Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Please excuse the title typo!

Sorry if this is a rehash but I was wondering if there was any updated feedback on compressors.

Please rate these compressors for use with a Ric 12.....

Maxon CP101 Compressor
DOD FX84 'Milk Box'
MXR M-132 Super Comp
MXR Dyna Comp
Boss CS-3 Compressor/Sustainer

Other stomp box compressor suggestions welcome! Thnx

Try the Visual Sound Route 66 if you can find one around.

Brian: I have heard some great things about Analog Man's Bi-Comprossor. I use the DOD FX84 and Boss CS-3 together and the results are quite amazing with my 450/12.

I really like the Carl Martin compressor (priced closer to the Analog Man than to Boss/DOD models, unfortunately) on my 360/12.

hey doug, tell us more about the carl martin.
Do you get good sustain aka Mr.mcguinn.

I just bought an MXR Super Comp, which essentially is a Dyna Comp with an extra knob to adjust the Attack level.

So far I like it and it's a keeper. I have a TC Electronics "Sustain/+Parametric EQ" stomp box which is a REALLY quiet and nice compressor. What I was looking for was a second compressor to emulate the cascaded compressor Byrds sound. Even without the MXR the TC box sounded great, but I was looking to experiment more.

The cascaded compressors sound really great and get very close to the early Byrds sound and also can achieve McGuinn's more recent 'Back to Rio' sound. I still have to experiment with which box should come first in the chain. The MXR is defintely not as quiet as the TC electronics, but it's still very useable and has slightly different and useable compression characteristics than the TC. The TC has a noise-gate adjustment so I used that to combat some of the noise from the MXR (which wasn't that bad).

I assume that the Carl Martin compressor is similar to the TC Sustain/Parametric EQ. I'd be interested in hearing from anyone whose tried both units to compare them. Why TC Electonics discontinued this box is a mystery to me. It is an awesome unit and built like a tank. I'm glad I bought mine back in the 80's. They still make the Stereo Chorus/Flanger from that series of effects but dropped the others.

I'm afraid I'm not quite enough of a Byrds fanatical listener to say whether the Carl Martin comp sounds more like an early McGuinn sound vs. post-Byrds McGuinn etc. At least I can say that the Carl Martin gives great sustain (squash the signal enough, and you can get an uncanny amount of sustain from even a Strat), and a sufficiently-chimy/jangly sound on a 360/12 for my ears, all very quietly. MUCH quieter than, say, a Dynacomp. I also appreciate the fact that it has a full range of controls (threshold / ratio / response time / output boost), so it can be used on high-output instruments as well as guitar pickups, or I can use a long response time on bass to preserve the pick attack, and a shorter response time for 12-string, etc.

Unfortunately, I've never tried the TC Compressor, but their chorus/flanger is much less noisy than cheap ones, just as the Carl Martin compressor is also very quiet. (And compressors & choruses/delays/fx-using-analog-BBD's are generally your two noisiest classes of effect.) Well worth the additional cost IMO, especially if you plan on recording (where noise is even more critical).

Sounds like the Carl Martin and the TC Sustain/EQ are similar in the fact that they are low-noise units. The TC is so quiet there is NO discernible noise whatsoever. You can't even tell it's on until you play something. The Carl Martin probably is more flexible as a compressor since it has more compressor control knobs. The TC only has a Sustain knob (amount of compression) and a Gain knob. It has 2 other knobs but thats for the EQ section. If I didn't have the TC I'd buy a Carl Martin - especially since the TC is no longer made.

To a certain extent, the degree to which you aspire to mimic/duplicate somebody else's sound ends up becoming a religion. I'm content to blame my lack of tone on me and not on my equipment.

That said, I have the Boss CS-3 and my 360/12v64 sounds more "Byrd-like" with it than without it.

This isn't to say that I sound like McGuinn (who would sound better than me playing a Dano through a Peavey solid state amp...

Gary: The Boss CS-3 does a reasonable job. As I mentioned on an earlier post, I found that using the DOD Milkbox along with the Boss CS-3 the resulting sound was even more Byrds-like. The Milkbox, to my way of thinking, produces a more even or "smoother" sound.

Peter: I have the CS-3 as well, and I like it due to its variable adjustment of tone. All my 12-strings sound good thru it; I will have to try the addition of the milkbox--that sounds neat!!