General Tso Compressor (Thorpy Fat General)

Brett

Well-known member
Build Rating
5.00 star(s)
This is the final build in this frenzy of build reports.

The General Tso Compressor is one that gets a lot of positive talk here and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm weird about compressors. I see the utility in having them but I rarely like the way they make the guitar "feel" under the fingers. I started trying compressors with the Wampler Ego compressor, moved to the Barber Tone Press (I liked this one actually), then decided to take the plunge and get myself the Origin Effects Cali76 Compact Deluxe.

While I love the Cali76, it's pretty expensive for a tool that I'm using for very minimal compression. I decided to try the Boneyard Delegate compressor (modified EQD Warden) a while back, and now the General Tso compressor (ThorpyFX Fat General) to see how optical compressors may differ from the OTA comps I'd tried previously.

In the very minimal testing I've done so far, the treble control is a little strange. I'm hoping someone else may be able to verify if this is normal behavior, but in one mode (can't remember which), it seems to add treble. In the other mode, it seems to cut treble. I'll need to get more familiar with the General Tso before forming a solid opinion but my initial impression is that it may work better for me than the Delegate did.

Enclosure, UV printing, and drilling/line cutting all done by Tayda.
IMG_1621.JPG IMG_1623.JPG IMG_1622.JPG
 
The treble should not be affected by the modes.
"Juicy" is a constant 90 percent blend and turns the blend knob into a volume knob for the compressor.
"Blend" mode" is a traditional blend knob that blends the 100% wet with the dry. (I think).

In either mode the treble should be adding treble as it's turned clockwise to compensate for the high end roll off of most optical compressors
and fine tune it for different guitars.

This is my "always on" pedal. I use it to add subtle compression for low volume playing as opposed to adding "squish". It's one of those pedals that you don't know is on until you turn it off the way I use compression.
 
The treble should not be affected by the modes.
"Juicy" is a constant 90 percent blend and turns the blend knob into a volume knob for the compressor.
"Blend" mode" is a traditional blend knob that blends the 100% wet with the dry. (I think).

In either mode the treble should be adding treble as it's turned clockwise to compensate for the high end roll off of most optical compressors
and fine tune it for different guitars.

This is my "always on" pedal. I use it to add subtle compression for low volume playing as opposed to adding "squish". It's one of those pedals that you don't know is on until you turn it off the way I use compression.
Thank you @MichaelW, I'll check it out again today to make sure I wasn't in a solder fume haze when I tested it the first time.
 
The treble should not be affected by the modes.
"Juicy" is a constant 90 percent blend and turns the blend knob into a volume knob for the compressor.
"Blend" mode" is a traditional blend knob that blends the 100% wet with the dry. (I think).

In either mode the treble should be adding treble as it's turned clockwise to compensate for the high end roll off of most optical compressors
and fine tune it for different guitars.

This is my "always on" pedal. I use it to add subtle compression for low volume playing as opposed to adding "squish". It's one of those pedals that you don't know is on until you turn it off the way I use compression.
Following up to say that you're right and it must have been the fumes.

This thing sounds wonderful.
 
May I ask you in which way you oriented the LEDs and the LDR together? I want to build one myself and am a bit puzzled, there seem to be different possibilities like bending the LED downwards or both of them standing in parallel together etc and I don’t really know what to do with these so that the effect works afterwards :) thank you in advance :)
 
May I ask you in which way you oriented the LEDs and the LDR together? I want to build one myself and am a bit puzzled, there seem to be different possibilities like bending the LED downwards or both of them standing in parallel together etc and I don’t really know what to do with these so that the effect works afterwards :) thank you in advance :)
Sure, I oriented mine similar to how @MichaelW did his here.

I added heat shrink over the top and clamped the opening after the tubing was heated to further guard against light coming in/going out.
 
Not OP but here's a crummy drawing of a vaguely phallic LED and how I arranged mine.
I did also do the same with heat shrink and sealing the top closed though.

Works fine for me, used green diffused LEDs FWIW. I'd be curious if there is any appreciable difference between the different methods!

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Not sure with compressors but in my experience I haven’t noticed any difference between heat shrinking them and not doing so. It’s pretty dark inside the enclosure.
You may be right. I chose to shrink them on this one to isolate them completely. Depending on the builder’s choice of LED bezel, or lack of a bezel, it may not be as dark inside the enclosure as you think.
 
Shrinking is a good think. Some years a got a not working wha wha on the bench. I just had to clean the debris out of the optical switch. Maybe I am dumb but I didn't ask for a compensation for just firering up the vac.
 
I just noticed the rectangular hole!

What’s your technique for doing that?
This is sort of unfortunate; for doing just a few (unless you own a water jet system…) it’s pretty much drill a hole and file it into a rectangle. The cast aluminum is very soft though, and files pretty fast. If you can spring for them, good quality (expect to spend ~€15 each) diamond files are worth it. But even more importantly, if you file with some running water, to keep the aluminum dust from jamming the file, it helps a lot. For little rectangles like this, a square file (3mm) and a small flat file (ideally one that has one narrow edge smooth) make a good team.
 
This is sort of unfortunate; for doing just a few (unless you own a water jet system…) it’s pretty much drill a hole and file it into a rectangle. The cast aluminum is very soft though, and files pretty fast. If you can spring for them, good quality (expect to spend ~€15 each) diamond files are worth it. But even more importantly, if you file with some running water, to keep the aluminum dust from jamming the file, it helps a lot. For little rectangles like this, a square file (3mm) and a small flat file (ideally one that has one narrow edge smooth) make a good team.
I figured as much. Probably makes more sense to drill a larger hole and either manage the gap, or have some top plate..
 
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