Orange Squeezer clips

[mcasey1]

These are my first sound clips.  I have gone a while trying to find a decent wav hosting site.

This is a Dan Armstrong Orange Squeezer circuit on perfboard from the layout by MarkM.  Some say this is a subtle effect, although mine definitely is not subtle.  I love it for single notes, but on hard chords it squashes the dynamics completely out of my playing.  Listen to the chords in the sample, and you can hardly tell which ones were hit hard or softer.  At the end of the clip I tried to demonstrate the sound I like to use it for, a poppy percussive lead sound.  I was wondering if mine sounds so overly compressed due to the FETs I used, and also what characteristics of the FETs might cause this (high gain?).  I have the trimpot set to where at 11:00 on the volume knob I get a unison volume with bypassed signal, so I think that is a good spot that shouldn't introduce so much compression.  Give the clip some time to load so it doesn't skip.  First few chords are bypassed.

http://media.putfile.com/Orange-Squeezer

[markm]

Ummm,
I think that was my build but.....who's counting! 

[mcasey1]

Sorry yeah heh.  I get you two's names mixed up.

[markm]

Sorry yeah heh.  I get you two's names mixed up.

So do I. 

[John Lyons]

If you want, I can host your clips.
it will go with these: www.mrdwab.com/john/soundclipspage.html

Just let me know.

John

[Stompin Tom]

If you want, adjust trim pot for the amount of compression... Mine is VERY subtle... because that's how I want it (and it still has plenty of volume on tap). In fact, I leave it on most of the time. I can also get that way squished sound you're getting if I twiddle the trimmer. Trimmer twiddler...

[mcasey1]

When I really dig into chords, it flattens all the dynamics and the volume seems to ramp up about 1/2 second after the attack.

[chromesphere]

Hi All,

Just recorded a sound clip of the orange squeezer i made last year, thought it might help others building this pedal.  The first section is with the effect turned off, the second section turned on. 

For people new to compression, if your having trouble hearing the effect, it might be easier to SEE it.  Open this file up in a wave editor and you can clearly see, whenever i hit hard, the signal is pulled down.   You can also see how the second section is flatter then the first.  All being common characteristics of a compressor pedal:

www.chromesphere.com/x/pedal/Orange_Squeezer_Compressor_Demo.mp3

Oh just one other thing, i can confirm when setting the variable resistor, you want to set it to around where the signal fades out.  The closer you get to the fadding point, the more compression you'll get!

CS