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Compressor


Buc McMaster

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Those of you that play live may know the joys of using a good compressor in the signal chain. I thought I had found the cat's meow in the Keeley 4-Knob, no doubt a fine piece of gear, but........ The Wampler EGO is definitely a step above...... My style of music does not need outboard effects......chorus, delay, looper, etc.....I just need a good solid acoustic tone. The Schertler amp has a real nice spring reverb in it, providing a warm aftertaste to the sound that does indeed work for what I do. A compressor is not so much an effect as signal processing. Adjusted properly it adds warmth and an overall smoothing of the guitar. It calms boomy body noise and just makes the tone sparkle. The Keeley unit is good and considered a top shelf compressor pedal but it has a darkening effect on the tone, requiring an amp adjustment to compensate for high frequency loss. Enter the EGO. This unit has two controls the Keeley doesn't that makes it a better mousetrap: Tone and Blend. The EGO splits the input signal, sending one through the compression circuitry and leaving the other dry.......

 

The Tone control adds back high frequencies otherwise lost and effects only the compressed signal, leaving the dry signal unaffected. It's similar to a presence control on an old Marshall 50W Plexi, sweetening the high end without being harsh. The Blend control does what the name implies, putting the dry and compressed signals back together in a mono output. Terrific idea! This allows for dialing up a relatively radical compression signal and mixing in just the right amount. Or setting up a very mild compression and dialing the mix toward that side. There are the usual controls for a compressor: Sustain (how much squeeze is applied), Attack (how quickly the compressor reacts to input) and Output (overall volume of the pedal). Still much experimentation to be done with this one........there's so much versatility in the control layout.

 

If you haven't played with compression in live acoustic guitar sound I highly recommend you consider it..........amazing what it does for sound without really altering the instrument's natural tone.

 

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That's it for me.......a tuner and a compressor. For open mic stages I've been just using the Red Eye preamp to get some level of consistency from different house rigs and to keep the "get up and get down" process simple. I might well use this compressor next time out sans the Red Eye...............

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A compressor (IMHO) is probably the single most important part of any ones live setup. Especially for an acoustic, where you're always lookin for all the clean head room you can find with out any harsh attacks when you STEP on it. Enter a good compressor...

 

 

I've been using a few different ones, with varying (mostly good) results. It's hard to find the RIGHT one as it has to be transparent but take care of business. Many of the popular ones alter your tone, the Boss Compressor is probably the biggest tone robbing device ever made.

 

Wampler pedals seem top notch, sounds like you may have got the right one! (I was surprised to hear your review on the Keely as I thought that would be the "go to") I may have to check it out,.... Always on the prowl for things that makes the sound in my head, come to life! sometimes you need just a bit more than a cable to do that.

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Definitely absolutely for my "studio", I never play acoustic without some kind of compressor between me and the box. Live, eh. Not so much, I'm not as invested as you acoustic artists are, I'm just using the acoustic for songs they expect to hear it and see it. I am projecting my public acoustic use to increase substantially over the next couple years, so I am always interested in what you acoustic type artists say about these things.

 

Looks like a good setup Buc.

 

And hey, who doesn't like referring to others as "...you <something> people"?

 

rct

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......I was surprised to hear your review on the Keely as I thought that would be the "go to"......

 

The Keeley is a good unit but perhaps better used in an electric guitar rig, rather than acoustic. Having acquired the Wampler I will definitely be letting the Keeley go.......trade it, sell, I dunno....

 

..........anyone want to try it out? I'll send it to you for a test run with your gear........ We could have a Keeley Compressor Tour like I did with the Elliot capo.

 

 

........vocals have nothing added but there's a compressor in the guitar line?

 

Correct. When using the Telefunken mic for vocals and plugging in the Hummingbird (w/K&K) I can put the compressor in the guitar signal path. If there was an inexpensive way to add a compressor to the vocal mic I'd certainly do it..........compression works the same wonders for vocal as it does for acoustic guitar. But compressors with low impedance XLR inputs are all rack mount units and can be very, very expensive. The voice will just have to suffer with a little reverb and good EQ at the Schertler.

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..........anyone want to try it out? I'll send it to you for a test run with your gear........ We could have a Keeley Compressor Tour like I did with the Elliot capo.

 

 

maybe... what would you be thinking about $fetching$ for it?

 

why not PM me and we can talk turkey,, or compressors,, what ever you want to talk about..

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Definitely absolutely for my "studio", I never play acoustic without some kind of compressor between me and the box. Live, eh. Not so much, I'm not as invested as you acoustic artists are, I'm just using the acoustic for songs they expect to hear it and see it. I am projecting my public acoustic use to increase substantially over the next couple years, so I am always interested in what you acoustic type artists say about these things.

 

Looks like a good setup Buc.

 

And hey, who doesn't like referring to others as "...you <something> people"?

 

rct

 

 

that is a valid point. I probably am using my acoustics as much as my others. This is why we tend to notice the variances that too much or lack of humidity can do to an acoustic guitar. This prolly helps to explain away some of the OCD-ness that gets on parade in here now and then :) it's really it's our cross to bear man!

 

as for internal references.. ha! Who knows Ron,, ... I'm just here for the free samples..

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that is a valid point. I probably am using my acoustics as much as my others.

 

Oh jeez no. Two, 4 songs at most, usually mid first set we go to acoustic and drummer boy uses Co Ho Nays thingy. I keep it out the rest of the night in case of the inevitable audible, so I may pick it up one more time. Yes, you guys would know these things far more than I. I am usually busy with you know the flying split leap through the flaming hula hoop at the end of Jailbreak.

 

as for internal references.. ha! Who knows Ron,, ... I'm just here for the free samples..

 

Try the fish glue!

 

rct

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I am usually busy with you know the flying split leap through the flaming hula hoop at the end of Jailbreak.

 

 

ha! jaysus.. yer killin me... LOL!

 

Try the fish glue!

 

 

I just got some gorilla glue, don't think it's the same..

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Its interesting. I do have a compression on the Aura Spectrum DI, and i apply it, slightly. But it has never been a major component part in my chain. I found too much compression can infact take away from the tone, just evens it out too much. I apply it maybe 15% at the most.

 

But I just bought a 2nd hand Boss VE-8 Ive been dickin' around with it all weekend and Im quite impressed with it. Needs A LOT of tweaking like the Play Acoustic, but it looks like it may well become my only 'box' now in the chain, thus removing the Play Acoustic, Aura Spectrum and G3 effects unit all together - it does all in one and Im 'almost' satisfied with how all the three functions sound - need a bit more work, but that will come during the week.

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