The MIRA is a different type of compressor. It can give one the options that a studio compressor as opposed to a more common type of compressor like a Dyna Comp, or other 2 dial compressors. Mira mira on the wall etc. :0)
I freaking love Walrus Audio’s pedals and especially their branding. Each pedal tells a story and inspires me just by looking at them. Mira, Mira on the wall, who’s the geekiest of them all?
Mira Mira on the wall, who's the geekiest of them all? I was so onboard with this until I saw the price! Guess I'll stick with my trusty SP compressor for a while, it doesn't have a threshold control which is annoying, but you can set attack and release times using the internal dipswitches. It's a great sounding compressor, I'd gone nearly 20 years without using one and now I wonder how I lived without it, people say they ruin your dynamics, but I think my playing is more dynamic now because it helps bring out the tiny details
I found that compressor is one of those effects that is crucial to sounding like my favorite records. Until you have one and learn each of the functions, you don't realize what compressor really is. Suddenly, you have flashbacks of licks and solos you got frustrated with because you assumed you didn't have the right guitar or amp or overdrive--or technique--and instead you learn that, oh, it's the compressor. THAT's what is stretching those notes to infinity, THAT's what is smoothing out your picking, and THAT's what is making everything gel together. Lately I've seriously expanded my pedalboard (thanks Black Friday Sweetwater deals!), and it's expanded my aural vocabulary. Now I hear what effects Gilmour is using, what those great 50s guitarists were doing with echo, what Radiohead was using on the Bends record, etc. Just keep learning y'all. If you are curious as to what an effect such as compressor does, buy a really common version of it, learn how to use it, and then sell that and find a keeper of a pedal! I lucked out that the Mira was on sale at Sweetwater becuase it's being discontinued for some reason, so now I have a great compressor at a fraction of what it's worth.
I like good compressors. Any comp box can squeeze, but the Suhr Kanji is the only one I’ve heard that added ‘air’, & it didn’t get shrill. That said, this W.A. Mira comp, does a great job of squeezing while *preserving* ‘air’. THX, Guitar Geek!
"Mira Mira on the wall, who's the geekiest of them all?" It is more than great, how the center LED pulsates its brightness like a Mira-type variable star. Coincidence?
That guitar is the fairest of them all! My little boys were absolutely loving that guitar as they watched this with me. Recently got into looking for a compressor for my acoustic board I use at my church. Had the idea of using one on it and tried my caline two knob on it and realized how bad it was. Then I learned there's different types... Cue optical. I've been looking at this one and the EQD Warden. I tried using my multi effect Zoom pedal for optical comp today and loved how it sounded on my acoustic playing rhythm. Now that I've experienced the smoothness it brought between strumming and picked notes, I don't think I want to play without one. This pedal with the HPF might have swayed me from the Warden. Leaving some bass notes on my acoustic would be of the benefit. Cheers for this review and rundown!
Mira, mira on the wall who’s the geekiest of them all? I think it’s you buddy! And I am GRATEFUL. great video. I was on the fence about the Mira but after seeing your near conversion I decided to pull the trigger and make the purchase. I think my problem in the past mirrors yours. I need more control than many compressors offer. Thanks.
Mira, Mira on the wall, who's the geekiest of them all! This compressor looks fantastic, but I'll be using it on bass! I'd love to see a review that is bass specific!
Mira Mira on the wall, who’s the geekiest of them all? Me… or at least I will be when the Mira I just ordered arrives in a few days. Bit of a snip at £129 too 😉
Mira Mira on e the wall, who is the geekiest of them all Lol, It was interesting watching you go through the same as I did when I was younger, couldn't hear what it was doing, but now, I understand and hear the benefits a lot more, looks and sounds like a great pedal. Thanks for the video :)
mira mira on the wall, who's the geekiest of them all? I have a confession to make - I don't like compressors & I like the big knobs. (something good to see with compressors is the waveform captures you can see the difference the knobs make). but in all I will check this out at my local store as I should get a compressor
The one dilemma with compressors is when you use them with drive pedals. If you set your drive to edge of breakup, where you can have drive by digging in and clean by playing lightly, and you put a compressor in front of it, it nullifies the dynamics of your pick attack, so you will only have one level of drive no matter how hard or light you play... But if you put the compressor after the drive, you can retain that dynamic control of the amount of drive, but at the expense of a higher noise floor, because a compressor will exaggerate the noise of any pedal in front of it. Most of the time I find it best to use compression mainly with cleaner tones, since drive pedals and amp tubes impart some inherent compression anyway.
What you describe actually is why this compressor appeals to me. I hear lots of players say “oh my compressor is always on.” Really? I have a Wampler Mini Ego compressor that is great for certain cleaner tones, but like you I don’t like it much when adding overdrive(s). My MXR Timmy in particular adds really nice (my opinion) compression itself and I don’t want much if any compressor before it. That’s doubly true if I am stacking overdrives which I do a lot. SOooooo having all of these controls looks great!
You're the geekiest. Also, I think those tiny knobs may be what keep me from getting it. On the hunt for a fancier compressor and this was seems so good, I think-
I have a confession to make, I’m a rank amateur but love compression to pull all there is into the signal. A chord can be barely louder than a single string. A whole Lipton of options there. Take a chord progression, then isolate the instances in play crucial to the flow and pallet. One string, two, three? No worries. Whatever “trick” you have for any subset of the chord, the compression lifts it to dynamic parity with a full chord. I use full on sensitivity as well. I gotta have both.
I've owned many compressors, because I actually do use and like them, - slide, swells, cleans, etc.Walrus is one of my go to's , so when this was announced, I was thinking more board displacement. Fortunately, I currently use the EQD Warden, which it's going to take some doing to best. Def solid competition, but maybe some other time. Walrus needs to put out a killer Fuzz , like a fresh Harmonic Perc, or a "staging" circuit like the ~900.The Eons was a good effort, but not my thing. P.S.-if you've had issues with comps, try running them after the drive section at those more subtle settings.
I'm between the Warden and this one. I'm more EQD prone as I live nearby and I'm next door to their shop at least once or twice a week. A little hometown like pride I guess. The HPF on this is making me lean more towards the Mira over the Warden. Both seem stellar.
@@sirnatanielson The Mira is pretty nice; if I was starting fresh, I might try it before the Warden. Also of special mention would be the Orange Kongpressor, which was groundbreaking for its day, the Janglebox, because there's nothing else like it, and the FFC , for simplicity and effectiveness. Good luck, and keep playing.
@@markferguson3745 I appreciate that. I'm not fresh per say with compressors. I've got an old Caline two knobber that I've never really found much use for. I'm not foreign to compression as I used to understand it well enough back in my late teens early 20s recording days. Years away made me forget but coming back to it, it's all relatively comprehendable. I'm more for functionality so the more of a studio setup I can get, the more I feel like I'll like it for a compressor now. Especially with his explanation. The HPF button is a kicker for me here. I'm getting this for acoustic, rhythm and occasional lead/arpeggiation. After using an optical comp today for live performance, I was sold. The high pass to let my lower notes come through with less compression could be useful. I think I'm going to take your advice and start here and see how I feel. Hopefully it's the one I need and ends my search!
Mira Mira on the wall, whose the geekiest of em all? I have a Xotic SP compressor, but I haven`t used it in a while, because I mainly play via Amplitube. Another way to get a long sustaining note is via hig gain, but that`s not suitable for normla rock oder blues tunes.
Mira mira on the wall, disney Corp will defo sue. I'm with you Andy, never used a compressor either. I never hear the difference but maybe thats more the style I play.
Perhaps you can try finding some tall and slim knobs that can go on the attack and release knobs? I've tried chucking some regular knobs on those teeny tiny ones and they can sure accept the right-sized ones!
Miro, Miro... I don't even have a bit of willingness to face Compressor effects. It's a bit of stupid that I have going. 🤘 I remember the Nuns were not really my favorite sounding band, but Jennifer Miro did that Nekkid Blonde thing better than any one else, ever. It was a great show.
Mira Mira on the wall, whose the geekiest of them all. Said he loves big knobs and his sausage fingers make it Hard to use little knobs so he needs big knows
"Mira mira on the wall, whose the geekiest of them all", I just started using compression, a Mosky Mini C4 which does also give you more control than other compression pedals and it is always on and with my blues driver clone it sounds amazing, gives great sustain and with the clipping set high it feels so good under the fingers when playing, very addictive. I think the Mira sounds great but it's a bit pricy for the average joe!
I don’t understand the difference between the make-up control and level. Great demo and intro to pedal! Edit to add “Mira Mira on the wall. Who’s the geekiest of them all?” This guy ^ 😜
I think you’re a funny guy I just don’t always have the time to hear all you have to say I wish time stamp to the info or the that was thumb shot stuff would be available thanks mate just a thought to get a few more heads interested in the content is all
"Mira mira on the wall, whose the geekiest of them all". Thanks for the thorough and organized review. I tried to watch Henning's, but in this case his frenetic approach got in the way :D I've got a couple points that may be helpful: 1) The reverb pedal is obscuring how the compressor works. If the note seems to be "holding", is that compressor? Or reverb? 2) On your recording, the compression/limiting definitely impacts how we can hear the compressor's activity. In a few places, I got the idea that the compressor pedal was still holding the note, while your recording gear decided to kill it. 3) With electric 12-string, it's nearly impossible to get the iconic sound without a compressor. Give it a try! With good compression you can jangle your your head off! :D 4) That high-pass filter is a great idea! It's sorely missed on my existing DynaComp MXR. Without it, I find that a couple bass-heavy guitars muddy up my compressor performance. 5) You're quite right about how a person "feels" the operation of a compressor. Almost subconsciously, we try to even out extremes in volume while we're playing. A fluid tone with less drastic volume changes sounds better in most cases. With a good compressor setup, our fingers don't have to work so hard to maintain this fluid tone. So it's easier to play! At least the kinds of things that I play.
I have always wanted a tight bottom, but, like my Meemaw the tuba player(tubist?), no pedal ever made our low ends tighter. We couldn't hi-pass our bypass around it. Mira, Mira on the wall, who's the creakiest of them all? Henning!
Mira mira on the wall, who's the geekiest of them all. I think the attack and release knobs being tiny kind of makes sense. Out of all of the settings on this pedal those are the two you aren't going to be changing much after you get to a setting you like. All the other parameters might change for a certain song or part... but the attack and release will change the entire feel of the compression so you would want them to stay the same. Just my 2 cents
Mira, Mira on the wall… wait… why would it be on the wall? Shouldn’t it be on my board? Or if I don’t have a board shouldn’t it be on the floor in front of my amp? How about, Mira, Mira on the floor, who’s that knocking at my door? No, no, that’s doesn’t work at all. Mira, Mira on my board, you cost too much, I can’t afford? But I like Walrus Pedals. This is not working at all. Poet I am not.
