Personally I would only recommend an “always on” compressor if it has a blend knob. The CS does not and I can clearly hear the “pumping” during your strums. If you like that, fine, but most players do not want that much squash unless they’re only using it for clean tones. I appreciate what you’re doing though. My personal picks would be an xotic Sp Comp, True Tone VS-XO overdrive, SA Collider. If direct is essential then I’d pick the Iridium or the Nux Solid Studio for less. That’s less than $500 not including the amp modeler.
Those compressor “pumps” were greatly exaggerated during the upload to UA-cam I found, as they were not that prominent at all when I was playing. I do see what you’re saying though, a compressor with a blend (such as the SP comp) is a great shout.
A HX Stomp would be a cheaper and far more versatile setup to be honest. Also you would need to spend more cash on a good PSU to power those individual pedals along with the time/cost to make or purchase the board itself. The HX Stomp also provides AMP modelling so trying to do a cheap pedalboard will always fall short. I've spent a lot of time looking into these alternatives and they don't really deliver the cost benefit and actually don't sound very good. There are a couple of aford-a-board videos on UA-cam you should check out if you plan to pursue this. Cheers.
This is a good point, the problem I find with the HX stomp is that it’s so small and as a result, not very intuitive to use on the fly. You have to go with presets since there are only a few foot-switches to access. I find in P&W music that, personally at least, my best playing and inspiration comes from trying different sounds on the fly for different songs, which is easier to do with individual pedals that are easy to access different sounds with. The other thing of course is that some people just like having pedals that a physically in front of them more than having to scroll through different menus on a small screen to set up sounds. I would also disagree with the idea that these alternatives don’t sound very good. I think even really affordable pedals can sound the absolute business if you set them up right. At the end of the day people in the audience won’t hear very minor differences we might hear as well. I think both options are just as viable as each other for sure.
@@danieljdtaylor Totally agree. Personally I love having individual pedals doing their required job. But if you are trying to do something that is a low budget version of the Big Sky & Timeline tone you won't get it with cheap pedals. It's not possible. Get a Stomp. It has amazing delay and reverb algorithms that get very close to the Strymon sound. Lots of options to add other switches really cheaply too. Don't forget the amp models. It's a no brainer.
@@saltstream I would say it is possible to get those sorts of sounds as these aren’t cheap pedals, they just aren’t super expensive pedals🤷♂️at the end of the day an audience really doesn’t care if it’s a Strymon or Joyo, they can’t hear the difference. I think Gina are the days where price made a massive difference in tone and sound, it’s just not a major flaw in cheap stuff anymore
Personally I would only recommend an “always on” compressor if it has a blend knob. The CS does not and I can clearly hear the “pumping” during your strums. If you like that, fine, but most players do not want that much squash unless they’re only using it for clean tones.
I appreciate what you’re doing though. My personal picks would be an xotic Sp Comp, True Tone VS-XO overdrive, SA Collider. If direct is essential then I’d pick the Iridium or the Nux Solid Studio for less. That’s less than $500 not including the amp modeler.
Those compressor “pumps” were greatly exaggerated during the upload to UA-cam I found, as they were not that prominent at all when I was playing. I do see what you’re saying though, a compressor with a blend (such as the SP comp) is a great shout.
A HX Stomp would be a cheaper and far more versatile setup to be honest. Also you would need to spend more cash on a good PSU to power those individual pedals along with the time/cost to make or purchase the board itself. The HX Stomp also provides AMP modelling so trying to do a cheap pedalboard will always fall short. I've spent a lot of time looking into these alternatives and they don't really deliver the cost benefit and actually don't sound very good. There are a couple of aford-a-board videos on UA-cam you should check out if you plan to pursue this. Cheers.
This is a good point, the problem I find with the HX stomp is that it’s so small and as a result, not very intuitive to use on the fly. You have to go with presets since there are only a few foot-switches to access. I find in P&W music that, personally at least, my best playing and inspiration comes from trying different sounds on the fly for different songs, which is easier to do with individual pedals that are easy to access different sounds with. The other thing of course is that some people just like having pedals that a physically in front of them more than having to scroll through different menus on a small screen to set up sounds. I would also disagree with the idea that these alternatives don’t sound very good. I think even really affordable pedals can sound the absolute business if you set them up right. At the end of the day people in the audience won’t hear very minor differences we might hear as well.
I think both options are just as viable as each other for sure.
@@danieljdtaylor Totally agree. Personally I love having individual pedals doing their required job. But if you are trying to do something that is a low budget version of the Big Sky & Timeline tone you won't get it with cheap pedals. It's not possible. Get a Stomp. It has amazing delay and reverb algorithms that get very close to the Strymon sound. Lots of options to add other switches really cheaply too. Don't forget the amp models. It's a no brainer.
@@saltstream I would say it is possible to get those sorts of sounds as these aren’t cheap pedals, they just aren’t super expensive pedals🤷♂️at the end of the day an audience really doesn’t care if it’s a Strymon or Joyo, they can’t hear the difference. I think Gina are the days where price made a massive difference in tone and sound, it’s just not a major flaw in cheap stuff anymore
I use to have the Ceberus... and that could be a Great Budget Board for Biginers
I haven't tried the Cerberus, but on paper it looks fantastic. This is a really good shout.
@@danieljdtaylor have you tried using your PC as a amp there are alot of free amazing amp modelers
The first board is Jeffrey's the second is Nigel's
Yes you’re right my apologies, I had it all written down in the plan for this video and then got them mixed up anyway!