Anyone have a compressor recommendation?

Recording, Mixing and Producing
#1

Hey all. Anyone know of a good guitar pedal compressor that’s aggressive but super clean? Need something with fast enough attack to do country and funk. Main guitar is a Tom Anderson telecaster. Doing really choppy ultra clean choppy funk comps and a hybrid style country riffs would be the sole purpose of the compressor here.

I’m overhauling the guitar rig for live performances. I’m trying to keep everything as stupid simple as possible. So running a Triaxis, G-System, and stereo 4x12 rig. However, the built in compressor on the G-system is HORRIBLE. It’s downright unusable.

(Not using Badcat… I just put it there to get it off the floor).

Everything’s going on a rack. The pedals will end up in a Brashaw style rack mount drawer. I have a BSS DPR-402 hardware compressor unit that I MIGHT be able to use (not sure about impedance issues), but I’m wondering if a guitar stomp box compressor is the way to go here. I really don’t know much about guitar pedals and what’s out there.

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#2

Sorry, I can’t help you there… I haven’t owned a compressor pedal since 1988… a Boss CS-1 or 2? :grimacing:

I’ve always heard good things about Keeley though… maybe check them out - it sounds pretty damn good on this demo:

#3

I don’t use guitar pedals much, so I can’t really advise on that. Fulltone OCD is about all I’ll use on occasion. I have read a lot of exuberant comments about Keeley pedals though (per Andrew’s comment), but there are tons of boutique pedals out there so it’s the Wild West of sorts.

Wow, that’s pretty interesting! I have the Waves plugin of that and got really fascinated with it. Hardware owners who understand them seem to really dig them. There’s a good bit to tweak perhaps, but it might work for you if the impedance isn’t an issue. Don’t forget the Jumper Settings (on the back of the unit for hardware IIRC), which can give you a lot of options and flexibility.

#4

Haven’t used pedals for decades, but do try to keep myself up to date with these things. The two that come straight to mind are:

and the:

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#5

I have never been let down by the Keeley. I find it has a lot of range.

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#6

You are going to want to try them out, really subjective, really depends on what you are doing. They all do a decent job. Even the Behringer clone works.

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#7

I know it’s not a pedal, but I get great results with the DBX 266 xl rack unit. Mine is the black faced version, I think there is an updated silverface called 266 xs. Since it stereo, I link them I can set one natural, and nuke the other one and blend.

#8

The Cali 76 Compressor by Origin Effects might well do what you’re after, I’ve only heard good things (though not tried it myself!)