Hi guys¡¡¡Well,as the title says my question ... I wonder if any of you use a compressor pedal to play "surf guitar" and do you think about using a compressor pedal for this style of music ....
Do you think is useful for surf music or else you believe this type of effect is not good to get a good tone ....?
If someone uses it ..... you like and are accustomed to use it ...? As you have your settings in the compressor pedal ....? I mean in terms of control of "compression ", "attack" (if any), "tone", "volume", etc, etc ...
I have a compressor pedal, a Marshall ED1 specifically, but I have my doubts about whether or not it benefits the sound to get a good "surf tone ".... Sometimes I think the pedal sounds good compressor and other times I think it sounds better without this effect ..... you who do you think?maybe the problem is that no use or fit well ....
I know,for example,to play country music is almost essential effect, but, as I said before, to surf music I have not so clear ....
I would greatly appreciate that I bring forth any ideas or advice on how to use or otherwise, if you think I should forget the compressor .... je, je .....¡¡¡
If it helps you my amp is a Peavey Classic 30 and my guitars are a Squier Stratocaster Classic Vibe 50, Squier Standard Stratocaster, Squier Jagmaster (soon I will be modified to transform it into a Jaguar ...) and an Eastwood Saturn 63(modified with GFS alnico soapbar P90 pickups).
Thank you very much in advance for your help and advice and a greeting from Spain¡¡¡
Happy New Year¡¡¡

Try the search tool on this one. Sometimes it's not much help, but I think it works for this topic.

Compressor

Don't search it for "guitar" or "reverb."

Down near the bottom of the search dialog there is a very important choice, which lets you pick post vs. thread. Some threads go on for ever and mention everything in the universe at least once. To deal with that issue, pick "post." In this particular case it seems like "thread" is aquite reasonable.

Also important is the choice at the top between include any one of the search terms or all of them. The latter is almost always what you want. You can't search for phrases like "compressor pedal" yet. "All terms" is as close as you can get. For phrases, however, try googling and including "surf guitar 101" as a search term. (Or search under the site's main URL in the advanced search options of Google, etc.)

Barber Tone Press on bass guitar.

Mel

Mel

I too use the Danelectro Surf and Turf. I love it!

The Mighty Surf Lords- Sparks,Nv.
"Praise The Lords"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHTDYfy0xM8
www.myspace.com/themightysurflords
www.cdbaby.com/cd/mightysurflords

With my band Insect Surfers, we switch back and forth from lead to rhythm on every verse. I am too uncoordinated to turn my volume knob or hit a different pickup switch when it's my turn to play lead,, so i use a compressor for a volume boost and some sustain. So, compressors are great for leads, but I think your question is whether to use one all the time? I have often used a compressor the whole time while recording, they can really bring a nice tone to your sound. Different guitars respond differently to compression, I've found that older and /or 'cheesier' guitars
(single coil,etc) will definitely change their tone more significantly once a compressor is applied. You may have to run through a wide variety of compressors to find one w/ the best response for you, some I've tried can truly give you a crappier sound!
I found my holy grail with an MXR, 1982/83 they made a black wide housing instread of the usual red box, and there's some chip in there that sounds great for me! When that's not available I use the Aphex Punch Factory,which works great too...
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&q=aphex+compressor&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=6748078153732024208&ei=qY4bTZTyMofWtQP91tzUCg&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CDsQ8wIwBQ#

Los Straitjackets' Danny-O Grande uses a compressor (an old MXR Dyna Comp) whenever he plays lead parts., not only to boost the volume, but also to thicken up the tone, and even out his picking.

Compressors are tricky beasts. Ideally, you set them to a level that could be called "It's on, but no one can tell", which is where it improves your sound to where you can hear it, but 95 percent of the folks listening won't be able to. Extreme settings yield sorts of "gulping" or swells that aren't usually suited for surf stuff. Even sublte swells from the ol' compressor can be found annoying by your average listener.

The type of guitar you use--and especially if you adjust your volume knob a bunch--can affect how the compressor reacts, not to mention how hard you pick, and even what pickup or pickups your guitar is set to. This is why I think you see a lot of used compressor pedals at music stores and pawn shops--easy to buy, but difficult to master.

--Crispy

PS--I have two compressors round here--a Dyna Comp and a vintage DOD 280. Use them in my home studio, but never could get the hang of 'em live.

I don't claim to use a 100% pure surfy tone, but I use a Philosopher's Tone compressor at the beginning of my chain to even things out, add sustain, and generally beef up the tone. Generally I keep the output of the pedal at 1 or 2 o'clock, and I leave it on just about all the time. I'll use it to make on-the-fly adjustments if I get buried in a live situation/at practice or if I'm too loud, but other than that the knobs stay where I set them.

It definitely helps fill out the sound of the distortion/overdrive pedals I use, but I can imagine if you want that 100% clean singlecoil-into-reverb-unit sound, I'd avoid it for the most part.

Hi guys¡¡¡Firstly I want to apologize for taking so long to respond as I have been away celebrating the new year and I could not sit in front of the computer until today¡¡¡Thanks for all your answers¡¡¡Truth is that they are being very helpful¡¡¡anyway,I'm accepting suggestions on how to use the compressor as well as your experiences with this type of effect ....
As if that helps you,the settings on my amp "Peavey Classic 30"are:
BASS: 6, MIDDLE: almost 7, Treble: 9 .... I have to say that the controls on my amp go to 12 (from 1 to 12)
What do you think of these settings to "Surf"?
Bye and thanks¡¡¡