Guyatone ST2 Compressor/Sustainer

[caeman]

Happy New Pedal Day for me! w00t.

Before agreeing to a trade for this pedal, I consulted The Oracle at Phillipi. They told me to read Bongo's site and that they knew nothing about compressor pedals. So, I did.

http://www.ovnilab.com/reviews/guyst2.shtml

Interesting. B seems to give this pedal a good review, so I took the risk on it. Good riddance Fender Blender, hello first compressor pedal.

I have had a few hours of playing with it and thus far, it has proven to be a positive experience. B's comment about the lows:

The highs are bright and clear, but the lows are cut off a bit. I'd say much like the Keeley and the modded CS3, the lows are perfectly sufficient for a 4-string bass, noting that the lows sound "tight" rather than "fat".

I kept turning the pedal off and on and the removed lows effect this pedal is having on my Gretsch and U-Bass is very much like my use a high-pass filter to remove some of the rumble and tighten up the lows.

Thus far, my experiments have been bass-pedal-amp and bass-pedal-direct (head phones). I will be trying the Fdeck HPF-Pre in front of it future experiments.

As for the whole sustain or clean-boost thing, I experienced as B wrote with the sustain knob taken above 12:00. I was getting improves sustain time on the U-Bass, which has the sustain of Behndy's attention span. And my Gretsch seemed to want to oscillate for days.

Thanks to B's work, my first practice experience with compressors is going well. Thank you Bongo for the hard work. And thank you 'Fabe for the trade.

 

[sillyfabe]

I'm glad you enjoy it! It's a great little compressor that did tighten things up a bit on my bass. And the review is what sold me in it too!

 

[caeman]

Okay, I've spent some time this week with the ST2 and my final summary is that it just isn't for me. Compression, that is. This pedal is quiet, as described by Bongo. It can boost you signal cleanly.

I've spent the last 5 years playing without a compressor, and I have developed a touch, my way of playing. So, I will be flipping this pedal.

One thing I would like note is that I love the foot switch. It is quiet. No loud click. Though there is a joy in a foot switch as loud as an old IBM keyboard, quiet has its place.

 

[boomertech]

I too had many frustrations when I was looking for my first pedal comp. I think I may have invented a few new swear words during my search.

That comp is a very simple set-up, designed mainly for guitar sustain. You may find that if you blend the ST2 with your dry signal it might work much better for you. You will still have all of your dynamics along with a nice sustain.

The max input level for the ST2 is 1V and the max output is 0.3V… there really isn’t any headroom for a bass. Most passive bass pups can output more than 1V… so, your dislike for it may just be its limitations.

-Frank

EDIT: Never mind, I just read where it has the ability to blend the dry signal with the compressed signal over at Bongo’s site.

 

[caeman]

A comp with a lot more fiddly-bits might be what it is needed to bring me over to the compressed side of the force.

 

[Arjbass]

How did this compressor effect your harmonics? I'm looking for a evening for those guys and the low notes