Recommend a Blues Driver type build and a Country compressor

[rosssurf]

I have a friend who is interested in having me make him a Overdrive pedal and a good country compressor. By country I mean for country music. Can anyone recommend a good compressor and overdrive for his application.
He has the Boss  Blues driver and likes it alot. Is there something similar that I could build.
I would consider any project but I must admit I am fairly new to this so a Veroboard layout is best for me.

[markm]

Now you're talkin' MY music!!
Being a country Telecaster picker,
I like the Dyna-Comp, the Ross Comp, Orange Squeezer is useful though it has more of a "in your face"
tone and feel to me.
I built the Flatline and like it and currently I have a Q&D on the bench.
I used to strictly use the Dyna but as of late, I have grown to like the Ross Comp from TonePad built
with no mods at all.
I know this doesn't help much but, Country and Compression go hand in hand.
Besides, there doesn't seem like there are alot of C&W fans here!

Here's a Country Compressor for ya cowboy!!

[rosssurf]

I specifically remember seeing your Round-up compressor. That is beautifull. I built the flatline but It does not seem to do much. It turns out to be a nice booster but I really can hear any increse in sustain. I am in the process of doing the Ross.
Do you recomend an overdrive as well?
Thanks for responding!

[rosssurf]

Oh! MarkM! one more thing my buddy uses the Boss CS- somthin', he doesn't rememberwhich version. He is not real crazy about it. Is the Ross compressor a different feel? Perhaps better for country?

[markm]

I think alot of guys like the CS-2 comp....I had one and it went the way of e-bay!
I didn't like it but, for a country player a comp is a real personal thing.
It either fits you or it doesn't......kinda like a woman!!
The Dynacomp was the country standard for many moons but, Keeley kind of opened
everyone's eyes to the Ross comp.
I had a Keeley and dumped that one on ebay too but, I got a free T-Shirt from him!!
I think the Dynacomp or Ross is the key.
Build 'em stock they sound fine.
For a bit of grit in the mix, either the Peppermill or Dragonfly's Sparkle Boost.
     MarkM

[joedudeman]

I love the Texas Longhorn on the pedal.  I am a bit biased as I do attend U. of Texas.

[Gilles C]

I may not be a Country fan, but I am getting interested in Country Blues these days, if that makes you feel better... 

The reason is that I just got a double DVD from Jim Weider, and he sounds d*** good. He uses tremolo a lot, and he mentioned the Echoplex once...

The fact that I also began to develop an interest in the Echoplex last week also helps.

Btw, I have a Boss CS-3, but don't really use it. Maybe that I should try building one with more character...

Gilles

[MartyMart]

I specifically remember seeing your Round-up compressor. That is beautifull. I built the flatline but It does not seem to do much. It turns out to be a nice booster but I really can hear any increse in sustain. I am in the process of doing the Ross.
Do you recomend an overdrive as well?
Thanks for responding!

There must be a problem with the flatline build, I have made two now amd both work
very well.
I would check over it and in particular the LED/LDR wiring.
For a very good range of OD, from clean boost to crunch, try Mark Hammers "The Crank"
That's a hell of a pedal, would be great for Country "slight crunch" tones.

MM.

[rosssurf]

I will look into " The Crank"

as for my Flatline I used a Vactrol  vtl5c3 I got from Small bear. Would an LED/ LDR combo be better?

[MartyMart]

I will look into " The Crank"

as for my Flatline I used a Vactrol  vtl5c3 I got from Small bear. Would an LED/ LDR combo be better?

Perhaps, I dont know the specs off hand for that vactrol but the circuit just said "LED/LDR" so I went with a
$2.50 small bear LDR and red 3mm LED wrapped in heat shrink.
I get a good range from light comp to VERY SQUISHED and a ton of volume boost available if needed.
Sustain is nice at about half way, perhaps worth you having a "tinker" with ?

MM.

[markm]

Supposed to be a VTL5C2 I think.
That could be a problem.

[rosssurf]

http://aronnelson.com/gallery/bcreekmur/flatline_compressor?full=1 Here a c3 was used. I have tried mesuring the resisitance in full dark mode but I am not an octopus and have a tuff time doing it. I will rig something up.  Should I get measurements in silence and with a strum?..is this correct ?Do I just use a DMM across the led or the ldr?

[MartyMart]

Did you make sure that the "LED" side of the vactrol was the correct way round ?
There should be a "dot" on one side which shows the cathode -->l  side ....

MM

[rosssurf]

Yes it seems so. I have the led side closest to the diodes and up top where it is shown

[rosssurf]

It seems my resisitance is 98K weather I am strumming or not. Maybe a bad Vactrol. If I was to make an led/ldr combo does it matter what sort of brightness the led has? Any particular color? I know I need a ldr that changes alot from light to dark.

[MartyMart]

Mine was a "standard" 3mm red LED, end slightly flattened with a small file, polished a bit otherwise
it was a "milky white" end, then super glued to the LDR and wrapped in heat shrink.
I'm not sure if an "ultra bright white" would be better or worse !
I've made several of them, including the ones for my Easy Vibe and they all worked very well.
They are the common red ones as used in Boss pedals

MM.

[rosssurf]

Thanks MM!

[Mark Hammer]

The sidechain on the CS-2 and the Dynacomp/Ross are virtually identical, with the CS-2 using a higher-quality OTA chip and accompanying input stages.  The so-called (and misattributed) "Hammer mod" to the Ross for variable/preset recovery times is actually taken from the CS-2.  I'm not denying that unit-to-unit variation would result in a pedal that person X sees as sounding better for country than another, but the differences in how they "feel" are generally not gonna be that huge OR consistently occurring.  In many instances, I imagine between-pedal differences are going to be easily altered by very simple mods.

[rosssurf]

..very interesting!