Compressor without the squishy coloration ?

[Krinor]

Hi all,
I'm looking for a simple compressor. I've builkt the Orange Squeezer, but I feel it colors the sound too much. What I'm after is a separate unit (to be put last in the signal chain) which levels out the peaks but without the twangy carracter. Would some kind of simple filter be able to do this ? Or am I better off building a Ross Compressor ?

[soulsonic]

You could get an FMR Really Nice Compressor and put it in the effects loop of your amp.
It's one of the most transparent compressors in existence!

[Krinor]

You could get an FMR Really Nice Compressor and put it in the effects loop of your amp.
It's one of the most transparent compressors in existence!

Link ? Layout ? 

[george]

I think there probably isn't any - I note soulsonic said "get" not "build" ......

of course once you've "got" one you could reverse engineer the circuit, design a layout then share it with us! .... (ducks)

As far as compressors that DO have layouts they're all going to colour your sound to an extent - from what I've read the OS is supposed to be the one that does that the least.

FWIW I built a Dynacomp clone and I like it - I think it gives a lot of sustain before getting "squishy" or "plinky" especially played clean - which is what I hated about the Boss CS-2 I owned at one point

[Krinor]

Yes I noticed him saying "get". Just hoping it was something I could build.
Sometimes it's a better timeinvestment to just ask someone who knows instead of asking google. 
Anyway, thanks for sharing your thoughts. Maybe I could use some sort of limiterthingy...

[Mark Hammer]

If an Orange Squeezer seems to colour the sound oo much for your tastes then you will likely have to look beyond DIY compressors and aim towards higher-end limiters.  The OS has a reputation for being about the most unobtrusive compressor around.  Indeed, the number of posts expressing concerns about whether the OS they have just built is actually working (i.e., I can't hear any difference, did I do something wrong?) far outnumbers the number of posts complaining of too much coloration.

[Johan]

if you want subtle compression that you dont really notice, but that does what a compressor is supposed to do..
http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=51282.0
http://www.aronnelson.com/gallery/d/3672-2/LA_Light_simplified_for_stompbox_use.gif

if you want compression for effect, as most guitarsist want, you'll probably be dissapointed, it's not obvious enough... but it does up to about 20db of gainreduction wich is is usualy more than enough in a recording type situation...
j

[Krinor]

Thanks Johan. After reading that thread I'm convinced that this is exactely what I am after. And the schematic looks very promising. I'm saving this one in my favourites folder for later. Need to learn some more before I dive into the Vactrol world. 

[BINGEWOOD]

The LA Light is a great suggestion.  Werx great and real transparent.  Thanks Johan, I really dig it. 

[mars_bringer_of_war]

If an Orange Squeezer seems to colour the sound oo much for your tastes then you will likely have to look beyond DIY compressors and aim towards higher-end limiters.  The OS has a reputation for being about the most unobtrusive compressor around.  Indeed, the number of posts expressing concerns about whether the OS they have just built is actually working (i.e., I can't hear any difference, did I do something wrong?) far outnumbers the number of posts complaining of too much coloration.

+1/2
At some settings the OS does color the sound imo. HOWEVER, and that's a big however, it's an effect, and I'll never understand why people think an effect is supposed to be "transparent". I know it's an old gripe, and there's a measure of mojo attached to the term, but if I want transparency, I don't use an effect. Or an amp. 
That being said, the OS is a great, straight forward compressor.

[Krinor]

if I want transparency, I don't use an effect. Or an amp. 

When I read this I imagined a really heavily spiked metalhead drooling over his axe at a gig - minus the amp... Very spooky.

That being said, the OS is a great, straight forward compressor.

True, true. The OS is great. For what it is. But in this thread I was asking for something a little different. 

[mars_bringer_of_war]

if I want transparency, I don't use an effect. Or an amp. 

When I read this I imagined a really heavily spiked metalhead drooling over his axe at a gig - minus the amp... Very spooky.

That being said, the OS is a great, straight forward compressor.

True, true. The OS is great. For what it is. But in this thread I was asking for something a little different. 

Well, I'm no metal head anymore, and most of the drooling I do is in my sleep.   

The gripe wasn't aimed at you at all. It just seems like an odd thing to expect true transparency from something that is supposed to alter your tone in one way or another. Of course I fully realize there's a problem with terminology when trying to use words to describe sonic ideas, but it still irks me.
I'll get over it. 

[DougH]

I know this kind of thing has been discussed in compressor threads here before, but one thing you could do is to add a "treble-leak" or "bright cap" sort of arrangement to bypass the compressor circuit and mix an uncompressed high freq component of the guitar signal back in at the output. I believe most of the energy in an electric guitar signal is concentrated in the low and mid frequencies. I suspect the compressor is mainly reacting to these frequencies, which can make it sound muddy due to the apparent loss of high freq content as it squeezes the signal in reaction to lows/mids. Allowing some of the high freq content through unattenuated might add some "definition". I haven't tried this so YMMV...

[Ed G.]

Philip at Fuzz Central has a Ross schem with a .001 cap bypassing the 10K resistor at the output. This is supposed to 'brighten' the sound of the compressor. I haven't tried it.

[DougH]

I suspect you are going to want to bypass the compressor action for the highs though.

[Ed G.]

I'm not sure how to bypass the compressor section, but I remember, and I think it was implemented commercially (Maybe Barber?) a pedal that used an active mixer to blend in uncompressed signal. So you get the uncompressed attack of the note, but with the sustained decay. I seem to remember a lot of discussion on this at one time.

[Mark Hammer]

Philip at Fuzz Central has a Ross schem with a .001 cap bypassing the 10K resistor at the output. This is supposed to 'brighten' the sound of the compressor. I haven't tried it.

IIRC, it came about because of my suggestion.  Maybe not the specific value, but certainly the location.  It works essentially like the brite switch on a Fender amp, by allowing higher-frequency content to bypass the 10k resistor.  Note that this merely provides an output advantage (i.e., less relative attenuation by the volume pot) to the treble that makes it through the compressor, and does not either a) accentuate the treble going into the compressor, b) alter the response of the compression to treble content, c) provide some sort of untampered "flow-through" of treble from input to output, or d) distinguish between the treble in your signal and any hiss or other grit accumulated through the circuit.  Within those caveats, though, it helps a bit.

[Shepherd]

The thing about compressors is that it is hard to find an attack/decay combination that works transparently across the entire frequency spectrum.  Even when you have variable control over these parameters, no matter where you set it to, it will be better for some frequencies than others.  This is but one of the reasons why high-end professional dbx and Dolby units (remember tape?) were always multi-band.  Splitting the signal into separate bands, each with their own signal level and compression needs, allows for a more transparent compression. 

[Mark Hammer]

Oh yeah.  I remember that thread.

Keep in mind that a simple clean/compressed blend actually achieves some of the same outcomes.  The need for multi-band compression is so that when the gain is suddenyl reduced for the bass or low mids, it doesn't simultaneously suck all the life out of the treble too.  You can maintain separate envelopes/dynamics for treble and bass by having multiple bands, each with their own envelope detection and gain reduction, but you can also do it by having an uncompressed treble to mix back in with compressed bass and mids.  Probably more artifact-free too.  Think of it like a poorman's multi-band compressor.