which diy compressor for clean lead?...

[deadastronaut]

been looking at compressors to breadboard and tinker with....

which one would you guys go for, for a 'dire straights,/dave gilmore type clean-ish lead comp...(i only ever hear them with funk chords   )

i plan on having it for a guitar, and a bass....switchable caps etc...

[Cliff Schecht]

The Orange Squeezer has been a mainstay on my pedalboard for 10+ years. Turn it up and it's a nice clean compressor, turn it down a bit and it's great for clean rhythm. Mine probably stays on 80% of the time when I play live.

[deadastronaut]

cheer cliff,   does it sustain nice on clean leads?..

edit:

ive looked at the

flatline

aussie mart

orange

ross/dod....

just not sure which to go for on breadboard really...

[midwayfair]

Hey, Rob [Edit:  ], I play a TON of Knopfler. The Orange Squeezer is rumored to have been used on the early DS recordings. I never turn mine off. Properly biased it sounds more like a high-headroom tweed turn up about halfway than a "squisher." However, got a very convincing sound just using a strat and an Afterlife (Flatline), and that's a bit more versatile setup. The Flatline is dead simple to breadboard, so I'd start with that. But the Squeezer just has a pleasant character. I'm not overly concerned about "transparency."

If you're going to go the Ross route, I highly recommend just building the Engineer's Thumb instead. It's got a lot of the sound but none of the noise.

All three of these are demoed on my YouTube if you want to hear them all in comparison with the same gear and fingers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89ywoyR94IQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVCOPkJBrg8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7VqdIlHkI0

[deadastronaut]

cheer jon,

i'll check those vids out when i get back home....nice one!.

yeah the hollis looks nice n easy to start with...

rob.   henry is my surname....and i'm not an inductor..

[Mark Hammer]

OS  is not what you want for sustain, since it has a relatively fast recovery time.  On the other hand, a fast recovery time means less audible "breathing" (the increase in background hiss as the gain on a compressor slowly recovers).

[JebemMajke]

Pigtronix Philosophers Tone Germanium

[rring]

Hey there - I just designed a compressor with discrete signal chain(JFET) that I am extremely pleased with. It is a Orange Squeezer approach with some subtstantial improvements (from my perspective).

Here is a link to the schematic:
http://circuitsaladdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/fet-compressor.gif

modified simpler version:
http://circuitsaladdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/compressor3.gif

here is a link to a clean demo of it on you tube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=gQvcZEVh4AY

the simplified version will have less freedom in the variation of decay time constant.

[midwayfair]

Hey there - I just designed a compressor with discrete signal chain(JFET) that I am extremely pleased with. It is a Orange Squeezer approach with some subtstantial improvements (from my perspective).

Here is a link to the schematic:
http://circuitsaladdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/fet-compressor.gif

modified simpler version:
http://circuitsaladdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/compressor3.gif

here is a link to a clean demo of it on you tube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=gQvcZEVh4AY

the simplified version will have less freedom in the variation of decay time constant.

You should start a new thread with this so comp junkies like me can comment at ask questions and pester you for layouts and such.

[Jdansti]

rob.   henry is my surname....and i'm not an inductor..

Hmmm... So is Barbara your middle name or your alter-ego?

[mth5044]

Check out the Engineer's Thumb on this site by... Merlin? I think?

[Ronan]

DA, you're an LED man, maybe this simple opto comp is for you...

do a google search for "really cheap compressor" first hit, first page, first post schem, I like that one. That doesn't mean its good, because I haven't tried many others, in fact I never thought I wanted a comp until I breadboarded it, got 2 now (one to keep, one to give away). Don't worry 'bout the green LED's though, red works fine IME.

[Mustachio]

Check out the Ibanez CP9 over at tonepad. I believe this is what Gilmore used for a while and one of my favorite new builds. (I added that an6884 VU to it)
http://tonepad.com/project.asp?id=67

My other fav is the dynacomp with the janglebox mods. I used an old RCA CA3080 metal can and it sounds great altho not perfectly clean like the CP9. But really has a great sound!!!

I also Have a boss CS3 with the monte allums opto mod. Its ok but I prefer all my others over it.

Built the Flatline comp a few times and everytime I come back to use it I like it more and more.

Gonna build an orange squeezer soon maybe ill check out the one over at circuitsalad and maybe ill make the original too since their such small circuits.

Can't get enough compressors!

[.Mike]

which one would you guys go for, for a 'dire straights,/dave gilmore type clean-ish lead comp...(i only ever hear them with funk chords   )

It is my understanding that Gilmour uses a Demeter Compulator these days. I built a couple, and they sound great.

Schematic and layouts available at the other site. Easy build.



Mike