I've got an old Japan made Boss CS-2, a vintage script logo DynaComp, a Marshall ED-1 and a JangleBox. They're all great pedals with their own strengths & weaknesses, but in terms of flexabilty/versatility, the Diamond kicks their collective asses.
But I'd wait a bit till you've had a chance to work w/those incoming boost/OD/distortion pedals. A good *dirt* pedal has a way of mimicing the compression that occurs naturally when you turn up a tube amp & dig into the strings.
But to assist giving an informed opinion, it really would be helpful to know what kind of guitars/amps you're using, as well as the style of music you play.
I think a nice compressor can really add a lot of versatility to a rig, whether it be your clean or dirty sound. I owned the two knob Keeley and the Barber Tone Press easily replaced it. Now the four knob Keeley which seems to address all of the issues I had with the Keeley and the Diamond Compressor really have me interested. I'd bet on either of the three being a very good choice.
Thank you all guys for coming to the rescue.
I play mostly blues,some blues rock and some jazz
For gear, I use Strats and amps,Rivera Quiana,
Super reverb bf,68 I believe, one of this days, i'll call Fender and
find out the exact rear.
Also, a Marshall jcm900 wich a hate.
I do like to get wide variety of tones even when is guitar cable amp,often,I'll change tubes until I get tired of that sound,
that is why, Pedals are coming.{I'll let you in a little secret. I only play at home.--FOR NOW!!-} but I always had a good taste for good tone. Plus,I came to TGP, where people read and buy gear.
Comps and chorus's are much like finding a girlfriend One mans awsome is another mans awful. I use a mxr super comp and love it, but I know I am probably in the minority here. The SC will squash and add some grind to your sound, which I love, but it is not to everybodys taste. Some like thier comps to be very transperant, and thats cool. So best thing to do is what your doing, try a bunch of em till you find the one.
I use an Analogman CompROSSor Ross compressor clone. It's got an attack delay knob, which is great, because then you can crank it and your attack comes through and everything else is compressed. It's very smooth, sometimes you can hear its cycle, which is like a really really subdued slow and beneath the surface phase.
It is quiet enough to put before a booster pedal, which sounds absolutely fantastic for blues into a semi-cranked amp. I just spent a couple of hours running it into a Hellbaby boost to the Carmen Ghia... I had Albert and Freddie going... a lot of fun. Makes me wish I didn't have to be at work in less than 2 hours...
This is going to be similar spec to the Keeley I believe, which is also a Ross clone... I have only heard good things about Keeley as well... The Analogman stuff is top-notch.
i'm really partial to all of the dan armstrong orange sqweezer clones.
it's the ONLY guitar compressor as far as i'm concerned.
and.....
what he said about compressors and girlfriends.
"i'm really partial to all of the dan armstrong orange sqweezer clones.
it's the ONLY guitar compressor as far as i'm concerned.
and.....
what he said about compressors and girlfriends."
+1 on this.
Plus, I've got one for sale (McSqueeze) in the Emphorium right now at a great freak'in price!!
I've got the cs-3,the janglebox and the keeley. Overall I like the keeley best but depending on what you are looking for .The janglebox is a really cool pedal but I don't care for how the controls interact with each other,but it seems to retain more high end clarity than the other to.
What about the Diamond Compressor? People are telling me this is the ****. Right now I still have the Comp-Retro by Homebrew, but I want to try the Diamond Compressor.
There are a lot of great compressors out there. If you can try a handful, do it before ya buy.
I've got a Ross Clone (BYOC) I built, sounds identical to a Keeley. The Keeley therefore, is great too. If you want major control, the Keeley/Ross types aren't what you want. But there's something cool and vibey about a two knob squasher, you get what ya get.
That Analogman BiComp sounds pretty cool, a Ross and an Orange Squeezer all in one pedal Yeah!!
BUT, my favorite is the Maxon CP101 very clear, with a low comp ratio (4:1). Its real nice for just adding some sustain to clean parts and evening out attack without super squash.
Like taste in women indeed. I didn't really get along with the Keeley comp's high end attentuation nor its pumping effect (not sure that's the best way to describe it). Very expensive too...there are quite a lot of much cheaper alternatives not least being the wide array of orange squeezer style comps. One to check out would be the Squeeze Factor from Tone Factor. http://www.tonefactor.com/products.php?cat=78
I'd be interested to hear a comparison between the Barber and the Diamond comps as far as effect and range goes.