Here’s my new compressor pedal. I really like it. Previously, I had a Boss CS-2 on the board, which is regarded by most as a pretty great compressor. I agree. Before that, I had a MXR DynaComp. I even had it modified by JHS. But it just wasn’t doing what I wanted. As great as the CS-2 was, I was really intrigued by the idea of having a blend knob on a compressor, which the Deep Six has. So I’ve finally gotten my hands on one for a good price.
Here’s some history of how I’ve incorporated compressors in my own board:
Over past – I don’t know – decade (?), I’ve toyed around with the idea of playing with or without a compressor in my rig. The effect is subtle. I mean, I could hear what it did, but I don’t think I really understood what it did for me. So I would have it on my board for a period of time and then I’d decide to take it off altogether.
Well, for the past few years, I’ve always had a space reserved for a compressor because if it did anything, it was to help me play ambient swells easier by sustaining my signal. Conventional wisdom and countless forum contributors would tell me to put it first in the chain. So that’s what I did. And it was “fine.”
But one day I came across an entry in a forum where someone had a different take on where the compressor should go (in relation to dirt pedals). Instead of being first in the chain, he put it after his overdrive pedals. His reasoning being that he wanted the nuances in his playing to be affected by the overdrive pedals FIRST before it got affected by the compressor. Because if the compressor came first, you would lose all of the nuances as your signal was being fed into the drive pedals. This was a definite “ah-ha” moment for me, as I recall the compressor would often work more as a boost than anything when it came first in the chain.
Anyway, I can’t say that I immediately went and rearranged my pedals that day. ‘Cause after all, that bit of reorganizing is a pain since I’d have to remake some patch cables. I was also sort of concerned about any noise the compressor would amplify since it would then be downstream of the overdrive pedals.
Well, long story not so long…I did it. And man, was this a good decision! I Now it’s an always-on pedal for me.