COMPRESSOR- THORPY The Fat General ...is this the state of the art?

 THORPY THE FAT GENERAL 

$280.00 USD

Dan Stienhardt of That Pedal Show nailed it when he said that compressors are the OD's for your clean sound. To me that means they should be the best. It also means maybe more then one could be a really good idea.

Thorpy has a philosophy of 'nothing but the very best.'
You do get both innovation and build quality second to none.
Unfortunately for Thorpy a reasonable built and priced pedal that simply has some mojo will win every time!
The V2 version coincides with their new smaller box. I don't get it? It is smaller but not by very much??? Oh yes...the only thing new about the V2 over the V1 is the box??? If you look really hard the new box is the old box with about 1 inch chopped off right after the foot switch.
The old General was fat but tall ...the new General is both short and fat. :-)

Dan Coggins designed, built, and sold the Dinasaural OTC-201. It sells for silly money if you can find one. He worked with Thorpy to create it's successor.

Both the price and the pedal really are right up there with the very, very best.
We have Brett Kingman for our vid. Good too because the guy does excellent reviews. Better still comps are very hard to evaluate. They ALL change the sound so one either needs to try the pedal or take someones word for it.
Brett has incredible integrity. I own and have kept several pedals he recommended.

Well I own 7 compressors. I bought all the hot ones. 
Wampler and I hate it, Xotic but it is a bit thin sounding ... the classic Pigtonix a beautiful sound but needs some balls. My Keeley 4 knob has been eclipsed and is on Reverb. BUT!  I have the Keeley Compressor Plus ...If you are on a budget  look no further!!! 
The 2 hot but expensive jobbies right now is still Origin's Cali 76 which really sounds great!!! The Keeley Compressor Pro is not far behind. It has all the bells and whistles and sounds transparent and neutral enough not to make it's sound be an issue.
The problem with most comps is they use a 4:1 compression ratio. Studios swear by it. BUT it does not give you enough sustain. I have the Duncan Vice Grip with a variable rate from zero to 20:1 At half way it is dead perfect most of the time. The Keeley goes up to 12:1. 
I would want to try one before buying it. Compressors are like OD's they have their sweet spot. Until today I was really thinking about seeing if it had enough sustain to justify moving up.

CONCLUSION
Brett commented  "I don't no why it even has a foot switch?" which stuck in my head. It means on his board it would be always on! He has a point. After several listens it struck me that the pedal is very close to sounding like power amp compression on a really excellent tube amp. Brett also noted that the pedal is dead quiet. 
I looked up Brett's review of the Cali 76 that is now 5 years old. He finished the review stating that he would not say that the Origin was the BEST but only the best he had tried.
Saying this is the best is an impressive commitment. Since the Cali is at the moment still the 'Word Champ' saying this is better really pushes this to the top of the list of choices!

It occurred to me that this pedal as an always on pedal could greatly improve anyone's rig. Secondly one could always use  a second comp for stacking when you felt you really needed to kick out some overkill sustain.
HELL! I might even be right!!!
I ordered one.

Note: The new smaller size V2 is a good idea. BUT it is really not a lot smaller.
The V1 is only slightly bigger ...it even looks the same. The circuit and sound is IDENTICAL!
Thorpy is blowing them out.
Jump in now and you can save .... $100.00 USD

HANDS ON
Well everything above is more or less true.
You do not have to dime anything to get the 
perfect sound just a tweak here and there until 
it sounds great with your rig.
Yes and you will leave it on all the time.

The absolutely best way to describe it is that it sounds like the average high end studio compression used on a recording on a great guitar. The kind that does not bring any attention to itself.
In short you hear your fave guitarist on a record and the guys sound just is simply perfect!
You may start analyzing what gear that that guy is playing but you would never stop to think . "Hey it's that studio compressor makes the sound beyond perfect!"
No sh@t guys. It is an amazing piece of kit. Instant fairy dust. Just magic.
I still use my other comps I just cut back the sustain on them. They add what they do on the attack of your note or chord and where they will often choke out on you the Fat General just smoothly and seamlessly carrys on the sustain.
Every player 'NEEDS' one.