FEA Opti-FET

I have had all of Franks comps and this is my favorite next to the Limiter combo. I highly recommend it and feel it's worth every dime. I have mine on all the time and can't see it going anywhere.

 

Definitely my favourite compressor to date. Smooth, unobtrusive, fattening action. Gives a lovely warm shine to your tone. The side chain helps with tailoring the pedal's response. Fantastic live and in the studio.

IMO, this is not a pedal that you need to be on any "bandwagon" to love and make use of, you only need to want your tone to be awesome. Plus, it should be a relatively easy flip with minimal to no loss if you end up not liking it.

I know @Mosfed can speak far more eloquently to it, and offer up comparisons between the OptiFet and some pretty heavy hitting comps.

 

Great comp. my favorite FEA comp.

 

Got one coming too! (had to flip a few things to pay for it though - strict in/out policy at the moment...)

 

Frank loaned me one for the review I wrote, and I hung on to it for like a year before he insisted on getting it back. It's still one of my favorites. You have to get comfortable with the sidechain EQ concept to get the best results.

 

They're really great. The sidechain EQ is very helpful and it has good, pleasant warmth. Exceptional build quality goes without saying.

 

I use one all the time, an always on pedal. Great comp! Great company! One thing to note- I believe according to Frank, the newest version ships with the internal dip switch set to a less warm, more transparent setting. This of course can be switched back if you like. All explained in the manual.

 

Look at what the cat dragged in! 11 month wait for this bad boy! Will be testing it out tomorrow and hope to post my feedback

Not really a fan of the new gold colour though...

 

drool

 

Congrats! Just got mine a few weeks ago and did my first gig with it Saturday. Have to say I was very pleased.

I've had the Diamond, FEA DE-CL, Markbass Compressore, a few Boss models (and others I'm probably forgetting) but this may be my favorite. I tend to be a obsessive knob tweaker, even mid song, but all I did that night was fine tune the threshold once or twice. Love that sidechain eq!

 

I could never get into mine. Bought used here on TB, sold here on TB too... I was kinda bummed. Everyone seems to love the OptiFet, but there was a pop everytime the compressor kicked in and I couldn't get rid of it after lots and lots of fidgeting. I didn't like it. I'm sans compressor now and I totally don't feel like I'm missing out on anything.

 

The problem with that click is not normal at all. When you first got your unit you had lots of noise issues which turned out to be that you were using a speaker cable for your instrument signal. Then you posted that you had more noise issues, tried some suggestions that others posted, then the last thing you said was that the noise issue was gone.

I replied to you in that thread that I would repair the pedal for you, but you would have to give me a little time, because I just came home from the hospital 4 days earlier. But you didn't acknowledge my post, so I thought everything was cool.

I hope that whoever bought your Opti reads this and can let me know if they are having a click issue. If they are, I want to fix it for them!

-Frank

 

^^^ Just one more top shelf performance by FEA right there.

 

Love mine; in fact it's booted off the Cali76CB. I thought it would be nice to keep two top-quality comps but I think the Opti-Fet meets all my needs so I'm struggling to justify keeping the Cali.

 

What is the differences between the FEA Opti-FET & the DE-CL sound wise?

 

Not to hijack the thread, but I wanted to let anyone know how great Frank is to deal with and how responsive and helpful he was. He takes great pride in his products and his customers. Truly a prince among men!

You're absolutely right Frank (@boomertech)! You did help me troubleshoot the noise issue, and you're absolutely right that it was resolved when I used the correct cable. You were wonderfully responsive and helpful! I am grateful for that! I must've missed that last response that you. I didn't realize that the pop was perhaps a problem with the pedal. Anyhow, it's neither here nor there at this point, but I did want to be sure that this conversation ended with your praises! It's great to know how much you stand behind your pedals and how committed you are to all of our satisfactions!

 

+1

 

Thanks for the kind words. I just hate having the feeling that there may be a faulty Opti-FET out there that someone might be struggling with. Hopefully the buyer will see this and let me know if the pedal needs me to make repairs.

Thanks!
-Frank

 

I have owned both but not at the same time so this is going from memory....which isn't getting any better.

I want to say that the DE-CL was brighter and added less color. Even when compressing my signal pretty good the top end never seemed muted or rolled off the way some comps do. The Opti-fet instantly struck me as fatter sounding and in clean mode maybe ever so slightly darker. Then again it just may be the action of feel of the comp that made me think that because I don't find it dark on the clean setting now. The highs on the Opti can get that kind of muted, rolled off effect when playing aggressively or popping a note but that is easily addressed with the sidechain eq. The Warmth knob vs internal switches work different with the settings on the DE-CL being more constant and Opti feeling more dynamic driven (if that makes sense). Also the Opti initially felt more punchy, but that may depend on your definition of punch.

Both are great, I'll probably pick up another DE-CL eventually but I'm really enjoying the Opti right now. I was a fan of the Diamond comp for a long time and the Opti feels similar but its adjustability allows me to fix some of the things I didn't like about that pedal.