[Stratopastor]

Rainer - I thought the Telecaster middle-position sound was more common in country...

Josey - compression - imagine playing a note, and as the note decays (loses volume) you turn up a volume knob to compensate, thus holding the volume constant for longer compared to just relying the guitar's natural sustain. On the Boss CS-2 or CS-3, CS stands for Compression Sustainer. It's called compression because the possible range of output volume is compressed into a narrow band.

So with a lot of compression, I might pick very softly or very hard, but the final volume varies very little. I understand why this is useful for playing very long notes, but I've never really understood why it makes chicken pickin' sound better. But it does. Yee ha.

[ibanez_dude]

Originally Posted by Stratopastor

So with a lot of compression, I might pick very softly or very hard, but the final volume varies very little. I understand why this is useful for playing very long notes, but I've never really understood why it makes chicken pickin' sound better. But it does. Yee ha.

A compressor is one of those things that is really difficult to explain sonicly. I've been working as a live sound engineer for about 3 years now, and I still really have difficulty explaining it. I know exactly what it does, and I can use it to make the source (whether vox, guitar, drums, etc) to exactly how I want, but I couldn't tell you how it makes the sound different.

[Gustin]

A compressor functions by taking any notes after a certain point (threshold) and reducing them by the Ratio you set. You then use the output gain to boost your level back to the way it was.

This evens out the notes so that they're relatively the same sound. I imagine this is good for chickin' picking because it makes all the notes sound similar in level (whereas without a compressor you're probably going to be a lot more inconsistent).

Sustain is more like a side-effect of a compressor.. because you've reduced the dynamic range, but also brought up the lower volume notes, the note decay is louder than it was without a compressor thus increasing the sustain.


Also, I think I should mention that RainerJon didn't say to use the bridge pickup... he said to pick near the bridge.

[ibanez_dude]

Originally Posted by Gustin

A compressor functions by taking any notes after a certain point (threshold) and reducing them by the Ratio you set. You then use the output gain to boost your level back to the way it was.

This evens out the notes so that they're relatively the same sound. I imagine this is good for chickin' picking because it makes all the notes sound similar in level (whereas without a compressor you're probably going to be a lot more inconsistent).

Sustain is more like a side-effect of a compressor.. because you've reduced the dynamic range, but also brought up the lower volume notes, the note decay is louder than it was without a compressor thus increasing the sustain.


Also, I think I should mention that RainerJon didn't say to use the bridge pickup... he said to pick near the bridge.

Yeh, see that's the technical aspect of a compress, what it's actually doing. That's more easily understand, but I can't define how a compressor changes the sound of an instrument, my ear simply knows what it's looking for when I'm tweaking a compressor.

[Josey Wales]

Originally Posted by Gustin

Also, I think I should mention that RainerJon didn't say to use the bridge pickup... he said to pick near the bridge.

i know this, i was asking a different question of pickup selection, i'm sorry if i made it sound like i was confused, but it was a totally different question....

and thanks guys for your help, i am going to keep this in mind. looks like individual pedals are going to be best.

and BTW chicken pickin' is a blast!!!

Originally Posted by ibanez_dude

Yeh, see that's the technical aspect of a compress, what it's actually doing. That's more easily understand, but I can't define how a compressor changes the sound of an instrument, my ear simply knows what it's looking for when I'm tweaking a compressor.

yeah dude that totally makes sense

[Josey Wales]

ok, well budget being a concern, is there a good quality compression pedal at a considerably low cost?

[jefcon1]

I started playing in '79 and I bought, rented or borrowed every pedal I could get my hands on. EH, Boss,DOD, MXR and Ibanez were like gods to me. When they said phase I phased. When they said flange I flanged. When they said envelope filter I envelope filtered. I kept bringing them batteries and they kept taking me to sonic bliss. I'd hate to have been denied the experience of playing classic blues riffs through a bigmuff> phaser> flanger> chorus> delay> wah (yes, it was last in the chain) just because I listened to my guitar teacher (or band mates!).

There were no multieffects when I was starting out, but I can assure you a rack full of the finest modelers and processors would not have fed the need for all those colorful little boxes beneath my feet. Whether you go the multieffects route or not, and that may be the more sensible way to go, I would advise anyone curious about pedals and effects to set aside a craigslist or evilbay budget to experiment with. Buy, try and sell (or keep). You won't make any money, but you shouldn't lose much either. Look at is as educational expenses. I mean, I know I don't need a flanger for my sound, not because I read it somewhere, but because I know first hand.

Don't go broke. But have some fun.

Originally Posted by josey wales

ok, well budget being a concern, is there a good quality compression pedal at a considerably low cost?

DOD FX80-B is a great compressor and can be had used for $25-35. Very clean transparent compression. It would be my only choice for under $100. I know the county pickers seem to like the Boss stuff.

[Josey Wales]

cool right on dude, thanks for your help jefcon, i will totally check out craigslist, and that pedal you listed

[Gustin]

Originally Posted by ibanez_dude

Yeh, see that's the technical aspect of a compress, what it's actually doing. That's more easily understand, but I can't define how a compressor changes the sound of an instrument, my ear simply knows what it's looking for when I'm tweaking a compressor.

Compression is one of those things that's difficult to tell if it's on or not (as a listener). Unless it's used poorly, it's extremely difficult to tell. That said, what you're probably hearing is the appearance of better control and more sustain.

For school, I had to listen to different recordings and determine which ones had compression and which ones didn't... it was a nightmare.

[Bushman]

I had a DOD Milkbox compression sustainer that was inexpensive and worked ok for me for a few years.

[jefcon1]

Originally Posted by Bushman

I had a DOD Milkbox compression sustainer that was inexpensive and worked ok for me for a few years.

I have also heard good things about the Milkbox, especially for the price.