- Build Rating
As mentioned in my previous compressor build reports (Delegate Boneyard Edition and Median), I've always struggled to "get" compressors. However, the Median did somewhat put me in the compressor "apprentice" category (but less so with the Delegate). At the same time, I've been trying to somewhat min-max my board: maximum utility, minimum size. So even though I was getting some utility out of the Median, I wasn't sure I really needed it. But with it gone, I did find I was missing it, but I don't have room for a 125B. But I do have room for a 1590A, so I took the lazy route, and bought a (cheap) Mooer Yellow Comp, which is supposedly a clone of the Diamond Compressor.
IIRC, the Madbean Rough Cut - also a Diamond clone - was actually my first compressor build. That was several years ago when I was fairly new to pedal building (pre-dated posted build reports), and certainly still well in the "not getting compressors" mindset. So it's long since been sold.
So I found myself really liking this Mooer Yellow Comp, similar to how I feel about the Median. But the Mooer feels like "compressor easy mode" to me, and I find it has some utility beyond just compression. That is: I'm using it as my first pedal (after my buffer), and besides compression, it can act as a boost or EQ shaper. With the compression turned down, EQ at noon and volume at unity, it's (to my ears) almost impossible to tell if its on or not (dare I say "transparent"?). I could certainly get most of that utility out of something like the Mercurial. But if I'm playing clean with single coils, it's nice to dial in a bit of compression to even things out a bit.
In short: tiny pedal with three simple knobs, all of which do something useful for me. So the only remaning problem: it's not DIY!
My long-term plan is to make my own PCB for this circuit to fit in a smaller enclosure. While the circuit isn't terribly complex, this will be my first compressor PCB, so I wanted to have a working reference in case I need to debug. Enter the AionFX Quartz. This is a clone of the Diamond Compressor with some added features: tone defeat, high-cut enable/defeat, and three-way center frequency selection. (The tone control is a tilt control, by default centered around 900Hz; the Quartz allows selecting between that and two other frequencies.) In the interest of space, my planned PCB will be "opinionated" - that is, stripped down to only three knobs, like the Mooer. But the added features of the Quartz allow me to see if I might want to hardwire in some non-stock tweaks.
Anyway: the build itself was unremarkable. Minor complaint, the white PCB makes it obvious where I didn't clean up flux residue. Otherwise, everything worked as expected on the first power-up. I only did some quick sanity testing, using the Mooer Yellow Comp as the reference. At lower compression settings, they seem fairly evenly matched. But at higher compression settings, the Quartz is noticeably quieter. At $50 shipped, I'm willing to bet the Mooer uses least-cost components. I use all quality parts and sprung for the woefully expensive OP275. Aion always does nice layouts too, so I'm sure that helps as well.
At some point I'll put it side-by-side with the Median.
As for the custom version: I already have a custom through-hole PCB of the Diamond on order with JLCPCB. First step is to validate that; it will be a 125B build as well. But once that's validated, next step is the SMD shrink. I'm confident I can get it down to 1590B without too much difficulty. But I'd really like to see if I can, ahem, compress it down to 1590A size. That would indeed be challenging, and certainly require stacked PCBs, as I'd want to include my MCU-controlled buffered bypass as well (see this for example).
The enclosure art is an AI-generated literal take on "Diamond Compressor".
TL;DR - As a guy who views compressors with some trepidation, I can recommend the Diamond Compressor as an "easy mode" compressor that also has utility as a boost and/or simple EQ. PCBs are available from Madbean as the Rough Cut, or from Aion as the Quartz.
IIRC, the Madbean Rough Cut - also a Diamond clone - was actually my first compressor build. That was several years ago when I was fairly new to pedal building (pre-dated posted build reports), and certainly still well in the "not getting compressors" mindset. So it's long since been sold.
So I found myself really liking this Mooer Yellow Comp, similar to how I feel about the Median. But the Mooer feels like "compressor easy mode" to me, and I find it has some utility beyond just compression. That is: I'm using it as my first pedal (after my buffer), and besides compression, it can act as a boost or EQ shaper. With the compression turned down, EQ at noon and volume at unity, it's (to my ears) almost impossible to tell if its on or not (dare I say "transparent"?). I could certainly get most of that utility out of something like the Mercurial. But if I'm playing clean with single coils, it's nice to dial in a bit of compression to even things out a bit.
In short: tiny pedal with three simple knobs, all of which do something useful for me. So the only remaning problem: it's not DIY!
My long-term plan is to make my own PCB for this circuit to fit in a smaller enclosure. While the circuit isn't terribly complex, this will be my first compressor PCB, so I wanted to have a working reference in case I need to debug. Enter the AionFX Quartz. This is a clone of the Diamond Compressor with some added features: tone defeat, high-cut enable/defeat, and three-way center frequency selection. (The tone control is a tilt control, by default centered around 900Hz; the Quartz allows selecting between that and two other frequencies.) In the interest of space, my planned PCB will be "opinionated" - that is, stripped down to only three knobs, like the Mooer. But the added features of the Quartz allow me to see if I might want to hardwire in some non-stock tweaks.
Anyway: the build itself was unremarkable. Minor complaint, the white PCB makes it obvious where I didn't clean up flux residue. Otherwise, everything worked as expected on the first power-up. I only did some quick sanity testing, using the Mooer Yellow Comp as the reference. At lower compression settings, they seem fairly evenly matched. But at higher compression settings, the Quartz is noticeably quieter. At $50 shipped, I'm willing to bet the Mooer uses least-cost components. I use all quality parts and sprung for the woefully expensive OP275. Aion always does nice layouts too, so I'm sure that helps as well.
At some point I'll put it side-by-side with the Median.
As for the custom version: I already have a custom through-hole PCB of the Diamond on order with JLCPCB. First step is to validate that; it will be a 125B build as well. But once that's validated, next step is the SMD shrink. I'm confident I can get it down to 1590B without too much difficulty. But I'd really like to see if I can, ahem, compress it down to 1590A size. That would indeed be challenging, and certainly require stacked PCBs, as I'd want to include my MCU-controlled buffered bypass as well (see this for example).
The enclosure art is an AI-generated literal take on "Diamond Compressor".
TL;DR - As a guy who views compressors with some trepidation, I can recommend the Diamond Compressor as an "easy mode" compressor that also has utility as a boost and/or simple EQ. PCBs are available from Madbean as the Rough Cut, or from Aion as the Quartz.
