Anyone Compared the OTC-201 to the Diamond Comp?

G

Greenfield

New member
I built the AionFX Quartz (Diamond Comp) recently, and now I'm thinking of trying out their Convex (OTC-201) build.

Has anyone compared these two pedals? Do either do anything better than the other? I'm basically just looking to use it as a subtle "always on" compression.
 
I can’t help you, but if you’re not familiar with General Tso (Thorpy fat general) it’s a lovely, subtle always on type.
 
Greenfield said:
I believe the Fat General is itself just an OTC-201 clone, if I'm not mistaken.
Click to expand...
Pretty much - Dan Coggins designed the OTC-201, and then he refined that design (only somewhat slightly, I understand), when collaborating with Thorpy to make the Fat General. I have Tso (Fat General) but wouldn't expect much difference from an OTC-201 clone.
 
Here I did a comparison.
MichaelW

Thread '2 More compressor builds - General Tso's and Convex'

So in my last "2 Compressor Builds" thread I mentioned that the General Tso's (Thorpy Fat General) was going to be my last DIY compressor build until a Cali76 project somehow made it's way to existence.

I "sorta" kept to my word.....even though this is a 2 Compressor build report:)

I was ordering some MMBF5457's from the AionFX site when I noticed the "Convex Compressor" project and discovered that it's a clone of the pretty rare Dinosaural OTC-201 designed by Dan Coggins. Dan now works as a design engineer for Thorpy and the Fat General is essentially the same circuit with some...
  • Like
  • Love
 
MichaelW said:
Here I did a comparison.
MichaelW

Thread '2 More compressor builds - General Tso's and Convex'

So in my last "2 Compressor Builds" thread I mentioned that the General Tso's (Thorpy Fat General) was going to be my last DIY compressor build until a Cali76 project somehow made it's way to existence.

I "sorta" kept to my word.....even though this is a 2 Compressor build report:)

I was ordering some MMBF5457's from the AionFX site when I noticed the "Convex Compressor" project and discovered that it's a clone of the pretty rare Dinosaural OTC-201 designed by Dan Coggins. Dan now works as a design engineer for Thorpy and the Fat General is essentially the same circuit with some...
  • Like
  • Love
Click to expand...
How do you find either of those two compare to the Diamond Comp circuit?
 
They have a different sound. I actually have both the Tso and Diamond comp in my chain for different sounds. I like the Diamond but not as much as the Tso. When you put them side by side you can hear that the “coloring” from the Tso is more full bodied and there’s more bass present.
 
MichaelW said:
They have a different sound. I actually have both the Tso and Diamond comp in my chain for different sounds. I like the Diamond but not as much as the Tso. When you put them side by side you can hear that the “coloring” from the Tso is more full bodied and there’s more bass present.
Click to expand...
I guess I'm looking for the one with minimal "colouration", but it sounds like I need to just try both for myself.
 
This is the beginning of my signal chain in my desktop rig.

From right to left, the Tso, Boss CS-3 (MBP Oracle), the Diamond (MBP RoughtCut) and the Boss CS-2 (Sheepy Love Squishy)
And on the floor next to my wah I have a DynaComp (AionFX Aurora Legacy).

They all do different things and have different sounds. But my goto "always on" is the Tso.

IMG_8090.JPG
 
MichaelW said:
This is the beginning of my signal chain in my desktop rig.

From right to left, the Tso, Boss CS-3 (MBP Oracle), the Diamond (MBP RoughtCut) and the Boss CS-2 (Sheepy Love Squishy)
And on the floor next to my wah I have a DynaComp (AionFX Aurora Legacy).

They all do different things and have different sounds. But my goto "always on" is the Tso.

View attachment 101076
Click to expand...
Do the Tso or the Convex run at 18v?
 
I haven’t tried the fat general but have been using the diamond comp for years. It can be subtle as you want but I keep everything, on my board, just above noon. @MichaelW Where in the world did you find a CS-2 clone? How different better or worse is it than the MBP CS-3 and did you have to find a replacement chip for the CS-2. Surprised to see you don’t have the Barber/Ross mashup on MBP on there

I’m curious if anyone has tried this Pulp n Peel style clone as well. I’ve never tried one. In case I’m not allowed to uploaded downloadable pdfs I took some screenshots but not all. IMG_1915.jpeg

IMG_1916.jpeg

IMG_1917.jpeg
 

Attachments

bluedmc777 said:
I haven’t tried the fat general but have been using the diamond comp for years. It can be subtle as you want but I keep everything, on my board, just above noon. @MichaelW Where in the world did you find a CS-2 clone? How different better or worse is it than the MBP CS-3 and did you have to find a replacement chip for the CS-2. Surprised to see you don’t have the Barber/Ross mashup on MBP on there

I’m curious if anyone has tried this Pulp n Peel style clone as well. I’ve never tried one. In case I’m not allowed to uploaded downloadable pdfs I took some screenshots but not all. View attachment 101203

View attachment 101204

View attachment 101205
Click to expand...
The CS-2 was a custom collaboration between @Guardians of the analog an @szukalski.

All the info re: the IC, etc is in my build report.

It's different from the CS-3. Hard to describe compressor tone attributes as they can be so vague.
But if you have a lot of exposure to different types of compressors (me, since I've built them all...:LOL:)
then you can pretty much immediately hear and feel the CS-2 comes from the Dyna Comp/Ross family tree.
Whereas the CS-3 is a bit more sedate, but it also capable of a LOT of compression.

I've actually built the MBP Kompromat that you referred to. I like it a lot, I also like a bunch of other compressors I've built a lot too. 401k, Roughcut, Trash Compactor, BearHug, etc. The compressors in my chain go through a pretty regular rotation, with the exception of the General Tso, which is always there and the Dyna Comp because I'm too lazy to crawl under my desk...hahah.
 
Greenfield said:
I built the AionFX Quartz (Diamond Comp) recently, and now I'm thinking of trying out their Convex (OTC-201) build.

Has anyone compared these two pedals? Do either do anything better than the other? I'm basically just looking to use it as a subtle "always on" compression.
Click to expand...
I’ve built both of the Aion versions. They would both work for your purposes and that is how I run them. I have one on each of my two pedalboards and set them so they *just* start to smoooth out arpeggios. I also set them to generate a very slight signal boost.

I generally believe two things that most do not. Firstly, blend on a compressor is stupid. Second, compressors should not brighten your tone, at all.

Given all of the above, the Quartz is the best of the two. It is better than the Convex set to compression only mode as I find the Convex brightens my tone slightly.

However…tone being subjective…I have to confess that my favorite is the Convex set to blend mode 😳🤔. In that setting, it seems to fatten my tone a bit with the blend (guessing) around 50-50 and the compression knob set high.

Question: did you build the Quartz with the three leg LED? I did, but I may reverse it as the warnings were correct. It doesn’t really work with current LEDs.
 
@MichaelW I must’ve never used my CS-2 with enough compression cause I never reached the point to where it squashes like a standard modern Dyna Comp. I used to have a DC after my dirt in college just so I could crank the dirt and bring the levels back down with the DC. Sounded like crap but I didn’t care about tone at the time. I wouldn’t have ever thought to two were related until I read somewhere.

I don’t have a problem with a comp having the ability to add some highs as longs as it also fattens the tone but can also match the bypass highs. I like the soft knee on the diamond. It’s just an easy to set comp. I keep a more elaborate “studio” style optical comp/boost at the end of my chain with the compression barely on and slight boost for a little more “oomph” lol.

Whatever happened to the Durham Sex Drive wasn’t it marketed as being a tone enhancer with slight compression? Always wanted to see exactly what that pedal did but never got one.
 
manfesto said:
It's just a super low-gain TS.
Click to expand...
Well that’s a bummer. For some reason I remember it being advertised as a pseudo compressor as well. Marketing at its best or worst I suppose.

Since we’re talking comps Any of you guys try the Cicognani Sexy Comp 76? The “Stetta” build at deadendfx. Again, pdf docs attached below but here are screenshots


IMG_1945.jpeg IMG_1947.jpeg
 

Attachments

bluedmc777 said:
Well that’s a bummer. For some reason I remember it being advertised as a pseudo compressor as well. Marketing at its best or worst I suppose.
Click to expand...
Yeah basically it's low-enough gain that at most settings only the loudest notes are getting clipped, and that was enough to convince people that it was "compressing", which if you're loose enough with definitions, isn't *not* true(?) in the loosest possible sense(?)

(Doesn't sound *bad* per se, tbh.)
 
MichaelW said:
They have a different sound. I actually have both the Tso and Diamond comp in my chain for different sounds. I like the Diamond but not as much as the Tso. When you put them side by side you can hear that the “coloring” from the Tso is more full bodied and there’s more bass present.
Click to expand...
Ahh but I bet you built and compared the "guitar" version of the Diamond to your Tso.

I'm wondering how the Diamond BASS version compares to the Chicken General.



I was not aware of the Cicognani, need to add that Stretta to my list of DEFX to get.
 
Feral Feline said:
Ahh but I bet you built and compared the "guitar" version of the Diamond to your Tso.

I'm wondering how the Diamond BASS version compares to the Chicken General.



I was not aware of the Cicognani, need to add that Stretta to my list of DEFX to get.
Click to expand...
it probably just some filtering between the bass and guitar version. But given how good the regular one sounds, I bet the bass version kicks butt as well. But hasn't Diamond Pedals changed ownership a few times in recent years? Who designed the original compressor?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top