Alan W
Well-known member
- Build Rating
I didn't use a board compressor until about 3 years ago. I had used one that's built into my bass amp, and had used some software compressors in post, but my guitar playing relies a lot on dynamics, and I like to maintain the loud/quiet part of it; an advantage of just making my own noise, for myself. But, I decided it was worth looking into, and after researching what was out there, decided on the newer Empress compressor. It has oodles of adjustability, great metering, and a blend control (why did this take so may decades to think up?). Unfortunately, to me, it also adds a glaze of "solid state" plasticness that I couldn't abide by. It is fairly quiet too, but I really don't like that glaze (that almost every overdrive I try has also). So, before flipping it, I got a Unit67 to try out. Flipped the Empress. The 67 is a lovely, lovely pedal, that does many things well. The compression is fine, and the mid-centric tone adjustment is fantastic. This made the next choice a bit more expensive. The Effectrode Leveling Amp, LA-1A, is an absolute masterpiece. It is DEAD quiet—it uses both sides of 2 12AU7s (so 4 paralleled triodes, for low noise—I mean, this is crazy in a guitar effect. I had done something similar in a low output phono preamp many years ago, but...)
So, between the Unit67 and the LA-1A, the last thing I needed was another compressor. But the word on this was powerful, and boy, am I glad I built it. This is another build that has the way too big RN60 resistors in some places, and I had decided to put in some 20 turn trim pots for the 1K5 LDR LED resistors, so I could do some tuning if needed. (And, since I used some of the KE10720 LDRs that I had left over from phaser builds, it was needed.) No other mods or subs, but between the larger resistors and the trim pots, I had to do some creative parts placement.
This is close to as quiet as the LA-1A, although it does not (at least at my current trim level) have nearly the compression range that that monster does. (On the other hand, I rarely go beyond 9:00 on the Peak Reduction knob.) It is, however, even more transparent—it's truly one of the few almost completely transparent pedals I've ever played through. Not to say that you can't affect the sound, or that the treble control doesn't do it's very effective, without getting strident, boost or cut of upper frequencies. There is a near glorious thickening of the signal with some light sustain. If I put the Balance up full on, with the Sustain and Treble at ~10:30 it replicates the Unit67 (at my knobs-stuck-at-settings) too close for me to say which is which. So, I am a very happy camper! I need to play a bit with where on my board this goes. Currently I have it in the middle of my boosts; the LA-1A is at the start of the chain. (The Unit67 is off my board, but on the shelf and I need to spend some more time with it on other settings to relearn when I may want to pull it back in.)
The box design is set except for possibly changing the font and I think the howling wolf will move to a side wall. It's basically my attempt at an homage to the Thorpy design.
I can't recommend this build enough!
So, between the Unit67 and the LA-1A, the last thing I needed was another compressor. But the word on this was powerful, and boy, am I glad I built it. This is another build that has the way too big RN60 resistors in some places, and I had decided to put in some 20 turn trim pots for the 1K5 LDR LED resistors, so I could do some tuning if needed. (And, since I used some of the KE10720 LDRs that I had left over from phaser builds, it was needed.) No other mods or subs, but between the larger resistors and the trim pots, I had to do some creative parts placement.
This is close to as quiet as the LA-1A, although it does not (at least at my current trim level) have nearly the compression range that that monster does. (On the other hand, I rarely go beyond 9:00 on the Peak Reduction knob.) It is, however, even more transparent—it's truly one of the few almost completely transparent pedals I've ever played through. Not to say that you can't affect the sound, or that the treble control doesn't do it's very effective, without getting strident, boost or cut of upper frequencies. There is a near glorious thickening of the signal with some light sustain. If I put the Balance up full on, with the Sustain and Treble at ~10:30 it replicates the Unit67 (at my knobs-stuck-at-settings) too close for me to say which is which. So, I am a very happy camper! I need to play a bit with where on my board this goes. Currently I have it in the middle of my boosts; the LA-1A is at the start of the chain. (The Unit67 is off my board, but on the shelf and I need to spend some more time with it on other settings to relearn when I may want to pull it back in.)
The box design is set except for possibly changing the font and I think the howling wolf will move to a side wall. It's basically my attempt at an homage to the Thorpy design.
I can't recommend this build enough!
