The best guitar compressor pedal is just a ten-minute read away, and if you are a quick reader, you may be able to learn all about compression pedals even faster.
Every guitarist knows the value of using compression to boost the signal output and to be honest, I cannot imagine using any other effect if I need a juicy sound fit for blues and soulful rock.
A premium tube amp will provide everything you might need in terms of attack, sustain as well as compression, but for the majority of guitarists, our budgets only allow us to go in for a budget modeling amp. So, just hooking up the pedalboard to your amp after the guitar signal and before other effects like looper/distortion is a great way to get a balanced fat tone.
In this short article, we take a look at what a compressor pedal is, and why you may need one. I will also walk you through all the features that you can expect from a compressor pedal, so make sure to read this to the end. Let’s get started, shall we?
Table of Contents
What is a guitar compressor pedal?
A guitar compression pedal is just an effects pedal that smoothes the input signal from your guitar.
It may not be apparent to you but even when you feel like you are giving your best at balancing the dynamics on your guitar, some parts may still sound louder while certain parts can sound quieter. The best way to get a consistent sound from your instrument is to hook it up to a compression pedal before plugging in to an amp.
That super easy step will help you water down the treble as well as bring up the bass notes by a bit, making the sound feel more balanced. If you are looking for a crisp bass in your sound and want to up your production, adding compression would definitely do it.
If you know a bit about waveforms, a compression will just set an audio threshold and if your sound input is above that, the compression will just reduce the volume by a significant level. You could also do the same by turning the volume knob down but it’s pretty hard to do something like that mid-solo. Getting compression is just an easy fix when playing live and also easier for the sound engineers to actually mix your sound in a studio setting.
You may not need to know about the history of compressor pedals to get started, but just so you know- I am going to put this here. The trend of using compression on guitar signals first started in the 70s, and since then, many varieties of compression pedals are available. You can get them in all sorts of shapes and sizes, in super cheap flavors to something that costs a lot of money.
Using a Compressor Pedal
Getting familiar with compression is very easy actually. You just plug your guitar directly into the pedal and hook that up to an amplifier.
You get four controls (on most compression pedals anyway), and those are threshold, attack, blend, and volume. The controls are super basic, and you don’t have to worry about anything when just starting out.
The control that you will always find, even on the cheapest compression pedals that choose to skip on features- is the threshold. It works like this- if you’ve got sounds above the threshold, which acts as sort of a limiter- it will sound much quieter than it would if you weren’t using compression.
If you have been playing guitar for a while, you already know that we value techniques and are constantly trying to add more control in our picking. Attack, when used in context with guitars, almost always means how hard the pick hits strings on a guitar. When talking about effects, the attack means the duration after which the effect creeps in right after you play something.
Using a compressor pedal is very easy- and you just put it before anything else in the signal chain. This allows you to use effects like reverb and looper very easily.
Many guitarists like compression in their playing- and that includes almost every popular rock guitarist out there- I would say that you should definitely get a compression pedal if you are looking for a sound similar to Pink Floyd. The genres that most benefit from compression are country, rock, and blues. I would probably use compression with metal but overdrive and gain are the ones that shine most in that context.
I personally love the blend control as it lets me ‘blend’ the dry (without any effects) and compressed signal. This gives an interesting sound, and you will love how it sounds. When searching for a voice on an instrument, it’s always a good idea to experiment with as many sounds as you can. A compression pedal shines when you’re using it in conjunction with something like fuzz and distortion, but it also sounds quite good when played clean.
Now, on to the question that you are the most curious about.
The 8 Best Guitar Compressor Pedals
What We Like
At the first place, we’ve got the Boss CP-1X compressor pedal which is a fantastic choice for a budget pedal that offers plenty of features.
It’s not just one of the best budget pedals available on the market, but it’s also one of the more sophisticated pedals out there. The CP-1X compressor pedal uses something called Multi-Dimensional Processing which is just a new piece of tech that makes this pedal sound even more amazing than its predecessor.
As for the construction on this, you are getting bulletproof materials which is pretty good value for your money. There is also something called gain reduction indicator on this which tells you the amount of compression you’re using. Decibel is a pretty standard unit to measure compression, and that’s what the Boss CP-1X uses too.
What I like best about the Boss CP-1X is the fact that there is virtually no noise creeping in the background which may have been an issue on cheaper pedals. The pedal is also pretty light and weighs less than 500 grams which is great. It also takes very little space so it will fit in your pedalboard quite easily.
One of the things that I like the best about this pedal is the fact that it not only offers a good value in terms of the sound but it also looks sweet. The pedal also works perfectly with ukuleles or banjos but you’ve got to make sure that you’re using a semi-acoustic instrument to hook up to the pedal.
Just like you would get with a premium compression pedal, you are actually getting four control knobs which is great. You get level, ratio, attack, and of course- the compression. It’s super easy to easy to control the amount of attack and the digital circuitry works perfectly.
I also like that the Boss compression pedal can be used either with a power adapter, which does come separately- or with replaceable batteries. If you want to be using the CP-1X compression pedal on an outdoor setting, it’s a great idea to invest on the power adapter as it will let you play without worrying about the batteries running out.
You can also use this pedal with both acoustic guitars (semi-acoustic) as well as electric guitars which is great. The absolute best thing about this, and I know that I’ve been saying a lot of good things about this, is the fact that you get a whooping five years warranty when used with the Boss power adapter!
What We Like
Named after Robert Keeley, the Keeley Compressor Plus is an amazing pedal that delivers incredible value at a great price. You may not be aware of the fact that Keeley has had many years of experience fiddling with the tones provided by pedals manufactured by brands like Boss and Roland, and he finally started his own brand that solved the issue of tone vs noise for most guitarists.
A compressor pedal has got to accommodate to the needs of both single coils as well as humbuckers on an electric guitar. The Keeley compressor pedal has true bypass and you can rest assured that it won’t be producing any unwanted noise.
It costs just about 130 dollars which isn’t exactly the cheapest price you can get on a compressor pedal, but it’s good- actually it’s great for the value you’re getting out of this.
If you are beginner or an intermediate level player who has been searching for the best compression pedal for a while now, the Keeley Compressor Plus will be the one pedal that will prevent you from looking any further.
Not only is it simple to use, but it’s also the industry standard compression pedal and will live up to the rigors of regular stage performance. You also get great blend and tone controls that will suit your playing needs perfectly.
Talking about the aesthetics on this, you will love the elegant and functional design. I wish more brands would put out gears that provide this level of value on a low price.
Like any good effects pedal, you can use it with batteries as well as AC.
What We Like
Looking for a versatile effects pedal that will be great for any occasion?
You will be super happy with the TC Electronic HyperGravity Compressor pedal which is great for the price. It costs about 120 dollars which isn’t much considering the fact that you are spending that money on a serious investment that will bring you lots of joy in the future.
You can also load your own custom compression into this pedal which is great- it’s called TonePrint and if you are looking for a way to fully be in control of the compression, the TC Electronic HyperGravity Compressor will be great for you.
The controls you are getting on this pedal are the same as those you would get on any other- and the sustain, level, attack and blend do exactly what they are called. With the sustain control, you can adjust the sustain (that’s a no-brainer really), the level control knob lets you adjust the volume, and blend control lets you adjust the amount of dry signal you want to mix in with the compressed sound. For precise adjustments during live performance, many guitarists also integrate a dedicated volume pedal into their rig.
Great purchase if you are into that!
You are also getting Vintage and Spectra effect types that you can access with the three-way toggle switch. As for the bypass, you can get a switchable true or a buffered bypass.
If you are just looking for a quick and easy way to spice up your playing and get the perks of having a compression pedal, I would suggest Behringer CS-400.
What We Like
As quirky the name may sound, the Orange KongPressor compressor pedal is a great one with all the bells and whistles.
I love that the KongPressor compression pedal offers volume, squash, chime, release as well as attack controls which will give you a lot of versatility when trying to get the tone you want.
Even if you don’t want to be using the Orange compression with a distortion, you can still use it with a clean tone to get a fat sound.
The technology used on this is quite novel –as the Vactrol VTL5C3 does justice to the kind of ambition you might have as a beginner guitarist trying to conquer the sounds that this instrument can make.
You are getting decent compression which sounds pretty amazing. If you want a compression effects pedal that will be very reliable even after years of performance, I would highly recommend the Kongpressor compression pedal.
What We Like
If you are looking for a pedal on a very low budget, the Behringer CS-400 is an absolute best choice. You may not like the plastic casing, but other than that, it offers solid value.
The aesthetic is definitely a killer, and I love how the pedal has a bright blue color that makes it pretty distinguishable from the tons of pedals that you might have.
The controls you get are the level, tone, attack and sustain which are pretty much the standard on most compressor pedals. The sustain is basically there to hold the effect after you’ve played on the guitar. Attack is there as a threshold limit, and if you are curious about the tone and level, these ones just help you get a more clearer sound and control volume respectively.
The weight on this pedal is also not that much, and it doesn’t even weigh 350 grams. If you are constantly on the gigging side of things, the reduced weight of the Behringer CS-400 can be great for you if you can care for it (as it’s plastic and not as durable)
You also get the option to choose between batteries and power adapter. Sadly, the power adapter is sold separately and for the price, you cannot really complain. It’s worthwhile to get the power adapter as that would allow you to not worry about the battery life.
You’ve also got quarter-inch input jack as well as an output jack the same size. If you have used a cheap pedal in the past, you may have noticed that most pedals do produce some noise when they’re connected but turned off. That’s due to the lack of something called a true bypass, which is a good feature on this pedal.
I would suggest this if you have a really tight budget, if your budget is flexible, you should get the Boss CP-1X compressor pedal.
What We Like
Costing just about 150 dollars, the Fender compression pedal offers blend, drive, recovery, and level and also provides a true bypass.
What I like the most about this effects pedal is the fact that you are getting a quiet compression at a great price. It may not be the most compact pedal out there but it certainly offers a ton of value and versatility when used in a musical environment.
If you want to be technical about this, you should know that this pedal is an operational transconductance amplifier-based compressor. The fact that this pedal has got a blend control makes it very suited for use in situations that need precise tone-shaping.
As for what the controls do, the blend control does what it does on any other pedal- it just mixes the dry signal with the compressed signal; the drive is for increasing the compression and you also get a LED which is there to show you what effect is currently being selected.
If you get the pedal and actually try fiddling around with the controls, you can actually learn the ropes in a very short period of time. You can also easily add sustain to the mix without churning up your sound, which is a thing that many effects pedals do.
The Fender The Bends Compressor pedal also lets you use batteries – 9V ones, and a power supply but you do need to get the power adapter separately. Just look at the features and get the pedal you want, and don’t worry much about the separately sold power adapter as most pedals do not come with the power adapter included.
What We Like
The Electro Harmonix Tone compression effects pedal is a stylish pedal that will liven up your pedalboard. You are also getting true bypass which is great as it avoids any noise in the background when you have switched off the pedal.
You’ve also got the option to choose between battery power and AC supply. I recommend getting a power adapter so you can use whichever you want when you actually need to. The control knobs that you get with the Electro Harmonix Tone Corset are volume, sustain, blend and attack which are pretty much the standard controls that you would be getting on any other pedal effect.
I love the blend and sustain on this- and you will too! Just adjust the blend control according to your choice, and you can specify the exact amount of dry signal that you want to go with the compressed tone.
Talking about the tone, the Electro Harmonix Tone Corset compressor pedal sounds much better than the Behringer, and that’s probably justifiable for the difference in price.
It’s also pretty easy to grip with your feet, which is good, and it weighs about 300 grams which is great. Not only can you carry it anywhere much easier, but you will also love its tiny dimensions.
The best things about this pedal are probably the size- and it’s super tiny so it will fit right in even if you haven’t got plenty of space in your pedalboard.
What We Like
If you want something that costs cheaper than most effects pedals, you will love the MXR Dyna Comp Mini as it is the definition of incredible value on a budget.
For just under a hundred dollars, you are getting true bypass, and output and sensitivity controls which do a great job at letting you adjust the compression the way you want. You are obviously not getting bells and whistles for the price, but it’s pretty reasonable for the price.
This effects pedal is a smaller version with a switch for attack and controls for adjusting the sensitivity. It’s not that flexible or versatile but it’s very good value for any beginner who just wants to get a cheap compression pedal.
You are also getting a dual power supply which means that you can use batteries if you want to make your gear setup fully battery-powered. However, I suggest that you get an AC power adapter just in case, as this effects pedal would be much more valuable to you if you could use it on stage for hours without worrying about the battery life.
Buying Guide to Compressor Pedals
While compression can help you get an overall more balanced tone, the plethora of compression pedals out there can confuse you. When choosing the best compression effects pedal for you, it’s super important that you keep the following things in mind.
I would look for decent construction unless my budget doesn’t allow it. Getting a plastic case is a big no-no as it means that your pedal might succumb to rough handling. A metal construction will be great as it will make the pedal more reliable if the digital circuitry is top-notch.
The fact about quality pedals is that you don’t really need to get the most expensive compressor pedal out there, and even a budget pedal can offer plenty of options. Getting a second-hand pedal is also a great idea as you are getting good value for an even lower price. Similarly, for guitarists seeking portable practice solutions, exploring the best mini amps can offer excellent value without compromising sound.
If you are an experienced player, the controls that you are getting can matter a lot. You should be mindful of the controls you are getting. Attack, sustain, volume and blend should be the ones you are looking for.
Is the pedal you’re looking for powered by batteries, or is it powered by AC? Having dual mode of power supply will not only be the better way but it can also be a matter of personal choice for many players. You should also look into whether or not you are actually getting a power adapter included.
Final Thoughts
There are many pedals that you can get even on a limited budget. While the kind of pedal you want can depend on many factors like the controls you want and whether or not you want additional features, you can certainly get a fantastic pedal even at a very low price. Just as important as your effects pedals is ensuring you have the right accessories to protect your instrument, such as reliable electric guitar gig bags for safe transport.
Just remember that you do need to put in many hours to actually get better at music and any pedal you may use is only a tool for you and not the end goal.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the best compression pedal?
Considering the features and the price, I would say that the Boss CP-1X pedal has got a great deal for you.