[Oogadee Boogadee]

Always on? When do you not like to use them?

I got me a Wampler Mini Ego. Going into my MXR Modified OD into my recto, it sounds crushing during riffs and leads. I wonder- when and why would someone not use a compressor? I can only think of delicate nuanced stuff where you'd maybe turn it off (like the Diary of a Madman intro). Is that basically how people go about it?

 

[Hellion]

never bothered with a pedal before but in my HX stomp, i put it before the overdrive so the guitar signal always hits the OD exactly the same. that way when I pick like shit because i suck, it still sounds pretty much the same. :lol:

 

[Oogadee Boogadee]

So... think of it as a tone and feel shaper, and just leave on all the time, and if i want dynamics, just purposefully play extra dynamically?

 

[schreckmusic]

I use a Keeley compressor pedal in front of my Kemper. It gives me the perfect input vs clipping like crazy and I have to lower the clean sense to like -9.

 

[Randy]

Compressor is a god send for tapping and finger picking, especially clean. They also work as a pretty good clean boost, less like an OCD or Klon and more like a high output pickup, but without coloring or overdriving your sound. I rarely turn mine off, TBH.

 

[343]

I use a hypergravity mini with cleans. I dont like a lot of squish i just like it to even things out a bit and get a bit more sustain.

 

[Hellion]

this thread made me realize compressors are training wheels for control over dynamics. :lol: kinda feels like cheating now. ehh still gonna use it :lol:

 

[Mike]

I typically only use mine on cleans. However, for complex tapping it could be very useful. A good example of someone who uses one a lot while soloing is Neal Schon - he still uses a compressor even when using brutal amounts of gain.

 

[Leon]

Never.

I think I've got *one* instance of a compressor running in my AxeFx, for bass, and it's a studio-style placed AFTER the SVT model to mellow pops and such.

 

[Vince]

I use a compressor first in the chain on clean sounds. 4:1, fast attack, fast release. I want the transients there, I just want them lower volume and consistent with the rest of the trailing sound.

For bass, compressors are really great. I particularly like the MXR bass compressor with it's LED gauge at the top, it's a perfect compressor.

Then for recording, I've realized recently how important it is to run each instrument individually through a tube pre and a hardware (non-vst) compressor. I picked up a WA76 recently, and oh man does it make everything sound better. Night and day.

So yeah compressors are incredibly important.

 

[Phil]

I don't use mine for dirty tones at all, partly because it raises the noise floor, and partly because when I've already got a high gain tone, I don't notice the compressor much.

I love it for cleans, especially when you've got a midrangey or spikier clean tone if you want to cut through a mix. The compressor evens out the attack, and gives a feel that's closer to the high gain tone, so I don't have to worry about changing my pick attack as much (in a band setting I tend to pick too hard, so maybe that means I just suck haha).

I'll usually turn the attack/compression setting up until it sounds too obvious, then back it off a bit. That usually seems to drop the volume, so I'll bump the level up a bit over unity to where the general volume seems about the same as the dry tone.

I hadn't tried a compressor until six months ago or so and love it. I've never played in bands with clean tones before, so when I started playing clean stuff in a band setting, the cleans always felt off to me. Once I got the compressor, it fixed that. Probably because the bands I was in before were all EMGs --> Tubescreamer --> 5150, so I just never learned what dynamics were. :lol:

 

[Bloody_Inferno]

I used to dislike compressors, namely due to bad experience on an old Boss ME8. Now I have a few of kinds of pedals.

I mostly use them for cleans. When I did the country sessions, they were a godsend live, and essential for 12 strings. Tried using it for dirty tones just for sustain, but end up never using them.

For bass, at first I didn't need one until I got turned on to them. Now it's always on, since it makes harmonics pop more clearly and easier when slapping about.

 

[Rocka_Rollas]

I use a Keeley compressor pedal in front of my Kemper. It gives me the perfect input vs clipping like crazy and I have to lower the clean sense to like -9.

I still dont understand why they made the input so sensitive on Kemper

and everytime I asked about it on Kemper forum the answer given was "lower pickups"

but thats just lazy answer because only Kemper has this input issue, nothing else I have used it on

 

[Flexkill]

Compressor is a god send for tapping and finger picking, especially clean. They also work as a pretty good clean boost, less like an OCD or Klon and more like a high output pickup, but without coloring or overdriving your sound. I rarely turn mine off, TBH.

:dillon:

 

[schreckmusic]

I still dont understand why they made the input so sensitive on Kemper

and everytime I asked about it on Kemper forum the answer given was "lower pickups"

but thats just lazy answer because only Kemper has this input issue, nothing else I have used it on

Pretty much. Metal users who pick harder have brought it up for years on the forum.