Guitar Compression was :Re: ...reflections...

[William Walker <billwalker@baymoon.com>]

I went through a period of several years when I was anti compression  
and would not use it for all the reasons  previously mentioned here.
  Oh it destroys dynamics, and  makes all of the levels the same yada  
yada rabble rabble, rabble. The reality was that I was using  
compression in the wrong way and yes it was robbing me of dynamics.  
These days I won't leave home without it. Why?  because like it or not  
we live in a digital freaking world and digital devices are not very  
forgiving when overloaded, I include in this group any DSP or Looper  
or DAW for that matter. When I was first using compression, an MXR red  
comp way back when I was making the mistake of jacking up the  
sensitivity to the point of rendering everything completely over  
compressed and lacking in dynamic range. That god awful pumping effect  
that cheap compressors do and even good ones when not set up  
correctly. These days I use a keeley on the front end of my signal  
more as a slight  boost and signal massage, with very little  
sensitivity, and with the internal trims set for the highest  
headroom .  If recording I'll also use a Carl martin at the end of my  
signal chain for some discreet limiting, and I'll also use a UA plugin  
LA-2 sim when recording. I don't get any radical dynamic limitation, I  
still have a dramatic degree of quite to loud dynamics, and I have the  
added benefit of the limiting that helps avoid clipping other things  
in the chain not to mention a bit less need. to change  my gain stages  
when switching between instruments with widely different out put levels.
  I do agree that over compression sucks, or rather pumps, and I'm not  
particularly fond of the Adrian Belew/ Jamie West Oram, 80's  
compression aesthetic  where all dynamic range is killed, but I do  
feel that compression when used sparingly is a good thing. with that  
in mind the M-9 does a very decent LA-2 compression model  they call  
tube compressor. BTW I went to try the pigtronix philosophers tone and  
my first impression was that it was not capable of subtle compression,  
and the grit control was completely useless to me. Something I'm  
missing or maybe it was a crappy amp they had me plugged in to. Any  
thoughts , I sure do love its compact size and its gotten great  
reviews. any feed back? does it have internal trims like the Keeley to  
reduce its sensitivity.
  Thanks
  Bill