compressor after od/dist?

a lot of pedalboards, magazine and internet forums always advise having a compressor before the od/distortion so thats what i did. but the last few days, i have liked the sound of the od/dist compressed slightly. to my ears, the sound is more "focused" and "large". i use a behringer(!) clone of the boss cs3, od is sd1 or od1 and ds is hm2. what do you think?

Compressor is first on my board. I like to set slight volume boost on my overdrives. So, it would be hard to dial compression, that would works on clean and with OD, because if I set it for unity level, it would make my OD quiter. And if I set it to unity level with OD, it would have a boost, which not a good thing always.

A lot of people use their compressor after OD. It helps smooth out the sound and balance the volume when switching the OD on/off. Also you can use your guitar volume to clean up the sound without losing volume.

It helps smooth out the sound and balance the volume when switching the OD on/off.

This. +1

Also you can use your guitar volume to clean up the sound without losing volume.

And this. +1

I use both on my board. Sometimes I want to push the dirt a little bit other times I want the creamy sound of dirt into compression. I have a very transparent Carl Martin Opto before the dirt and a HBE retro comp ( squishy and MXR sounding) after the dirt. On rare occasions I use no dirt and both comps!!

Put it in your amps effects loop and see how you go.

The reason it's generally recommended to be put before od/distortion is because a compressor raises the level of quieter parts of the music, and lowers the level of the louder parts. It tends to even things out.
It can also have the unintended consequence, if placed after them, of increasing the noise level coming from od/dirt boxes because of this.
But there really are no hard and fast rules(or very few, anyway) when it comes to what goes where in an effects chain. Do what sounds best to you and don't worry about it.

thanks guys!

Vince Gill and Trey Anastasio run it after OD. Obviously, they are both known for lots of compression, sponginess, and sustain. I prefer that sound over the more subtle usage of compression.

Vince Gill and Trey Anastasio run it after OD. Obviously, they are both known for lots of compression, sponginess, and sustain. I prefer that sound over the more subtle usage of compression.

THIS !....exactly. I love how Trey can use a TS9 for tight rhythms and roll up the volume and soar on leads. I switch my MXR Custom Comp to run after my Barber LTD & GMD Luther Drive once I saw Trey's board.

I personally run 2 compressors (MXR Dyna Comp and Boss CS-3) prior to my 2 overdrives (Boss OD-2 and ProCo RAT) and then into a volume pedal. I can get any level of compression and/or overdrive at any volume level that way, very versatile.

But that's me.

ok great ideas. 'nother question: since the compressor evens up everything, an EQ pedal will be placed after it for tone tweaks?

I say Yes!

http://i1090.photobucket.com/albums/i366/EmitLBrown/DSC_7987.jpg

(if you can't tell by the photo, I have a DynaComp before, and one after my OD/Dist section!)

I like the added squish but can't live with the added noise.

I also use one after OD, like it that way.

I never understood that recommendation that you see a lot, to put any sort of effect, compressor or eq included, in front of a distortion box. The distortion box is going to max out the noise from whatever is plugged into it; so I think the raw guitar should go into it; then add other things after, if necessary. I figured this out in the late 70's when I had only three pedals, MXR Distortion+, Dynacomp, & 5-band eq.

I just completed a very flexible setup using a comp after two ODs and before another! I'm finally getting the range of tones I've been after. I run guitar > MC-404 wah > Suhr Shiba Drive > Heavy Electronics Red Eyes > MXR Custom Comp > Heavy Electronics Grind Fuzz > Fender Pro Jr. The addition of the Shiba Drive the other day finally rounded it all out!

http://vincentlepes.com/files/vinnys-guitar-rig.jpg

I leave the comp on (almost) all the time, just to help round out the tone and give my signal a little boost. I leave the settings low but I like it rounding my attack off and providing some squish so I'm liberal with the internal pots. The Red Eyes is on most of the time, it is super-transparent and seems to bring more range out of my volume knob than the guitar alone. I kick it off when I want a very clean, acoustic type sound from my hollowbody. It is also not noisy at all. I kick the Shiba in to push the Red Eyes and color the tone with a mid-hump sound, also giving the endless sustain sound. The clickless switch is great for this. By keeping the sensitivity low on the Custom Comp, I don't get a lot of extra noise. I chose the CC for this reason as I have a somewhat noisy guitar to begin with.

When I want to get away from the squished sound and into an edgier territory, I kick on the Grind Fuzz which brings in a lot of grit and sparkle but doesn't muddy things up. I usually leave the Red Eyes on into the Custom Comp but not the Shiba for this tone, or occasionally just the comp on before it for a subtler grit. Then when I want crazy sustain and feedback city I kick the Shiba back on as well. This is impossible to keep under control so it's just for that certain moment when it needs to scream and go off.

All of these pedals are overdrives, but I keep the Grind Fuzz behind the comp as it is an OD/Fuzz hybrid and the comp rounds off the grit of the fuzz too much for my liking. All of these ODs also give you a huge range of options with your guitar volume knob, they clean up amazingly well even when used together in pairs.

Sorry if I hijacked your thread, I just found my sweet spot last night and have been dying to share. Back to your question: in my rig, there are two overdrives before the comp and one OD/fuzz after it and I love the tonal palette of both. Run the overdrives in front to have the comp keep them in check and round off the sound, also to get that Santana/Anastasio style endless sustain. This colors your tone a lot but in a good way IMHO. Run the overdrives after the comp if you just want the OD to smooth out your sound but want all of your grit and harmonics intact. It took me a lot of fooling around to get the knobs right, and I'm still not convinced it's perfect, but it really depends on what you are going for :).

The real question, IMO, of course, when considering the relation of comp to drive is consistency. The comp will make the volume level more consistent. Going into a drive, it will mean that the level of drive will be more consistent, regardless of how you play. With it after the drive, your dirt pedal will still respond to your playing dynamics, getting a little cleaner as you play softer or dirtier as you play harder, but the compressor will keep the volume of that signal consistent, so you keep a better footing in the mix.

As about the loosest rule of thumb there could be, for a 'rootsier' vibe for blues, country, or early rock, comp after drive makes some sense. For a more immediate, modern vibe for rock and heavier styles, comp into drive makes sense.

That said, I tend to use very low settings on either pedal, and run comp into drive, although I'm always thinking back to my experiments with the opposite and the extra response I got from my drive pedals.

I never understood that recommendation that you see a lot, to put any sort of effect, compressor or eq included, in front of a distortion box. The distortion box is going to max out the noise from whatever is plugged into it; so I think the raw guitar should go into it; then add other things after, if necessary. I figured this out in the late 70's when I had only three pedals, MXR Distortion+, Dynacomp, & 5-band eq.

The compressor is going to raise the level of any noisy device in front of it. Overdrives are noisier, that's why my compressor goes in front of them. It stacks well this way, giving me variable stages of gain and sustain.