compressors for pickin

I'm a way too frequent poster over at strat talk, but thought I'd ask the tele experts about compressors and tele pickin. Whats the best or is there a best compressor for tele pickin? whats the best way to set them? I assume they help even out picking?

I currently have a behringer stomp box. I'm not even sure it does anything but add noise and treble.

I like the Barber Tone Press

Behringer make some of the worst stuff out there.

I have an Electro-Harmonix 'Black Finger'. It has a couple of tubes in it and is a fantastic compressor. I took it into a recording studio with me and the engineer didn't want me to take it home. A couple crap things about it: it runs on 12V AC not pedal-board friendly 9VDC. The power connector is a different shape to anything I've ever seen before so if the transformer breaks or is lost then you need to replace the power jack (a $1 part and about 5 minutes with a soldering iron).

MI Audio make very good stuff, they just released a compressor in the last couple of weeks. I haven't tried it yet, but intend to as soon as I see one in a shop. I need one for my pedalboard!

QLF-XAHV_gA

Simple to dial
Solid
Sounds great
Have been used in a gazillion recordings
$59 everywhere

Wampler Ego Compressor. Used by some of the best tele pickers - paisley, mason, etc

Analogman CompROSSer

I leave it on all of the time. . .it's the best Ross clone I've heard.

well Ive had a few and I did some testing between BOSS CS2 and th DOD FX80-B.both were vintage model from 1985 or very close.my test were done true my bandit 75 they produce very similar sound no major difference but the price! BOSS CS2 is about 100.00$ and the DOD 50.00 and those are padel that are 25 year's old it all depend's on wath your looking for but compressor doenst have to be extremely expensive to achive the sound you like.you just need to try out a few,me I went back to my ROUTE 66 it work's for me...lol :0)
Daniel

Go orange squeezer or clone. Tele, DR, and OS = chicken picken tone all day. I roll with a da squeezer below.

http://www.bajatechcustom.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=69

the classic nashville sounds are mxr dynacomp or boss cs-2...level way up (3:00) and sustain fairly low (9:00 or 10:00) -- basically point the knobs at each other :lol:

just slightly different flavors of the classic compressed tele tone.

as far as personal taste goes...i like the extra touch of clarity/snap that the old boss has. used a dyna comp for years...just a little too much of a good thing for my rig though.

CS-2 for me as well after having used a vintage Dyna Comp, Barber Tone Press, and Carl Martin.

Wampler Ego Comp here been using it for about 8 months or so,can do the squish or be very suttle.

well Ive had a few and I did some testing between BOSS CS2 and th DOD FX80-B.both were vintage model from 1985 or very close.my test were done true my bandit 75 they produce very similar sound no major difference but the price! BOSS CS2 is about 100.00$ and the DOD 50.00 and those are padel that are 25 year's old it all depend's on wath your looking for but compressor doenst have to be extremely expensive to achive the sound you like.you just need to try out a few,me I went back to my ROUTE 66 it work's for me...lol :0)
Daniel

Yep, I've plugging the FX-80B for a while on here! Some have said its a tone sucker,but I've never heard any tone suck at all from mine.Its been A/B'd with all the big boys,and its the only one I kept!

I'm liking the dyna Comp cause its cheap. Any reason not to get it? I know I should have specified that I want a budget comp. (if there are decent ones) I noticed on anothre thread that Vince Gill uses a Boss CS 3.

Do all compressors add treble? I've seen ads for the jangle box, (infers treble), and some different vids I've seen lead me to beleive that this is the case.

I'm liking the dyna Comp cause its cheap. Any reason not to get it? I know I should have specified that I want a budget comp.

I would spend a little extra on a Barber Tone, they're transparent and versatile.

Personally, I use a Keeley 2-knob because I like what it adds to my tone.

Barber Tone Press .............

Most folks using the CS-3 have them modded.
I did a combination of the Full Body mod and
the 1N34A diode bit you hear about.

It's way better than the Dyna Comp, Super Comp,
the Keeley and a few others I've tried.

The only one I like as much is the CS-2, although I think
I prefer the CS-3 after modding. The added tone control
is great, but it's useless prior to the mod.

That's just my opinion though.

Wampler Ego Comp

Do all compressors add treble? I've seen ads for the jangle box, (infers treble), and some different vids I've seen lead me to beleive that this is the case.

It's usually the Ross style comps (Dynacomp, Keeley, Barber, Janglebox etc.) that add some jangly treble to the tone (they also roll off some low end though). Other circuits have different EQ, and some of them are pretty flat just like modern studio compressors.

+1 on the FX-80B - seems to do the job.
Czech-one-2 - I like the switch mod - is that something for a DIY?

QLF-XAHV_gA

Simple to dial
Solid
Sounds great
Have been used in a gazillion recordings
$59 everywhere


"Old reliable"

I am playing in a classic country group that at the request of our female vocalist (she's very good) wants to branch out and do some newer stuff, which I am not thrilled with, but I will learn as I'm a good soldier. It seems like a lot of the guitar on these tunes is overdriven (or squeaky clean!) Strat (not Tele) into say a Blues Driver (got that bright sizzle and distortion) and a compressor.I don't have a compressor yet (been using the other stuff for years)
Do I go Strat>compressor>BD-2>Fender amp or Strat>BD-2>compressor>amp. I'm keeping this on the cheap so I will probably go for a Dynacomp if it is not too noisy- thanks!

So I did a little bit of browsing and realized that my Behringer DC9 is a Dyna Comp clone. The DC should have clued me in. So I am gonna mess with it some more and if no luck then I'll try upgrading to maybe the barber or the wampler. Sigh. I wanted cheaper. Thanks for the input guys.

Personally, I use a Keeley 2-knob because I like what it adds to my tone.


+1 I like the two knob Keeley a lot! The Keeley is capable of being more subtle than the Dyna Comp.

Sprinter

I like my dyna comp, cause it sounds real good, and was very inexpensive. I'm sure the Keeley and Analogman are great but 4x the cost. Barber is a good alternative I supose.