Best DIY compressor?

[rjkanejr]

OK All you builders out there.  I know Brian has a compressor here but I am not looking for an optical.  That said here is my question(s).

1. What is the best DIY compressor out there?  Tonepad?  BYOC? 
2. Seems to be lots of hype about the Keeley comp.  What is so special about Keeleys pedal other than it is true bypass and uses metal film resistors and capacitors? Is it essentially a (say a tonepad) Ross clone but well shielded?  Does it use the CA3080 and that is the trick?  What gives here?
3. Maybe I am wrong and I really want an optical compressor.  Why should I not build another DIY and build the MadBean compressor?


Thanks to all ahead of time for your input.

[jkokura]

To get a Keeley, building a Tonepad Ross clone will get you 98% of the way there. I think there are some value differences, but it's pretty much there. There is no special shielding or anything like that. There's almost no difference in the quality of my pedals over keeley's, or over anyone else here on the forum. Keeley is pretty much one of the early 'diyers turned manufacturer.' That said, he's really successful, really knowledgeable, and I respect him for his contributions.

As for your question, IMHO there's no such thing as the 'best' diy compressor. I have built many, many of the options, either on PCB or on breadboard. All of them do pretty much the same thing - compress. They do it different ways, and all of them work. There are so many different factors to consider when picking one, it's not really a question I can answer fairly. I would need to know things like, "what guitar(s) do you use? What amp? What are the other pedals you use? Would you want something to use before or after your dirt? What kind of tone are you aiming to have? How would you describe your tone now?"

However, if you were to ask a question like, "what kind of compressor do you like to use," that would be an easy question to answer: Ross comps. I love em, and almost always use one. Build one and use it cause they're awesome. It's essentially the same as a Dyna comp but with some improved power filter and frequency response and such.

If you were to ask a question like "what is a popular DIY comp," answers would include the Ross and the Orange Squeezer. Those two get built the most. The 5 knob from BYOC seems to be very popular, and it's essentially a Ross/Dyna type. Brian's Cupcake is super easy and sounds great. I have built MANY tonepad projects, and I used to use their Ross all the time. Opto comps are showing up, and I do appreciate their transparency. I offer one as a part of my product line because I feel their aren't as many on the market right now and wanted to offer one to fill that gap.

Jacob

[slimtriggers]

What kind of sound are you looking for?  If you have a clip, or a particular guitarist whose tone you're trying to emulate that would help us make suggestions for you.  "Best" is an incredibly subjective thing among guitar effects.

[jtn191]

yeah I'd do some research on youtube or better yet, GC and try em out

My friend had a Keeley comp and it sounded good, pretty transparent iirc
If you're into vero check these out http://www.sabrotone.com/?cat=17
I've heard lots of good things about the Baja limiter, Flatline, Diamond comp, and Philosopher's Tone

[jonrhee]

I built three Keeley clones using the Tonepad and General Gguitar Gadgets layouts but it seemed like the output was really low and it cut a lot of brightness. Anyone else have any experience with these?

[mjcyates]

I have built several Tonepad Ross clones. I didn't have any issues with any of them. They all sounded great. As Jacob said, very similar to the Keeley.

[madbean]

The John Hollis Flatline is a great optical compressor. It's the basis of one of the 1590A "Baby Boards" I will be releasing, but in the meantime there are a number of PCB, vero and perf laouts of it which you could build right away. Check DIYSB and FSB.

Ross is great, Orange Squeezer is also great.

[rjkanejr]

I am looking for a compressor that is somewhat transparent I guess.  Of course aren't we all in search of "that tone" but guitarists tone I admire would be Eric Johnson, George Lynch, Neil Zaza, Andy Timmons.  I built a Glitterratti, love it.  My chain right now is guitar, fat pants (always on), TS9 (unity gain, tone at 5 and drive at 1), mxr phase 90, tonelab le, behringer em600, line6 dl4.  I use the TS9 just to get a bit more sustain in conjunction with the glitteratti or overdrive from the tonelab.  I'be read zazas blogs stating that he loves his keeley and he leaves it on all the time.  I'm looking for something that doesn't color, but is missed if its not on.  A bit more sustain but not going for the squishy twangy country or clean ballad tone.

[jkokura]

I don't know about some of those rigs, but I watched the Eric Johnson rig rundown PG did, and it's both complicated and pretty specific. He uses very specific amps, with very specific pedals that he's worked hard to arrange particularly. You could probably cop his tone if you watched that video you might get some hints on what sort of equipment you'd need.

I don't know that transparent really ever applies to compression. It's a subtle effect, but if a compressor is really working than it's really not going to be 'transparent.' Unless of course you mean that transparent means that your strat into a twin still sounds like a strat into a twin, cause any one of the ones mentioned will do that.

Jacob

[madbean]

It seems weird to apologize (in advance) for plugging myself on my own forum, but here is an idea I worked up recently for a nice optical compressor. Caveat: I have not had a chance to breadboard this, so I cannot say that it works exactly how I THINK it works. But, it's something I have on the backbuner. No values, yet.

[Smeero]

I built a tonepad Ross.

The Ross+my serendipity using fralin humbuckered Les Paul copy and a Budda amp = fucking magical tone.

[marauder]

Rothwell Love Squeeze.
http://www.sabrotone.com/?p=1331

Me and Juansolo came up with the missing cap values after we borrowed one to compare, all surface mount, so probably not the exact ones, but it sounds very close by ear.

It's really transparent, not one for those who like tons of squish, in fact once you've had it on for a while, you don't notice until you turn it off.

[TNblueshawk]

Don't forget to read up on Barry's Morc compressor at guitarpcb.com that Tonnman and him put together, I think it was Tonnman off memory. I've got the PCB but just have not put it together.

[jubal81]

It seems weird to apologize (in advance) for plugging myself on my own forum, but here is an idea I worked up recently for a nice optical compressor. Caveat: I have not had a chance to breadboard this, so I cannot say that it works exactly how I THINK it works. But, it's something I have on the backbuner. No values, yet.

This looks like just what I want for a comp. Hope this one doesn't fall through the cracks.

[marauder]

Don't forget to read up on Barry's Morc compressor at guitarpcb.com that Tonnman and him put together, I think it was Tonnman off memory. I've got the PCB but just have not put it together.

Built one of those on a Das Musikding board, sounds great.  Added a switch to change the release times and its really useful at higher compression levels.