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Topic: Recommmend a compressor, please |
James Mayer
From:
back in Portland Oregon, USA (via Arkansas and London, UK)
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Posted 27 Mar 2007 7:27 am |
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What I want it for: Removing the pick attack to get a "bowed" sound with even volume and long sustain time.
This sort of sound would be nice.
http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=50:wjuh61po71l0~T
I had a friend tell me he uses the Boss CS-3 and he can almost completely remove the "click" but the noise the pedal introduces has him shopping again.
There are just so many out there and some don't have "attack" controls which I'm assuming is necessary to remove the pick attack from the sound.
Thanks in advance. |
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Scott Appleton
From:
Ashland, Oregon
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Posted 27 Mar 2007 8:06 am
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Keeley 4 knob .. or any one with ADSR Attack decay
sustain and release will get rid of pick attack. The DBX rack mount will do it .. Usually cheap. |
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James Mayer
From:
back in Portland Oregon, USA (via Arkansas and London, UK)
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Posted 27 Mar 2007 8:21 am
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I've looked into the Keeley. It's pretty dang expensive from what I remember. I'll take another look.
At one point, I posted a similar question and someone mentioned Marshall's "Edward the Compressor". It's affordable and looks to have a lot of control options. Has anyone tried this. |
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Scott Swartz
From:
St. Louis, MO
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Mike Phillips
From:
Brooklyn, NY
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Posted 27 Mar 2007 9:51 am
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i'd like to suggest the Barber Tone Press. it's very reasonably priced, built well, and does what you want - plus a whole bunch more. you can dial in the long transparent sustain thing with no cluck, or get the very compressed MXR dynacomp clucky thing that some guys like for country-fried licks.
i used it in the studio w/ my push pull and a princeton reverb and it really helped keep things even and managable, while not sounding compressed. the engineer was very happy when that pedal made an appearance.
mike |
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James Mayer
From:
back in Portland Oregon, USA (via Arkansas and London, UK)
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Posted 27 Mar 2007 10:03 am
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Mike, I don't see an "attack" knob on the Barber. Can you describe how you would set the knobs to get the sound I've described?
Reading from the Barber site, it appears that they think the suppressed attack is a bad thing.
http://www.barberelectronics.com/tonepress.htm |
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Mike Phillips
From:
Brooklyn, NY
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Posted 27 Mar 2007 10:09 am
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sorry, i wasn't sure that the attack know was a deal breaker. i know some compressors use different names for similar concepts or parameters. they have some sample settings, i think you could find it on the website.
in fact, they offer a PDF of their manual on the tone press page and here i have pasted the seetings that i have found really helpful:
Here are some suggested settings, please keep in mind these are only general suggestions and your best tones will be found by experimenting and dialing in your best tone. All setting below are in relation to clock settings (2.00= 2 o clock).
1. Magic dust for single coils-vol 2:30 blend 11:00 sustain 11.00
2. Vintage guitar comp-volume 2.00 blend 5.00 sustain 12.00
3. Class A clean boost- volume 5.00 blend 7.00 sustain inactive.
4. Clean with great sustain- Volume 3.00 blend 12 sustain 3.00.
5. Light and loud!-Vol 4.00 blend 9.30 sustain 11.30.
6. Heavy rubber- Vol 3.00 blend 2.30 sustain 4.00.
i really like the single coil pixie dust setting there... hope that helps.
mike |
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James Mayer
From:
back in Portland Oregon, USA (via Arkansas and London, UK)
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Posted 27 Mar 2007 10:20 am
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Hmmm. Ok. So, Mike. Are you able to use the Barber to remove pick attack?
Sorry, I'm not getting much out of your 1-6 settings. |
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Mike Phillips
From:
Brooklyn, NY
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Posted 27 Mar 2007 10:28 am
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james --
honestly, i haven't scrutinized whether or not i can remove pick attack. so i couldn't answer that completely. i think the settings i posted are helpful when you've got the pedal in front of you. i really just posted those there to show you that the controls offer a wide array of tone shaping.
in sum, all i would like to say is that i found this to be a real nice compressor for a nice price. and i am glad i bought it.
mike |
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Dave Mudgett
From:
Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
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Posted 27 Mar 2007 10:30 am
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Mike - thanks for the heads up on the Tone Press. I really like the idea of a parallel wet/dry compressor with a Blend knob, and the reviews are fantastic. This looks like a winner.
Of course, a Joe Meek compressor is always nice. Single-channel version here: http://www.zzounds.com/item--JOETHREEQ |
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Alan Kirk
From:
Scotia, CA, USA
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Posted 27 Mar 2007 11:39 am
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Keeley. Like an old MXR Dynacomp, without the noise. Pay more. Be happy.
_________________
Everyone in the world has two jobs: 1) whatever they do for a living; and 2) music critic. |
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Roman Sonnleitner
From:
Vienna, Austria
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Posted 27 Mar 2007 1:09 pm
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I think I have recommended it to you before:
Try the Marshall Edward The Compressor - it can do exactly what you want (suppress the pick attack), and lots more, it sounds very warm, non-digital, is not noisy at all, very sturdy construction, and priced really competitively; in my opinion by far the best buy on the market if you aren't looking for a boutique or studio compressor unit, it is much better than anything in its price range (MXR, Boss, Digitech, Line 6, DOD - which I all tested and compared before choosing the Marshall). |
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James Mayer
From:
back in Portland Oregon, USA (via Arkansas and London, UK)
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Posted 27 Mar 2007 1:21 pm
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| Roman, I'm planning on trying the Ed comp tomorrow at a local store. Thanks for the recommendation. |
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Mitch Adelman
From:
Pennsylvania, USA
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Posted 27 Mar 2007 6:17 pm Compressor
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| I really like the Black Box (not Brad's great buffer) Oxygen Compressor pedal. I have a Keely and its the best for my tele but the Oxygen has the best controls of any pedal I've used for steel. Includes a limiter, attack, release,noise gate and a saturation knob (called dirt but real subtle). The limiter knob really helps with steel clean sustain. True bypass.No tone loss.Great pedal but up there in price ( abit more than the Keely). |
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John Macy
From:
Rockport TX/Denver CO
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Posted 27 Mar 2007 7:01 pm
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One more biggg vote for the Tone Press here... 
_________________
John Macy
Rockport, TX
Engineer/Producer/Steel Guitar |
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James Mayer
From:
back in Portland Oregon, USA (via Arkansas and London, UK)
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Posted 28 Mar 2007 6:30 am
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| I've just had a phone conversation with David Barber of Barber electronics. When I asked about suppressing pick attack he said that I should look into a cheap compressor as the Tone Press is designed specifically to maintain the instrument's attack. |
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James Mayer
From:
back in Portland Oregon, USA (via Arkansas and London, UK)
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Posted 28 Mar 2007 7:04 am
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| Roman, can you post the settings you use on your Marshall Edward to achieve the effect I'm looking for? I won't have much time in the store and any help is appreciated. Thanks. |
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Michael Haselman
From:
St. Paul
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Posted 28 Mar 2007 9:20 am
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I put the Monte Allums Opto mod on my CS-3, and that improved it quite a bit. Only $20, and not too difficult. Also came with a cool blue LED that looks much better than the red. Check it out at www.monteallums.com.
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Mullen RP D10, Peavey NV112, Hilton volume. Hound Dog reso. Piles of other stuff. |
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Roman Sonnleitner
From:
Vienna, Austria
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Posted 28 Mar 2007 9:27 am
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| James Mayer wrote: |
| Roman, can you post the settings you use on your Marshall Edward to achieve the effect I'm looking for? I won't have much time in the store and any help is appreciated. Thanks. |
"Emphasis" at about 2 or 3 o'clock (this one controls whether high or low frequencies get compressed more - since the pick attack click is in the higher frequencies, turn this one towards low).
"Volume" set so that the volume doesn't change to much when turning on/off the pedal - for me at about 10 or 11 o'clock.
"Attack": this one controls the suppression of the pick attack - I set it at around 11 o'clock, but you might want to play around with that one a bit more.
"Compression" controls the "squashing" of the signal, and the added sustain - I have mine at around 12 to 1 o'clock. |
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Dan Tyack
From:
Olympia, WA USA
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Posted 28 Mar 2007 12:40 pm
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Going back to the original question, I wouldn't use a compressor at all to get the sound you are looking for.
I'd just play my lap steel using the neck pickup through my THD BiValve with the power amp cranked, and use my fingers.
I'll post something if I get inspired.... |
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James Mayer
From:
back in Portland Oregon, USA (via Arkansas and London, UK)
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Posted 28 Mar 2007 1:13 pm
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Dan, I know that the player on that clip uses his finger instead of picks. The problem with my fingers is they have nails. It still sounds like picks. I'm a flamenco guitarist as well so I'm not getting rid of them.
I just got back from the local shop where I tried out three compressors, the Boss CS-3, the Marshall Edward and the Keeley 4 knob. I couldn't tell much difference between the Keeley and the Marshall. I didn't spend as much time on the Boss but I spent enough time to hear a lot more noise than the other two had. The Marshall also seemed to change more when the knobs where twisted, which could be a good or bad thing. In the end, the Keeley was $250 and the Marshall was $45, used. I got the Marshall.
It's tough to try out compressors on an unfamiliar rig. At least I haven't invested much $$ to learn the ropes of compression. |
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