I know it's blasphemy around here but I'm going to be playing some stuff that requires clean guitar tones. ;D I'm looking at compressors and I'm thinking about the Wampler or the Keeley. Any opinions?
Pristak's Keeley Compressor is MONEY!
I used a soul Preacher. Works for me.
Buy the cheapest one possible. MXR maybe.
You'll either love the effect and will start shopping for a better one or one with a tone control or some other feature...
Or you'll be meh and can give up on compression.
I chased a couple different compressor options for a while but didn't really get along with either of the ones I tried and quickly realized that maybe dynamics are my thing and I should stop wasting my money/time.
ovnilabs.com has a boatload of compressor reviews, mostly geared towards bass players (bass players have special needs, guitar players have more leeway) but there is a special Guitar section with specific info:
http://www.ovnilab.com/reviews/guitar.shtml (http://www.ovnilab.com/reviews/guitar.shtml)
You might wanna poke around there in general, maybe check into his Low Budget picks (DOD Milkbox is one)
http://www.ovnilab.com/reviews/toppicks.shtml (http://www.ovnilab.com/reviews/toppicks.shtml)
Pretty much every compressor ever made is reviewd - remember that a lot of the negatives in his reviews will only apply to bass players.
Very cool links! Thx.
I love my Milkbox. I wouldn't call it a 'transparent' compressor, but it's tweakable and sounds quite nice.
Both the Keeley and Wampler sounded really good. The Keeley was a bit vibier but the Wampler was a bit more tweakable. I went with the Wampler. I don't think you can wrong with either though.
I have a couple of nice ones (Rothwell Lovesqueeze, Okko Coca Comp) but have never found a place for compressors in my setups. I dunno why. Maybe because Mongo not smart.
don't feel bad, this mongo only knows that you want the oil-free models when you buy a compressor.
I guess I've been using my compressor wrong. Mine is set to boost, says on, and adds minimal squeeze when playing bass.