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Keeley Electronics Compressor
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« Sounds great, but the 4 knob is better »

Published on 11/26/11 at 19:43
A lot of people don't know how to use compressors or when to exactly use them. Considering today's high gain amps, it's really no surprise. Most people don't really need them. However, if you're a country or funk guy, I'm pretty sure you know exactly when to use them. That's on your clean and low to mid gain tones. To me, the perfect compressor is very transparent sounding and not overly "characteristic." The Keeley does that tone great, and it's one of my favorite compressors out there. This has two knobs to dial in the compression that you're looking for.

UTILIZATION

The pedal is housed in one of the best housings you can buy. There's no way this pedal is going to be breaking any time soon. It's a solid housing that'll withstand even the fattest monster you can find smashing all his weight on this thing without any issues at all. The pedal is true bypass, so you never have to worry about this thing sucking tone. However, you do have to worry about long runs of true bypass pedals; you'll want some sort of buffer if you have a bunch. It's super simple to set up, and you don't need a manual for this pedal. I mean, there are two knobs. Just turn them until it sounds good.

SOUND QUALITY

I really like to use compressors on the clean tone the most. It can take away from that annoying peakyness and help make them a bit more consistent. It also adds something to the tone to help make it stand out a bit more, in my opinion. A few guys like to run this in front of a high gain amp to give that super saturated sound, and while it works, I only enjoy using them that way for lead tones as it tends to get noisy and a bit too much. If you ever wondered how country players get their insane clean picking licks from, this is the secret. Put this in front of a clean amp and pick away.

OVERALL OPINION

This is a great pedal. It can be a bit pricy, but it's worth it. I still recommend buying used. In my opinion, the best model is the four knob compressor as you have all four knobs right there at your finger tips without any hassle. It's more versatile and gives you more sounds, but some prefer this 2 knob version. Try both if you can, but if you can only get one, I'd recommend the four knob.