Is there such thing as ''decompressor'' (lol) pedal?

[hotairguitar]

Hi everyone,

has anyone ever encountered similar problem? Say you came across few pedals you love the tonal colour, but being on the cheap (chinese clones) end of the range, they are awfully sound soo compressed? And you want something to ''break'' the tone to somewhat rather natural structure.

Please help?

Thanks a lot guys.

 

[tubegeek]

"Dynamic range expansion" is what you're looking for.

Typically in the guitar world, there are only noise gates that fall under this umbrella - and they don't really operate on the loud end of the range, just the soft end.

More likely to find what you want in a plug-in these days. Or a rack-unit piece of studio gear. A great overview (as always) on the Rane website:

https://www.ranecommercial.com/legacy/note155.html

Their legendary DC-24 rackmount unit will do expansion, but that'd be like stomping cockroaches with a piledriver: it's very, very fancy, with quite a few different capabilities. Bass players like it a lot as a compressor with 2 independent bands and an adjustable crossover, but it can do about 20 other jobs.

I seem to remember a pedal called a "Bixonic Expandora" at some point, that kinda SOUNDS like it might have your name on it.

 

[blowtorch]

I seem to remember a unit called a "Bixonic Expandora" at some point, that kinda SOUNDS like it might have your name on it.

I've got one and it's awesome

There's also the SoloDallas Schaffer Replica. I have the "Storm" version of that, and it's pretty awesome also

 

[tubegeek]

I've got one and it's awesome

There's also the SoloDallas Schaffer Replica. I have the "Storm" version of that, and it's pretty awesome also

What do they do besides adding awesomeness?

 

[blowtorch]

What do they do besides adding awesomeness?

The SoloDallas provides limiting. Which, when applied in the correct manner, can be sort of the opposite of compressing

From the corporate propoganda:

• LIMITER knob controls Ken Schaffer’s signature Opto-Isolator limiter. This optical analog circuit naturally limits the audio signal going into the pedal's circuitry (unlike the complimentary compander circuit which smooths out amplitude after the signal reaches its peak). Limiting is commonly used by mastering engineers to transparently raise overall level, without the risk of clipping and distortion generally associated with gain increases. Sensitivity of this effect may be fine tuned for different output pickups or to give your instrument an open or compressed attack.

Like I said, pretty awesome

 

[tubejockey]

An expandora is still just an od, albeit with more input sensitivity. It still clips the signal, so it still compresses.
Your best bet is to keep the signal as clean and uncompressed at every stage as possible. Use less distortion. True bypass pedals also help because they eliminate series resistance in the signal chain.

 

[hotairguitar]

"Dynamic range expansion" is what you're looking for.

Typically in the guitar world, there are only noise gates that fall under this umbrella - and they don't really operate on the loud end of the range, just the soft end.

More likely to find what you want in a plug-in these days. Or a rack-unit piece of studio gear. A great overview (as always) on the Rane website:

https://www.ranecommercial.com/legacy/note155.html

Their legendary DC-24 rackmount unit will do expansion, but that'd be like stomping cockroaches with a piledriver.

I seem to remember a pedal called a "Bixonic Expandora" at some point, that kinda SOUNDS like it might have your name on it.

The nomenclature exist! thank you very much.

but man, that link, theres reason i never made it to the till in the retail business, numbers.

I suspect the rack tools are not for cheap bedroom players lol?

But thank You, great info, very much appreciated

 

[tubegeek]

The SoloDallas provides limiting. Which, when applied in the correct manner, can be sort of the opposite of compressing

From the corporate propoganda:

• LIMITER knob controls Ken Schaffer’s signature Opto-Isolator limiter. This optical analog circuit naturally limits the audio signal going into the pedal's circuitry (unlike the complimentary compander circuit which smooths out amplitude after the signal reaches its peak). Limiting is commonly used by mastering engineers to transparently raise overall level, without the risk of clipping and distortion generally associated with gain increases. Sensitivity of this effect may be fine tuned for different output pickups or to give your instrument an open or compressed attack.

The "complimentary compander circuit" is a compressor and an expander, and companders are hidden in a lot of gear, wireless rigs for example. But it's unusual to be able to access just the "-pander" part by itself in a compander.

Limiting could help the OP for sure - by preventing bad-sounding overloads elsewhere in the signal chain - but it's still a dynamic range reduction method at heart.

 

[hotairguitar]

An expandora is still just an od, albeit with more input sensitivity. It still clips the signal, so it still compresses.
Your best bet is to keep the signal as clean and uncompressed at every stage as possible. Use less distortion. True bypass pedals also help because they eliminate series resistance in the signal chain.

Thanks bud, theres no way i play clean, and for what i know the cheap clones say they are true by pass

 

[blowtorch]

companders are hidden in a lot of gear, wireless rigs for example.

Yep, that's where The Schaeffer Replica effect comes from, an attempt to mimic the preamp circuit of Angus Young's wireless unit, which some tone snobs decided was an essential part of the pixie dust of Angus' signature sound on certain recordings

 

[tubegeek]

The nomenclature exist! thank you very much.

but man, that link, theres reason i never made it to the till in the retail business, numbers.

I suspect the rack tools are not for cheap bedroom players lol?

But thank You, great info, very much appreciated

No problem, my pleasure. If you watch ebay for ever and ever you can probably score a DC-24 for $100. Or $150 if you're impatient.

Don't buy a DC-24 without its power supply adapter. They are hard to find a substitute for - they are AC-AC adapters with an oddball connector, not easy to find elsewhere.

 

[hotairguitar]

I've got one and it's awesome

There's also the SoloDallas Schaffer Replica. I have the "Storm" version of that, and it's pretty awesome also

Thanks mate, now watching Pete & Johann

 

[tubegeek]

Yep, that's where The Schaeffer Replica effect comes from, an attempt to mimic the preamp circuit of Angus Young's wireless unit, which some tone snobs decided was an essential part of the pixie dust of Angus' signature sound on certain recordings

And as such, impossible to live without, and guaranteed to extend your warranty, provide a no-load feature to your tone pots AND your mutual funds, hell, they compress AND expand! It's like Alice in Wonderland!

Gotta get me one a them.

A Shure wireless mic rig has a compander in it, too I think. Which means there's probably a 3V/2$ chip that can do expansion.

 

[hotairguitar]

"
Their legendary DC-24 rackmount unit will do expansion, but that'd be like stomping cockroaches with a piledriver: it's very, very fancy, with quite a few different capabilities. Bass players like it a lot as a compressor with 2 independent bands and an adjustable crossover, but it can do about 20 other jobs.

I seem to remember a pedal called a "Bixonic Expandora" at some point, that kinda SOUNDS like it might have your name on it.

This is very embarrassing mate, but are you saying that the rack can function as power supply to multiple pedals in front of one amplifier? Wouldn't it be overkill for somebody who only ever use 3 pedals maximum (plus the pricey shakalaka SoloDallas TSR at the end of the chain)?

Thank you

 

[Norris Vulcan]

It sounds like a case of classic 'tone-sucking' from multiple pedals. An expander isn't going to help much - you're not going to have one after each pedal. Compression and Expansion will affect the hf tone.
I would suggest an EQ after the offending pedals to help add back the brightness and any missing frequencies.

 

[tubejockey]

BTW, if you like dirt pedals and dynamics too, look for pedals that have asymmetrical clipping diodes. They are a bit more dynamic, at least at the lower gain settings. You could even go so far as to cut out one of the diodes so it only clips on one side.

 

[tubegeek]

This is very embarrassing mate, but are you saying that the rack can function as power supply to multiple pedals in front of one amplifier? Wouldn't it be overkill for somebody who only ever use 3 pedals maximum (plus the pricey shakalaka SoloDallas TSR at the end of the chain)?

Thank you

It's not a power supply, it needs its own - a special wall adapter that's kind of unusual/hard to find.

It's a signal processor that's pretty hard to really explain fully because it has several sections which can be reconfigured in a variety of ways. It's a rather unique item.

I don't think it's really what you're looking for, I just mentioned it because I was trying to think of a piece of gear with an expander in it, which it does have as one of the sections.

 

[green_henry]

This might be a stretch, but a BBE Sonic Stomp may be worth a try. I bought mine out of boredom/curiosity; I didn't really have a problem to solve, but I was curious if it would make my setup sound better. In my setup, it was very subtle, so I ended up flipping it, but in your setup, it might make a big difference. They're really inexpensive used, so why not?

 

[hotairguitar]

It's not a power supply, it needs its own - a special wall adapter that's kind of unusual/hard to find.

It's a signal processor that's pretty hard to really explain fully because it has several sections which can be reconfigured in a variety of ways. It's a rather unique item.

I don't think it's really what you're looking for, I just mentioned it because I was trying to think of a piece of gear with an expander in it, which it does have as one of the sections.

Thank you very much mate, regardless, it IS a valuable tip. Although for the time being, I dare not ask any further on how it operates lol

 

[hotairguitar]

This might be a stretch, but a BBE Sonic Stomp may be worth a try. I bought mine out of boredom/curiosity; I didn't really have a problem to solve, but I was curious if it would make my setup sound better. In my setup, it was very subtle, so I ended up flipping it, but in your setup, it might make a big difference. They're really inexpensive used, so why not?

Thank you very much, just now after watching Justnick, to my ears the BBE sounds lovely as it brightens sound and improves clarity. And SoloDallas increases overdrive and (especially TSR magnifies girth as well), which is always great innit?

But would they, for lack of better term, ''relaxes'' ridiculous compression made by cheapo distortion pedals?

(Somehow it came back to me again that quality (price) is solution) lol