looking to DIY a really "obvious" compressor

[jessej]

Yeah the ALC/AGC type of tape-recorder squishyness I was thinking of is an extremely fast attack and a long release, something like 1500ms. I also think that putting the squeeze at the end of the signal path, after the reverb will yeald that nice result, just as suggested above earlier. good pointers!

So maybe a switch for normal/long recovery time? Or perhaps two compressors, one normal in front of the chain and one slow one in the end.

[pedalgrinder]

mark hammer you hit the nail on the head. Most compressor even if average a little fine tuning of the sidechain to get the release long if you want i generally by putting as big a pot as you can find on it. I found some 5 meg ones that work great. and then make your attack adjustable once thats the case most compressor depending on what attenuation method is employed respond reasonable.