hi

what do they do excatly, and is it worth having one for just one stompbox??

im planning to buy a pretty descent tube screamer. and heard a compresser such as the keeley one would improve tone.....

thanks for ya help

Read what Mr. SlapChop has to say in this thread!! top of page
http://www.fender.com/community/forums/ ... ht=#304675

Here you go
http://www.xowave.com/doc/recording/compression.shtml.

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Tony Houston

Listen to the Keely compressor here, then decide if the compressor is right for you:

http://www.ask.com/bar?q=robert+keeley+ ... ley.com%2F

I have to differ with the article thouston posted on several points:

1. Compressors don't "increase the volume of quiet passages." They can, if you turn them up, increase the volume of ALL 'passages," that is, the entire signal, while compressing the peaks. But starting out with the misunderstanding that a compressor is supposed to sense a quiet passage and temporarily turn up the juice is an error. He gets around to restating this latter in the article, but this basic misstatement is the source of a lot of disappointment.

2. On the subject of controls, he says, "Don't be fooled into thinking more is better." Well, that's not being fooled. More control IS better. A compressor isn't confusing if you understand it.

3. Compression is NEVER a substitute for a good performance, good mic technique, wnice smooth bass attack, etc., just as AutoTune doesn't turn bad singers into good ones.

4. Ducking is done by inserting a second signal in the compressor through a special input called a "side-chain." You will never see this on a guitar compressor, and thanks to the ease of drawing automated gain curves in computer DAW's, I don't know anybody who has used a compressor to duck music under a VO< for example, in many,m many years.

So, I'm not busting his chops... but I use compressors in my work every day, and that article, while helpful, has the flip tone of someone who is imparting his knowledge before he's really got it under his own belt.

FInally, not to bust Guitarist1983's chops, either, but listening to someone else play through single model of compressor, with one guitar and one amp, is probably not a complete way to decide if compression "is for you." For a guitar player, compression is largely a matter of feel and response, and you need to feel it before you can decide if you like it or not.

The link I posted was mainly geared towards studio recording, I didn't think about a pedal.

Barry Rudolph wrote a feature in MIX magzine, thats goes into more detail understanding audio compressors http://www.barryrudolph.com/mix/comp.html.

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Tony Houston

Yeah, that's all good information from MIX, as one would expect.