How to Use a Compressor Pedal - Getting the Most out of Your Compressor Pedal 

Set up your compressor pedal like a pro! Still curious about compressors? Let us know in the comments👇 Don't forget to hit that subscribe button🔔

As someone who has been playing guitar and just throwing in whatever sounded nice without knowing what it actually did, this video was pretty helpful! Thanks a lot, Don!

That was a good lesson. Thanks. I have played electric guitar for a lot of years without a compressor but just ordered this exact one from Sweetwater last week. The tracking info says it should be here tomorrow. I can't wait to get my hands on it.

The Electro Harmonix Mig Muff had so much compression that if you hit a note or a chord, you had time to go smoke a cigarette and come back and pick the guitar up before it died completely

I love using a compressor just to even out my tone. It’s very subtle, and probably not noticeable by an audience, but as a player, I notice it (and it helps me to play better I hope). Keeley has been my “go to” for a long time now. I have the plus and it is so good. I have tried a lot of other compressors, but always seem to land back with Keeley. They sound great and have little, to no, noise - even paired with an OD pedal. It’s always on.

Love my Keeley Aria. Compressor plus and tube screamer type pedal in one. Highly recommend it. Thank you Sweetwater.

This is by far the best explanation I've found. Thumbs up! 👍

Thanks so much for sharing this simple overview including settings for how to achieve the features for using the device. You have provided great insight that I really needed to see. Thanks!

Don Carr is the best ! Greetings from Quebec !

Very well explained. Thanks Don. God bless.

Thank you Mr. Don Carr for this wonderful video ! X🤘🏻X

Thanks so much for this video. I own that pedal, and have always played chickin pickin with too much blend (and sustain) thanks to the Keely “Nashville lead” suggested setting, and have been dialing it back but I really like your settings.

Great video, I understand what my ears Were hearing now, Now I can put it into words. So good,thanks. Sam.

Great information and presentation thanks

This was very helpful, thx again man

Wow this was a great demo! Thank you. I never owned one. You did a great job!

This was very helpful thank you!

An excellent demonstration

Thank your for this! It is super helpful!

Couldn't be clearer! Great and relaxed, just how it should be. Cheers.

Excellent video.... Thank you!

great explanations!

wow, great comprehensive video on the compressor pedal thanks Don dude

Very helpful. Thanks.

im new to guitars and pedals (played bass) and just bought a vintage Boss CS-3 from japan, thanks to this video, I actually know how to utilized it in my playing and finding a distinct sound

Excellent!!! Thank you!!!!

Thanks for that mate!!

Your explanation of the different aspects of compression helped clarify a couple things in regard to the envelope. Thank you! And I like the crazy lick 3/4 of the way through. 🔥🔥🔥

Another great video, Don! I am concerned about the effect on playing dynamics as you turn Sustain up. How far can you generally turn this up before your dynamics disappear? Thanks.

perfect explanation

Great info. Thank you.

Great explanation and demonstration. Thanks for the walk through.

Thank you for the best video I have seen about Compression. I am specifically interested in the use on my Telecaster and will try your chicken picking settings. I will subscribe.

As someone else pointed out. Since you didn't do an example of one of the essential things people use compressor pedals for (being used for feedback with distortion) and (even though he mentioned it, but only showed a clean lead guitar example) to also demonstrate using it for lead guitar distortion solos, the way a Hard Rock/Heavy Metal band would use it. So that being said, this is a great opportunity for you guys to show us the Cali76 😀

I'm going to build my first pedal and think a compressor would be a good start. Thanks for the information.

I clicked on this video to find its the exact compressor pedal I just bought! Great tutorial, thank you!

You can also get some pretty interesting sounds by using a compressor pedal with a blend knob similarly to a parallel drum bus. Crank the sustain and compress the heck out of the signal, but keep the blend knob super low. Not useful for EVERY occasion but a fun sound to mess around with.

I've gone three years learning guitar, wondering how people can make their notes play out so noticeably. Now that I know why, I need to get a compressor!!!

Man this video is awesome. I finally understand how a compression pedal works. I’m assuming this would also be great for metal ?

You made me buy one

A big problem you hear ppl complain about with compressors is noise- and a lot of that has to do with where you put it in the signal chain. There's always going to be some noise, I'm not saying you can get rid of it- there's always some hiss in your signal and the compressor will always magnify it. But if you put it before your drives, at least it's not magnifying the hiss coming from them- which is the majority of what you hear. That said- the sustain works by adding gain as the note dies out so- you add gain, you add noise- period. If you need to play with the sustain all the way up, then get a volume pedal and between playing- kill the vol. You see lots of pros doing this, they're keeping the noise down. They do the same thing when they're playing a super-hot rig, any time they're not playing, they kill the volume. But I've seen country pickers use the same trick to control the compressor noise. Another issue is attack noise- you hear your fingers rubbing across the strings, you hear the pick picking the note really loud- turn the attack down so the compression doesn't kick in so quickly. If you don't have an "attack" knob, then you have a "blend" knob- either one will allow you to get rid of this unwanted noise. If you have neither knob, and you still hear this- get rid of the compressor- it's junk. Some compressors come with the attack/blend already set, you can't change it- so if it's not right for your rig- get rid of that pedal.

Great!!

I have the EHX Platform compressor pedal and it's too much for me! I bought it for my Tele and my 6L6 amp to do that country thang. Thanks for the refresher.

I just got this pedal for my Bday.. but the Exclusive Sweetwater version. Great color scheme on it.

I just bought a compressor-Way Huge-makes all the difference in the world.

Dan... The Man. #respect

Several ways to get it done. I prefer the optical circuits for whatever reason. I built a DOD 280 clone and added a blend circuit for the dry, it needed it bad. Used it for years. But recently built Cornish OC-1 clone PCB and it's now my favorite for guitar. I play flute as well and use an ART rack preamp that also uses optical compression. Maybe I'm just use to it. Though the JFET style compressors like the Orange Squeezer and Cali 76 sound great to my ears as well. Great video on how compression works.

"In the eyes of the compressor, there's no place you can hide, you can't hide from the eyes of the compressor" ~Joe Walsh (probably)

I play arpeggio a lot, and I've noticed that because I'm hitting prominent notes constantly (high end and low) there is a huge problem with notes being drowned out too quickly. A compressor seems like a no brainer for my next pedal purchase, just to even everything out so that there are notes not getting hidden by unwanted peaks and troughs.

I note your Keeley Compressor with interest. I have a four knob Keeley with the following controls. Sustain, Level, Attack and Clipping, where yours is Sustain Level, Blend and Tone. Can you explain why the new box has different controls to the C4 and it what ways they overlap functionally? Cheers

Thank you! Great teaching lesson. Can you show your take on how you do the Xotic SP Compressor?

I was using a compressor at the beginning of my pedal chain, but I've started playing in a hard rock band, and I'm thinking of putting it at the end to even up the intensity between the rat and big muff. Any thoughts?

Rolland thank you.

My man with the Apple Loops Melodic Clean Electric Guitar Arpeggio 04 at 4:40

I heard Pinball Wizard in one of those licks you played.

Cool 👍👌

I use the comp in the boss gt3 on the way in. The guy Ed Wynne from Ozric Tentacles uses a gt3 for all his guitar sounds since he got one.

With the compression of the signal does it increase in speed or slows the signal, makes it long?

Hey! I play with my fingers, in the style of Mark Knopfler, and when i play solo parts, like in Sultans of Swing or Tunnel of Love, for example, the sound that i get is low and soft. May I buy a compressor pedal, or instead buy another type? thx!!

Very good explanation

Can I use the pedal as a clean boost to go into a Wampler Plexidrive mini , to make it sound great ?

I've seen some videos that show that compressors really have two functions depending on if you put it in front of your overdrive/distortion or after, with it acting as a boost after the overdrive/distortion. Can someone help me understand the pro's and con's of before/after?

I’ve legitimately never noticed a compressor ever so anything in the history of music

Why not show examples of the compressor being used for feedback with distortion? It's an essential pedal for it.

Where does it go in the chain, and why?

Very good video. I think you've found your niche with this content. How about the next one on using a noise gate.

Would you advise using the single coil setting through a set of humbuckers?

Turn the blend and sustain all the way up!

I've got a boss syb-5 synth bass pedal,it burps and jumps notes all over the place but you know it would sound awesome if it worked correctly,I tried everything,did anyone run a compressor to fix this problem?

What settings would you use for a jangly Byrds sound?

I've always used compressor pedals for my guitar and Bass I've never liked overdrive

strangely enough, when the sustain is increased, i hear more attack as well as usstain

I have a Taylor 214ce Acoustic Electric. Would a compressor with a blend knob be good for it?

Having never played using compression i decided to try it out today. I'm told that it squashes down on higher sounds and pushes up lower sounds to leave you playing in a confined band. This is exactly how i found it. Having always played compression free i didn't like giving up some feel and volume/expression. I could probably get used to it. But i think i'll just use it for recording rythym. My solo work needs the full audio range. Sorry if this sounds pompous. I'm not really like that....lol.

I have a question, I'm just starting to build my first pedal board and I have a few pedals I either bought or traded with friends to get. the music I'm playing is hard rock/metal. so I have a big Muff deluxe, a delay, a reverb and a volume/expression pedal. my question is if I'm using the Muff as my main sound do I need a compressor pedal ? if so, should it go infront of the big Muff of after in my sound chain ? thanks .

where's the setup part of the pedel?

I got mine a few days ago - can't use it with the slightest ammunt of distortion oder overdrive, because it is so extremely noisy at all four knobs set to 12 o' clock. Clean is fine, but I'm playing so much heavy stuff... this is sad.

Can it still work with another pedal hooked up. Most likely distorted pedal

This might be the wrong lane but I've only played for a year or two...... by name, I thought a compression pedal would be what I needed. What kinda pedal tightens up (especially with fuzz or distortion) chords where you can hear them individually strummed cleaner? I'm looking for "duh-duh-duh" instead of more-so "duhduhduhduh". Just want it tightened up and im not sure of most pedals lol. Any help is appreciated!

Which model of PRS is that guitar?

Its kind of contrast or gamma in camera world, but for sound.

I've owned a few compressors over the years, including this Keeley, but I always end up selling them. The extra sustain is nice, but they destroy the attack and the overall dynamics.

I was hearing a buzz. Was that coming from the pedal?

My compressor is always on with max sustain. I get my emergency volume boost by turning off the pedal.

I also don’t notice much, rings a little but that’s it.

Question from me as a noob, why do I need to use compression as a boost while I can just turn the volume up?

I don´t even use the tone knob on my guitar, i don´t hear the difference with this thing on or off, i live on the cheap just by nature 🙂

Компрессор на клин не ложи, руками надо играть!

Take. My. Money.

You kinda sound like Tom hanks

OK, thanks ... now explain gates and limiters please.

I must be tone deaf because I couldn't hear much difference no matter what you did......

It’s funny people love to use tube amp Bc they said it has a good dynamic But they use compressor ..........to kill they dynamic

Still clueless. Use a pedal to take out the dynamics of your playing ?

I never noticed this before, but listening to Don talk without watching the video, his voice and speaking cadence kind of sounds like Barack Obama!