The Oracle

[Guardians of the analog]

Build Rating

5.00 star(s)

Welcome friends, in this week's journey to the Roland laboratories we are taking a detour from the main attractions that are modulation, delay and distortion and visiting the confusing, overlooked and often hated land of compression. I'm going to be honest, having heard people say years ago that the boss compressors suck, and the CS-3 inferior to the CS-2, I dismissed it and never gave it a chance. I simply never even bothered to plug into one...until now.
Compression pedals are often touted as noisy. Incorrect, they are doing their job by raising the noise floor in your shitty rig and making you self aware of the noise, static and emf that lives in your walls, your gear and the air around your pickups. The CS-3 is not any noisier than any other comp pedal. So what sets this one apart from other pedals? It's VCA (voltage controlled amplifier) and one of only a few diy VCA based comps. Most people are used to one of three types of comp pedals: the ota based (dyna, Ross), jfet (orange squeezer) or optical (diamond, EQD warden). Unlike many of these, this is a hard knee compressor and is very even in response. It's like the best vanilla pudding you have ever had.
I was surprised by this because everyone says it's noisy, and I did not experience this, but then this project uses quieter opamps and tighter spec lower noise passive components so I guess that helps too. The VCA chip give a nice even response when playing, and while a hard knee gives more of a limiting response the attack knob will preserve the initial transient response. Unlike a lot of other compressors I can get real sustain on a clean tone, and the addition of the tone knob is a feature I wish more comps had. Like any comp it's more about feel than sound. With the four knobs I can really get whatever sound/feel I'm looking for from subtle to full squash.
I went with a matte white tayda enclosure and UV print. For the Oracle name I went with Elizabeth Braddock aka Psylocke for her precognition powers. Overall, a great build that's low cost(I used the coolaudio vca) and low parts count and gave me a pedal I wish I would have tried years ago. If you like comp pedals and wanna try something different than the standard diy fare then I highly recommend this project.

 

[Dirty_Boogie]

That's pro-level! Nice work.

 

[MichaelW]

I love my Oracle! I need to get mine back out and play it more. Although I get a hint more cinnamon and nutmeg in my vanilla pudding, definitely not yer “snack pak” vanilla pudding. Inspiring build as always dude.

 

[Paradox916]

Very nice! I love it! How does it play with a hot humbucker? Does it get dirt or stay clean?

 

[Harry Klippton]

Curious about this one with my newfound appreciation of compressors

 

[steviejr92]

Beautiful! Dude your pedals are always awesome! Love how clean it is inside and out! Great work!

 

[Guardians of the analog]

Curious about this one with my newfound appreciation of compressors

Beautiful! Dude your pedals are always awesome! Love how clean it is inside and out! Great work!

Thanks guys, I really recommend this compressor if you wanna squash some shit

 

[steviejr92]

I was just telling @MichaelW today that I haven't built a MBP circuit yet. I think you just chose which one im going for first!

 

[GizzWizzKing]

A compressor is fast rising to the top of my To-Do List. Thanks for the shout and I echo everyone above in saying that it looks awesome! Does the tone knob actually ADD tone? or does it just dial in the loss of tone? My issue with compressors (I have not played enough of them to be anywhere near versed) is that they seem to rob you of all the sparkle and I have never had a tone knob on one that I couldn't just dime and then pull off.

 

[Route14]

Incorrect, they are doing their job by raising the noise floor in your shitty rig and making you self aware of the noise, static and emf that lives in your walls, your gear and the air around your pickups.

Love it.

 

[peccary]

 

[steviejr92]

View attachment 40016

.......and pull de ****** trigger......

 

[Crash102]

A compressor is fast rising to the top of my To-Do List. Thanks for the shout and I echo everyone above in saying that it looks awesome! Does the tone knob actually ADD tone? or does it just dial in the loss of tone? My issue with compressors (I have not played enough of them to be anywhere near versed) is that they seem to rob you of all the sparkle and I have never had a tone knob on one that I couldn't just dime and then pull off.

I have found that when I pair my Warden and an Amentum Boost side by side that the compressor is amazing and then the boost gives it the sparkle back. Those two pedals along with a Muzzle are the ones that never leave my board and are always on.

 

[Guardians of the analog]

A compressor is fast rising to the top of my To-Do List. Thanks for the shout and I echo everyone above in saying that it looks awesome! Does the tone knob actually ADD tone? or does it just dial in the loss of tone? My issue with compressors (I have not played enough of them to be anywhere near versed) is that they seem to rob you of all the sparkle and I have never had a tone knob on one that I couldn't just dime and then pull off.

It's an active treble boost/cut. You can get all the sparkle you want, or mellow out and hanging in the background.

 

[GizzWizzKing]

It's an active treble boost/cut. You can get all the sparkle you want, or mellow out and hanging in the background.

That is exactly what I like to hear. Thank you!

and then the boost gives it the sparkle back.

This is sorta what I am avoiding. I like to have a treble boost at times but I would prefer not to keep one as an always on pedal. With the right compressor I think I could boot the treble booster entirely and kill two birds with one pedal. Full Range Or Treble Booster And/Or Compressor.

 

[Harry Klippton]

Thanks guys, I really recommend this compressor if you wanna squash some shit

I definitely wanna squaaaaash

That is exactly what I like to hear. Thank you!


This is sorta what I am avoiding. I like to have a treble boost at times but I would prefer not to keep one as an always on pedal. With the right compressor I think I could boot the treble booster entirely and kill two birds with one pedal. Full Range Or Treble Booster And/Or Compressor.

My board now has a compressor, treble boost, and full range boost. I'm finding the tone switch on the Byrdhouse Compressor I just built to be really super duper handy, and I'm toggling it all the time. I'm usually not a toggle guy

 

[Bricksnbeatles]

Thanks guys, I really recommend this compressor if you wanna squash some shit

how squishy does it get, compared to, say, a dynacomp or an orange squeezer?

 

[Guardians of the analog]

how squishy does it get, compared to, say, a dynacomp or an orange squeezer?

It can squish with the best of them. I like that it can squash like a dyna/Ross.

 

[Mentaltossflycoon]

This has a sterile operating room level cleanliness feel to it. Might be that i know you work in health care but it might be because my wife is almost finished with a doctor of nursing practice and is all I hear about these days.

I've had a lonely THAT chip in a mouser cart for months waiting for any other reason to pay 8 bucks shipping to come along. Been considering building this one entirely because of Juan Alderete. I don't tend to use hard squishing early chain comp (I get funky but I hate playing slap bass) but he's said many times that he loves "slamming other pedals" with it. Have you been stacking it much?

 

[Guardians of the analog]

This has a sterile operating room level cleanliness feel to it. Might be that i know you work in health care but it might be because my wife is almost finished with a doctor of nursing practice and is all I hear about these days.

I've had a lonely THAT chip in a mouser cart for months waiting for any other reason to pay 8 bucks shipping to come along. Been considering building this one entirely because of Juan Alderete. I don't tend to use hard squishing early chain comp (I get funky but I hate playing slap bass) but he's said many times that he loves "slamming other pedals" with it. Have you been stacking it much?

I play clean at least 50% of the time, if not 53% so it is usually always on, unless I'm using super saturated gain I'll kick it off. I like to use it in front of octaves and envelope filters to bring out the best in them, but I don't always squash, mainly I have it as a nice subtle glue to hold it all together just a bit.