General Tso's Compressor (ThorpyFX Fat General)

[MattG]

Build Rating

5.00 star(s)

I have only dabbled with compressors here and there, and never really made one part of my board or my "sound". But I can't help but feel someday I might "get" compressors and want a nice one, or maybe find a situation where I truly need one: either way, I want to be ready with a good one when the time comes!

The General Tso always seems to get a lot of love around here, so I built it up. It worked on first power-up. But the effect is really subtle. The sustain knob has to be maxed before I can really notice much of anything, and even then, it's still barely noticeable.

I read a bit about this, and most likely there's something amiss with the LDR+LED setup. I've seen other build reports where people wrap those components in heat shrink tube - is this really necessary? With the back cover on, shouldn't it be perfectly dark inside the enclosure? Or is there a concern about reflections from other components? My LDRs were semi-rando ones from Amazon, and I didn't test them before installing. I also can't remember where the LEDs came from. When I circle back to mess with this, I might do like @MichaelW and replace the LDR+LED combo with an optocoupler/vactrol.

 

[MichaelW]

I have only dabbled with compressors here and there, and never really made one part of my board or my "sound". But I can't help but feel someday I might "get" compressors and want a nice one, or maybe find a situation where I truly need one: either way, I want to be ready with a good one when the time comes!

The General Tso always seems to get a lot of love around here, so I built it up. It worked on first power-up. But the effect is really subtle. The sustain knob has to be maxed before I can really notice much of anything, and even then, it's still barely noticeable.

I read a bit about this, and most likely there's something amiss with the LDR+LED setup. I've seen other build reports where people wrap those components in heat shrink tube - is this really necessary? With the back cover on, shouldn't it be perfectly dark inside the enclosure? Or is there a concern about reflections from other components? My LDRs were semi-rando ones from Amazon, and I didn't test them before installing. I also can't remember where the LEDs came from. When I circle back to mess with this, I might do like @MichaelW and replace the LDR+LED combo with an optocoupler/vactrol.

I stood the LDRs up on my original build, but I doubt that it would make a ton of difference. It's a subtle compressor. But play with it on all the time for a few days. Then turn it off, you'll miss it.

 

[Erik S]

That graphic rules.