Guitar Compressor Pedal Explained For Sale (2024 Update)

I was a little skeptical of the price of this compressor but since I already own a VAMP 3 and it is very good so I decided to try it. The unit is made of a kind of indestructible plastic and is very solid. I like the added controls for volume and tone as well as the compression controls. The compression is excellent and the attack sweep is pronounced and has a wide range that is really useful. It sounds especially good on the split coil settings and is smooth and extremely quiet. I would definitely recommend this pedal to anyone. It may not be as good as ones that cost 4 or more times as much but it is pretty close.Jerzy

Maybe its just because its the first compressor Ive owned, but this paired with a Behringer noise suppressor has completely made my playing time more enjoyable. Its clean and quiet and makes everything you play sound lush, warm, and interesting. Lots of ability to dial this pedal to your taste. If you are losing faith in your playing or just getting bored with your sound, pick this pedal and a noise suppressor up. You wont be disappointed. And the price/value ratio couldnt be better in my opinion.yellowbrickroadcommodities

This pedal is great. Not only it is great looking (especially paired with my Getaway Driver from Orange too…) but also extremely flexible. It's possible to shape compression in every detail and I'm satisfied with the results! This is not an expensive pedal in my opinion (well, from EU you have to include some additional costs from DHL…) so you get definetly more than what you pay for!Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

The Kongpressor gives my guitar clarity, even string volume, clean boost, and clean sustain better than other stompbox compressors that I have used. With the chime control you can dial in the amount of treble that you want and get a treble boost effect in the higher settings (VOX in a box). The release and attack dials act uniquely in various combinations (I am still experimenting with that aspect as a lone pedal and also with other pedals to find my preferred sound). I have only used it with a 9 volt adapter so I will be getting a 12 volt to hear the extra boost, but I am happy with the 9 volt. Remember it does not have a battery compartment so you might as well invest in a 12 volt adapter. Compressors can be noisy, the Kongpressor is quiet. AMS service and coupon program are both excellent. Ordering is easy and delivery time is quick.Harv

Characterful compressor. Gives your sound that hifi-like clicheof what valves do. I.e. adds some warmth and bloom to the sound without distortion and has the ability to adjust the tone in a fairly dramatic way. Very pleasedOlive W.

I bought this pedal hoping to get the old Ibanez sound without spending a lot of money. Although it didn't cost much it doesn't get the old Ibanez sound. It's easy to use and fun to play with but I really wouldn't recommend it. You can get a different Behringer compressor pedal which is much better than this one. I would recommend doing that.motocross824

I have used Behringer effects for years now, and have never been disappointed. This Compressor does what it is intended to do, smoothing out the notes from guitar, and evening the output for a pleasing musicality.will_bush312

It is a great pedal except for the fact it's plastic. I wouldn't use my foot to stomp on it. But if you treat it gently it's actually really cool. Just use your hand to put pressure on its button and it will be gracious and give you exactly what you expect from a compression pedal.rmc.rtk.xrzsxdqx3

This is the perfect pedal for a clean boost. I play clean country, country rock, jazz, rock and roll, rockabilly, etc. and when I need to play lead I kick it in. No volume pedal guessing, just on and off. Only problem is I like it so much that I do not want to turn it off! Great design (with active LED readout while playing) and easy to adjust. Short battery life (3 hours) so be sure to order a 9volt wart or use a power supply. If only using battery power be sure to unplug the input on breaks or when through playing. With the power supply you can leave it plugged in as it disconnects the battery. One big plus, this baby works fantastic on acoustic guitars as well. Just turn the comp setting down below 12 o'clock. Highly recommended!Larryz

The CP1x unlike its predecessors CS1 2 and CS3 tend to typically lose a lot of the highs after the compression and alter the tone which has to be EQd then. The new CS1-X keeps the tone as natural. Also the digitals LEDS to show the signal are a nice touch. Not the mention the usual BOSS rugged metal body and metallic paint and metal look knob and control interface. Truly visually appealing too. Very pleased with my purchase.keithmendes

Compression is often one of those effects that people either swear by or ignore entirely. Some lesser compressors don't seem to do much of anything when you click them on & off but when you're connected to a good compressor, you'll see what all the fuss is about. The CP-1X from Boss is one of the best compressors out there. Dial in the knobs to your liking & listen to your playing come to life. Balanced dynamics, beautiful singing clean tones, enhanced note definition and sustain. You'll wonder how you ever went without one. Try one out. You'll be glad you did.Brandon

I'm pleased that it doesn't change the sound of the guitar, and has no noise even turned up. It has enough sustain to fill in the gaps if needed. Playing finger style guitar it is all I need on my acoustic.Larry M.

This perfect little gem of electronics is indeed the philosopher stone (I really like the name play here). It is encased in a little heavy metal box, no cheep plastic here. *You must* have an external power supply adaptor because the pedal is too small to hold a battery. Power supply is 9 volt. Regular minus feed ( like all pedals I guess). This pedal is like a booster shot to anything you play. Improves your tone without changing it. It is my favorite. A must have.asheriko119

I was surprised when I plugged this into my pedal board. I thought I might use it for some sustain in solos or maybe to tweak tones occasionally. It instantly became an always on pedal. The sound is just incredible. It takes my original signal, which I love, and somehow improves it without changing the dynamics or changing the original signal. The germanium gold version allows me to add grit to whatever I feel like. The clean channel is fun with grit, as are the moderate gain channels. My high gain sounds best without it, but grooves on high sustain compression. I run this through the effects loop of my Blackstar HT 60 212 and usually have my earthquaker dispatch master on as well. A little slap back and some compression are righteous!Ravage

Having read rave reviews I purchased a Joyo JF10 for use with my fiddle. Together with a echo FX through a TC-Helicon VoiceTone Harmony G-XT Voice Tone GXT Live Vocal/Guitar Multi-Effects foot pedal it produces an incredibly full, warm sound. I've been playing Irish, R&B, bluegrass fiddle for around 40 years and this is the best ever sound. The pedal is easy to set-up and simple to dial up best setting to suit. As always, prompt delivery to Newcastle from Artist Guitars.Martin

Very good for boosting a distortion. Also sounds pretty sexy on its own. I use it more as a clean boost and to boost my distortion pedal. This really enhances the sound of your guitar more than providing its own sound, so I wouldn't recommend it to those using a practice guitar. Very nice clean boost with single coil pickups. I'm not a huge fan of how it sounds paired with humbuckers (when used on its own). Seller is good. Pedal arrived on time and in perfect working condition.nichilto_0

Excellent piece of kit. Beautifully designed and well made. Fender have also really thought about the functionality too. It has made me consider Fender for future pedals.Customer

Not only does it do its job as a compressor, it adds something to your tone. Could easily be an always on pedal. The overdrive for your clean tone, as Dan and Mick say.spongefrank

Excellent range of adjustments,doesnt colour the sound. Pedal is solidly built and battery compartment is clever. Switchable LEDs are a great idea.gordonlaurie

There is only one Artist Toneprint (by Rudy Sarzo) for bass. But I've been able to use it for both of my basses (a very hot pick up G&L L2000 and not so hot Sire V7 Fretless) with minor adjustments to the knobs. I've also been able to use knobs only to get good sounding compression for finger, slap and pick on the G&L. I had a go with the Toneprint editor with one of the templates. I got a usable compressor within an hour or so based on settings someone had given me – but I preferred the Rudy Sarzo one so stuck with it. If you understand compression, the toneprint editor is logical. It's cleaned up my tone. I'm very happy with it.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

This is a great compressor, with lots of options. If you're not very used to hearing compression, you can set it to be really unsubtle so your ears can easily pick out the compression effect – and then you can make it as transparent as you like as well. Really adds a bit of pro polish to your sound.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

First time with a TC product and apart from colour (which I love but is a personal choice) this pedal is bullet proof. No power supply but that's a small issue as my last purchase was a True Tone CS12. Pedal isn't a straight out of the box product as the overall tone benefits from experimentation, more with this pedal than some others I've used, but the flexibility and variety of compression somehow seem to make each string sound rounded and full of character. Will probably become a permanent part of my pedal set up.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

I ordered this pedal on a whim on a hot deal sale. I wasn't really expecting much over my dynacomp, but was pleasantly surprised. First off, compared to my dynacomp, this thing has tons more output. So much more that you could actually use it as a boost. I couldn't even get my dynacomp to unity. It is subtle at its lowest settings providing sustain without the squash as you roll it up it can get very tight for things like chicken pickin' or funk. Here's what I like. It get along with single coils AND humbuckers which is something my dyna comp did not. I like compression to sort of even out the perceived output between my humbuckers full on and split. With the squeegee I am able to do just that without killing my humbuckers. My dynacomp just killed my humbuckers. It worked great for single coils, but would actually compress SO much that, for instance on my has strat, the humbucker would actually have a lower perceived output than my single coils which is crazy as I have them pretty evenly matched on output levels. Not a problem with the squeegee. I am able to use all 5 positions on my Big Apple strat and have the split positions be pretty close to the full on humbucker positions without having so much limiting that it kills the tone of my humbuckers. It also works with my triple single Strats so it is my "always on" compressor. I can't speak about the durability as I have only had it one day, but as far as sound quality, this things is great. Not too overbearing in the lower settings all the way to full on tight funk or 70s country style compression.Guitar74

Simple , minimal knobs. Just a volume and compression. Sweet sounds with little work. No option paralysis here. What ever you might think of compression,compare playing a clean guitar without it. Then try it on and feel the very tactile difference. The extra kick of volume this packs is potent. This thing is so tiny too. Its made a permanent home on my pedalboard . The quality of the compression reminds me of a DynaComp , but is very ,VERY quiet. Its got plenty of SQUISH, yet leaves your tone intact. Im very happy with it and was surprised Id be with so few knobs to fuss with.la_starr

Excellent Design Excellent tone easy to use brilliant combination. Of four pedals to use as a set. I’ve played a gig with the full set. With my Freidman BE 100. & Freidman 1520. Pedal bord. &. True historic Gibson Les Paul 1957. Black Beauty. Love the. J Rockett Jet searies Fantastic Tone. Garry. Hedges.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

Super quiet and smooth. Like a rack studio compressor in a pedal, uses real tube compression. Getting great recording sounds with this on a Musicman Stingray 5, great for live too.Mark Z.

Controls range from 0 to way over the top. From bass to bass slap to finger slight changes make a huge difference. Has a fat round sound and still allows some bite, which gives it a suptle studio like quality. I've used it with tube and solid state. Something about the tube to tube sound ,rich creamy buddah. Spread some yummy on your tone. It's worth the $$$.Ron marsden

Built like a tank. Clean sound (I have a good power noise filter). It's got many options that I like….a clean boost with the compressor turned down, makes a good smoothed signal, or make your signal percussive, can be set as more of a limitor….. If I use a digital effect, I put it in front of this, then through my tube distortion and to a tube/hybrid amp. I plugged my digital drums into this enhanced the sound as well. Like the big ehx pedals, you have more options to shape you sound than most other pedals. Their new digital octaves and delays make me wish that it could save settings, lol this a great analog comp.Anonymous

Best 30 you can spend. Don't let the cheap price fool you, this thing is solid with a metal enclosure. The switch is actually the sturdiest I've owned. As for the compression, it can do very subtle to massive sustain, really makes my Roland JC40 sing.deany-5

Jeg er godt nok imponeret over min nye compressor- pedal, Nux Sculpture ! Den lyder lige så godt som tilsvarende pedaler til 2-3 gange prisen – forbavsende støjsvag af en compressor at være – fylder meget lidt på pedal-boardet – clip/boostfunktionen er glimrende til soloer og til at give en overdrive-pedal et ekstra spark. Til ca. kr. 300,00 er den helt klart et røverkøb – Best Buy !Jørgen J.

I was looking for an affordable compressor,this is a Solid build, simple and compact, it's perfect for my small pedal board and it makes the guitar tone sound great! I am happy with this purchase.Ezra J

A great 2 in 1 pedal. I am using the compressor for funk guitar but by adding the distortion it opens the pedal up to rock/blues etc. Really good pedal which I will get lots of use out of.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

I bought this compressor intending to use it with both Fender Strat and my bass guitar. I am a professional music producer and listened to the unit carefully in the studio headphones. It is a great tool if you know what to use it for. When used with a strat it makes the sound crisp and places the funky clean tone perfectly in the mix. The tone is somewhat on the colder side, with bright fluid sustain added to the sound. Think about it as a sustainer first and then compressor. Great tool in the pallette. However, there are a few things to keep in mind: – the unit makes a sub low cut when engaged even with the minimum effect added to the direct signal. Bassists bear this in mind (unless you are a hardcore punk bassist playing with distortion and a pick and don't care much about your sub bass tone). It can also be felt on the clean electric guitar sound (if it's funky tone in the band setting you would cut off the low end of the strat anyway). – with higher compression ratio settings you get more sustain but some noise is also added. – if you want to use the 9V battery with the unit keep in mind that to change the battery you need to use a screwdriver for 4 screws to remove the back panel of the unit.J

I love this pedal. I play an Epi Les Paul Classic, into my pedalboard, and into a 90's Peavey Bandit. The amp has a Jensen Mod soesker, not the original Scorpion speaker. The Bandit with this speaker has a great clean channel. I'm a long time Fender guy. Strats and Teles. I like a clear, bright fundamental tone. I found myself compensating with the LP and using the bridge pickup a lot. But still not satisfied with the clean tones from the LP. That changed when I put the Keeley Compressor Plus on my board. The conbination of the Blend control and the Tone knob gives me what I want. The Tone control is, to my ear, an exceptional circuit. I get the bright, clear tone I need and superb sustain. This pedal is a godsend for playing slide. The compressor goes before my dirt pedals with beautiful results-1-. I use a Boss SD-1 overdrive and a Donner Dark Mouse – a Rat clone. I'm very impressed with this compressor. I put all controls at about 12:00, which the manual recommends for humbuckers. Minimal tweaks from there to get what I want. I love that it doesn't squash the life out of my pick attack. It is always on. Works great with acoustic/electrics as well. Great, musical piece of gear. Well done, Mr. Keeley.Mister G.

I can get this pedal to do three things: a very subtle reverb that adds a touch of space, a room-like reverb, and a super long-tailed ambient reverb that's so expansive it almost sounds like it's mixed with delay. There are other reverb pedals for a bit more money that have more options built into them-spring, plate, hall, room, shimmer, modulated reverb, and so on. With this pedal I find it difficult to switch between the different sounds since it's a lot of knob fiddling. It does sound absolutely killer, which is why I gave it 4 stars, but I don't recommend it if you want to easily switch between different types of reverb. For me it will be more of a "set and forget" pedal for long ambient reverbs.Andrew

I was recently using one pedal board for all my guitars, and the chorus I had was mainly designed for use with acoustic guitar. Now I'm rearranging things to have one board just for my electric guitars and all I needed was a basic chorus pedal of quality build and tone. I knew from reviews the JHS 3 series was perfect for me. I've been playing for 57 years and have owned pedals in the $100 to $500 range to provide my chorus effects. No matter if I had mulitple options in some stomp boxes I usually settled on a good subtle setting, so I knew there was no need for me to get anything fancier than the JHS. It sounds are good as the little blue Boss Chorus I bought way back in 1980.Jon

I bought this compression pedal to boost my acoustic signal as well as fatten the sound a bit. I love the size as it fits on my board perfectly. I leave it on all the time so it neatly fits up top. I mainly lead worship at my church and was looking to make my Martin D-15 sound more like it is supposed to plugged in.Mark

The Xotic SP Compressor is without a doubt a 5 Star product! For many years I used a 1953 Gibson ES 175 or 1966 Telecaster plugged into a MXR Dyna Comp and grew to appreciate the warm squash this device had to offer as I lost the taste for most all distortion devices on the market. The Dyna Comp was a simple two knob device that squeezed my signal rather nicely to which I still have 3 of them floating about the house. I also have the more expanded version, MXR Limiter dating from the early 80s that also does a nice job modifying my signal. The only initial down side to the Dyna Comp was a little bit of noise. However the real down side to the old Dyna Comp was sometime in the early 90s, after Dunlop acquired ownership of the MXR Product, decided to reduce the cost of production by having all the jacks, pots, and switch connected directly to the PC Board via solder bath. Not only did this process of assembly affect the durability of this classic old compressor, it also compromised the tone and performance of a one great pedal. The vintage Dyna Comps wired point to point are far superior product. If you have one, keep it! In the wake of the cheapening of the Dyna Comp came the Keeley Compressor. I bought a Keeler Compressor somewhere around 10 years ago a noticed an improvement in performance over my old Dyna Comps with less noise. And with going into great detail, every guitar, from my old 1951 L5 to any of my old Fender sound great through this compressor. So now a new and somewhat revolutionary compressor has hit in the market by way of the Xotic SP. These guys are making some of the best pedals that I?ve run across in years. By the time I got my SP I was already the proud owner of an EP Booster and SL Drive. To later I have to say it is the only distortion that has come out in the last 30 years with a decent sounding tone that does not narrow the bandwidth of your signal path. Not to mention these pedals just happen to be the cutest looking signal devices on the market. What really makes the SP Compressor outstanding is the 3 position Hi/Mid/Low switch. The versatility to this pedal via of this switch is just amazing. In the Hi mode I can match the performance of my Keeley and Dyna Comp compressors for Jazz applications. However, I have taken using the Mid position for a great Blues/Rock tone. In this position the pedal allows me to play over the top of the compressor for soaring highs. This works in great combination with my 1960 Telecaster with Barden pickups. Anyway, I highly recommend the Xotic SP Compressor with its advantage in versatility over other compressors on the market. And here?s the bonus, this pedal is priced about $100 less than the Keeley. My hat?s off to you folks at Xotic for manufacturing a fantastic compressor at an affordable price that will thousands of guitar players sound better and better. Now if you can reinvent the Sola Sound Tone Bender in one of these small bud boxes, that would be fantastic!David A

I tried the Wampler and it was too much going on and I could find a sound I like. That was my first compressor so i'm Sure it was me. With this one I set it to Humbucker setting per the manual and it was fantastic. I just made the volume a little lower so that it was the same as my OD and TS pedals so that I control the gain there not with the compresssor. I leave it on all the time now. I never realized how much better the sound would be from just this. I always thought of it just pushing down the high parts but the making the lower parts a little louder made a big difference. This is going to be on permanently. Crystal clear sound wise too.Mike CT

First of all, I already own other Boss pedals and I can say that it is a quality brand. The pedal in question, not cheap but in an average price range, does just what it needs to do! The sound is clear, well finished on all frequencies, the dynamics improve and the overall level of the guitar sound is also raised and leveled. There is a fairly long sustain of the sound. I recommend this pedal to professional musicians.Stella B.

I usually play clean or near-clean through a Fender-ish Carvin SX-100 Combo. Until today, no matter what I did, my thin hollowbody Ibanez AFS-75 always had just a little "crud" in the tone. After reading another review talking about how they used the CS-3, I experimented around and here's what I've done. I've put the CS-3 between the guitar and the amp and run the rest of the effects including EQ through the effects loop setting the CS-3 (from Left to Right) at 1, 1, 10, 11. At these settings, my Flat Wounds have a new sparkle and equal level from string to string. There is no distortion pedal in my effects setup although I do dirty up the signal just a tiny bit using the Carvin Amp Distortion to add just a bit of life to my playing. I'm a Jazz Student (emphasis on student) seeking that organic jazz guitar sound and the CS-3 has improved the tonality and removed the crud. It's actually pretty startling.Ed

I'll directly get down to the Pros & Cons: Pros: *Good sustain *Rich & clear tone *Produce a kind of slapping & sharp tone once you increase the attack knob. *It suppresses the sound of hard strumming & boost the sound of soft strumming & produces a well balanced sound. Cons: *Creates noise, I'm not sure either my order of placing the pedal is not right or is it due to power supply kind of problem which Daisy chain that I was using earlier. But now I've shifted to voodoo lab power supply & I've started using Noise suppressor. So. overall it's a good pedal, but it creates a lot of unwanted noise too & that's the only drawback this has. I think Boss should take this into consideration. And if you buy this pedal, then I recommend you to buy a noise suppressor too & if possible buy a all in one isolated power supply like voodoo lab, etc. Thank you!!!N S.

I bought this compression pedal to boost my acoustic signal as well as fatten the sound a bit. I love the size as it fits on my board perfectly. I leave it on all the time so it neatly fits up top. I mainly lead worship at my church and was looking to make my Martin D-15 sound more like it is supposed to plugged in.Mark

The Xotic SP Compressor is without a doubt a 5 Star product! For many years I used a 1953 Gibson ES 175 or 1966 Telecaster plugged into a MXR Dyna Comp and grew to appreciate the warm squash this device had to offer as I lost the taste for most all distortion devices on the market. The Dyna Comp was a simple two knob device that squeezed my signal rather nicely to which I still have 3 of them floating about the house. I also have the more expanded version, MXR Limiter dating from the early 80s that also does a nice job modifying my signal. The only initial down side to the Dyna Comp was a little bit of noise. However the real down side to the old Dyna Comp was sometime in the early 90s, after Dunlop acquired ownership of the MXR Product, decided to reduce the cost of production by having all the jacks, pots, and switch connected directly to the PC Board via solder bath. Not only did this process of assembly affect the durability of this classic old compressor, it also compromised the tone and performance of a one great pedal. The vintage Dyna Comps wired point to point are far superior product. If you have one, keep it! In the wake of the cheapening of the Dyna Comp came the Keeley Compressor. I bought a Keeler Compressor somewhere around 10 years ago a noticed an improvement in performance over my old Dyna Comps with less noise. And with going into great detail, every guitar, from my old 1951 L5 to any of my old Fender sound great through this compressor. So now a new and somewhat revolutionary compressor has hit in the market by way of the Xotic SP. These guys are making some of the best pedals that I?ve run across in years. By the time I got my SP I was already the proud owner of an EP Booster and SL Drive. To later I have to say it is the only distortion that has come out in the last 30 years with a decent sounding tone that does not narrow the bandwidth of your signal path. Not to mention these pedals just happen to be the cutest looking signal devices on the market. What really makes the SP Compressor outstanding is the 3 position Hi/Mid/Low switch. The versatility to this pedal via of this switch is just amazing. In the Hi mode I can match the performance of my Keeley and Dyna Comp compressors for Jazz applications. However, I have taken using the Mid position for a great Blues/Rock tone. In this position the pedal allows me to play over the top of the compressor for soaring highs. This works in great combination with my 1960 Telecaster with Barden pickups. Anyway, I highly recommend the Xotic SP Compressor with its advantage in versatility over other compressors on the market. And here?s the bonus, this pedal is priced about $100 less than the Keeley. My hat?s off to you folks at Xotic for manufacturing a fantastic compressor at an affordable price that will thousands of guitar players sound better and better. Now if you can reinvent the Sola Sound Tone Bender in one of these small bud boxes, that would be fantastic!David A

I tried the Wampler and it was too much going on and I could find a sound I like. That was my first compressor so i'm Sure it was me. With this one I set it to Humbucker setting per the manual and it was fantastic. I just made the volume a little lower so that it was the same as my OD and TS pedals so that I control the gain there not with the compresssor. I leave it on all the time now. I never realized how much better the sound would be from just this. I always thought of it just pushing down the high parts but the making the lower parts a little louder made a big difference. This is going to be on permanently. Crystal clear sound wise too.Mike CT

My first Keeley(s)… my first pedal board for a decade actually, after years as a Kemper user. Lovely thing, robust and progressively smooth in effect. As a pensioner I could have done with bigger writing on the controls though!Nigel G.

Awesome compressor and overdrive in one housing! The ability to flip a switch to determine effect order and to also tell the pedal which pickups (single coil or humbucker) you're using provides even more flexibility! Aesthetically, this pedal, bought in "mint" condition, has a great look with a sparkle finish;ranrob_4298

I've had several Keeley pedals from overdrive to modulations to compressor. This pedal is I think the best thing Robert Keeley has ever released. You get the best of the Red Dirt Pedal and the 4-knob compressor in one compact unit. I'm so happy I pull the trigger on it. I've owned the Keeley D&M and I think this pedal sounds better.805musician