THAT PEDAL SHOWPLAY THRU THEM ALL!!!
We went from the MXR Dyna Comp in 1974,a purpose built unit with near zeroborrowed from the different types of studio compressors.We know have recreations of them ALL. The classic types from the past actually ADD to our sound. Modern digital Comps are really meant to be invisible and put after your guitars speaker cab not somewhere between your guitar and a microphone. They are excellent but are designed for a DAW, not a guitar rig.
The best purpose built guitar Comps are a hybrid of studio units and a guitar pre which has tone shaping and added gain. This video does not miss anything ground breaking. Both Origin and UA have become the well deserved Kings of guitar comps. Keeley has a niche by giving you bug free MXR type comp. So you get original purpose type guitar Comp at its best. Comps by many other makers are not in the video as they are very much in the category of 'ME TOO' candidates. Not that they are bad but seldom could you objectively argue the same basic design type are monumentally better because they added a few extra features.
The only missing rack-in-a-box was the 1950's tube Fairchild. It has just arrived thanx to
J. Rockett's Airchild Comp. Happily it showed up in time for this video.
thefineprint
Compressors are half function and half sound. From what I perceived 4 days ago
on release day the J. Rockett Airchild has both. Our hosts love Comps that have
been around decades and others that are years old. So, when they conceded that
the Airchild wins by default as it checks every box I was more than pleased as I
110% agree. It is not yet available in most stores and sold out in others.
Which is just as well as I need time to save the money. Add shipping
and local taxes and I am near $300 for it.
What do you think of the Allpedal Galactavise comp?
ReplyDeleteIt has all the bells and whistles but at its roots is an Operational Trans Conductant Amplifier type. An OTCA. In plain English it is an MXR Dyna Comp with features to overcome. There was never a studio Comp using this format. It was a cheap way to make a comp when any other way would triple the price and make it unaffordable to a player in the 70's. Like all things that make a sound players used it to feature its squashing attack. much of that can be eliminated by blending in the clean signal. Keeley did that on his 4knob and it put his pedal company on the map. I have the Keeley + as one of my 4 Comps and it does that very well and sounds good on humbuckers but on single coil I hate it.
ReplyDeleteMy point is that the Allpedal is a $275.00 USD premium version of the MXR. A lot of guys simply love this kind of pedal and many are killer players. I may well get another comp but a the J. Rocket Airchild is a killer Fairchild studio sound for $235.00 USD. To me the Allpedal is a Corvette and the J. Rockett is a Ferrari for virtually the same price. If like the Ferrari the J. Rockett cost 10 times more I would be damn happy with the Allpedals Corvette. Who would not enjoy a Corvette :-)
In short the Keeley Comp+ is more than good enough for a Dyna Comp pedal and it is $150.00 USD. It is why have it and since Dyna comp type pedals have their own cool sound I will use it on tunes that it works best On tunes it does not I think I would prefer the J.Rockett
Very interesting! I also have seen the Movall neutron star that is supposed based on the Bearfoot Pale Green Compressor. I guess it is an optical tremolo. Is it a good choice?
ReplyDelete