Made a trade for an ibanez CS9 and two different DOD Compressor 280

[KCWM]

I had an extra Squier '51 tele style neck, a modder's decal and neckplate lying around. I met up with a guy who had an old Ibanez CS-9 Stereo Chorus and a couple of DOD Compressor 280s (one gray battery only mode and one orange/red model). I expressed interest in working out a deal for one or the other but he said he'd toss them all in.

The CS9 is MIJ and I believe that it was made in 1983. It has a pretty cool chorus effect. I was able to dial in the same chorus sound used in Nirvana's "Come As You Are", which I believe was achieved by use of a Small Clone. That makes me happy considering I was trading into a Small Clone and liked that particular pedal. I've read on here that the CS9 is not true bypass, but I don't notice much of a change in tone at all when I use it. Perhaps that is due to the fact that I'm using a THD Hotplate...who knows. I did clean the grime out of the grooves of the switch plate after I took those pictures. I had to clean the pedal up quite a bit...it had some grime all over it. There's a few dents, nicks, and a couple of gouges, but otherwise, the pedal is in pretty good shape.

The two DOD Compressors do not have bottoms. Apparently, the guy wired them together to run off of the single power supply (which he included). He said that he did this because he ran two amps at the same time. I'm actually curious as to how to do undo that modification and then have some bottoms made for the them.

How do the DOD Compressors compare to other "over the counter" compressors? I haven't taken the chance to hook them up yet. He said that they were old (used the word vintage) and he was an older guy, so I wouldn't be surprised if he'd had these lying around.

I think I came out pretty good on that deal. I was wanting a chorus pedal and got one. They might not be boutique pedals, but I do love getting ahold of some pedals that are older than my fiancée (she's 22). Here are some pictures...

 

[FloridaSam]

I have a mint condition gray DOD-280. I've been playing guitar for 20 years and I can't figure out how to use this pedal. Its the squishiest compressor I've ever used. If I turn the compression knob past 9:00 it squishes chords so much I can't use it. This is much more noticable playing clean than dirty. If I use it with the compression REALLY low and the volume up it makes a nice boost and adds sustain...... but there are boost pedals that do this A.) better and B.) don't suck tone.

Maybe I still don't know how to use compression!

I do know fellow forum member Una Floresta modded one (or more?) of these to quite usable specs. Maybe he'll chime in.

 

[KCWM]

I look at the compressors as a bonus. I would have traded for the chorus pedal. If I can find my soldering iron, I assume it'd be easy to undo the little modification the previous owner did. Then, I wouldn't mind trying to modify the pedal to be more useable. Or, maybe sell them both and pick up an MXR DynaComp.

 

[Bucksears]

I miss my CS9. Never should have sold it, but I was out of work at the time.
I'm hoping the CE-2 clone I'm building will make me forget about it.....

Supposedly Maxon has another 'analog' chorus in the works (and 'jet flanger'); saw it in a pic from the NAMM show.

 

[KCWM]

I actually get a pretty cool effect when I turn the chorus rate up about halfway and then turn my Nano Small stone on and have the rate on that set to nice pulsing sound. I need to swap them in the order and see how that sounds.