Compressors based on optical circuits can sound very good but the latest EU regulations have outlawed the use of Cadmium Sulphide so light dependent resistors (LDRs) are now banned and so are compressors which use them.
But, beneath the stench, I can catch the faint whiff of credibility.
People have been using non-CdS LDRs for years - the OC81 transistor was a favourite until they started putting them in metal cans. What it would mean, if CdS is to be banned, is that you'd lose the mojo due to differences in characteristics - people would say "it doesn't sound like the old CdS LDR based circuit".
It didn't take much digging to reveal that the Diamond Compressor uses a Vactrol CdS opto-isolator, so they will definitely be hit by this. Anyone know of other pedals that use Vactrols?
Is this like when Japan banned certain circuits from being imported and all the vintage analog synth fans in Japan protested. They actually got their government to make an exception for Music Gear.
jcyphe wrote:Is this like when Japan banned certain circuits from being imported and all the vintage analog synth fans in Japan protested. They actually got their government to make an exception for Music Gear.
Exactly. Music gear is innocuous enough that any reasonable group can get an exception; like when all the new airline regulations came in after 9/11. The Musician's Union got an exception to allow instruments as carry-ons.
Exactly. And they don't have much use on a pedalbaord. In recording, sure, I use a fw different digital compression programs, but jesus fuck, never on guitar!
Any pedal with any kind of modulation- whether envelope, triggered, sequenced, whatever can have LDRs. Some wahs and volume pedals (Morley, DOD) use LDRs.
Somehow I think it probably doesn't matter though, because how's the gov't gonna know if you've got some illegal tech?
dots wrote:exactly! why try one for yourself when you can just take somebody's opinion as biblical?
compression has its place, even in a live rig.
I have watched some demos, it doesn't seem all that useful for me but anything described as squished ass can't be that great...
i'm a firm believer in getting out what you put in. trying a cheap ass compressor as you said probably wouldn't have done anything special, and you'd likely on fulfill the prophecy of squished ass. i'm pretty minimalist when it comes to fx, but you'll rarely find me dismissing any type of them simply because i can't make it sound good.
dots wrote:exactly! why try one for yourself when you can just take somebody's opinion as biblical?
compression has its place, even in a live rig.
I have watched some demos, it doesn't seem all that useful for me but anything described as squished ass can't be that great...
i'm a firm believer in getting out what you put in. trying a cheap ass compressor as you said probably wouldn't have done anything special, and you'd likely on fulfill the prophecy of squished ass. i'm pretty minimalist when it comes to fx, but you'll rarely find me dismissing any type of them simply because i can't make it sound good.
To be fair I said I wouldn't be getting one after others had dismissed them. Just as I won't be getting a flanger pedal in the forseeable future because they don't make a sound that I think I'll use. The guitarist in my old band used a compressor for solos and it worked great but I don't see myself using it for what I'm playing.
