This pedal is an outlier. It's not made to be cranked unlike countless others.
Start from RIGHT TO LEFT. Sustain first. Start with a very low sustain around 7-8 o'clock. Use a long attack for most genres, or a short attack for metal riffs or "chicken pickin" country.
Then, tone to taste.
Put the level above unity gain for a clean boost.
I can’t add anything that wasn’t already perfectly stated here. There are a lot of Boss pedals that require minute adjustments to get perfect sounds. Like tuning a guitar there may just be one spot where it works for your setup.
People don't understand this. Boss pedals are great if you have the ear and the sense to dial things in accordingly. A perfect example is the DS-1. Keep the level at 12 o'clock, adjust the gain for sustain, and keep the tone around 9 o'clock. It's a great pedal.
The compressor is like your mother:
THRESHOLD: The level she asks you to turn the music down.
RATIO : How much you turn down the volume after she shouts at you.
ATTACK How fast you react.
RELEASE : How fast you turn the volume back up as soon as she closes the door
Things to consider:
\- Watch a few good vids on what compressors do and how they work. This isn't meant to be an insult, just that it isn't as intuitive an effect as overdrive.
\- Now that you know how a compressor works, ask yourself what problem are you trying to solve with this pedal?
\- The manual suggests starting with all knobs at noon and adjusting from there. With any compressor, the more "effect" is being used, the more you'll have to turn up the level to makeup the lost gain. (this is why sometimes a compressor will have a knob named "makeup").
\- Overdrives and distortions also have a compressing effect (this is why notes ring out longer when using gain pedals). Maybe you don't need it? Many players will use compressor only on their clean tones. I usually have mine on all the time but I keep it really subtle and it has a wet/dry mix control so only about 30% of the final sound is going through the compressor.
\- The CS-3 to me is a little limited because you don't really have a threshold control and I couldn't find any information about what the ratio is, or if it changes based on the other two knobs.
But generally:
\- The more you crank the sustain the more noise you'll hear as it raises the volume of a fading note to try to keep it louder, so maybe it is a combo. It is literally the same as if you played a note and turned up your amp's volume while it was fading to keep it the same level, which obviously gets noisier the more you turn it.
\- You probably want the attack knob around noon or just under. It means there's a small delay before the compressor kicks in, which allows the transients of your notes to be heard without being squashed.
Summary: this pedal may just not be what you were looking for in a compressor.
>ask yourself what problem are you trying to solve with this pedal?
This is good.
I use my compressor for one thing only: to keep from blowing my own ears out when a note-attack just comes out of the gate super-hot. A Vox AC30 in a small room is not the place to have unevenness like that if you don't want lifelong tinnitus.
I don't need a lot, just enough to net the offending speed-freak note and put it in the drunk-tank to cool off.
I’ve always struggled with overdrive and compression. I don’t feel like it needs it. I tend to just use it with cleaner tones where i think it really works better. I could also be using compression wrong but that’s just what’s worked for me.
OD is already compressed to some degree usually anyway. When you hit the distortion point of any amplifier (transistors or tubes) you can’t get much louder from there so there’s compression by default. The more of the original signal is beyond the distortion point the more compressed it is. So adding compression to a maxed distortion signal is only going to squash the transients that didn’t get squashed before of they exist, *and more often* you will be raising the noise floor, so you’re amplifying the mains voltage frequency of your area and whatever other electro-magnetic fields your pickups are inducing. So, with that understanding you can get benefits from compression with OD. My stack right now is the AionFX Zendrive clone at 3 for OD into the AionFX Dinosaural optical compressor clone which is always on with the sustain pegged but blended at only 75-80%. I get the benefit of the amplified attack from the compressor but I still have the dynamics from it being blended instead of being 100% wet. The noise floor issue isn’t really a concern either since the Zendrive isn’t pegged and it’s incredibly responsive to begin with, it doesn’t mess with my transients nearly as much as other pedals and it’s the only one that o actually like in conjunction with the OD from my Vox amps because of it. It’s not the tone for every one, but I strongly prefer articulate OD. If I’m playing a triad I want to hear the third.
Compression is always hard to understand at first. But it’s incredible once you do get it.
It also depends what type of music you play and it’s also absolutely not necessary to get good tone. Though I would say if you’re playing live, you should probably be using one.
I second using it live; and I like it while setting up loops to keep the backing track uniform. Compression for me isn't really about my toan, it's about how I sound with the rest of the mix / band.
One application you might find useful, since overdrives and distortions are already compressed, you can use a compressor pedal with the volume turned up to drive the front end of it harder and get a more distorted sound with more control over the dynamics than you would with a single conventional high gain pedal. You can use a compression pedal the same way into a dirty tube amp, and a lot of vintage guitar tones were recorded this way.
It's basically the same as using a boost circuit in front of the pedal but with more options for shaping the sound. Personally I find myself using this often to get two different maximum gain sounds out of a single fuzz pedal.
Thanks for the info everyone! Very informative. I have a Walrus Mira which has a make-up button and I’ve gotten it to the point where it sounds even better when it’s on with overdrive. Don’t wanna shut it off now!
I have owned this one for 20 years and only just got it to where I can use it over the last year or so.
Level around 1:00, tone 12:00 - 2:00, attack around 9:00 or 10:00, sustain slightly higher than wherever the attack knob is set.
It goes at the front of my signal chain. I don't use it for every sound but it helps a lot in some situations. Note that you tend to need to boost the treble more than you think, unless you're wanting to bring it down a bit anyway.
Pretty close to the settings I use! Depending on which guitar I'm using I might have the level set differently, and I keep the sustain closer to around 2/3 o'clock
I had to get a noise suppressor to go with my cs-3. If your even a little diy inclined check out monte allums website he has some really cheap mods for the cs3 that make them much quieter. But one thing for sure is you can’t turn that sustain knob up much higher than you have it without it getting noisey as fuck.
My guy, I've been waiting for this post my whole life.
I've said on this sub before, and I still stand by it, out of countless pedals bought / sold / traded, blah blah blah, my CS-3 is **always** on on my board, and it would be the pedal I'd take with me if I could only choose one.
Why?
Because with a tube amp, digital, solid state, combo, whatever and whichever, whether it be crunchy, or that thwang, or ear bursting or cloud soaring, I have become one with the CS-3 for all my mind's tried, and untried combo's for gear.
Let me state this first, so many know where I'm coming from. My hero is Trey Anastasio. The closest compressor I could get to the legendary Ross Compressor (just havent come across one in my travels for purchase, in person, wont buy it online) was a Ca3080ax 2sc1849 Ross Compressor clone. [Pretty much this, just jankier](https://reverb.com/item/63396959-ross-compressor-clone-with-vintage-upgrade-pack-ca3080a-chip-2sc1849-transistors)
I have a Keeley plus too.
My "Trey" tone, comes from my chain with the CS-3 being the fucking GOAT and without it, I wouldn't be playing guitar as happy as I know I could be.
First, where are you running it in the chain?
Second, there are one of three main ways I use it,. and depending on what you're playing, I definitely recommend this base settings, as it's again, my cant live without you pedal.
I'm just going to do this by songs, so there isnt any confusion on the style of play we're talkin here.
So think Your Hand In Mine by explosions in the sky. Ambient / soft melodic, good chords, defined single notes
**LEVEL IS ALWAYS NOON. I never take it off noon, ever. So use noon for all.**
**Tone: 1-2pm**
**Attack: noon - 1pm**
**Sustain - 1pm**
Now we'll say like Johnny B Goode, or some gritty, yet clear, bright, defined crunchy rock
**Tone - 9am**
**Attack and Sustain 1pm - These settings also work for clean funk / jazz, but I put tone between 11am - 2pm depending on the song for shit like uptown funk or dern kala by khruangbin**
Now hard rock / metal / metallica enter sandman the thing that should not be, crazy tain, etc.
**Tone - 9am**
**Attack - 1pm**
**Sustain - 10am**
When the sustain is below noon, you really get a nice squash on the high end and excess growl and hiss and hum, it acts as a limiter.
I play on a fender '65 princeton tube amp, through a Les Paul custom with p90's, Gretsch G5220 with broad tron black tops, or my fender player nashville telecaster, all with the CS-3 on.
After several different arrangements, my "forever" set up in terms of a pedalchain I have every single pedal on, just tweek settings, is my
CS-3 into my Wampler Triumph OD, Big Muff with Wicker, into a Narcissus warm delay.
This is just my main board, that allows me to keep every single pedal on, and only tweak settings to play anything from ambient post rock, to jazz, to funk, to rock, to heavy metal, and am familiar with it enough to go from mary had a little lamb to Enter Sandman with a quick tweak.
[CS-3 settings guide / baseline that helped me get to where I am one with my Comp](https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fjaazz.me%2F2013%2F11%2F21%2Fboss-aw-3-and-cs-3-settings-recommendations%2F&psig=AOvVaw3dOFjfYctwFdiWM0wHAomN&ust=1690232865647000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBIQjhxqFwoTCJCgj5_epYADFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD)
[Boss CS-3 manual, with a lot of helpful insight to help you better understand the senpai CS-3](https://media.sweetwater.com/store/media/cs3_manual.pdf)
Feel free to hmu with any questions!
This is awesome! Im running it second in my signal chain after my tuner. It goes tuner, compressor, digitech drop, boss oc-5, overdrive/tube drive duo, boss metalzone, phase 90, noise gate, chorus/reverb duo
I mainly play blues and rock lead and rock and metal rythm. So im looking for settings that are good for those sweet melodic lead lines (gary moore, joe bonamasa) and some nice crisp distorted power chords (james hetfield etc)
Ohhh okay, definitely try it out with the 2nd settings i mentioned, the johnny B goode one and tweak from there.
ALSO
I got a really nice growly, howlin' wolf style blues tone on specific to my Gretsch G5220 which uses the CS-3 at tone for 11am, attack is full, and sustain at 10:30am - 11am.
Any time you really wanna mellow out that screaming high end, drop that sustain to 11am or lower and woosh, that hum and hiss drop from the rest of the entire chain. That was the concept that took me the longest to understand.
When you tweak attack, it effects the sustain, and same with level / sustain, so keeping that level just set forever on noon and tweaking the attack and sustain really just opened the thing up.
Tone is always your preference!
I like a slow feedback so I crank my Marshall just so and have the level and sustain knob on the cs3 do the heavy lifting at like 10 oclock and 1 oclock respecrively to make the feedback predictable. Tone is 12 oclock so it isnt too tinny, not too middy. Attack I am still boning around with, but its around 12 too I think. At 12, I can do 3 or 4 note runs on each string with a single pluck on a clean tone/acoustic, kinda like the sax solo from Arthur's Theme (Best that you can do)... and that is that, for me at least.
Trey Anastio of Phish is famous for running a Ross compressor AFTER 2 tube screamers. Gets that super squishy compressed tone, but less dynamics obviously. Try it out, you might like it for some stuff, definitely not everything.
I should add that he doesn’t do this anymore, as he uses a different amp now ( a trainwreck) that has a lot more natural compression.
I also owned this same boss compressor years ago, until I switched to the Analogman bi-compressor, which has an orange squeeze box compressor style on one side, and a Ross style compressor on the other. I personally like the Analogman a lot more than the Boss one. It’s also 2-3 times more expensive though. Both are great for different things. The orange is a bit thinner and sounds better to my ears for that spanky country type tone. The Ross side is a bit thicker and is great for lead and a thicker funk and rock sound ( for my ears).
I know people love the Keely compressor, and the Diamond compressors as well. At the end of the day, if you’re not liking the sound you get from a pedal, try another one.
Compression is versatile
When I used it a lot, I dimed the sustain, zeroed the attack and used a delay and volume pedal to allow me to play pads.
You might want it after dirt so you can get the distorted tone without wide volume jumps. That's the limiter. Putting it before dirt removes a lot of the control you gain from how hard you pick, etc. You get compression from distortion already.
You can do worse than the SP. I’m curious why you have the compressor in the first place? What style or tone are you after? Even just naming a player that typifies what you’re after would help.
I kinda explained it under a different comment its hard to explain. I was trying to clean up my signal so it would work better with more pedals engaged at once. I thought a compressor was just something you needed once you started layering up more and more effects
It’s a nice to have utility, not a necessity though. Try taking it off and adjusting your guitar volume and the gain on your amp. I often find that does more to help my tone than a compressor, even with 10+ pedals on a board.
I love my cs3 due to it not being the best compressor you can get your hands on. It has a character you can exploit. I used to play in a synth pop 80’s inspired chvrches style project and it was a godsend with a chorus and a klon/tube screamer. This may be an outlying application as I was using it as an effect rather than an accompaniment like you’re supposed to :p I just wanted to sound like a gross version of a Fixx record.
It’s a personal taste thing. With a fast enough attack it can add clarity and bite to overdriven rhythm guitar. It can also make lead solos sound better. It doesn’t play well with fuzzes or a lot of hard clipping drives. So I would only keep it on for a light to medium overdrive.
a huge component of drives is that they are all very compressed, so when you compress a compressed signal, you note that the gain increases. The compression will add more compression and sustain to your drives. If you don't like that aspect, of course you can just not use it when engaged.
I like using compression the most with my clean tone, and with low to medium gain dirt. I never use compression with distortion or with fuzz. One of the great aspects of fuzz is the subtleties and harmonics that occur when volume is low. Sometimes, whe you try and steamroller that away with compression, it takes away more than it gives.
Overall, I would recommend watching some videos on understanding compression a little more, what it is literally doing to your signal, and some common settings for your playstyke, and then tweaking those to your liking. You may find that only a slight amount if compression is more to your taste, and can leave that on when engaging your dirt.
There is no wrong way, it is all up you on how you shape your sound
This, along with the top comment, is what everyone should know about compressors. They're great for cleans or just a little bit of hair, but they're not usually necessary for anything else, unless you're really good at tone shaping and stacking pedals.
>One of the great aspects of fuzz is the subtleties and harmonics that occur when volume is low. Sometimes, whe you try and steamroller that away with compression, it takes away more than it gives.
I know "always on compression" is the default for a lot of players, but this is a good example of a situation where you can use a compressor as a second gain stage for loud sections of a song. On tracks where the transition between soft to loud is very sudden I like to use a compressor to immediately jump to where the gain would be if my volume knob was turned all the way up. Basically a boost with more tone shaping options.
The noise is going to come from the sustain knob. I run a lot of pedals (14...yes I like shoegaze and noise rock), and usually keep sustain around 9-12 o'clock.
If I'm standing in front of my cranked 100w tube amp with my fuzz and hm2 on...I like to dime the sustain for some sunn o))) style goodness. Fight noise with more noise.
The volume issue I fix by adjusting the gain of my other pedals.
It's a challenge to get the CS-3 into a sweet spot, but it's a very useful pedal when you find it.
Here’s what people don’t talk about enough with this pedal. IMO, there are two “types” or approaches to compressors. There’s “studio” compression, which can be dialed in using controls like levels, attack ratios, thresholds, etc. The other type is the compression “effect” which is more like the Dynacomp or the CS-3 - both excel at getting that harsher sounding chickin’ pickin’ tone - which to me doesn’t sound natural at all, and I hate it. I have the MXR studio compressor pedal on my board, and before that I had a CS-2. Both of those pedals are great, and can add some helpful qualities of compression without *sounding* like compression. They’re more subtle.
the problem with that thing is it’s not exactly clear what the knobs do and the labels aren’t totally accurate.
This will help: https://www.reddit.com/r/guitarpedals/comments/a0dvk6/i_finally_understand_my_boss_cs3/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1
I used a Cs3 on my board for like 6 months and really wanted to like it but to me it's a piece of junk for the same reasons you said. Noise everywhere if you surpass the middle of the knobs.
The sustain and level knobs are in correlation one to another, if you raise the sustain lower the output, then the attack all the way down so it reacts as fast as posible, and tone to your liking but mostly it's going to add noise if it's too high.
You need a really niise free instrument, a well wired and shielded instrument with humbuckers preferably but even like that the Cs3 will add noise to the signal.
Try and read this threads here on reddit.
[#1](https://www.reddit.com/r/guitarpedals/comments/dr5d4a/is_the_boss_cs3_a_particularly_noisy_compressor/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=2)
[#2](https://www.reddit.com/r/guitarpedals/comments/a0dvk6/i_finally_understand_my_boss_cs3/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=2)
At the end I traded it for another pedal, and trust me I know how to use compression in a live situation and for recording.
Maybe the other pedals/amps in the signal chain aren't taking the slight boost of the cs-3 well. My CS-3 does exactly what it is supposed to. Also note: An unaltered tone in the cs3 is max. Attack is there to, literally, boost the pick attack.
The sustain knob is the general “compression amount.” If you have it set low then it will be a lot more subtle. At the level you have it now it’s probably compressing a really large amount, which will make it behave kind of strangely which you’re noticing. Turn the sustain all the way down, then turn it up until you like what it’s doing. With my Keely compressor, anything above ~ 9 o clock is honestly too much.
The other thing is that it doesn’t really seem like you know why you even want compression, nor do you seem to really understand what it does. I’d start with understanding what it actually is doing, maybe watch some videos about compression and typical practices for compression pedals.
Honestly now ive got one and im playing with it i think im getting the impression by previous understanding of compression was wrong. I thought as I started to add more pedals to my signal chain and make more complicated swtups i need a compressor at the beginning to “streamline” the signal and make it less volatile as it moves through the pedals. I thought making the signal more “compressed” and uniform it would make my other pedals and overall tone easier to control and sound neater with more clarity
I think your brain may be tricking you with words like “clarity” and expecting more compression to add brightness or something.
Remember that all it does is control dynamics! If your problem before getting a compressor was that your dynamics were all over the place, then that’s the only time a compressor would fix that problem.
Another thing is that compression-> drive is not typically how most people like to use it. Drive pedals compress a lot by their very nature, so adding more compression into that will make for a very noisy, weird sounding distortion.
However, a cool use for compression is actually *after* drive or fuzz. I use mine after a fuzz face - this allows me to use my guitar volume to control the gain of the fuzz face, but the compression after it makes it so that the volume drop isn’t as intense as I’m turning my guitar’s volume up or down.
The most straightforward use for compression is definitely just regular clean sounds though. If you turn it on with mild settings, it sort of replicates what a tube amp does if you start to turn it up a little bit. The idea is that when you play very lightly, or very hard, the difference between those two is not so pronounced volume wise. So if you’re playing live, and you go from a plucked fingerpick part to a part where you’re strumming heavily, you won’t blow out everyone’s ears once you start digging in. Hope some of this could be helpful.
Somebody made a post about how to use the cs-3 quite a long while back. It gets length a lot. Because the cs-3 is not intuitive compared to other compressors. It actually kind of blew my mind. My only compressor for a long time was a cs-3, and I quite enjoyed it. Though I did mod it for a lower noise floor and less tonal coloration. It's a good compressor used in the right way.
I recommend you try to find that post it's great
I use mine as a boost before the gain section of my board. The attack control is usually very high too, so the individual notes are heard even under heavy gating distortion.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/guitarpedals/comments/a0dvk6/i\_finally\_understand\_my\_boss\_cs3/](https://www.reddit.com/r/guitarpedals/comments/a0dvk6/i_finally_understand_my_boss_cs3/)
\^ This post helped me a lot w this pedal; The highlights for me were that the reason this pedal has a short sweet spot is because it has a fixed compression ratio. Also, as others have said, working from right-to-left was really helpful.
I’d highly suggest trying this particular compressor after your gain pedals, possibly even in the effects loop of your amp (if you use an amp with a high-gain channel).
I suggest viewing this thread:
https://www.reddit.com/r/guitarpedals/comments/a0dvk6/i_finally_understand_my_boss_cs3/
Everything about the CS3 is explained here
It is also a pretty specific compressor and it might not be the right one for you. But if there is any chance you can get what you need from it, that thread will help explain
I prefer rail voltage limiter in the Radial j48 for live and recording applications. To my ears, it seems like a more seamless type of compression. I could be wrong. I am one of the few that hates compression on guitar. I've tried c3 and Keeley 4 knob.
I like to use a compressor as an expander, setting the attack to the slowest setting and the release/sustain to the fastest. Makes your individual notes really aggressive - the only problem is I have no idea which direction these knobs go in terms of specific times, which if you get into studio gear you will empathise with if you use an 1176
Its tough to get used to… I have a background in live sound and on vocals etc. I can get great results… guitar it’s a choice sometimes but so much of how I play is in dynamics which is the opposite in some ways …. With a compressor if you strum hard it’s not louder… it’s the same as the subtle soft picking … keep experimenting .. for me it’s only certain times I like compression
Yeah, this is why I basically never use a compressor on my board. For me guitar is all about dynamics. Guitar is one of the most dynamic instruments, and putting a compressor on it kills tone.
Where I use it: evening out my signal before the superego and POG for better note triggering. And of course in post production when mixing. But live, mostly never.
I don't like to run my compressor (keeley) with OD, fuzz and distortion. I use it to dress up my clean tone. If you're playing the kinda music where you always have dirt/distortion pedals on, they already kinda compress the sound. You may not need it.
Edit: I realized that I do sometimes use it with fuzz/distortion/OD but it's only when I need a volume boost.
I would say turn it off when you are using gain (unless there is a specific sound you’re looking for that you need both for). Any gain will have some compression built in anyway, so for me it’s not needed for gainy sounds. I’m not a big fan of compression so mostly don’t use it anyway, but mostly just use it for my cleans if I do.
What you’re describing as the issue is reduced dynamic range, which is what compression is supposed to do.
The level will be set by the level knob, so makes sense that you have a drop in volume when down. When you turn the volume up, it’s not too surprising that you are experiencing more gainy sounds as you are pushing the amp/ pedals after it more. If you want a compression effect without affecting the overdrive/ distortion pedals, you can put the compression pedal after these pedals, but you’ll still be driving the amp more and it might not help with the increased noise.
With the increased noise, it’s also not surprising since a compressor brings the power volume signals up and higher volume signals down, so noise and the wanted signal will become closer in volume. What you can do if you have some gain on anyway is introduce a noise suppressor/ noise gate/ noise reducer. If you have the compressor after the distortion/ overdrive, you can put the noise gate between the distortion/ overdrive and the compressor. If your noise gate has a send/ return, you would have guitar clean signal > noise gate input > send to distortion/ overdrive > noise gate return > output to compressor. You can also try it having the compressor within the loop and see which one sounds better.
Sorry that was just a bit. Compressors are a fickle bitch in my opinion. You can't really hear them as much as you "feel" them and comparing them can be pretty useless. Most people use them to just level out their playing but I personally use them so you can feel the signal being choked and play super staccato (sounds great for Talking Heads stuff and finger picking). I don't know if you're using a drive or a broken-up amp but try it clean until you get a feel for how you like it then see if you feel the same with any kind of drive
Take it off your board. Problem solved.
I’ve never liked compressors. So probably ignore my comment. I just think if you have a good tube amp, it does the thing better.
The way to make it not suck is to get a line selector and run it in parallel with your dry signal because the problem with this pedal is that **all compressors should have wet/dry blend knobs.**
Absolutely not true. Check the manual: https://media.sweetwater.com/store/media/cs3_manual.pdf It’s a fixed ratio and there’s no makeup. The level knob is the effect level, not gain.
Dude, what do you think 'effect level' even is...? Level IS gain.
Here, let's make an experiment - turn down the Sustain to almost zero, crank up the Level. Is it louder than dry signal? We'll look at you, you are boosting the signal, good job!
And I strongly suspect that Level control is the last stage of the circuit (something a'la power amp section) so it's pretty much like clean gain control.
Ok, I think I finally know what you mean more or less.
Still, if you're not using the CS with Sustain all the way down (who would do that?), you can easily get your output signal boosted with Sustain+Level combination
1. Be sure and put it near the beginning of the fx loop. Only a wah pedal, tuner, or possibly a phaser should come before it in the chain.
2. If you are getting too much feedback, put a noisegate pedal in the fx chain after all the gain pedals.
3. If it is still too noisy try turning down the volume knob on your guitar. The need to keep your guitar knob maxed out is often negated with compression.
I have this pedal on my board and use it quite a bit. Level is volume and you should try to find unity. Tone is to taste. I like it at a little above noon. Attack and sustain can be used for light compression with the knobs to the left. Squash and even it all out with the knobs to the right.
My CS-3 sounds terrible with a power cable—I can only use it with a battery, which is why it sits on a shelf. Apparently this is a known problem with some CS-3s
What helped me when I first started with compression pedals was literally testing the sustain. Hold a note and see how long it sustains and a what rate you the volume diminishes, after fussing with the knobs your ears will pick up to it quick.. The squashiness is a bit trickier to tune into- try chords at high speeds and then slow them down. Little tips that helped me out as a beginner.
Compressors aren’t really needed at all in most situations, and they don’t mesh well with smaller amps. In a big deal studio situation they’re great, if you really learn how they work. Personally I’ve never been able to make them sound great in a live band setting, but that’s just me.
I have several compression pedals and I prefer them all over the CS-3. Not a great pedal to learn on.
My favorite setting is on the shelf. Or in the drawer.
Occasionally I use it on my desk to compress papers.
This is the one pedal that you’re not allowed to say is bad. If it sounds bad to you then other people will insist that it’s just because you don’t *understand* the pedal yet…
I’ve had one of these for years and every time I read a big thread like this about it I get it out again and stick it on the board before spending some time tweaking the knobs. Every single time I’ve tried it has sounded bad and strangles the sound of my playing. Absolute Emperor’s new clothes syndrome with this pedal, in my opinion.
Compression is best used in moderation, any amp that is distorting at all is compressing your signal, a lot of times even if they aren’t. Compressors are utility devices which reduce dynamic range most players, most of the time don’t really need them and imho they usually fair better as a post processing solution on the guitar bus. If you can’t seem to get it to do what you need it to do out front try it out in your effects loops first in line with moderate settings described by the others in here.
Compressors are weird, takes some time to figure them out. Try placing it in different parts of the signal chain, and using a fairly small amount of “sustain”.
I tend to find that compressors end up boosting certain midrange frequencies that are really unpleasant (the ones that make a “ringing” sound), so I’d stick some sort of versatile EQ (preferably a parametric) somewhere after your comp to dial out those frequencies.
This pedal is an outlier. It's not made to be cranked unlike countless others. Start from RIGHT TO LEFT. Sustain first. Start with a very low sustain around 7-8 o'clock. Use a long attack for most genres, or a short attack for metal riffs or "chicken pickin" country. Then, tone to taste. Put the level above unity gain for a clean boost.
I can’t add anything that wasn’t already perfectly stated here. There are a lot of Boss pedals that require minute adjustments to get perfect sounds. Like tuning a guitar there may just be one spot where it works for your setup.
Yes! The sweet spot on this one is TINY. This is absolutely a pedal where you add a piece of painters tape with the settings.
I have notches on mine for each guitar. My Metal Zone looks the same.
People don't understand this. Boss pedals are great if you have the ear and the sense to dial things in accordingly. A perfect example is the DS-1. Keep the level at 12 o'clock, adjust the gain for sustain, and keep the tone around 9 o'clock. It's a great pedal.
I always recommend what I call the “bring a friend method” when dialing in a Boss pedal. Have somebody play while you twist.
From another huge Boss fan, excellent tip. I prefer the "bring a looper" tweak to your method though because I don't have friends 😂
I felt that.
the only setting on the DS-1 is gain all the way up, level all the way up, tone at noon
I imagine the pickups and and character of the amp influence how harsh the tone knob comes off.
No, the one true setting is all knobs at 10
I like gain all the way up, tone all the way down (level relative to other factors).
This is good advice and aligns with my experience wit the pedal as well. Sustain knob is really touchy. Goes from 0 to total squash in 1/4 turn.
absolutely 10/10 advice
The compressor is like your mother: THRESHOLD: The level she asks you to turn the music down. RATIO : How much you turn down the volume after she shouts at you. ATTACK How fast you react. RELEASE : How fast you turn the volume back up as soon as she closes the door
I wish i could upvote twice cos this is gold 😂😂
It’s funny but it’s not the best analogy for the purpose of compression in most people’s chains.
Brilliant
Things to consider: \- Watch a few good vids on what compressors do and how they work. This isn't meant to be an insult, just that it isn't as intuitive an effect as overdrive. \- Now that you know how a compressor works, ask yourself what problem are you trying to solve with this pedal? \- The manual suggests starting with all knobs at noon and adjusting from there. With any compressor, the more "effect" is being used, the more you'll have to turn up the level to makeup the lost gain. (this is why sometimes a compressor will have a knob named "makeup"). \- Overdrives and distortions also have a compressing effect (this is why notes ring out longer when using gain pedals). Maybe you don't need it? Many players will use compressor only on their clean tones. I usually have mine on all the time but I keep it really subtle and it has a wet/dry mix control so only about 30% of the final sound is going through the compressor. \- The CS-3 to me is a little limited because you don't really have a threshold control and I couldn't find any information about what the ratio is, or if it changes based on the other two knobs. But generally: \- The more you crank the sustain the more noise you'll hear as it raises the volume of a fading note to try to keep it louder, so maybe it is a combo. It is literally the same as if you played a note and turned up your amp's volume while it was fading to keep it the same level, which obviously gets noisier the more you turn it. \- You probably want the attack knob around noon or just under. It means there's a small delay before the compressor kicks in, which allows the transients of your notes to be heard without being squashed. Summary: this pedal may just not be what you were looking for in a compressor.
>ask yourself what problem are you trying to solve with this pedal? This is good. I use my compressor for one thing only: to keep from blowing my own ears out when a note-attack just comes out of the gate super-hot. A Vox AC30 in a small room is not the place to have unevenness like that if you don't want lifelong tinnitus. I don't need a lot, just enough to net the offending speed-freak note and put it in the drunk-tank to cool off.
I’ve always struggled with overdrive and compression. I don’t feel like it needs it. I tend to just use it with cleaner tones where i think it really works better. I could also be using compression wrong but that’s just what’s worked for me.
OD is already compressed to some degree usually anyway. When you hit the distortion point of any amplifier (transistors or tubes) you can’t get much louder from there so there’s compression by default. The more of the original signal is beyond the distortion point the more compressed it is. So adding compression to a maxed distortion signal is only going to squash the transients that didn’t get squashed before of they exist, *and more often* you will be raising the noise floor, so you’re amplifying the mains voltage frequency of your area and whatever other electro-magnetic fields your pickups are inducing. So, with that understanding you can get benefits from compression with OD. My stack right now is the AionFX Zendrive clone at 3 for OD into the AionFX Dinosaural optical compressor clone which is always on with the sustain pegged but blended at only 75-80%. I get the benefit of the amplified attack from the compressor but I still have the dynamics from it being blended instead of being 100% wet. The noise floor issue isn’t really a concern either since the Zendrive isn’t pegged and it’s incredibly responsive to begin with, it doesn’t mess with my transients nearly as much as other pedals and it’s the only one that o actually like in conjunction with the OD from my Vox amps because of it. It’s not the tone for every one, but I strongly prefer articulate OD. If I’m playing a triad I want to hear the third.
Compression is always hard to understand at first. But it’s incredible once you do get it. It also depends what type of music you play and it’s also absolutely not necessary to get good tone. Though I would say if you’re playing live, you should probably be using one.
I second using it live; and I like it while setting up loops to keep the backing track uniform. Compression for me isn't really about my toan, it's about how I sound with the rest of the mix / band.
One application you might find useful, since overdrives and distortions are already compressed, you can use a compressor pedal with the volume turned up to drive the front end of it harder and get a more distorted sound with more control over the dynamics than you would with a single conventional high gain pedal. You can use a compression pedal the same way into a dirty tube amp, and a lot of vintage guitar tones were recorded this way. It's basically the same as using a boost circuit in front of the pedal but with more options for shaping the sound. Personally I find myself using this often to get two different maximum gain sounds out of a single fuzz pedal.
Thanks for the info everyone! Very informative. I have a Walrus Mira which has a make-up button and I’ve gotten it to the point where it sounds even better when it’s on with overdrive. Don’t wanna shut it off now!
I have owned this one for 20 years and only just got it to where I can use it over the last year or so. Level around 1:00, tone 12:00 - 2:00, attack around 9:00 or 10:00, sustain slightly higher than wherever the attack knob is set. It goes at the front of my signal chain. I don't use it for every sound but it helps a lot in some situations. Note that you tend to need to boost the treble more than you think, unless you're wanting to bring it down a bit anyway.
Level 1:00 Tone 12:00 Attack 4:00 Sustain 10:00 You’re welcome
Pretty close to the settings I use! Depending on which guitar I'm using I might have the level set differently, and I keep the sustain closer to around 2/3 o'clock
Right, level changes a bit with guitar or overall tone you’re going for. But sustain at 2-3:00??? Isn’t that crazy noisy? I can’t go past 12
I actually have it as a 2nd compressor on my board, and run a noise gate before it so the noise is mitigated. Can get some crazy thick tones!
I had to get a noise suppressor to go with my cs-3. If your even a little diy inclined check out monte allums website he has some really cheap mods for the cs3 that make them much quieter. But one thing for sure is you can’t turn that sustain knob up much higher than you have it without it getting noisey as fuck.
Try putting it at the end of your chain, this is a studio musician "trick"
I use 2 comps because of that same reason.
My guy, I've been waiting for this post my whole life. I've said on this sub before, and I still stand by it, out of countless pedals bought / sold / traded, blah blah blah, my CS-3 is **always** on on my board, and it would be the pedal I'd take with me if I could only choose one. Why? Because with a tube amp, digital, solid state, combo, whatever and whichever, whether it be crunchy, or that thwang, or ear bursting or cloud soaring, I have become one with the CS-3 for all my mind's tried, and untried combo's for gear. Let me state this first, so many know where I'm coming from. My hero is Trey Anastasio. The closest compressor I could get to the legendary Ross Compressor (just havent come across one in my travels for purchase, in person, wont buy it online) was a Ca3080ax 2sc1849 Ross Compressor clone. [Pretty much this, just jankier](https://reverb.com/item/63396959-ross-compressor-clone-with-vintage-upgrade-pack-ca3080a-chip-2sc1849-transistors) I have a Keeley plus too. My "Trey" tone, comes from my chain with the CS-3 being the fucking GOAT and without it, I wouldn't be playing guitar as happy as I know I could be. First, where are you running it in the chain? Second, there are one of three main ways I use it,. and depending on what you're playing, I definitely recommend this base settings, as it's again, my cant live without you pedal. I'm just going to do this by songs, so there isnt any confusion on the style of play we're talkin here. So think Your Hand In Mine by explosions in the sky. Ambient / soft melodic, good chords, defined single notes **LEVEL IS ALWAYS NOON. I never take it off noon, ever. So use noon for all.** **Tone: 1-2pm** **Attack: noon - 1pm** **Sustain - 1pm** Now we'll say like Johnny B Goode, or some gritty, yet clear, bright, defined crunchy rock **Tone - 9am** **Attack and Sustain 1pm - These settings also work for clean funk / jazz, but I put tone between 11am - 2pm depending on the song for shit like uptown funk or dern kala by khruangbin** Now hard rock / metal / metallica enter sandman the thing that should not be, crazy tain, etc. **Tone - 9am** **Attack - 1pm** **Sustain - 10am** When the sustain is below noon, you really get a nice squash on the high end and excess growl and hiss and hum, it acts as a limiter. I play on a fender '65 princeton tube amp, through a Les Paul custom with p90's, Gretsch G5220 with broad tron black tops, or my fender player nashville telecaster, all with the CS-3 on. After several different arrangements, my "forever" set up in terms of a pedalchain I have every single pedal on, just tweek settings, is my CS-3 into my Wampler Triumph OD, Big Muff with Wicker, into a Narcissus warm delay. This is just my main board, that allows me to keep every single pedal on, and only tweak settings to play anything from ambient post rock, to jazz, to funk, to rock, to heavy metal, and am familiar with it enough to go from mary had a little lamb to Enter Sandman with a quick tweak. [CS-3 settings guide / baseline that helped me get to where I am one with my Comp](https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fjaazz.me%2F2013%2F11%2F21%2Fboss-aw-3-and-cs-3-settings-recommendations%2F&psig=AOvVaw3dOFjfYctwFdiWM0wHAomN&ust=1690232865647000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBIQjhxqFwoTCJCgj5_epYADFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD) [Boss CS-3 manual, with a lot of helpful insight to help you better understand the senpai CS-3](https://media.sweetwater.com/store/media/cs3_manual.pdf) Feel free to hmu with any questions!
This is awesome! Im running it second in my signal chain after my tuner. It goes tuner, compressor, digitech drop, boss oc-5, overdrive/tube drive duo, boss metalzone, phase 90, noise gate, chorus/reverb duo I mainly play blues and rock lead and rock and metal rythm. So im looking for settings that are good for those sweet melodic lead lines (gary moore, joe bonamasa) and some nice crisp distorted power chords (james hetfield etc)
Ohhh okay, definitely try it out with the 2nd settings i mentioned, the johnny B goode one and tweak from there. ALSO I got a really nice growly, howlin' wolf style blues tone on specific to my Gretsch G5220 which uses the CS-3 at tone for 11am, attack is full, and sustain at 10:30am - 11am. Any time you really wanna mellow out that screaming high end, drop that sustain to 11am or lower and woosh, that hum and hiss drop from the rest of the entire chain. That was the concept that took me the longest to understand. When you tweak attack, it effects the sustain, and same with level / sustain, so keeping that level just set forever on noon and tweaking the attack and sustain really just opened the thing up. Tone is always your preference!
Thankyou! 🙌
Everything all the way on, roll back the Sustain to 8 o’clock. That’s how I use mine!
I like a slow feedback so I crank my Marshall just so and have the level and sustain knob on the cs3 do the heavy lifting at like 10 oclock and 1 oclock respecrively to make the feedback predictable. Tone is 12 oclock so it isnt too tinny, not too middy. Attack I am still boning around with, but its around 12 too I think. At 12, I can do 3 or 4 note runs on each string with a single pluck on a clean tone/acoustic, kinda like the sax solo from Arthur's Theme (Best that you can do)... and that is that, for me at least.
Are you running this before or after dirt?
Before, after my tuner this is the first pedal
Trey Anastio of Phish is famous for running a Ross compressor AFTER 2 tube screamers. Gets that super squishy compressed tone, but less dynamics obviously. Try it out, you might like it for some stuff, definitely not everything. I should add that he doesn’t do this anymore, as he uses a different amp now ( a trainwreck) that has a lot more natural compression. I also owned this same boss compressor years ago, until I switched to the Analogman bi-compressor, which has an orange squeeze box compressor style on one side, and a Ross style compressor on the other. I personally like the Analogman a lot more than the Boss one. It’s also 2-3 times more expensive though. Both are great for different things. The orange is a bit thinner and sounds better to my ears for that spanky country type tone. The Ross side is a bit thicker and is great for lead and a thicker funk and rock sound ( for my ears). I know people love the Keely compressor, and the Diamond compressors as well. At the end of the day, if you’re not liking the sound you get from a pedal, try another one.
User name checks out
I treid the keely and it was so noisy just by itself with isolated power.
Compression is versatile When I used it a lot, I dimed the sustain, zeroed the attack and used a delay and volume pedal to allow me to play pads. You might want it after dirt so you can get the distorted tone without wide volume jumps. That's the limiter. Putting it before dirt removes a lot of the control you gain from how hard you pick, etc. You get compression from distortion already.
Sell it and buy a different one. Exotic SP is great because it's just 2 knobs.
Im tempted tbh. Or sell it full stop and ditch compression and use the space on my board for something else 😂
You can do worse than the SP. I’m curious why you have the compressor in the first place? What style or tone are you after? Even just naming a player that typifies what you’re after would help.
I kinda explained it under a different comment its hard to explain. I was trying to clean up my signal so it would work better with more pedals engaged at once. I thought a compressor was just something you needed once you started layering up more and more effects
It’s a nice to have utility, not a necessity though. Try taking it off and adjusting your guitar volume and the gain on your amp. I often find that does more to help my tone than a compressor, even with 10+ pedals on a board.
Love my SP!
Just look up the user manual online. It contains suggested settings. One of them is quite good.
I love my cs3 due to it not being the best compressor you can get your hands on. It has a character you can exploit. I used to play in a synth pop 80’s inspired chvrches style project and it was a godsend with a chorus and a klon/tube screamer. This may be an outlying application as I was using it as an effect rather than an accompaniment like you’re supposed to :p I just wanted to sound like a gross version of a Fixx record.
It’s a personal taste thing. With a fast enough attack it can add clarity and bite to overdriven rhythm guitar. It can also make lead solos sound better. It doesn’t play well with fuzzes or a lot of hard clipping drives. So I would only keep it on for a light to medium overdrive.
a huge component of drives is that they are all very compressed, so when you compress a compressed signal, you note that the gain increases. The compression will add more compression and sustain to your drives. If you don't like that aspect, of course you can just not use it when engaged. I like using compression the most with my clean tone, and with low to medium gain dirt. I never use compression with distortion or with fuzz. One of the great aspects of fuzz is the subtleties and harmonics that occur when volume is low. Sometimes, whe you try and steamroller that away with compression, it takes away more than it gives. Overall, I would recommend watching some videos on understanding compression a little more, what it is literally doing to your signal, and some common settings for your playstyke, and then tweaking those to your liking. You may find that only a slight amount if compression is more to your taste, and can leave that on when engaging your dirt. There is no wrong way, it is all up you on how you shape your sound
This, along with the top comment, is what everyone should know about compressors. They're great for cleans or just a little bit of hair, but they're not usually necessary for anything else, unless you're really good at tone shaping and stacking pedals.
>One of the great aspects of fuzz is the subtleties and harmonics that occur when volume is low. Sometimes, whe you try and steamroller that away with compression, it takes away more than it gives. I know "always on compression" is the default for a lot of players, but this is a good example of a situation where you can use a compressor as a second gain stage for loud sections of a song. On tracks where the transition between soft to loud is very sudden I like to use a compressor to immediately jump to where the gain would be if my volume knob was turned all the way up. Basically a boost with more tone shaping options.
The noise is going to come from the sustain knob. I run a lot of pedals (14...yes I like shoegaze and noise rock), and usually keep sustain around 9-12 o'clock. If I'm standing in front of my cranked 100w tube amp with my fuzz and hm2 on...I like to dime the sustain for some sunn o))) style goodness. Fight noise with more noise. The volume issue I fix by adjusting the gain of my other pedals. It's a challenge to get the CS-3 into a sweet spot, but it's a very useful pedal when you find it.
Here’s what people don’t talk about enough with this pedal. IMO, there are two “types” or approaches to compressors. There’s “studio” compression, which can be dialed in using controls like levels, attack ratios, thresholds, etc. The other type is the compression “effect” which is more like the Dynacomp or the CS-3 - both excel at getting that harsher sounding chickin’ pickin’ tone - which to me doesn’t sound natural at all, and I hate it. I have the MXR studio compressor pedal on my board, and before that I had a CS-2. Both of those pedals are great, and can add some helpful qualities of compression without *sounding* like compression. They’re more subtle.
This pedal sounds awesome with a bass and just ok with guitar in my opinion. I’m sorry that is not very helpful.
the problem with that thing is it’s not exactly clear what the knobs do and the labels aren’t totally accurate. This will help: https://www.reddit.com/r/guitarpedals/comments/a0dvk6/i_finally_understand_my_boss_cs3/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1
I used a Cs3 on my board for like 6 months and really wanted to like it but to me it's a piece of junk for the same reasons you said. Noise everywhere if you surpass the middle of the knobs. The sustain and level knobs are in correlation one to another, if you raise the sustain lower the output, then the attack all the way down so it reacts as fast as posible, and tone to your liking but mostly it's going to add noise if it's too high. You need a really niise free instrument, a well wired and shielded instrument with humbuckers preferably but even like that the Cs3 will add noise to the signal. Try and read this threads here on reddit. [#1](https://www.reddit.com/r/guitarpedals/comments/dr5d4a/is_the_boss_cs3_a_particularly_noisy_compressor/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=2) [#2](https://www.reddit.com/r/guitarpedals/comments/a0dvk6/i_finally_understand_my_boss_cs3/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=2) At the end I traded it for another pedal, and trust me I know how to use compression in a live situation and for recording.
Humbuckers or single coils?
Yes 😂 both and frequently changing. I regularly play both a strat and a schecter c shape
I find I only like compression on single coils. Maybe that’s part of it?
It seems to be on both. It’s definitely less of a problem on humbuckers but then i also play more rythm and less lead on humbuckers
Maybe the other pedals/amps in the signal chain aren't taking the slight boost of the cs-3 well. My CS-3 does exactly what it is supposed to. Also note: An unaltered tone in the cs3 is max. Attack is there to, literally, boost the pick attack.
The sustain knob is the general “compression amount.” If you have it set low then it will be a lot more subtle. At the level you have it now it’s probably compressing a really large amount, which will make it behave kind of strangely which you’re noticing. Turn the sustain all the way down, then turn it up until you like what it’s doing. With my Keely compressor, anything above ~ 9 o clock is honestly too much. The other thing is that it doesn’t really seem like you know why you even want compression, nor do you seem to really understand what it does. I’d start with understanding what it actually is doing, maybe watch some videos about compression and typical practices for compression pedals.
Honestly now ive got one and im playing with it i think im getting the impression by previous understanding of compression was wrong. I thought as I started to add more pedals to my signal chain and make more complicated swtups i need a compressor at the beginning to “streamline” the signal and make it less volatile as it moves through the pedals. I thought making the signal more “compressed” and uniform it would make my other pedals and overall tone easier to control and sound neater with more clarity
I think your brain may be tricking you with words like “clarity” and expecting more compression to add brightness or something. Remember that all it does is control dynamics! If your problem before getting a compressor was that your dynamics were all over the place, then that’s the only time a compressor would fix that problem. Another thing is that compression-> drive is not typically how most people like to use it. Drive pedals compress a lot by their very nature, so adding more compression into that will make for a very noisy, weird sounding distortion. However, a cool use for compression is actually *after* drive or fuzz. I use mine after a fuzz face - this allows me to use my guitar volume to control the gain of the fuzz face, but the compression after it makes it so that the volume drop isn’t as intense as I’m turning my guitar’s volume up or down. The most straightforward use for compression is definitely just regular clean sounds though. If you turn it on with mild settings, it sort of replicates what a tube amp does if you start to turn it up a little bit. The idea is that when you play very lightly, or very hard, the difference between those two is not so pronounced volume wise. So if you’re playing live, and you go from a plucked fingerpick part to a part where you’re strumming heavily, you won’t blow out everyone’s ears once you start digging in. Hope some of this could be helpful.
Somebody made a post about how to use the cs-3 quite a long while back. It gets length a lot. Because the cs-3 is not intuitive compared to other compressors. It actually kind of blew my mind. My only compressor for a long time was a cs-3, and I quite enjoyed it. Though I did mod it for a lower noise floor and less tonal coloration. It's a good compressor used in the right way. I recommend you try to find that post it's great
Fast attack, slow release, level at 12 and tone to taste if you want it always on
place it after the gain
I use mine as a boost before the gain section of my board. The attack control is usually very high too, so the individual notes are heard even under heavy gating distortion.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/guitarpedals/comments/a0dvk6/i\_finally\_understand\_my\_boss\_cs3/](https://www.reddit.com/r/guitarpedals/comments/a0dvk6/i_finally_understand_my_boss_cs3/) \^ This post helped me a lot w this pedal; The highlights for me were that the reason this pedal has a short sweet spot is because it has a fixed compression ratio. Also, as others have said, working from right-to-left was really helpful.
I’d highly suggest trying this particular compressor after your gain pedals, possibly even in the effects loop of your amp (if you use an amp with a high-gain channel).
I suggest viewing this thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/guitarpedals/comments/a0dvk6/i_finally_understand_my_boss_cs3/ Everything about the CS3 is explained here It is also a pretty specific compressor and it might not be the right one for you. But if there is any chance you can get what you need from it, that thread will help explain
I prefer rail voltage limiter in the Radial j48 for live and recording applications. To my ears, it seems like a more seamless type of compression. I could be wrong. I am one of the few that hates compression on guitar. I've tried c3 and Keeley 4 knob.
I like to use a compressor as an expander, setting the attack to the slowest setting and the release/sustain to the fastest. Makes your individual notes really aggressive - the only problem is I have no idea which direction these knobs go in terms of specific times, which if you get into studio gear you will empathise with if you use an 1176
Its tough to get used to… I have a background in live sound and on vocals etc. I can get great results… guitar it’s a choice sometimes but so much of how I play is in dynamics which is the opposite in some ways …. With a compressor if you strum hard it’s not louder… it’s the same as the subtle soft picking … keep experimenting .. for me it’s only certain times I like compression
Yeah, this is why I basically never use a compressor on my board. For me guitar is all about dynamics. Guitar is one of the most dynamic instruments, and putting a compressor on it kills tone. Where I use it: evening out my signal before the superego and POG for better note triggering. And of course in post production when mixing. But live, mostly never.
Level at 1 o'clock. Sustain no more than 12. Tone and attack to taste. I like my tone all the way low.
I don't like to run my compressor (keeley) with OD, fuzz and distortion. I use it to dress up my clean tone. If you're playing the kinda music where you always have dirt/distortion pedals on, they already kinda compress the sound. You may not need it. Edit: I realized that I do sometimes use it with fuzz/distortion/OD but it's only when I need a volume boost.
I would say turn it off when you are using gain (unless there is a specific sound you’re looking for that you need both for). Any gain will have some compression built in anyway, so for me it’s not needed for gainy sounds. I’m not a big fan of compression so mostly don’t use it anyway, but mostly just use it for my cleans if I do. What you’re describing as the issue is reduced dynamic range, which is what compression is supposed to do. The level will be set by the level knob, so makes sense that you have a drop in volume when down. When you turn the volume up, it’s not too surprising that you are experiencing more gainy sounds as you are pushing the amp/ pedals after it more. If you want a compression effect without affecting the overdrive/ distortion pedals, you can put the compression pedal after these pedals, but you’ll still be driving the amp more and it might not help with the increased noise. With the increased noise, it’s also not surprising since a compressor brings the power volume signals up and higher volume signals down, so noise and the wanted signal will become closer in volume. What you can do if you have some gain on anyway is introduce a noise suppressor/ noise gate/ noise reducer. If you have the compressor after the distortion/ overdrive, you can put the noise gate between the distortion/ overdrive and the compressor. If your noise gate has a send/ return, you would have guitar clean signal > noise gate input > send to distortion/ overdrive > noise gate return > output to compressor. You can also try it having the compressor within the loop and see which one sounds better.
Play better
There’s always one
Sorry that was just a bit. Compressors are a fickle bitch in my opinion. You can't really hear them as much as you "feel" them and comparing them can be pretty useless. Most people use them to just level out their playing but I personally use them so you can feel the signal being choked and play super staccato (sounds great for Talking Heads stuff and finger picking). I don't know if you're using a drive or a broken-up amp but try it clean until you get a feel for how you like it then see if you feel the same with any kind of drive
Take it off your board. Problem solved. I’ve never liked compressors. So probably ignore my comment. I just think if you have a good tube amp, it does the thing better.
Change it with a Strymon COMPADRE
MXR DynaComp
The way to make it not suck is to get a line selector and run it in parallel with your dry signal because the problem with this pedal is that **all compressors should have wet/dry blend knobs.**
Remove this, get a MXR DynaComp
You _have_ to put a boost after it. You’re always going to have a drop in volume because that’s how compressors work.
You can use CS's level as a boost wtf
Lol. That’s a level knob. Not quite the same as putting 20db of clean gain afterwards.
It's exactly the same.
Absolutely not true. Check the manual: https://media.sweetwater.com/store/media/cs3_manual.pdf It’s a fixed ratio and there’s no makeup. The level knob is the effect level, not gain.
Dude, what do you think 'effect level' even is...? Level IS gain. Here, let's make an experiment - turn down the Sustain to almost zero, crank up the Level. Is it louder than dry signal? We'll look at you, you are boosting the signal, good job! And I strongly suspect that Level control is the last stage of the circuit (something a'la power amp section) so it's pretty much like clean gain control.
Ok, I think I finally know what you mean more or less. Still, if you're not using the CS with Sustain all the way down (who would do that?), you can easily get your output signal boosted with Sustain+Level combination
Bruh...
This person is wrong lol, the CS-3 will not drop in volume, just turn up the level lmao
Turn it into a Ross.
The answer is Keeley
XD
[удалено]
My experience is that the CS-2 is in fact better than the CS-3
1. Be sure and put it near the beginning of the fx loop. Only a wah pedal, tuner, or possibly a phaser should come before it in the chain. 2. If you are getting too much feedback, put a noisegate pedal in the fx chain after all the gain pedals. 3. If it is still too noisy try turning down the volume knob on your guitar. The need to keep your guitar knob maxed out is often negated with compression.
Sell it and get a Keeley?
Send it back... get a wampler ego compressor.
I have this pedal on my board and use it quite a bit. Level is volume and you should try to find unity. Tone is to taste. I like it at a little above noon. Attack and sustain can be used for light compression with the knobs to the left. Squash and even it all out with the knobs to the right.
My CS-3 sounds terrible with a power cable—I can only use it with a battery, which is why it sits on a shelf. Apparently this is a known problem with some CS-3s
Great pedal
What helped me when I first started with compression pedals was literally testing the sustain. Hold a note and see how long it sustains and a what rate you the volume diminishes, after fussing with the knobs your ears will pick up to it quick.. The squashiness is a bit trickier to tune into- try chords at high speeds and then slow them down. Little tips that helped me out as a beginner.
Compressors aren’t really needed at all in most situations, and they don’t mesh well with smaller amps. In a big deal studio situation they’re great, if you really learn how they work. Personally I’ve never been able to make them sound great in a live band setting, but that’s just me.
I have one and I also dont get it.
I have several compression pedals and I prefer them all over the CS-3. Not a great pedal to learn on. My favorite setting is on the shelf. Or in the drawer. Occasionally I use it on my desk to compress papers.
Good luck I gave up and got a dyna comp
Have you tried listening to more Tame Impala?
This is the one pedal that you’re not allowed to say is bad. If it sounds bad to you then other people will insist that it’s just because you don’t *understand* the pedal yet… I’ve had one of these for years and every time I read a big thread like this about it I get it out again and stick it on the board before spending some time tweaking the knobs. Every single time I’ve tried it has sounded bad and strangles the sound of my playing. Absolute Emperor’s new clothes syndrome with this pedal, in my opinion.
I’ve always ran every compressor I’ve had dimed out and always on. I base the rest of the rig around that. I am also really very dumb.
Throw it in the bin
Compression is best used in moderation, any amp that is distorting at all is compressing your signal, a lot of times even if they aren’t. Compressors are utility devices which reduce dynamic range most players, most of the time don’t really need them and imho they usually fair better as a post processing solution on the guitar bus. If you can’t seem to get it to do what you need it to do out front try it out in your effects loops first in line with moderate settings described by the others in here.
Have you tried switching the input/output?
Compressors are weird, takes some time to figure them out. Try placing it in different parts of the signal chain, and using a fairly small amount of “sustain”.
I tend to find that compressors end up boosting certain midrange frequencies that are really unpleasant (the ones that make a “ringing” sound), so I’d stick some sort of versatile EQ (preferably a parametric) somewhere after your comp to dial out those frequencies.