Boss CS-3 compressor is fuzzy

[jonathanhughes]

I have a Boss BS-3 Compression Sustainer that had hadn't touched for a couple years. I hooked it up to play around and it's now making a fuzz sound, as if the signal has been split and one half passes through the compressor, and the other half goes through a fuzz circuit. It does this whether it running off batteries or the adaptor.

Here's a clip of how it sounds:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/jh_examples/cs3fuzz.mp3

I've searched, and seen that some people have the same problem, but I've seen no solutions. Any idea what might be causing this, and if it's repairable?

thanks!

[JimmyM]

Compression will do that, especially cheap compressors. Not much you can do except pretend you don't hear it. You would never hear it in a band context anyway.

[bongomania]

Lousy answer, Jimmy. Fuzz is not a normal part of compressors in general, and cheapness is not an indicator of the ones that will have unwanted distortion.

The CS-3 is an extreme squasher though, so it can sound distorted at many settings. Depends on the rest of the gear. If the fuzz still happens with the Sustain knob set low (like 9:00 or 10:00), then there is probably something wrong with it that needs cleaning or repair. A bad opamp, or other component gone bad, or even just a loose wire or dirty jack.

[JimmyM]

Originally Posted by bongomania

Lousy answer, Jimmy. Fuzz is not a normal part of compressors in general, and cheapness is not an indicator of the ones that will have unwanted distortion.

The CS-3 is an extreme squasher though, so it can sound distorted at many settings. Depends on the rest of the gear. If the fuzz still happens with the Sustain knob set low (like 9:00 or 10:00), then there is probably something wrong with it that needs cleaning or repair. A bad opamp, or other component gone bad, or even just a loose wire or dirty jack.

Yes, thank you, Captain Compressor But I'm familiar with Boss compressors and the ones I've tried have done exactly that at higher settings.

[worxforme]

You two, don't make me turn this car around!

[zwkoch]

I had the same problem with mine. It hissed like an angry cat. There was another compressor post a while back and the following site was mentioned: http://www.ovnilab.com/reviews/bosscs3.shtml

After reading his reviews, I decided to sell my CS-3 and upgrade to a Markbass Compressore. He mentions that you can have the CS-3 modded to clean up most of the noise, but I chose to spend the money on a new, better reviewed compressor.

[Adamixoye]

The guy who wrote that site is bongomania, the poster above. Just FYI.

Originally Posted by zwkoch

I had the same problem with mine. It hissed like an angry cat. There was another compressor post a while back and the following site was mentioned: http://www.ovnilab.com/reviews/bosscs3.shtml

After reading his reviews, I decided to sell my CS-3 and upgrade to a Markbass Compressore. He mentions that you can have the CS-3 modded to clean up most of the noise, but I chose to spend the money on a new, better reviewed compressor.

[zwkoch]

Pardon me. His site is amazing. I didn't intend to limit credit due.

[jonathanhughes]

The sound it's making is definitely normal for this compressor (or any compressor, for that matter), and it's not just a matter of it being hissy (if you listen to the clip I posted, you can hear a very obvious fuzz). It never made the sound until recently. There's definitely something wrong with it. I'll open it up and see if there's anything obvious, but that seems unlikely. It's probably a particular component which could very well cost more than the thing is worth.

Thanks, Bongomania!