Help dialing in some tone?

[Flavaham]

I know this board  is kinda dead but I figured I'd give it a shot. 
I need some help getting these pedals dialed in.  I'm on a budget so I can't really spend money to upgrade anything.  Here's what's in my chain:

Electro-Harmonix Qtron
Fulltone OCD
MXR Dyna-Comp
MXR Carbon Copy Delay

I like the tone I'm getting running the OCD at full volume with the compressor after it.  This way I can use my volume knob on the guitar to dial in how much "dirt" I want from the OD pedal.  I need some help with the compressor settings though.  Here's what I'm running into; (The Dyna-Comp has two knobs - Output and Sensitivity.)  With the compressor on, it plays at a much lower volume than the natural sound of my amp.  If I turn up the output, I get a ton of hiss and other noise.  So, what can I do to really dial in a nice clean sound here?  I want to upgrade to a Ross or Keeley compressor ASAP and add a TS, but that might be six months down the road, so for now this is what I'm working with.
Any advice?
Thanks!

[Flavaham]

Here's another quick question. (feel free to answer either or both...haha)

As my first post states, I'd like to add another OD pedal at some point.  For now, I do have a RAT distortion pedal.  Do you think that it could be used in conjunction with the OCD or should I really use another OD?  I'm looking for a Trey Anastasio type sound.  Just wondering if there might be a way to set the RAT to drive the OCD a bit more.  Obviously I'll experiment with it on my own but any tips would be good.  Should the RAT go before or after the OCD if I do this?
Thanks again guys!

[Happyorange27]

Flava-flav I'll give you my 2 pennies.  Start that comp out so that it's set for almost no compression (minimum) and the out put is at unity (so that the volume is same with the comp on and off).  You noise shouldn't be bad at all since you are not raising the floor noise = low comp ratio.  Obviously you are going to have a bunch of volume dynamics with the guitar volume knob.  Ok now barely bring up the compression ratio (which I can only assume is the sensitivity knob).  Now adjust the output of comp to adjust accordingly.  Check the dirt using the guitar knob.  Probably getting just a little bit less variation in overall volume right?  Ok keep doing this a fraction at a time. 

If you are more into Trey's 3.0 sound, you are going to keep the comp ratio rather low which should keep some stuff kind of clean for you.  You still might get more volume difference than you were hoping for going from super clean to ultra mean.  I guess this is where it would be cool to have both screamers. 

I too am on the same type of limited pedals.  One OD.  It's hard to have both rhythm and lead dirts at hand when you just have on OD so there will be a limit.  But you can still get pretty close.

One more thing, make sure your volume of the OD is set high enough.  You almost always want to be "compressing" so that the comp is always working or "past the threshold".  So if you OD is always loud enough to be past the comp threshold, then you have a better chance of keeping the overall volume uniform.

I suppose this might not be a direct answer to your setup, but it's something to play with.  I appreciate a fellow budget player:)

Let us know how you fair.

[IamWILSON]

What amp are you using and how many watts is it?  What speakers are you using as well?  I used to have the same problem with my Keeley Comp (2 knob), I can't totally remember what I did to fix the problem, but I do believe that it had more to do with adjusting my amp volume, gain, and master more than adjusting the guitar and pedals.  Also, when I decided to get a new speaker cab (mesa 2x12 with Celestion speakers - 1 C80 and 1 V30) my tone got even cleaner.  The moral being that it was my settings on my amp that cleaned up the Compressor when I turned it loud enough to match the volume when off.  And the speaker change just magnified the solution even better. 

[fulltone1989]

Definitely keeping the dyna-comp's setting lowest as possible will help keep the noise down. Also, by running the Q tron as early as possible in the train will help with it's response to your picking. The compressor makes anything after it nosier FYI

[Flavaham]

Thanks for the replies! 

I'm going to start with getting everything even and bring stuff up gradually and see where I end up.  Ideally I want to be able to go from rhythm to lead playing without having to screw with too much stuff.  Also, regaurdless of what I'm playing, I just want it to be clean.  I'm not a shredder, I like to phrase my lines as much as possible.  I'm BRAND SPANKIN' NEW to compression so this is going to be a learning experience for me.

As for the amp, I'm playing one of Brad Sarno's SMS Classic Tube Preamps, into a Carvin TS100w Tube power amp into a 2x12 cab with Celestian Vintage 30's.

As for the chain, I'm going: Qtron-OD-Comp-Delay.  I feel like putting the compressor before the Qtron or OD will kill the range of both pedals. 

I'll keep you guys posted as to how I'm fairing with it.  Hoping to get a TS9 or 808 in the near future but I'm pretty broke.  I am a habitual impulse buyer though, so we'll see. haha.

[manicstarseed]

Thanks for the replies! 

...I feel like putting the compressor before the Qtron or OD will kill the range of both pedals....

The Qtron (envelope filter, I think) needs an uncompressed signal to really "work" (expressive range).
I do not recommend a compressor in front of anything that is designed to  actuate/modulate on pick attack.

Trey compresses AFTER the TS9s. Try Guitar>Qtron>OD>Compressor>Amp. That should yield  a good starting point for you to adjust as-needed.

[fulltone1989]

Thanks for the replies! 

...I feel like putting the compressor before the Qtron or OD will kill the range of both pedals....

The Qtron (envelope filter, I think) needs an uncompressed signal to really "work" (expressive range).
I do not recommend a compressor in front of anything that is designed to  actuate/modulate on pick attack.

Trey compresses AFTER the TS9s. Try Guitar>Qtron>OD>Compressor>Amp. That should yield  a good starting point for you to adjust as-needed.

+1

Compressors fiddle with everything afterwards. What kind of delay do you have? If its a DD series I'd check out this1smyne for a cheap tap tempo box.

[manicstarseed]

..... If its a DD series I'd check out this1smyne for a cheap tap tempo box.....

Yep, I'm using a DD series delay along with the massively useful external tap tempo. Where would sound best? Best = least tone suck or effed up harmonics.

Does it work best in the Serial FX loop or between the comp and the amp?

[fulltone1989]

..... If its a DD series I'd check out this1smyne for a cheap tap tempo box.....

Yep, I'm using a DD series delay along with the massively useful external tap tempo. Where would sound best? Best = least tone suck or effed up harmonics.

Does it work best in the Serial FX loop or between the comp and the amp?

If your amp has an fx loop and you use preamp distortion, then I'd put it in the loop.

[Poster]

I know you said you dont have any money, why not ebay that stuff? Each item you listed will sell, just use advanced search on ebay > completed listings. Id argue having one beast of an overdrive pedal like a king of tone or a garmopat od would do more for your rig