Compressors I built in 2021

[szukalski]

Bumping this thread because it made me build a Meridian which I just finished.

Really impressed with the Meridian, the exciter circuit is really flexible and it immediately pushed itself into top spot along with my Pale Green.

Would recommend.

My experience so far in order of satisfaction:

Meridian - exciter makes it really useful, compression is nice as well.
Pale Green - hard to push this off the board, the more I use it, the more I like it. Very natural sounding.
General Tso - very nice but can't push off the Pale Green.
Constrictor - transparent and simple. If I only this one, I would still be happy.
Deep Six - it's ok but I was ultimately disappointed. Running at 12/18v is better, but it feels a little flat. Maybe it's me, maybe it's PCBGuitarMania.

 

[Matopotato]

Bumping this thread because it made me build a Meridian which I just finished.

Really impressed with the Meridian, the exciter circuit is really flexible and it immediately pushed itself into top spot along with my Pale Green.

Would recommend.

My experience so far in order of satisfaction:

Meridian - exciter makes it really useful, compression is nice as well.
Pale Green - hard to push this off the board, the more I use it, the more I like it. Very natural sounding.
General Tso - very nice but can't push off the Pale Green.
Constrictor - transparent and simple. If I only this one, I would still be happy.
Deep Six - it's ok but I was ultimately disappointed. Running at 12/18v is better, but it feels a little flat. Maybe it's me, maybe it's PCBGuitarMania.

Which version did you build, guitar or bass? And did you try out to compare them first before soldering?

 

[almondcity]

Bumping this thread because it made me build a Meridian which I just finished.

Really impressed with the Meridian, the exciter circuit is really flexible and it immediately pushed itself into top spot along with my Pale Green.

Would recommend.

My experience so far in order of satisfaction:

Meridian - exciter makes it really useful, compression is nice as well.
Pale Green - hard to push this off the board, the more I use it, the more I like it. Very natural sounding.
General Tso - very nice but can't push off the Pale Green.
Constrictor - transparent and simple. If I only this one, I would still be happy.
Deep Six - it's ok but I was ultimately disappointed. Running at 12/18v is better, but it feels a little flat. Maybe it's me, maybe it's PCBGuitarMania.

Where'd you get the board for the Pale Green?

Glad you like the Meridian as much as I do. Lately I've been using the PPCB Creamery though

 

[szukalski]

Which version did you build, guitar or bass? And did you try out to compare them first before soldering?

I just did the guitar one out of the box, vanilla build per the docs.

Where'd you get the board for the Pale Green?

Glad you like the Meridian as much as I do. Lately I've been using the PPCB Creamery though

I had a Pale Green clone before I started building. I am going to build the Pale Green and Forest Green on vero soon though (unless my wishlist gets fulfilled). I would love a Creamery, but there's that one component which is hard to find in the EU.. I thought about buying an old Behringer unit and ripping out the THAT chips, but it's €40 for a bunch of chips which I may never use again.

 

[Matopotato]

There is a mod for sustain, 27k + C500k. Did you consider it, or you feel that stock is good?
I managed to get a Pumpernickel kit with another THAT (4301), and they also seem hard to find/are costly. Price went up quite a bit before I got it.

 

[Matopotato]

I just did the guitar one out of the box, vanilla build per the docs.



I had a Pale Green clone before I started building. I am going to build the Pale Green and Forest Green on vero soon though (unless my wishlist gets fulfilled). I would love a Creamery, but there's that one component which is hard to find in the EU.. I thought about buying an old Behringer unit and ripping out the THAT chips, but it's €40 for a bunch of chips which I may never use again.

Just finished. Tested both guitar and bass and will go with guitar. Also the Sustain mod felt good.
I noticed that the Exciter pot cut the sound in the extremes. I am not able to say how it affects the sound in the remaining interval , say 9:30 - 2:30 (ish). Is that normal?

 

[almondcity]

Just finished. Tested both guitar and bass and will go with guitar. Also the Sustain mod felt good.
I noticed that the Exciter pot cut the sound in the extremes. I am not able to say how it affects the sound in the remaining interval , say 9:30 - 2:30 (ish). Is that normal?

My exciter pot has a normal sweep to it, sounds like you may have an issue there

 

[Matopotato]

My exciter pot has a normal sweep to it, sounds like you may have an issue there

Thanks, will dig deeper

 

[Matopotato]

After soldering all up, I thought I could swap around the ICs in case on close to the Exciter pot was bad in some way, and turned out I had not pushed IC3 in enough, so I could swap them all back to first locations and still works now.
I am not sure however what the Exciter should have as effect. I can hear it does something, but feels a bit subtle?

 

[almondcity]

After soldering all up, I thought I could swap around the ICs in case on close to the Exciter pot was bad in some way, and turned out I had not pushed IC3 in enough, so I could swap them all back to first locations and still works now.
I am not sure however what the Exciter should have as effect. I can hear it does something, but feels a bit subtle?

I'm not sure how to describe it. I think Aion describes it as even vs odd harmonics. I think it sounds best between noon and 2 o clock or so. It makes it more exciting as you turn ClockWise, for lack of a better word. A full turn of the knob is not a subtle change for me it makes quite a difference at the extremes

 

[Matopotato]

Thanks, yes I managed to find a few videos on Guyatone P-021 that it is based on as far as I know, and that showed the effect so I know what to listen for and try.