Compressor help?

[webephishin]

thanks for the input on compressors, guys...i ended up goin to the shop today and had a good conversation about ross comps vs keeley comps with one of the workers, who is very knowledgable about pedals.  He explained to me the similarities and differences between the two and noted that he thinks the keeley is 'better' mostly because it is less noisy when it is engaged.  Anyways, I tried out the keeley 2 knob at the end of a Maxon ts9 and MXR script 90 chain and i thought it sounded awesome so i ended up buying that and the script.  It was a mint condition used one for $195 and he dropped the price to $180, pretty good buy i'd say

[sour d]

No i think its the bias adjustment for the base of the transistor(s).  CMATMODS has one too and he told me not to mess with it since it is set upon the original calibration and you shouldn't need to ever adjust it.  I haven't messed with mine but I'm sure a curious person would do that.  I think it just gets the transistors working in the most linear range which is what you want.  Keeps everything stable.  Not sure though.

I wonder why he uses a trimpot and not a fixed resistor? I have always adjusted them when I get the compressor. I plug my guitar in set both knobs on the comp all the way up and adjust the trimpot to where it has the most noise. I always thought input level had something to do with it too but after watching that video you posted I am even more confused. In the past I have had dynacomps or ross comps show up with the trimpot tweaked wrong. Like you said "curious". If you end up tweaking it and it's not right the comp will sound bad. Notes distort. Buzzy. So I take back what I said about tweaking it for your rig if input has nothing to do with it. I guess I would now say tweak it if your comp doesn't sound right or if you can see that it's been fucked with before. Here's some pics of the different parts ross used to make its comps. Whatever was the best deal at the time I guess.

[Happyorange27]

D I love your hi res pics as usual.  Yeah I started to read a book on transistors (kind of boring).  But the basics of the bias is to get the the balance of the following: impedance and gain.  If you want relatively low output impedance (which you do normally want right?) then you can't set the bias for an extremely high gain output.  Also in many hifi applications there are usually many transistors used in series to keep everything clean and the impedance low, hence you are not asking for a bunch of gain from each transistor but when you sum them all up, you get plenty of gain.  Now in you compressor you want to have just enough gain to be able to move you signal at unitary or maybe a bit above that; you are not trying to make it an overdrive pedal right?  So that's another way to look at it.  Balance that transistor so that it is happy and not overdoing it.  Let your tube screamers do all that stuff.

[webephishin]

Just picked up a black Ross Compressor for 150$ at the guitar store...I still gotta put some time into it, but after playing with it for about an hour I can start to feel/hear the difference between it and my 2-knob keeley.  I don't have a problem with my keeley, but when i saw the ross for 150$ i figured it wouldn't hurt to grab it n give it a whirl.  Do most of you guys run your compressor after your OD's?  The guy told me try moving it infront of my TS9s...what kinda differences does that make?

[the_great_lemon]

Do most of you guys run your compressor after your OD's?  The guy told me try moving it infront of my TS9s...what kinda differences does that make?

I run my Ross after my OD's. I tried it in front for about 3 minutes before i knew it didn't work for the 'trey style' tones.  Didn't allow me to clean up the super dynamic Sweet Honey, and made each note remain at the same dynamic level.  After the OD's, I'm able to crank their (the OD's) Volumes which drives the compressor which leads to epic sustainnnnnnnnnnn


I'd say, try it out in front of your TS's and let your ears decide which you prefer

[fulltone1989]

Is your comp an "always on" pedal?

[webephishin]

^yeah I keep the compressor on all the time.  For those of you that have used keeley comps and ross comps, would I be correct If i said the Ross comp "catches" or starts compressing after a longer duration than the keeley?  In other words the compression/sustain "kicks in" earlier for the keeley than the ross.

[MomaDan]

I bought a keeley 2 knob and returned it later that week. The pedal would;nt even hit unity volume at full. My AM Comprosser is so much better I love it

[Heady Jam Fan]

I had the same volume problem with the Keeley.

As for the attack time, I believe the Keeley and other clones that don't have an attack knob are supposed to have the same or pretty close to the same attack time as the Ross, but if your noticing a difference, then there might be one, at least between your Ross and your Keeley.

I also use mine after my OD pedals for the same reason stated above - I want my dynamics to effect the overdrive, with the comp first, your dynamics are significantly flattened.

The Ross probably has an internal trimpot as well, there is some discussion on this forum as to how that should be set. Yours might be set perfectly, but if you find yourself wishing it performs slightly differently, that might be a good thing to check before writing the pedal off.

[cactuskeeb]

I applaud Sour d for owning three Ross compressors at the same time.

[sour d]

I applaud Sour d for owning three Ross compressors at the same time.

Oh come on. I buy, fix, mod, pedals a lot and sometimes its hard to let go.........