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Ol' crazy eyes with the how to on using your compressor!

Compressors is like modes with me. Learn it dozens of time and then have to learn it again.

I found that with modelling, sometimes some very light compression can help with simulating the effect of an amp's power section compressing.

Pete explains attack and release well in this one. fast attack and slow release gives the mega squish sound more than ratio does. Threshold explained well too. Sometimes if i have not used a compressor for ages, i get mixed up and think of it like a noise gate which is the lower limit, not the upper like a compressor. Good vid.

Still can't help but think Another Brick tone when I think of compressors tho.

My compressor is always on. It's my magic tone secret (that and my hideously expensive Dr z amp). It's gotta be the right compressor though, and the right settings. I use mine as a kinda 'fat switch'. It just makes everything sound fuller and thicker with more sustain. It means I can use a Strat and still have the scooped, glassy characteristics of a single coil without it sounding too thin. When I was a kid I was really into Dave Gilmour, and I read that he used a compressor, so that's initially why I got one. But it works for me. I have the sustain up just enough that it doesn't sound splatty, and that I still have dynamics. My output level on the comp is about 75%, so it's giving my signal a big boost at the start of my chain, and I have the sustain on about 25%, so just a touch of extra sustain. I've had compressors that are too transparent, like you wonder if it's even doing anything, and others that just sound too, well, compressed - squishy without any dynamics - but it really comes down to the settings.

My compressor of choice is the humble Boss CS-3, but with the 'Ross mod' that Indy Guitarist (Brian Wampler) published online some 10 years ago or so. The mod makes a world of difference to what is otherwise quite a sterile sounding pedal. It's kinda like a Dyna Comp but with more controls. It was the first mod I ever did, and I've done this mod for quite a few friends too, including Conrad from the Pheonix Foundation a number of years back. I have no idea if he still uses it though.

I don't use my Strat much these days since I got my Reverend Double Agent W - when I first got the Rev I thought I might flag the compressor, as the DA has alot more sustain anyway, but I still just prefer it with the Comp on. First pedal in my chain, as I say, pretty much never gets turned off.

Grant is a big fan of Strats through Dr Z's.

Thanks, I'd been meaning to tune in to some comprssor explanation reviews but hadn't yet, so that was good.

(This guy would be funny if he stretched his earlobes and put little plastic googly eyes in the tunnels. )