@sono,

1.) The Engineer's Thumb: LM13700 Compressor / Sustainer -->www.valvewizard.co.uk/engineersthumb2.html

Guitar FX Layouts - Really Cheap Compressor https://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/search?q=Really+Cheap+Compressor

2.) The Compressor Ross - Compressor kit = 24 EUR --> www.musikding.de/The-Compressor-Ross-Compressor-kit

The Compressor is based on a famous Compressor pedal.

This kit contains all parts you need to build a fully functional effect pedal.

Not included in the kit, but also very good to have:

• Aluminium enclosure: select one above.
• 9V battery or DC power supply
• 2 nice knobs for the pots, for 6.3mm shafts
• Decal, transfer or transparent sheets for labeling

Ross Compressor Pedal Clone Build - Der Ross Compressor by musikding.de

Ross Compressor Pedal Clone Demo - Der Ross Compressor by musikding.de

In the last part we built a clone of the famous Ross Compressor. Today we go for a small sound demo. Therefor I use my Epiphone Les Paul Standart Pro and my Tubescreamer Clone for the distortion sounds.

 

Last edited: Apr 13, 2026 at 6:14 PM

A. The Ross Compressor is essentially identical to the MXR Dyna Comp. These are simple compressors designed to reduce the intensity of your note attack, resulting in a softer sound, a "bloom" effect on individual notes, and the impression of increased sustain.

Compressors of this type are really well-suited for styles where you want a heavily compressed sound—primarily funk and country. The Sustain control determines how much your attack is compressed, while the Level control controls the overall output.

B. The Ross Compressor is the foundation of many modern compressors, such as the Keeley Compressor, Wampler Ego, and Xotic SP Compressor.

As others have mentioned, the Ross Compressor is great for funky rhythm or country music because it delivers a more compressed signal, taking your higher and lower frequencies and essentially squeezing them together. Sustain is also added. I use mine for a more jangle-pop sound, like The Smiths, Talking Heads, or Chic.

C. I have a Ross compressor from 1979, and I absolutely love it. It's NOT identical to an MXR Dyna Comp, at least not sonically. They have a very specific and unchanging attack time (the time it takes for the compressor to take effect on a given note), and that, in my opinion, is what sets it apart. The Sustain control actually controls how much louder the end of the note is, the Level control is the overall output level, and there's a trim pot on the circuit board inside to adjust the attack intensity.

You can use it for any genre; it doesn't squash as much as people say. I have it on my pedalboard, and it's always on—my band plays everything from Zeppelin to Steely Dan to the Allman Brothers and the Beatles, and it always works for me because I think of it more as a tone enhancer than a traditional compressor.

Source: www.reddit.com/r/guitarpedals/comments/v47s9r/ross_compressor_question/?tl=de

MXR Dynacomp = 109 EUR --> www.thomann.de/de/mxr_dynacomp.htm

Hot Rod Mod: MXR Dyna Comp
www.gitarrebass.de/workshops/hot-rod-mod-mxr-dyna-comp/
https://www-gitarrebass-de.translat...l=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp

 

Last edited: Apr 13, 2026 at 6:33 PM

Fine, but in connection with the intermodulation in choruses I need a compressor just to cut the peaks that results from that when I play around the 20-24th frets on my quitar, the notes get louder and louder as you are coming down the neck. The first fret position is much more silent than the 24th fret, about down to the 20th fret the notes are getting steadily louder, slightly, but from the 20th fret the volume of notes get exponentially louder from fret to fret. This results in that I have problems with sounds from the last frets when it comes to narrow pedal headroom, just like in the chorus I mentioned. The bias is set, centered, but still those loud notes hit the ceiling and distortion happens. If they could be cut, the pedal would sound clean. And then this method could be adapted to some problematic compressors too.

The ones you mentioned are interesting, but for this purpose a studio like compressor would be suitable I think.

And the problem is that as I got informed, ross/dynacomp compressors are notoriously distorting. They are the reference point for OTA pedals, I would not make a leap ahead with them. I don't need a coloring compressor like dynacom, but a transparent one, that can be precisely set to cut just a little bit from the outstanding peaks. But leave anything elase untouched. With fast attack and prompt, adjustable release.

The Engineers Thumb is an exception, not sure about the term, maybe feed forward??? But it has a modded circuit and may be less prone to intermodulation. It is a pedal I may build in the future.

But the ones that seem to do the best job regarding clean sound are the FET compressors. I found them the least problematic.