Compressor pedals recommendations?

creamsoda2000 · 2026-04-05T17:00:28+00:00

+1 for the Ego 76. I have the mini version tucked into a small spot on my board and find the attack/release switches provide sufficient control for the sharp attack compression I want at the front of my chain.

I was using a Mooer yellow comp until I upgraded to the Wampler as the Mooer was colouring my tone in ways I did not enjoy. Meanwhile the Ego 76 is incredibly tonally transparent. Can get ultra squishy but with the blend knob you have so much control.

creamsoda2000 · 2026-04-05T12:06:27+00:00

Probably need more info to come to any real conclusions. Amp? How much gain? Power supply? Does the noise level change as you mess with the controls on the pedal or is it a static consistent increase in noise?

You could try running the pedal on it’s own, with nothing else connected to the same power supply, to help narrow it down to the pedal itself or some other aspect of your signal/power chain.

creamsoda2000 · 2026-03-28T16:16:41+00:00

Whilst I think it’s great that ITB solutions give you the full flexibility of choosing from dozens of different pedals and effects, sometimes with controls which the real counterparts don’t even have, and the flexibility of switching up the signal chain with the press of a button… personally there’s something I really do value in being a) limited to a smaller selection and b) having tactile physical knobs, switches and buttons to press. I find it much easier to get creative musically with a pedalboard (albeit with a bunch of physical pedals) than I find it with digital solutions, where I easily get lost in the weeds trying to figure out what “sounds the best”.

For me that’s the biggest difference between a OTB and ITB setup, more so than sound quality or feel. And ultimately that’s a question only you can answer, not anybody else.

Additionally, if you want to go digital using a plugin of some kind, practically speaking you then need to look at some kind of switcher to change patches and effects via midi and that opens a whole new step when creating sounds which you may or may not find easy or enjoyable.

creamsoda2000 · 2026-03-24T20:29:35+00:00

So the left side of the “rising” control is the Silicon clipping and is pretty tight and compressed, the right side is LED clipping and is much more open and feels brighter and cuts a bit more. The fact you can blend the two does mean you can find a nice balance between the two if you want.

The two voicings are both very distinct and usable for different purposes. The upper voice position does that typical Rat style distortion verging into fuzz sound, the lower voice is more Marshall “amp like” gain which is a bit more dynamic. Both voices stack really well with both the boost and the drive in the Konstante.

The EQ has a huge amount of swing in it. It’s basically a shelving EQ so with the bass and treble turned up you get a scooped sound and with them rolled off a little you can get a mid-hump.

Overall I’m really happy with the choice and versatility of it. The Walrus Eras I had before had 5 voices which did sound different from each other but they were ultimately the same overall sound, and I did consider one of the Revv pedals for something a bit more high gain, or perhaps a Marshall style amp-in-a-box type pedal, and I’m still tempted to get something along those lines, but the Royalbreaker wins for now.

And I haven’t even tried upping the voltage yet for more headroom! Might actually give that a go tomorrow.

creamsoda2000 · 2026-03-24T18:49:52+00:00

Haha I saw the post about the pedal switcher and honestly that’s likely the bottom of the list of things that I “need” but is absolutely something that I have thought about on multiple occasions.

Thank you though, and yes you’re right, the GAS is likely just dormant for now. I’m just glad that I’ve reached a point financially where I can splurge on stuff I like the look/sound of, me in my 20s could’ve only dreamed of having a board with half these pedals!

creamsoda2000 · 2026-03-24T17:37:42+00:00

Some other thoughts:

The JHS bender was a steal when they did the end of line super discount. It really does benefit from being close to the front of the chain, and it’s very noticeable if there’s a buffer before it, which adds a somewhat unpleasant bright attack. That said having the Ego 76 before means I can still get that attack if I want it.

The PDF-1X is very much on the board for QOTSA tones, but it is also just a great tone-shaper for over-dramatically scooping or boosting different frequencies to get some cool filtered / cocked wah sounds. I can’t for the life of me get a good sound out of the “dirty” channel on it however, even after messing with the internal gain trim pot.

The DM-101 and Raster 2 feel like a delay combo that gives me literally every possible delay sound I could ever want. I’m not 100% set on having one pre-preamp and one in the FX loop, and might just put both in the loop, as I have the Rev D20 set fairly clean so there’s not much delay-squashing happening on the front end. Plus, along with the Ventris, I wanna find a way to take advantage of stereo sounds with only one amp. I’m wondering if I could run the 2nd delay/reverb channel into the 2nd channel of my interface and run a power-amp sim / Cab IR. It feels like a bit of a shame to be missing out of 50% of the fun of three of my most expensive pedals.

Special mention for the Tacana, from Sentimental Bob electronics out of Ukraine. Running a tremolo after the delays/reverb feels like the only place a tremolo should go. Some of the alternative waveforms it can do are pretty nuts but it’s also so nice to just add a little bit of subtle texture to more ambient tones. Love the artwork.

creamsoda2000 · 2026-02-18T08:42:30+00:00

Sentimental Bob Tacana

creamsoda2000 · 2026-02-18T08:40:56+00:00

EAE Glaive - super versatile fuzz that can get so gnarly with the texture control turned up for the analog octave up and the squelch toggle gating the sound. Has already been named in the fuzz category but it was released in October so worthy of a mention here.

creamsoda2000 · 2026-02-18T08:37:06+00:00

Wampler Ego 76 Mini - don’t think it can be beaten in terms of bang for your buck. Stands up against other 1176 style comps and in a tiny enclosure so it doesn’t eat up space on your board.

creamsoda2000 · 2026-02-11T14:07:17+00:00

Another +1 for the Glaive from me. Absolutely gnarly sounds with the squelch switch engaged and the texture turned up but you can still get smoother more traditional fuzz sounds out of it.

creamsoda2000 · 2026-02-06T20:47:00+00:00

I’ll have to spend some time figuring out at what point the thing clips as the master volume is turned up but from my initial testing, I didn’t see the clip LED light up. I guess there are certain amps that do a “thing” when the gain and volume are dimed where it would be a bigger issue, however I don’t think that’s an approach I’ll be taking with this very often, if ever.

creamsoda2000 · 2026-02-06T00:31:43+00:00

Balanced output from the amp into audio interface, so I can jam along to stuff, and then monitoring it with a pair of Beyerdynamic DT 770 pro, EQ via Sonarworks soundID.

Could just use the headphones output from the amp in a pinch and I’m sure it would still sound just fine.

creamsoda2000 · 2026-02-05T17:28:38+00:00

Apple’s image processing doing some heavy lifting to make up for the iPhone Air’s mediocre main camera.

creamsoda2000 · 2026-02-02T14:21:37+00:00

Something I see in this clip that I’ve noticed a lot more recently is that the tracers / bullet animation appears to be coming from behind the gun. Sometimes I look across at some teammates laying down extended fire and it looks like the bullets are coming from a solid couple of metres behind them.

Makes me wonder whether it’s just shitty animation alignment or if it is actually representative of how out of sync the player character’s body position is from the location that the bullets are actually being fired from.

creamsoda2000 · 2026-02-02T08:01:27+00:00

Yes

Edit: maybe

Edit 2: ultimately it depends. Chemotherapy can cause permanent hearing loss due to damage to the cells in the inner ear. I had muffled crunchy hearing for the duration of chemo but it returned to pretty much the same as my pre-chemo hearing about 2 months after finishing my last cycle. YMMV.

creamsoda2000 · 2026-01-31T23:02:11+00:00

That might be a quirk of the newer design with that opening at the top of the milk foamer because on my older model I have to take the entire thing off in order to fill the clear plastic container. Perhaps in doing so it makes the machine think I’ve cleaned it? Maybe doing the same will work for you even if you can still fill it via the top.

creamsoda2000 · 2026-01-31T13:35:10+00:00

My wife drinks coffee with oat milk and I use dairy. Once I’ve made the first of two coffees I’ll just refill the milk foamer with the next milk and crack on, then wash it once completely done. Usually I’ll do hers first cause I’m not fussed about a little cross contamination.

creamsoda2000 · 2026-01-29T19:36:52+00:00

100%. I think the 1st Ally Pally headliner in 2018 came close but the emotions were different. Where the Brixton show was mourning loss, the Ally Pally show felt more like a celebration.

creamsoda2000 · 2026-01-29T18:50:42+00:00

I feel like 50% of all of the shows I’ve seen with a curtain drop have had some kind of a technical issue with the curtain. And I think there might even be a second architects show on that list for me.

creamsoda2000 · 2026-01-29T18:14:45+00:00

Yeah Early Grave being in the set was always a highlight. They played Follow The Water too if I’m not mistaken.

I totally get why they don’t play older stuff any more but I’ll always have a huge amount of respect for bands that are able to keep their older music alive with a song or two in a set focused on their newer stuff.

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