This doesnt apply to just the ego comp, it applies to nearly all compressor pedals. A common question we get many times is should i put my compressor before or a fter my overdrive or distortion. Is it better to use a compressor before or after overdrive. For instance, if you run a compressor before an extremely dynamic. There is compression and limiting in every overdrive, distortion, fuzz, squash, saturation or crunch circuit. Overdrive is your most open sounding drive and least compressed, followed by distortion, with fuzz being the most compressed with the most drive. Another one thats practically set in concrete is to put the compressor before any overdrive, distortion, or fuzz pedal. Its not quite the same as what a compressor pedal does but its still squashing the. Depending on how you play, you can be at the bottom of the ladder or at the top. That said, im not crazy about my compression sound in front of my ods so i think im gonna try it out as well. We love a clean, tasty, toneenhancing pedal around here, and compression, while not for everyone, has come to be one of our favorite effects. Now for those who want even more versatility, go with the keeley 4knob compressor guitar effects pedal.
Oct 14, 2014 if theres one type of effects pedal that guitar players are most unsure of, it has to be the compressor. As in im shocked that someone would go outside the box and put the compressor after the ods. Warning about downloaded tones, patches and presets. In turn my overdrive is better after the octaver, as dirtying the signal makes tracking worse. Compression after distortion has two effects that i really like. Acoustic amps christian church dear worship leader delay electric guitar guitar kung fu lead worship mix overdrive pedals play anything playing.
A setting that works well on its own might not be the best setting when stacked. Depending on your amp, you can get some compression from a tube amp. Id much prefer this to a compressor pedal in front of an amp in a metal context. Should you put a compressor before or after overdrive. Plus, a compressor placed before an overdrive can fatten up the distortion by increasing the signal going into the overdrive pedal. But you asked before or after distortion, my advice, before and not much on the level maybe more of a cleaner slight boost with a hint of compression. May 14, 2019 if thats not enough saturation, stack with a second tube screamerstyle drive. So with this blog were going to try demystify the compressor pedal a little and highlight some of the benefits, the type of music you might need it for and show you 5 of the best compressor pedals around. Should compressor go before overdrive, or after overdrive. When its before the overdrive, you can use it to even out the dirt by controlling the dynamics of how hard you hit the overdrive. It seems like pretty much everything would go into the ns2 loop but im having some worries regarding the compression pedal and an overdrive boost pedal. Also, before i get attacked for the pedal order thing. The pedal has little hiss, adds a nice snap to your note envelope without being too obtrusive and, via the blend knob, can add compression effects, such as increased sustain, without totally squashing your core sound.
The largest pedal group is probably overdrives and distortions, and boss currently makes 16 different pedals in this category. The idea is to compress the clean guitar tone before sending it through an overdrive pedal, phaser, or delay. The tone workstation is designed to be the first stage in your pedal board. After the standard pedal pack overdrive, tuner, delay, compression may come in handy. Some people use it to push the overdrive into a lead tone. In the course of doing so, it often facilitates the real thing a little more quickly by pushing your amp into clipping a little earlier. To understand exactly what compression devices are, you have to understand how the strings of a guitar work. Keeley tone workstation overdrive guitar pedal musicians. Sep 08, 2015 i set the overdrive to almost none and max out the volume on the overdrive pedal.
For every tone guru who declares that gain pedals go before the amp, and modulation effects go in the fx loop, therell be a guitarist breaking the rule and sounding awesome doing it. I do this alot, but im not sure how well it would work with a. Now, what i mean is by setting up the overdrive pedals so its at lower gain and using the ep booster to really hit the pedal so it gets more gain. Keeley aria compressor overdrive effects pedal musicians. Trying to decide what your first guitar pedal to buy can be overwhelming.
To explain why, we need to first understand compression and limiting. Todays pedal is a classic sound from a classic series the ibanez cp10 compressor sustainer is a high tech, studio quality effect in a compact case, with a vca circuit and clean compression and. How to chain your guitar effects pedals guitar roland. If you like to add a bit more sustain on leads, compression can be a good option, too. Place a wah pedal in front of a distortion, for example, and you may find the sweep of the wah.
I have a comp after fuzz and before overdrivedistortion. The aim of this twopart article is to explain how a guitar. Compressor pedals do that and so much more and weve got loads for you to choose from here at andertons music co. Is it better to use a compressor before or after overdrivedistortion. The truth is that theres really not right or wrong way, but i did want to. Boost before overdrive or overdrive pedal order is always a tricky one to tackle, not least because the rules of the game are more guidelines than anything else. Overdrive pedal before compressor pedal or after page 2. With the compressor placed before the overdrive pedal, the compressor will give you a relatively even output level, causing the overdrive pedal to produce a very consistent distortion or drive amount. The original version was a landmark pedal, reimagining guitar compression. Jun 16, 2016 each new drive will shape the eq and most drives also increase compression.
Posted may 19, 2015 5 comments if there was an effect pedal that won the award for the hardest to understand category, it would be the compressor effect. Download our free compression cheat sheet below to help you on your. Most guitarists associate compressor pedals with snappy country licks, spanky funk rhythm, and clean, sustained, singleline leads. Hi all, ive been recording a clean strat sound and personally i like the sound when compression is added quite a bit actually. Mar 24, 2016 we think its down to the fact that the compressor pedal is often misunderstood with guitarists not realising just how useful it can be. This is the amount of gain applied to the signal before compression typically before. High amounts of distortion naturally create compression and using a compressor will add even more smoothness and fluidity to the sound. I was asking him about his placement of the compressor. Although compression can be used as an obvious effect, its more likely to be used as a subtle tool. Using compressors after drives offers a very smooth and even tone, tons of sustain and usually a very warm and rounded tone profile. If youre using a pedal to create distortion, put the compressor before the distortion pedal in the signal chain.
If you are stacking a given pedal often, you might find that you need to find a new setting that works well both in tandem and standalone. Rock is modeled after a classic 45 watt amp from the 60s. Either place will work, but the results will be different. The only reason i bought my compressor pedal is after the forum friends and the company itself recommended it for optimizing the sound of the electroharmonix b9 and k9 pedals. When you get your shiny new pedal dont be dismayed that the change in your sound isnt as dramatic as that produced by a chorus or overdrive pedal. Bobs blog, compression, dealer news, product news, technical, technical articles. Guitar compressor wah pedal overdrive chorus tremolo.
If thats not enough saturation, stack with a second tube screamerstyle drive. It seems like pretty much everything would go into the ns2 loop but im having some worries regarding the compression pedal and an overdriveboost pedal. The front end of your signal chainthis is where your tone develops. Compressor can work either before or after, depending on the rest of your rig and what you prefer. Keeley aria compressor overdrive effects pedal musician. Check out the how to get the most from your compressor pedal part 3 page at sweetwater the worlds leading music technology and instrument retailer. A common use for the compression and sustain effects pedal is to stabilize volume and soften the attack of a note by curbing its onset and boosting its sustain. If you run a pedal board with more than a few pedals, you may have noticed that the order of those devices can have a huge influence on your tone. The pedals and effects back then were rudimentary and were caused by driving. Comp before drive has the benefit of applying compression before the noisy pedals, so the compression isnt boosting the hum and other noise generated from drive pedals. Most people run compression before drive to reduce idle static. Yes, i am aware that there are no real standards for pedal order. After distortion, aside from the hiss fest that is likely to occur, that serves to hold down the peak spikes on the tone as a limiter.
Typically, a lot of people put a compressor pretty early on in the chain before overdrives. I am guessing if the answer is yes, i need some sort of a compression pedal with a fast rate of attack. Experiment putting it before and after other pedals to get the best balance of compression and noise. Compression the tale of two compressor effect pedals.
The uses include reverb, boost, sustain, overdrive and even, he says, eq. Guitar compressor overdrive volume pedal ampcab delay reverbs. How to get the most from your compressor pedal part 3. In this video, phillip mcknight demonstrates five ways he uses a compressor pedal to perform tasks similar to those of other pedals. Live audio effect reference ableton reference manual version. When you get your shiny new pedal dont be dismayed that the change in your sound isnt as dramatic as that produced by a. If you place the compressor after those other guitar effects, you will end up compressing the sound of those effects. One pedal that flies under the radar but deserves mention is the visual sound v2. In this weeks episode of anatomy of guitar tone, im going to discuss using a phaser preoverdrive pedal as opposed to post. He was telling me that sometimes, he likes to place it after his overdrive to simulate tube sag. By the way, id also like a lot more sustain with a lot less gain in my solos too.
I find that a compressor before the wah help to give the wah effect a bit more. Does it matter where i place the amp in signal path. If you have only one pedal, chances are its one of these. It needs to have that gain, overdrive and the resultant compression before the source of the core sound the speaker.
Mar 14, 2019 a compressor pedal is a useful device for taming dynamics. While these are iconic sounds, compressor pedals can be set up in a variety of ways, making them suprisingly versatile. The comp toggle applies a fixed compressor to the input signal before it is processed by the distortion. To show that these are not hard rules, it also works pretty well if the eq is after the compressor but before the overdrive. Overdrive is a distortion effect that pays homage to some classic pedal devices commonly used by guitarists. And as many musicians and audio engineers know, its a versatile effect that can alter an instruments tone and transients. A beginners guide to stacking drive pedals reverb news. Most guitarists place a compressor early among their guitar pedals. In this article i will explain from more technical point of view by using some oscilloscope screenshots.
Now add a distortion pedal before the compressor lets assume for this. This creates a more saturated tone and richer overtones. The amount of time between a signal being over the threshold before compression is applied. With the boost after, the signal is fatter sounding and the amp is being hit harder, which results in some beautiful tube compression. First, the noise floor is lower because the noise from a compressor isnt being amplified and distorted by the overdrive pedal. Do guitarists often simply leave the pedal on all the time, with such a setting that will bring the volume of single notes up to the same as chord work. As a result, its not uncommon to see tuners at the end of a chain or after a wahwah pedal. May 17, 2019 experiment putting it before and after other pedals to get the best balance of compression and noise. Whenever im asked what i recommend for a first guitar pedal. I like only the inherent compression obtained from tube overdrive and the slight compression that my polytone generates in the jazz or blues context. The practical outcome is that loud sounds get quieter and quiet sounds get louder. When you pluck a string on your guitar, the sound is most loud right after you strike it.
I have a comp after fuzz and before overdrive distortion. I prefer my compressor before any overdrive distortion, mainly because the compressor makes my mxr bass octave deluxe track better, avoiding wobble on dying notes. When the compressor pro came out many people thought that it was just an advancement of the old 4 knob compressor into a bigger box with some controls added. In this particular setup, the volume pedal is placed near the beginning of the signal chain to control the volume level going to the other effects and the amplifier.
Place a compressor before an overdrive for a more compressed effect, and after to. As far as what a compressor does to an overdrive, that depends on where you place it. A dirt pedal is a form of compression so it is like double compression. Headroom, with each new pedal, will likely decrease. If they are placed after noisy things like overdrives, they will add even more noise. Compression after overdrive telecaster guitar forum. Gear used in this video is a whitfill telecaster, fender hot. A limiter has a threshold, above which the gain of the circuit is. I am getting an ns2 noise suppressor pedal to get rid of some crazy buzz i get when using high gain. For all the thousands of pedals that have entered and exited guitar shops for the better part of the. The 11 best overdrive pedals submitted by alexander on tue, 08162016 04. Compression before of after recording home recording forums.
I have an overdrive that i really like for my guitar, but i think i want to add a clean boost pedal to my rig for more sounds. Then i had a conversation with a veteran who said its good to use the compressor before the overdrive pedal iam playing a esp b335 bass i am using a hardwire cm2 tube overdrive and ebs multi comp for compression. The first stage of amplification is critical for a sound that has clarity and delivers expressive tone. In this weeks episode of anatomy of guitar tone, im going to discuss using a phaser pre overdrive pedal as opposed to post. Ideally, any compression should happen before the rest of the signal. Now, i think its conventional wisdom that you place your modulation effects like flanger or phaser postoverdrive and predelay. If you never plan on using them together, then the order doesnt matter so much. Its crucial to know what youre looking for before you take the plunge. Lets examine limiting first since it is somewhat more simple in design.
My first pedal was a knock off chorus pedal which i immediately regretted buying. Other way around, od after distortion, kicking in the od will give you more of a volume boost, not as much saturation and compression happening. High amounts of distortion naturally create compression and using a compressor will add even more smoothness and. Theres a prepost switch so you can set it before or after the 808 gainstage. One of the things i see a lot of guitar players use is an eq pedal to fix a problem that really a compressor pedal is better suited for, phillip says. Shop for the keeley aria compressor overdrive effects pedal and receive free shipping on your order and the guaranteed lowest price. I set the overdrive to almost none and max out the volume on the overdrive pedal. If you play a lot of rhythm guitar, a compressor will clean up your signal sound. Keeley aria compressor overdrive effects pedal guitar center.
Now, i think its conventional wisdom that you place your modulation effects like flanger or phaser post overdrive and predelay. We think its down to the fact that the compressor pedal is often misunderstood with guitarists not realising just how useful it can be. Using compressors after drives offers a very smooth and even tone, tons of sustain and usually a very warm and rounded tone. There is no correct answer for this, and many videos and forums explain the difference with excellent demos.
Like the origin and the carl martin, keeleys latest compressor builds on a tradition of fine units that came before it. For example, the mooer yellow comp optical compressor effects pedal gives you classic compression with exceptional attack and decay. Assuming that the quality of equipment thats doing the compressing is equal, is there any difference in using a compressor pedal in your effects chain to applying compression to the track after its been recorded. This video will show you how the sound is affected both ways and you can decide for. Now, if you want to talk about clean guitars in metal, then yeah, id totally recommend a compressor pedal before or after the amp. Sep 20, 2016 trying to decide what your first guitar pedal to buy can be overwhelming. Compressors and overdrive are a fundamental part of recording and performing guitar. So basically think of dirt in stages of drive and compression. It also has true bypass, and its durable casing means it will hold up through countless stomps. How to get the most from your compressor pedal part 1. Overdrive pedal before compressor pedal or after discussion in effects bg started by.
Remember that technically, distortion is compression and compression is distortion. Where to put pedals with noise suppressor pedal fender. The complete guide to distortion and saturation edmprod. There is one draw back that some people notice and that is a darker, warmer tone. Just getting into the pedal game so my knowledge on pedal chains isnt on par with many of you yet. Apr 10, 2015 where in your effects chain should you put your compressor pedal. Because of this, there is more of a harsh decay on the note with less release overall. We have updated our selection of the best overdrive pedals, and added tips on how to find the right one that fits your taste and tone shaping needs. If the distortion is on and you have the od before the distortion, youll get more saturation and compression. Compression pedals imagine you could have smooth even tone without having to worry too much about your right hand technique. For pitch effects, i recommend placing them before your overdrive pedals so that it can track your clean input signal better. These things considered, it would probably be prudent to get the guitar to react properly before it comes out of the amp. Place a wah pedal in front of a distortion, for example, and you may find. Where to put pedals with noise suppressor pedal discussion in the.
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