Diamond Compressor

[muddy]

i've been muckin' around with cubba's, and i must say, this is a great optical-style compressor (ala menatone jac, which i LOVE!)! it's greatest asset, though, is the tone pot. placed after the comp (where it SHOULD be!) in it's signal path, it adds a very even-handed upper freq'cy content that makes it perfect getting that glassy sound that kills with a bit of chorus & delay after it. it's not a squish-style comp; it won't provide that much compression. but it's great when used for a clean sound or a boost for other drives. the clips at the diamond site do NOT do this box justice, let me tell you straight up. it's a very live sounding comp with an eq that WORKS! like a champ! i am very impressed.


ml

 

[r9player]

+1 Love the Diamond compressor! Also works great with livening up the sound on my acoustic.

 

[cubba65]

Yes Michael, it's a very good compressor pedal, sounds much more like a pro-audio piece of gear but still scrappy enuff to have on the floor and step on.

There's just a LOT of great pedal comps out there right now ... too many for the demand ... but this one should certainly be considered by anyone looking for one of the best.
It has a robust and very simple configuration, but with a range & depth that enables it to excel in a variety of roles. Lotsa' output, well-voiced EQ shelving, a broad range of compression ratios ... plus, adds an overall viscosity to the signal (like switching from 10W to 5W in the auto ~~~~~~~).

 

[threm]

Anyone looking for a compressor that doesn`t smear the natural attack should check the Diamond. It is a VERY musical comp.

 

[drolling]

Was buying strings & tried one out. After playing for 5 minutes, I had to take it home w/me.

+1 on everything said in this thread. I really like what it does in front of a lo-gain OD/booster type pedal. Haven't had a chance to try the high-cut jumper w/my noisey fuzz & distortion pedals- but I wiil when I get the opportunity to crank the amp.

So far, tho', at low volumes this thing adds real presence & 'juiciness' without the pumping, squashing & weird artifacts that so many comp pedals bring to the party.

The tone circuit's a nice piece of design work that can be bypassed via an internal switch (for real purists) but I've left it on. At about 2:00 it adds crispness to chickn picked tele licks and a jangly quality to strummed chords.

In high gain settings, a compressor can be redundant - a good tube amp usually gives me all the compression I'd ever want once the power tubes start working hard, so I'm wondering if anyone's had a chance to gig this pedal.

As a big fan of the Diamond delay, I'm also curious about the other pedals in the line. Anyone using his distortion pedals?

 

[fast ricky love]

+1!!

This is my favorite compressor. The EQ knob makes it SO versatile.

 

[drolling]

Yep- It's doing for me what I was expecting the JangleBox to do.

Not that there's anything wrong w/the JangleBox, I just wasn't expecting such a massive treble boost & most of my guitars are pretty bright single-coils to start with.

Nice to be able to dial in the exact amount of bass/treble needed w/the Diamond.

Still haven't had a chance to test in a high gain situation, and I'm still interested in the OD pedals in the Diamond line. Any users of the J-Drive or Diamond Drive out there?

 

[fast ricky love]

You know Drolling, after getting the Diamond Compressor and also being blown away, I too was curious about the Diamond OD's, in fact I started a thread asking about them and there wasn't any info on the matter either... seems like one of us is gonna have to take the plunge...

 

[AshlandBump]

I just picked up a Diamond Compressor and I'm very impressed. The simplicity of the controls, i.e., compression and volume, are all that I need from a compressor. To me, the "attack" and other tweek knobs only mess up the function. The third knob on this, EQ, is self-explanatory and, together with the basic compression effect, make this a great pedal. So far, I've only used it with my Ric 330/12 and Hayseed amp but it works perfectly with that combination for early REM type stuff.

 

[threm]

Good to see that more people discover this great yellow box.

Mmmmm..... a Ric 330/12 through the Diamond into a Hayseed sounds like a sweet match indeed!

 

[drolling]

Originally posted by mainstreetexile
the "attack" and other tweek knobs only mess up the function.

Ha! that's so true. The 'attack' kob on my old Boss CS-2 hasn't been moved in 30 years - it's probably frozen in that position.

 

[Moe45673]

I sold my whammy pedal on ebay and am using the cash to buy a diamond comp. After reading this thread, I can't wait!

 

[fast ricky love]

You're gonna LOVE it! It really is very impressive, the more time I spend with it the more I know it's the keeper.

 

[drolling]

Originally posted by Moe45673
I sold my whammy pedal on ebay and am using the cash to buy a diamond comp. After reading this thread, I can't wait!

So you're going from a box that makes people say "What the #$%^ was that!?!" to "Man, that sounds goood.."

That's quite a transition, Moe. If I could exchange my Whammy for anything else, it would be an EH Polyphonic Octave Generator. I've got some great Leslie sims, and the POG would be icing on the cake...

But getting back to that yellow bastid. Are you using OD pedals? It takes them to a new place.. Seriously- the thing squeezes about 5-10% more *goodness* out of them.

And for clean tones, just roll back the compression a bit- you can FEEL it more than you can hear it. Sounds obtuse, but that's what good compression's all about.

Please do post your impressions once you've had a chance to use it for a while.

 

[cubba65]

Originally posted by drolling
them.

And for clean tones, just roll back the compression a bit- you can FEEL it more than you can hear it. Sounds obtuse, but that's what good compression's all about.

Well said!
It's almost like a Klon in that respect. The subtle things it does are some of it's best attributes.

 

[Moe45673]

I was sorry to see the whammy go, but I never used it. The most I used it for was chorus, but stopped that after I got my dd-20. There's just no room for it in my current band. A compressor, though, will get much more use out of it.

Btw, I agree 100% with comp and OD. The toggle left (compressed, bluesy tone) on my DGTM with gain at 12:00 sounds so gorgeous, I can't take it. Anyhow, I'm gonna love my diamond, I just know it!

 

[msp]

i loved the diamond comp but eventually the barber tone press earned the spot on my ped board

using the barber's blend option sounds so much more natural and articulate to me than eq'ing the comp signal

 

[WahmBoomAh]

anyone have an opinion of the diamond vs. the demeter compulator?????thanks

 

[Moe45673]

Just got my diamond comp today!! I am so stoked about it.

The only other comp I have ever used was a marshall ED-1, which is a fairly good compressor on it's own. The diamond is a whole other sack of testicles, though.

For this review, I only played with it for about an hour, turning knobs and whatnot. I played it straight into my Marshall AVT amp on the clean setting, so I still don't know how distortion reacts to it.

The Diamond Pros:
-Very transparent. This is the type of compressor that you never want to turn off. It completely cleans up your playing, especially if you're strumming those really high chords on the G, B, and High E strings. The only time you may want to turn it off is to play those jangly chords (like in that song "All for you" by sister hazel)
-Very subtle response, meaning turning the compression knob did not make a huge difference to my ear whilst turning it, even up to the max. Does not "squish" your notes, even on max. HOWEVER, I put the knob on 9:00 (very low compressor setting), and played, then hit the bypass switch. Lord, it was like night and day. Awesome awesome awesome
-Easy to dial in and it has an eq knob to make your tone sound as "bypassed" as you may want. Eq knob is very subtle yet at the same time very noticeable and smooth (using the "less is more" approach)

Diamond Cons:
-only a comp knob. This may not be a big deal to most, but I would like a little versatility in setting my comp (such as in setting attack/sustain independently).
-If you want chicken-pickin countrified tones, this is NOT the compressor to get. When I used the ED-1 in the studio, it was great for dialing in a country tone for one of our songs, but this comp, as mentioned, will not give you a sound where people go "he's using a compressor", it's really not a noticeable effect, unlike country compression.

To sum up, I knew that this thing only had a compression knob before I bought it. I wasn't aware of the country thing. Despite all this, I am extremely satisfied with the Diamond. I mainly bought it to clean up my playing a bit which it does in spades. It can be used on any type of style (be forewarned I've only tested it out on clean tones), even country although it won't give you that country tone. This is a pedal that does what it does without getting in the way of anything else, which is extremely rare for any type of pedal (e.g. distortion pedal will give you unwanted noise). I don't think I'll ever turn it off, it's such a great lil box.

The attack/sustain complaint I had was related to the chicken-pickin comment, in that I'd pretty much want it for countrystyle. The compression knob is more than enough for the 99 other uses I have for this baby. It's also great for those who want to use it for funk and funk-style type riffs/octaves/muting, so if you're in a funk band get this box!! Unless you're brad paisley, I can't imagine anyone not liking this! 5 stars to Diamond!

Footnote: I may have gone on on length about my perceived cons of this pedal, but that's because these are the only complaints I have with it. It's really amazing and I'll heartily endorse it to anyone!

 

[zoooombiex]

I've been pretty impressed with this pedal. It's definitely a nice alternative to the ross circuit, which is still good but has its own issues. As others have said, it doesn't have the squishiness of the ross - even at relatively high compression settings. It reminded me a lot of the orange squeezer in that respect.

However, i did find that with a low-output strat i wasn't really getting any compression at all. I think the signal was just not hot enough to really evidence the compression. It really shined with a les paul, though.

Also, at least for my purposes, it makes a much better lead compressor than rhythm. At high compression settings the ross circuit seems to lose a lot of interaction with the natural overdrive of the amp. But the diamond doesn't chop the signal as much - just seems to fill it out a bit. This allows you to still get the dynamics of pushing the tubes, but still allow the compressor to fatten up the tone.

In contrast, for rhythm stuff i prefer the heavier compression of the ross. It seems to cut down on the chunking and allows you to hear more of the chords than just the attack. just my opinion, of course...