I have just aquired a White Finger compressor (the older version) and I'm very happy with it so far. It gives me the compression I've been looking for, for some time, transparent, and amazingly considering Bongo's review, no discernable noise. I have a couple of queries however. I bought it via internet from a guitar shop, massively reduced price as it was their display model, but it's still covered by years warranty.
Is it just me or is the difference between norm and squash very, very subtle? Mine seems to be so subtle I can't tell the difference. Bear in mind I've yet to crank it up through my amp, just had it running through podfarm and some small Edirol nearfield monitors.
My compression level LED seems to be non-functional, no matter how much I turn up the compression, pre-gain or sensitivity. Checked inside and the wired feeding don't appear to be loose, but I can't for the life of me work out how to remove the circuit board to properly check. Is it an easy fix?
Is there normally a massive volume difference between lamp and LED mode? My LED mode seems to dramatically drop in volume, not a problem per se as I can turn up the output stage.
What exactly in technical terms does the sensitivity knob do? The instruction manual is rather scant on function descriptions.
AFAIK, the unit has a fixed threshold, which you 'adjust' with the pre-gain. The compress knob then adjusts the ratio. The sensitivity seems to give more 'effect', similar to too high (or is it low) threshold, and makes it pump more. I don't mind one jot, but can't work out what it actually adjusts.
Like I say, I'm happy with it, it gets the sound I've been after (similar to the LA2A model in podfarm), and the non-functional LED isn't a massive issue as I compress using my ears! But maybe I can get it replaced if that and the squash switch aren't actually working.
