recommend me a compression sustainer

Pearl Jam and toast

I'd like to hear all recommendations but just so you know my budget goes up to about 150 at the very most.

i plan on using it mainly for lead work; taking a bit of the awful crunch and distortion out of my solo's and making them more polished. And if ive got the right idea that this will work, doing the Smashing Pumpkins type of drifting solo work with it (like the end of Drown if you know what i mean).

Pacomc79

Pearl Jam and toast wrote:

I'd like to hear all recommendations but just so you know my budget goes up to about 150 at the very most.

i plan on using it mainly for lead work; taking a bit of the awful crunch and distortion out of my solo's and making them more polished. And if ive got the right idea that this will work, doing the Smashing Pumpkins type of drifting solo work with it (like the end of Drown if you know what i mean).

what types of pickups do you have?

In what guitar? what amp?

and how much compression do you want?

you may not want a compressor at all, you may want to change other stuff first.


you may actually want to try out a sonic maximiser like those offered by BBE or Aphex (guitar exciter) first.

mccreadyisgod

You could probably use a compressor, very subtly, to do what you want, but I almost think a clean boost or treble booster would be better for this application.

Pacomc79

mccreadyisgod wrote:

You could probably use a compressor, very subtly, to do what you want, but I almost think a clean boost or treble booster would be better for this application.

*Ahem* Barber Tone Press!!!!!!!!!


http://www.barberelectronics.com/tonepress.htm

exhausted

ixnay on the treble booster. hell no.

MissYouAllDay

I'm just checking out the barber tone press.

Rememebr a while back when I had that post about a "pop" at the beginning of all my high notes?
"The most glaring drawback of popular classic compressors (and their clones) is that they reverse the guitar’s phase and cause a “pop” (squashed attack anyone?) at the beginning of every note"

That was on the barber site. Could this be what is happening with my amp?

And also could someone explain 1 more time exactly why humbuckers and compressors don't mix?

mccreadyisgod

exhausted wrote:

ixnay on the treble booster. hell no.

Why not?

MissYouAllDay wrote:

And also could someone explain 1 more time exactly why humbuckers and compressors don't mix?

It's mostly the MXR DynaComp and it's clones (Maxon, Keeley, etc) that don't sound great with humbuckers. In my experience, it's a combination of two things: Humbuckers have higher output than single coils, so they tend to reach the threshold of a comp more than single-coils, and can easily overdrive the comp's circuit. Also, a humbucker has a different frequency response than single-coils, which can interact with the comp to make the sound muddy, or shrill, or just plain crappy. Comps can do some really cool things with different frequencies, and can do a lot of lousy things, too. There are quite a few people who use DynaComps with humbuckers, so it's not a universal truth, but I'd say there are better compressors out there for humbuckers. Especially comps with separate threshold and ratio controls, and an attack control is helpful for humbuckers as well.

In fact, an attack control will probably help minimize any initial "pops" from a compressor.

Pearl Jam and toast

i play an Epiphone les paul studio with humbuckers all on a nice 100 watt fender amp that im not about to look up the exact name for. its in musicians friend, american music supply, etc. very common amp.

tell me more about those other options someone mentioned (rather than a compressor.)

exhausted

mccreadyisgod wrote:

Why not?

it won't smooth anything out. in fact, it'll fact things harsher imo.

mccreadyisgod

exhausted wrote:

it won't smooth anything out. in fact, it'll fact things harsher imo.

True...

But a treble booster would still be better than a fuzz pedal.

Besides, there are "treble boosters" out there that are really more of a midrange booster.

But, back to the subject at hand...

A good comp with lots of output, or a clean boost, that's my final answer.

Pacomc79

mccreadyisgod wrote:

It's mostly the MXR DynaComp and it's clones (Maxon, Keeley, etc) that don't sound great with humbuckers. In my experience, it's a combination of two things: Humbuckers have higher output than single coils, so they tend to reach the threshold of a comp more than single-coils, and can easily overdrive the comp's circuit. Also, a humbucker has a different frequency response than single-coils, which can interact with the comp to make the sound muddy, or shrill, or just plain crappy. Comps can do some really cool things with different frequencies, and can do a lot of lousy things, too. There are quite a few people who use DynaComps with humbuckers, so it's not a universal truth, but I'd say there are better compressors out there for humbuckers. Especially comps with separate threshold and ratio controls, and an attack control is helpful for humbuckers as well.

In fact, an attack control will probably help minimize any initial "pops" from a compressor.

I have found with my Shannon modded dyna comp I can dial up the volume all the way and scale back the sensitivity almost fully and get a decent clean boost with a smoothness. Yeah it still reaches threshold pretty quick but it's not all that noticible and it knocks the harshness out of my wah. as a general rule, I don't use it at all on humbuckers because as aformentioned it reaches threshold too quick and kills the dynamics.