the wsmpler partly because higher price is perceived as higher quality...which is not always the case.
my 2 cents... check out the hypergravity. It has tons of options and a blend knob.
I feel like my playing style differs so much from his, what works for him isn't ideal for me.

Definitely agree that expensive doesn't always mean good. I always do quite a bit of research before buying something. I play clean and use a compressor quite a bit. One thing with the hyper gravity is that it's got side jacks which I can't stand. Whenever I replace a pedal, I always look for something I like with top jacks first. What does multiband compression do differently? That's a bit of a blind spot for me...

I seriously prefer a blend knob, although I pretty much only use my compressors on bass going for as natural of a sound as I can manage. Xotic SP, Wampler Ego, and Empress Compressor all sound great to me.

I like the Empress the best, but it's also the priciest. It's got a slightly more full control set and the monitoring is a pretty killer feature for me that works great. I also find it able to squash a bit flatter when desired while retaining a greater degree of transparency to my ears than the SP or Ego.

That thing is huge! Haha. Also probably a bit more than I want to spend on a compressor, though not that much more than the Greer Amps Lamplighter I'm looking at... There's a shop near me that should carry the Lamplighter. I might try that and the Empress on Friday if I get a sec between job hunting.

I was playing last weekend a bit, trying out pedals that'll go on my bass board, and I was honestly pretty impressed with how the EQD Warden sounded on guitar. I may end up trying that out on my guitar board for awhile too.

[FightingPlankton]

Basically a multi band compressors let's you have different levels of compression across multiple frequencies. So in this case, if your Tele is too bright/harsh you can set the higher frequencies compression to a shorter attack and keep a low attack level compression for the bass frequencies. Many studio compressors are multiband, apart from a couple bass comp pedals like trace elliot(which is only 2 band)there are no pedals with as much versatility as the hypergravity.
since its TC you can save and load different settings for different instruments that may need more/less compression.
since there are so many editable settings, probably start by checking out videos.
And yeh, I know you're not a fan of sidejacks, but its like saying "my jag doesn't have a start jack so I'll just play a strat"

[Shadoweclipse13]

Interesting. The only issue with the Hyper Gravity being multiband is that it looks like you HAVE to use the Toneprint stuff to adjust anything multiband. There aren't any controls for upper or lower frequencies on the pedal face.

And yeh, I know you're not a fan of sidejacks, but its like saying "my jag doesn't have a start jack so I'll just play a strat"

That's nothing alike. Having a side or top or Strat-type jack on a guitar doesn't affect anything else but the guitar itself, or hitting the cable while playing. Pedals with side jacks makes it harder (for me at least) to keep the pedalboard smaller. Top jacks = less width of the board. Plus, it's WAY easier making patch cables for top jacks, which don't have to line up perfectly, whereas side-jacked pedals have to be near perfect in length.

[Gavanti]

Blend control is definitely useful if you want to avoid tone coloring. I'll recommend the Mini-Ego. It sounds pretty much just like the Ego, and having the attack and tone on switches rather than a pot makes sense. I like that it can go from very subtle leveling and brightening to classic Dyna Comp squash and jangle pop tones, and it's really low noise. They're not too much used either.

[FightingPlankton]

And yeh, I know you're not a fan of sidejacks, but its like saying "my jag doesn't have a start jack so I'll just play a strat"

That's nothing alike. Having a side or top or Strat-type jack on a guitar doesn't affect anything else but the guitar itself, or hitting the cable while playing. Pedals with side jacks makes it harder (for me at least) to keep the pedalboard smaller. Top jacks = less width of the board. Plus, it's WAY easier making patch cables for top jacks, which don't have to line up perfectly, whereas side-jacked pedals have to be near perfect in length.

My point was more, if everything else about the pedal was exactly what you wanted/needed, the Jacks should be negotiable. But I know how you custom made your board and it'd be almost impossible to accommodate side jacks.
and yes, the multibanday controls are only adjustable via tone print which is annoying but once it's set it's good to go.
But like I said...different spokes for different folks.
the ego would probably work best for your needs honestly.

[Shadoweclipse13]

I feel you, man. With anything other than pedals I'd be open to trivialities like that, but like you said, with my custom boards, it's too much of a pain. Honestly, the only reason I'm thinking about this (besides the fact that my current compressor just isn't doing it for me) is the fact that I just found demos of the Lamplighter, which sounds perfect so far. I'll add the Ego to my list of stuff to try at the store Friday if I get time to stop.

[Shadoweclipse13]

Blend control is definitely useful if you want to avoid tone coloring. I'll recommend the Mini-Ego. It sounds pretty much just like the Ego, and having the attack and tone on switches rather than a pot makes sense. I like that it can go from very subtle leveling and brightening to classic Dyna Comp squash and jangle pop tones, and it's really low noise. They're not too much used either.

I don't mind a little tone coloring, but for me the mix knob would be more useful for a more subtle compression. I don't always want to go from dynamics to chicken-pickin', you know?

[marqueemoon]

My (original) Barber Tone Press has a blend. It's nice, but I wish it had a treble control to bring back some of the brightness that gets lost.

[Sid Nitzerglobin]

Blend control is definitely useful if you want to avoid tone coloring. I'll recommend the Mini-Ego. It sounds pretty much just like the Ego, and having the attack and tone on switches rather than a pot makes sense. I like that it can go from very subtle leveling and brightening to classic Dyna Comp squash and jangle pop tones, and it's really low noise. They're not too much used either.

I don't mind a little tone coloring, but for me the mix knob would be more useful for a more subtle compression. I don't always want to go from dynamics to chicken-pickin', you know?

Yeah, that's exactly where it's generally most useful IME. I've found it's easier to work w/ the option of parallel compression in general too though (felt this way mixing in the studio as well so maybe it's a hold over...) You can always dial the blend full wet if you need really extreme sounds and it seems quicker to dial in whatever sound I'm looking for when I've got the ability to control the mix of clean/wet.

[Shadoweclipse13]

Yeah, that's exactly where it's generally most useful IME. I've found it's easier to work w/ the option of parallel compression in general too though (felt this way mixing in the studio as well so maybe it's a hold over...) You can always dial the blend full wet if you need really extreme sounds and it seems quicker to dial in whatever sound I'm looking for when I've got the ability to control the mix of clean/wet.

Having never messed with a compressor with blend, that's kinda what I was thinking: set the compressor where it sounds good, and then only adjust the mix knob on the fly (unless serious changes are needed for a song). Obviously recording would be different, but I imagine that would be perfect for a live show or jamming.