Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Testing Compressors: Cali, Smoothie, Empress, Diamond, Keeley, FEA, Darkglass, Doc Lloyd, Lusithand & more
- Thread starter scubaduba
- Start date
Please allow me to rant a little bit, do not hate me.
What can I say? It's Strymon, come on...
I'm sure that a lot of fanboys will say it's the best pedal ever made, mostly based on other fanboys' "reviews" and without even try one.
It happens all the time with Strymon products and the wheel spins, until you realize that almost nobody has them in their pedalboards anymore.
I respect them as a brand and I LOVED a couple of pedals I've bought from them, but I hate to say it's mostly a fad. They keep doing the same stuff over and over and it's become a little bit annoying IMHO.
Luckily, I've never seen this fanboysm on this forum and we have a very good and honest reviewer. If the product is good I'll try and possibly even buy one, but like I said... I don't see anything new.
I hope I'm wrong.
What can I say? It's Strymon, come on...
I'm sure that a lot of fanboys will say it's the best pedal ever made, mostly based on other fanboys' "reviews" and without even try one.
It happens all the time with Strymon products and the wheel spins, until you realize that almost nobody has them in their pedalboards anymore.
I respect them as a brand and I LOVED a couple of pedals I've bought from them, but I hate to say it's mostly a fad. They keep doing the same stuff over and over and it's become a little bit annoying IMHO.
Luckily, I've never seen this fanboysm on this forum and we have a very good and honest reviewer. If the product is good I'll try and possibly even buy one, but like I said... I don't see anything new.
I hope I'm wrong.
Im not sure but according to Ovnilab there are 3 presets, not comparable to Strymons versatility, but probably enough to get you through a gig. And I suppose they all are controllable via midi.
G-Lab BC-1
Still available at Thomann and this is what you could do with MIDI.
At least A and B could be set individually and C is set with Boost and Comp at max. Maybe not as useful.
I certainly don't hate you. I am not even mildly annoyed at your opinion.
Its all good.But I do really like all of my Strymon pedals. It is because of their sound, their design, and well...I just love the sounds I get and thus, the inspiration I feel when I plug in. (I also own pedals from about 8 or 10 other makers so I am not just a Strymon kinda guy.)
Naturally, there are dozens and dozens of high-end/boutique pedal makers out there so I would never try to push people into liking or disliking any particular maker.
While I do own an OB-1 (which I use for elec guitar), I do think that Strymon has some serious competition to face when it comes to compressors. As Scuba has shown, there are tons of fine options.
Sure, there will always be fanboys but I don’t think Strymon would have been where they are unless they make good products. I don’t like everything but I do like many of them. El Capistran, Deco, Flint. Even Riverside is great for bass. And the Mobius of course.
I think this looks interesting because of the Comp/Dirty Boost option. I would love to try it! I hope scubaduba gets one to review.
I respect your opinions and I appreciate your response of course.
El Capistan is probably my favourite delay, both Timeline and BigSky were great and completely revolutionized the market back in the day, but YEARS has passed and they didn't do anything interesting since then (imho).
Sunset and Riverside were a complete failure, imho. Since their announcement, I couldn't open an online forum without reading something about those pedals, mostly stupid fanboy posts/threads like "shut up and take my money". Look now, it's extremely hard to see one of them in a guitarist's pedalboard.
That big a** Volante? I'm sure it sounds great, but it's just another fancy overpriced delay pedal, which they already covered in the past (and pretty well). Generally speaking, I see many overlaps between their products and a complete lack of innovation and courage. My rant is over now.
El Capistan is probably my favourite delay, both Timeline and BigSky were great and completely revolutionized the market back in the day, but YEARS has passed and they didn't do anything interesting since then (imho).
Sunset and Riverside were a complete failure, imho. Since their announcement, I couldn't open an online forum without reading something about those pedals, mostly stupid fanboy posts/threads like "shut up and take my money". Look now, it's extremely hard to see one of them in a guitarist's pedalboard.
That big a** Volante? I'm sure it sounds great, but it's just another fancy overpriced delay pedal, which they already covered in the past (and pretty well). Generally speaking, I see many overlaps between their products and a complete lack of innovation and courage. My rant is over now.
Somebody correctly pointed out to the fact that they face serious competition in the compression department even from the ‘minor’ brands.
The way I see it, competition was always there with compressors and they didn't have a chance at all. A lot of major and minor builders released great compressors during the last years and the OB-1 (which I don't dislike) was and still is one of the less popular in people's pedalboards. It's not bad at all, but I think you can find better compressors at more reasonable prices. I suspect the Compadre will follow the same path. With brands like Line 6, Eventide, Neunaber, NuX etc. doing their own stuff, it's time they start thinking about doing something NEW and innovative, which I'm sure they can do. Possibly far better than others.
So I had a Hyper Luminal which I loved. I then bought a DryBell Unit 67 which I also love (so much so I sold the Darkglass). I found I still missed the Hyper Luminal so I bought another one in black (see below). Honestly, is there a nicer looking pedal the the Hyper Luminal? The DryBell is still absolutely perfect for what I want in terms of my rig, but I’m going to keep the HL because it’s so versatile (and I know how often my tastes change.....ha ha ha).
Truth!
Truth!
Last edited:
I think someone else mentioned this earlier, but isn't it amazing how much more prominent compression pedals seem to have become over the past few years?
I remember not to long ago that the high end options were either the big-box Cali or one of the three FEA models.
There was a good three or four year period where if you wanted one of the FEA pedals you were either on a waiting list or you had to be in the classifieds the minute someone posted one for sale (once someone did post one it would be marked "sale pending" or "sold" in about five minutes).
It seems what was maybe a bit more of niche market has really exploded.
Just looking at page 1 of this thread I'm astounded by how many boutique level options have been introduced over the past 12-24 months.
Somewhere Frank from FEA and Cyrus (Ovnilabs) are smiling.
I remember not to long ago that the high end options were either the big-box Cali or one of the three FEA models.
There was a good three or four year period where if you wanted one of the FEA pedals you were either on a waiting list or you had to be in the classifieds the minute someone posted one for sale (once someone did post one it would be marked "sale pending" or "sold" in about five minutes).
It seems what was maybe a bit more of niche market has really exploded.
Just looking at page 1 of this thread I'm astounded by how many boutique level options have been introduced over the past 12-24 months.
Somewhere Frank from FEA and Cyrus (Ovnilabs) are smiling.
I made the mistake of selling my OTA Smoothie for another pedal a couple weeks ago. I told myself if there’s another one, I’ll buy it.
Well... I found an Opto Smoothie a couple days ago and bought it immediately! While I’m waiting for it to arrive, I’m wondering what internal DIP switch settings people are using these days.
Well... I found an Opto Smoothie a couple days ago and bought it immediately! While I’m waiting for it to arrive, I’m wondering what internal DIP switch settings people are using these days.
Hi! I have a question. I just bought the Cali76 compact bass, it should arrive next week. As a power supply I have a voodoo lab 4x4 (9v 100 mA outputs and 9v 400 mA outputs).
The pedal consumes 103mA at 18v. Is it enough to combine 2 outputs at 100 (always 100 mA total) or would be better the two 400 mA?
I just sold the Keeley compressr pro, I hope I don't regret...
Probably the most suitable for me should be the Becos CompIQ MINI Pro but now it's only for back order and they don't know when it will be available again. (But probably it will be next)
Thanks!
The pedal consumes 103mA at 18v. Is it enough to combine 2 outputs at 100 (always 100 mA total) or would be better the two 400 mA?
I just sold the Keeley compressr pro, I hope I don't regret...
Probably the most suitable for me should be the Becos CompIQ MINI Pro but now it's only for back order and they don't know when it will be available again. (But probably it will be next
)Thanks!
Last edited:
Well it's finally finished. A DIY project from Aion Electronics dubbed the Oceanid Compressor which supposedly clones the Pete Cornish OC-1 optical compressor.
Not owning an OC-1 or having access to one for comparison I can't really say how close it comes to its inspiration. But I can say it's a very nice sounding side chain equipped Vactrol NSL-32 based optical compressor. It can be set for either true bypass or buffered operation via an internal slide switch. Not transparent. Adds some very pleasant warmth and girth and is very smooth in it's operation. More on the subtle side actually. (Assuming I assembled everything right.
) I don't have access to a scope (mine is off in storage right now) so I can't do any measurements. And I'm still experimenting with the internal bias trimmer setting which basically sets the range of the compression control. So I haven't quite finished it yet.
Caveat: uses a lot of parts: 45 metal film precision resistors, 26 capacitors, 4 diodes, 2 transistors, 4 ICs, an opto-isolator, 3 pots, 2 jacks, 2 switches, some misc parts, and a 1590N1 Hammond type enclosure. The project board is top quality and well laid out but still pretty crowded. I wouldn't suggest it as a first project if you're new to soldering. And a decent quality soldering station plus some patience is a definite must for this project. I figure the all in cost exclusive of your time is around $60 and change assuming you're buying everything for the project. If you have a decent stock of electronic components it'll be less. All the parts, other than the Vactrol opto-isolator and the LM4040-5.0 micropower shunt voltage reference, are just your standard components found in virtually any pedal project. So there's no exotic hard to find $$$ components to hunt down.
So for better or worse, here it is:
Top two knobs left to right are volume and compression. Bottom centered knob is blend. Runs on standard 9V pedal supply. I used a 1Spot for testing.
The original project calls for a standard stomp switch and a separate LED. I had this fancy illuminated stomp switch lying around so I used that instead. But I may eventually replace it and drill the enclosure out for a separate LED just to see what happens. Which is why it's still a plain-jane white enclosure and I haven't done any graphics or put control labels on it yet.
I'm happy with it regardless of whether or not it captured any of Pete Cornish's design genius. It's definitely one of those "just sounds good" compressors despite it's simple control set, which can sometimes be a major plus IMO. Dead quiet in operation, and no pumping or other negatives I could detect. Very kind to the lows and has some serious gain available if you want it. This is not a good compressor for slap style players who need surgical limiting capabilities. It's more a tone enhancer with all the compression tasks handled for you. And definitely not the most versatile of compressors out there if you're a control freak or you're just not into the warm sustain thing this particular box delivers. My guitarist SO characterizes what this and similar compressors deliver as: "smoove." If I had to compare it to something, the Mad Professor Forest Green sound most readily comes to mind.
Whatever. I'm happy with the way it turned out and sounds.
If anyone is interested in building their own, you can download the full project file (free for the download) here and order the board for it here.
Not owning an OC-1 or having access to one for comparison I can't really say how close it comes to its inspiration. But I can say it's a very nice sounding side chain equipped Vactrol NSL-32 based optical compressor. It can be set for either true bypass or buffered operation via an internal slide switch. Not transparent. Adds some very pleasant warmth and girth and is very smooth in it's operation. More on the subtle side actually. (Assuming I assembled everything right.
) I don't have access to a scope (mine is off in storage right now) so I can't do any measurements. And I'm still experimenting with the internal bias trimmer setting which basically sets the range of the compression control. So I haven't quite finished it yet.Caveat: uses a lot of parts: 45 metal film precision resistors, 26 capacitors, 4 diodes, 2 transistors, 4 ICs, an opto-isolator, 3 pots, 2 jacks, 2 switches, some misc parts, and a 1590N1 Hammond type enclosure. The project board is top quality and well laid out but still pretty crowded. I wouldn't suggest it as a first project if you're new to soldering. And a decent quality soldering station plus some patience is a definite must for this project. I figure the all in cost exclusive of your time is around $60 and change assuming you're buying everything for the project. If you have a decent stock of electronic components it'll be less. All the parts, other than the Vactrol opto-isolator and the LM4040-5.0 micropower shunt voltage reference, are just your standard components found in virtually any pedal project. So there's no exotic hard to find $$$ components to hunt down.
So for better or worse, here it is:
Top two knobs left to right are volume and compression. Bottom centered knob is blend. Runs on standard 9V pedal supply. I used a 1Spot for testing.
The original project calls for a standard stomp switch and a separate LED. I had this fancy illuminated stomp switch lying around so I used that instead. But I may eventually replace it and drill the enclosure out for a separate LED just to see what happens. Which is why it's still a plain-jane white enclosure and I haven't done any graphics or put control labels on it yet.
I'm happy with it regardless of whether or not it captured any of Pete Cornish's design genius. It's definitely one of those "just sounds good" compressors despite it's simple control set, which can sometimes be a major plus IMO. Dead quiet in operation, and no pumping or other negatives I could detect. Very kind to the lows and has some serious gain available if you want it. This is not a good compressor for slap style players who need surgical limiting capabilities. It's more a tone enhancer with all the compression tasks handled for you. And definitely not the most versatile of compressors out there if you're a control freak or you're just not into the warm sustain thing this particular box delivers. My guitarist SO characterizes what this and similar compressors deliver as: "smoove." If I had to compare it to something, the Mad Professor Forest Green sound most readily comes to mind.
Whatever. I'm happy with the way it turned out and sounds.
If anyone is interested in building their own, you can download the full project file (free for the download) here and order the board for it here.
Last edited:
Well it's finally finished. A DIY project from Aion Electronics dubbed the Oceanid Compressor which supposedly clones the Pete Cornish OC-1 optical compressor.
Not owning an OC-1 or having access to one for comparison I can't really say how close it comes to its inspiration. But I can say it's a very nice sounding side chain equipped Vactrol NSL-32 based optical compressor. It can be set for either true bypass or buffered operation via an internal slide switch. Not transparent. Adds some very pleasant warmth and girth and is very smooth in it's operation. More on the subtle side actually. (Assuming I assembled everything right.
Caveat: uses a lot of parts: 45 metal film precision resistors, 26 capacitors, 4 diodes, 2 transistors, 4 ICs, an opto-isolator, 3 pots, 2 jacks, 2 switches, some misc parts, and a 1590N1 Hammond type enclosure. The project board is top quality and well laid out but still pretty crowded. I wouldn't suggest it as a first project if you're new to soldering. And a decent quality soldering station plus some patience is a definite must for this project. I figure the all in cost exclusive of your time is around $60 and change assuming you're buying everything for the project. If you have a decent stock of electronic components it'll be less. All the parts, other than the Vactrol opto-isolator and the LM4040-5.0 micropower shunt voltage reference, are just your standard components found in virtually any pedal project. So there's no exotic hard to find $$$ components to hunt down.
So for better or worse, here it is:
View attachment 3810458
Top two knobs left to right are volume and compression. Bottom centered knob is blend. Runs on standard 9V pedal supply. I used a 1Spot for testing.
The original project calls for a standard stomp switch and a separate LED. I had this fancy illuminated stomp switch lying around so I used that instead. But I may eventually replace it and drill the enclosure out for a separate LED just to see what happens. Which is why it's still a plain-jane white enclosure and I haven't done any graphics or put control labels on it yet.
I'm happy with it regardless of whether or not it captured any of Pete Cornish's design genius. It's definitely one of those "just sounds good" compressors despite it's simple control set, which can sometimes be a major plus IMO. Dead quiet in operation, and no pumping or other negatives I could detect. Very kind to the lows and has some serious gain available if you want it. This is not a good compressor for slap style players who need surgical limiting capabilities. It's more a tone enhancer with all the compression tasks handled for you. And definitely not the most versatile of compressors out there if you're a control freak or you're just not into the warm sustain thing this particular box delivers. My guitarist SO characterizes what this and similar compressors deliver as: "smoove." If I had to compare it to something, the Mad Professor Forest Green sound most readily comes to mind.
Whatever. I'm happy with the way it turned out and sounds.
If anyone is interested in building their own, you can download the full project file (free for the download) here and order the board for it here.
I have one on the way. Glad to hear they are decent
I just started working on an Oceanid too - actually ordered the parts. It looks like a fun build.
