2 new upgrades to my Bobby rig flatwounds & compressor

[seanc]

When I was working at a music store in Boston the dead came to town. Bobbie's tech/ roadie and bought tons of gear. But, I do remember he bought up every single set of flatwounds we had. They were all 11 gauge..

[rugger]

Compression pedals are an interesting thing--you don't get a lot of apparent "bang for your buck,"--but when dialed in, can be quite nice. I'm no expert, but I would characterize them as smoothing out your playing. It's a subtle effect for sure, but it can be useful in both lead and rhythm playing. Of course for the Jerry Player purists, you probably aren't as interested as we know Jerry didn't use compression, but lots of other monster players do/have, Gilmour being one of them.

Cheap is probably not the way to go with a compression pedal as they tend to be noisy. Keeley and Analogman are two that are very highly thought of. I went with the Keeley and really like it. Check out the demo:

http://www.robertkeeley.com/product.php?id=8

You might have to download their online catalog to find it, but it's worth it in my opinion.

A little off topic, but I'm surprised there isn't more discussion about the Keeley stuff on this site. Anybody else out there have some Keeley boxes or Keeley modded Boss boxes?

John in San Diego

[strumminsix]

Compression pedals are an interesting thing--you don't get a lot of apparent "bang for your buck,"--but when dialed in, can be quite nice. I'm no expert, but I would characterize them as smoothing out your playing. It's a subtle effect for sure, but it can be useful in both lead and rhythm playing. Of course for the Jerry Player purists, you probably aren't as interested as we know Jerry didn't use compression, but lots of other monster players do/have, Gilmour being one of them.

Cheap is probably not the way to go with a compression pedal as they tend to be noisy. Keeley and Analogman are two that are very highly thought of. I went with the Keeley and really like it. Check out the demo:

http://www.robertkeeley.com/product.php?id=8

You might have to download their online catalog to find it, but it's worth it in my opinion.

A little off topic, but I'm surprised there isn't more discussion about the Keeley stuff on this site. Anybody else out there have some Keeley boxes or Keeley modded Boss boxes?

John in San Diego

I might split this out. The compressor I'm talking about is a studio comp similar to Bobby's Avalon. VERY DIFFERENT from comp pedals.

[rugger]

I might split this out. The compressor I'm talking about is a studio comp similar to Bobby's Avalon. VERY DIFFERENT from comp pedals.

Oh yeah, do whatever you think makes the board cleaner--didn't mean to hijack the thread. Someone mentioned compression in general and wanting to try out a cheap pedal so I felt inclined to chime in with my admittedly narrow experience with compression pedals.

I'd love to hear how the rack mounts differ from the pedals. I've never owned a rack unit, but the setup intrigues me.

Peace.

John in San Diego

[strumminsix]

The rack units I'm talking about are limiter compressors.

Think of it like this: until you hit the limit, there is no compression.

You set the limit, ratio (# of db's increase in to increase 1db out), attack, release

So mine is setup at a 4:1 ration to comp with a full chord, medium strum, full volume.

Doing that allows full chords barely compressed, single notes to jump up since they won't be compressed, my energy increase to be heard but won't jump all over the mix!

[Deadhead85]

I too, am in love with flatwounds. Compare them to roundwound strings and you'll notice QUITE a difference! Not only in feel, but more importantly, tone! They may even open up doors in your playing techniques! I'm using Daddario ECG23's, 10 gauge.

As for compressors,there are many great comps on the market! I used to have an MXR Dyna Comp, that I just couldn't get to sound good, never really cared for that one in particular. It always just seemed to have way too much high end in the frequency, almost "tinny" I guess you can say. I sold that, and in it's place bought the MXR Custom Shop Custom Comp. It's got the CA3080 IC as well as an internal attack control. IMO it's a very nice comp (in pedal form), and gives me exactly what I'm after! The Keeley comps are very nice as well, though I've never had the chance to try one out...worth the money to say the least.

[mijknahs]

Our rhythm player in Skull & Roses uses flatwounds. I think his sound is awesome.

[nsandi9]

I don't think he necessarily uses flatwounds on all of his guitars. Actaully, I know he doesn't because I played his Gibson Jazz box last year and there were definitely reg 10s on it. I also know that he did on his Cowboy for all those 6 years but doubt he did in the GD in the modulus years. His tone was not as warm as you all know. It would make sense that with the f rose style bridge and the dramatic changes he made to his tone starting in late 83 that the strings would have something to do with it.

I have been using flatwounds 11s for about 2 years now and my tone changed for sure. WARMTH, FULL AND RICH.
I used to use 10s on my tele and before I switched to a Modified Musician, I tried 11 flatwounds on the tele and I will probably never use any other strings for a 77-82 sound. I plug in the tele once in a while and still love it but mainly use the Musician.

I just got a killer Ibanez RGT220A, neck thru, etc and am having EMG pickups put in now. I think I'm gonna use Standard 11s though. I don't want the warmth that the flatwounds definitely give you.

Nick (Skull & Roses, Los Angleles and The Eleven, San Francisco)

[Grant]

This is definitely something I want to expiriment with. just wondering what a good way to go would be. Cheap obviously. $100 bucks or less.

Google is your friend: "compressor guitar $100" yields https://secure.seymourduncan.com/forum/showthread.php?t=165056

If you can solder: http://buildyourownclone.com/5knobcompressor.html : $98.99

I built one of the BYOC 5 knob comps a couple of years back. It's based on the gray Ross comp. I played the BYOC next to an original Ross - the BYOC kicked it's ass, and I wasn't the only one who thought so.

[seanc]

When I worked at a guitar store in Boston. Bobby's tech came in and we talked quite a bit. He told me at that point that BW was using the D'addario chromes in 11. He bought up all that we had in the store (chromes and the brite flats).

[strumminsix]

When I worked at a guitar store in Boston. Bobby's tech came in and we talked quite a bit. He told me at that point that BW was using the D'addario chromes in 11. He bought up all that we had in the store (chromes and the brite flats).

Yup, those are what I use!

[seanc]

This was @92. According to the tech it was being used on his neckthru modulus. According to him at that time it was all be was using. As he was going through so manny sets of strings and so few placed carried them he bought all he could where ever he found them.
The tech said depending on BWs mood he would get a new set for each sound check and at times then one before each set.

[helio]

I might split this out. The compressor I'm talking about is a studio comp similar to Bobby's Avalon. VERY DIFFERENT from comp pedals.

If folks are looking for a more studio compressor sound, but need it in a pedal format, it's worth checking out the Maxon CP-9 Pro+. It's a standard Maxon / Ibanez sixed box, but is a very different beast from the other popular compressor pedals out there.

As has been said above, Keely, Analogman, and other are building some terrific compressor pedals modeled after the old MXR Dyna Comps, the Ross, the Dan Armstrong, etc... Great stuff if that's what you want. I love my Analogman CompRossor, but I'm living in a weird Jerry-meets-Trey tonal space.

Anyway... the Maxon. I tried it for a while, and it really sounds great. Clean, clear compression with a very interesting set of controls. I'm not terribly knowledgable on studio or rack mount compressors, but everything I've read says that this Maxon was supposed to bring those tones into a pedal format. The standard pedals mentioned above definitely bring their own distinct tone to the party. This Maxon is very different. Very clean, neutral compression that seems to me to be much closer to the studio and rack-mount units.

As I said above, I'm flying a bit blind on this one, but if you do need a studio type compressor in a pedal format, this Maxon is definitely worth a look.

[Stevo123]

I'll have to check out that Maxon. I'd be interested to see any other opinions or reviews of this pedal. I've been very interested in something like this because I don't have any plans of ditching my current setup for a rack rig.

[mijknahs]

This was @92. According to the tech it was being used on his neckthru modulus. According to him at that time it was all be was using. As he was going through so manny sets of strings and so few placed carried them he bought all he could where ever he found them.
The tech said depending on BWs mood he would get a new set for each sound check and at times then one before each set.

You would think Bob (or Bob's tech) would have bought cases of his favorite strings direct from the manufacturer or wholesaler.