Can I make my Dyna-Comp sound better?

[saultime]

Hey guys-

I've got an MXR Dyna Comp, (not dunlop), with a script bottom plate. I really like this pedal...however, are there any mods I can do to make it sound better? What do I have to do to bring it to "script" specs?

Anything else?

[bwanasonic]

Uhh, what does "better" mean to you? More highs? Less highs? Give us something to work with here... Also, what conditions are you using it under? Humbuckers into overdriven amp? Single-Coils into clean amp with tons of headroom? POD with headphones? Heavy Metal or Country? etc. etc...

Kerry M

[Mark Hammer]

Ditto.

What does it NOT currently do that you want it to?

Keep in mind there are some things idiosyncratic to compressors, some things typical of heavy compression, and some things that are more a function of picking style or where you situate the compressor in your signal chain than anything else.

Or are you simply looking for more bells and whistles to achieves a broader range of *possible* sounds? (not a sin in itself, just a different way of framing your question)

[saultime]

Sorry, that was vauge as hell.

I guess I'm asking what are a few of the common mods people do to these things to tweak the sound?

[Mark Hammer]

You can replace the 150k resistor tied to the 10uf cap in the rectifier section with some sort of combination of fixed and variable resistances that add up to roughly the same resistance.  If you look at a few other manufacturers' versions of the same basic design, that's what they do.  For instance, the Boss CS-2 is essentially the same circuit.  The resistance determines how quickly the cap charges up and resumes "normal" gain level (remember that compressors work by reducing gain in response to input signal peaks).  Such a control or mod is often labelled an "attack" control, even though it isn't really, because with a faster recovery time, the unit allows the pick attack of several notes in rapid sequence to be more easily heard.  The standard resistance value found in the MXR/Ross unit sets it for a longer recovery time.

It is not, by any stretch of the imagination an in-your-face difference, but it IS detectable if you play clean and pay attention to picking style.  Personally, I find that small changes in the resistance are largely undetectable (by me), so I'm content with a toggle that provides 3 equal-distance resistance settings: short, medium, long.

Another mod that I've suggested is the placement of a cap in parallel with the 10k resistor just before the output pot.  It is common for almost ALL compressors to remove the treble crispness of the input signal. This added cap is akin to the "bright" switch on a Fender amp and adds a little bit of treble emphasis to compensate and offset this characteristic of compressors.  There are many values you could use but .01uf is a good place to start.  I have no preference for plastic over ceramic in this case.  All noteworthy differences between them evaporate in the face of speaker breakup.

[moosapotamus]

These are jc's d-comp mods...
http://www.lynx.bc.ca/~jc/pedalsDynacomp.html

~ Charlie