Blackbox Oxygen

I suppose it's "easy to use", in the sense that it's a fairly straight ahead design. But getting a decent sound out of it is another matter....

I simply cannot help but believe that the other reviewers are employees of Blackbox effects. I've owned TONS of compressor pedals and it is about the worst I've owned. It's exceptionally noisy, and the tone itself is far inferior even to the Boss CS3 (which isn't all that bad) which costs much much less. My rig is a couple of James Tyler strats, a 71 Marshall and a Matchless DC30. So it ain't like I don't know gear.

No problems, but then, I haven't gigged with it more than once. One gig and a few hours at home were all it took to give up on it.

At $100, it would be a rip off. At $270, I can't help but think that the manufacturer realizes it's just a scam.

Yes and No. It's straightforward only if you read the instructions first. What would possibly confuse people is the idea of attack/release, gate/limit. If you've been in the studio, it's a snap but it is not like the usual 2-knob comps for guitar!

Stunning quality of sound. I really can't percieve any negative effect on tone. The parameters you can control with it allow you to tailor the kind of comp you want, and this unit can actually do alot! Even some overdrive tones, sustain, squish, whatever. It can be used with almost any instrument due to a high compression ratio. I own the Blackbox Cobalt and Quicksilver, so it's not a surprise that it sounds so good.

Looks very solid, I'd depend on it.

I have not needed support from Lorren for this unit, but he was really cool previously.

I think this is the one to own. My prior experience with compression was the Teese FK-1, which did not do it for me at all. I first thougt I might need a compressor when I began playing regularly at church -a huge building (formerly Catholic) with sick reverb. I was always TOO LOUD or TOO QUIET. It didn't matter what the sound guys did. I thought a compressor would bring out my single notes and limit my chords, and just level off everything for a smoother presentation, and it works. I still have lots of experimentingto do with the Oxygen, I have only had it about 6 weeks and I'm super impressed at the versatility. If I wanted to blend my clean tone in like a Barber Tone Press, I have a Barge Feedback-looper for that. The quality of the Oxygen is amazing so I don't feel the need for that. Another winner from Blackbox -hey when are we going to see some new products? BTW I feel guilty for buying 2 of my 3 Blackbox units second-hand. Lorren deserves props! Tell you what when I get out of university, I'll make an effort to buy new.

It definitely takes some time getting to know this pedal but it is capable of a good range of tones with practice. The gain control is terribly sensitive...this is a serious opportunity for improvement!

The clean comp is stellar! Among the best i've heard. On most settings there is very little "breathing". The overdrive is pretty good. I run it through an Emery Superbaby( which has the most pure tube sound i've ever heard, a great tube tester and stompbox tester) and a MB MkII. It works great with my G & L Legacy. It is superb with my ES175. The dirt knob does absolutely nothing and is a waste of space that could be better used for an output level control

Has never let me down...no backup necessary. This thing will eat batteries if you leave a cord plugged in. Otherwise i get about 50 hours out of an alkaline 9-volt.

My unit needed to have the gain circuit fixed as there was no "less-than-unity" capability. i had to pay shipping but they took care of it with no problem. Loren answers email promptly.

I play blues, rock, but mostly jazz these days. Ive been playing for about 35 years. This is the only pedal i currently use. i probably would not buy it again because of its cost compared to what it does. It really sounds excellent but so do others which are less expensive. It is the most transparent of the ones i've tried but anyone who plays tube amps is not really looking for transparent sound.

Not very easy to use, you really have to go over the instructions to get the most out of this box. Once you dial it in, its a good compressor for clean tones.

Ok, here's a mixed bag. I've been playing for over 20 years. This is a great pedal for clean or blues. For rock, forget it. Maybe I got a bad one but this is the MOST NOISEY pedal I've ever owned! I wondered why a company would put a noise gate on a compressor. No one else does it. I thought it was a cool feature, then I realized, it has a noise gate because it needs it! If you play with distortion, forget it. You have to run the noise gate so high that it chops off your notes and kills the little nuances in your playing. If you roll back your guitar volume, your sound is gone. It gets totally cut off by the noise gate. My band mates called it the "feedback machine" because that's all it wanted to do in all modes other than clean. I don't use a really heavy distortion so its not my settings. The gain was at LESS than unity and the compression to a minimum with the limit up to the point my notes were getting squashed. I know how to use equipment and it wasn't my settings. I went back to using my Guyatone Micro sustainer and I couldn't be happier. Its quieter, doesn't put me into feedback, and the tone is almost as good in the mixed (compressed / bypass) mode. I give it a half rating since I found it only good for clean to moderate gain applications.

Mine shipped with a bad LED. They repaired it but at my shipping expense which I wasn't thrilled about. Seems to be built well though.

Ok except for the issue that they wouldn't pay for shipping back to them.

For the money, I don't think this pedal is worth it. Honestly, my Guyatone Micro sustainer does as well as this pedal for compression and limiting and doesn't kill my tone. Its A LOT less noisey, doesn't feedback, and is simpler to use for about 1/4 the price. Look at its reviews, its a nice pedal and small. This pedal is not worth $300. I dumped it on Ebay for half the price. At least I got some money back for it.

I don't think this unit is hard to use, or figure out for that matter, at all. Maybe it's 'cause I'm, first and foremost, a chickenpicker. (country picker, for those who may not know the slur) The manual is clear and concise, but who needs it? It's a great one, though, and well thought out. My pedal was bought brand new from Musictoyz.com.

I run a Tele w/ Nashville Studio pups (Seymour Duncan) into the Oxygen, Menatone Top Boost in a Can, Hotcake, Rat, George Dennis Phaser, Fulltone Supatrem, Goodrich volume pedal, Line 6 DL-4 and Menatone Foxy Brown into a Carr Slant 6V 2x12. I have other pedals, but they're not on my pedalboard. I've also used the Oxygen through my Dr. Z Maz Jr. 2x10 with great effect. (It sounds better through the Carr at gigging volumes, though, 'cause the Z compresses so much more than the Carr at relative volumes. This is actually not noisy at all with the settings I use. I think all compressors sound best, at gigging volumes, set up for mild compression. Otherwise, you get the typical pumping and breathing or your sound gets really choked. (played through a Boss CS-3? That's a choked sound.) Anyway, the pedal can get a little noisy with the overdrive or high gain sounds it can produce, but that's to be expected. This pedal makes an excellent studio compressor! (Hint: Most producers and engineers don't like to have guitar players using compression, because they'll run their own outboard comp. to their own liking. I sneak it in, and with mild settings it sounds good for most of the sessions I do!)

The gate is effective for the OD and high gain sounds, but not needed or desireable for clean compression. That's 'cause it kills your ability to roll back the guitar volume knob. Reason being; the gate will cut off the notes very quickly; no sustain. This is typical of gates, in most cases, and is not a design flaw.

When you run the compression lower to medium you can turn up the dirt knob for tape-like saturation. (sort of like an old analog recording overdriven or an Echoplex-like warmth) Very cool for many things! The sound is already very transparent, so adding this warmth is cool for certain things pertaining to blues, country and jazz. (Rock music when mixed with other overdrives, too!) This pedal has none of the scratch and click sounds that plague most compressors unless you really crank the compression...which will happen with any compressor. So, even with the release/attack time at its highest setting (which is the way I prefer it) you won't have to worry about that. Nice.

The Oxygen can also be set up for clean boost, which it does extremely well. Thanks to the limiter, as well, it's very versatile in this vein. You can't get a bad sound out of this unless you have bad taste and use it in a way it shouldn't be used. Most pedals have that capability lurking around somewhere. For anyone looking for the best possible compressor...try the Oxygen. It, for me, has beaten the Carl Martin, Ross, Dynacomp, EBS, Boss, etc. I wouldn't lie about that, because I do tours and session work professionally for country music (my main forte) which requires me to have a sweet compression!

It's very well built. It uses premium components and a Hammond enclosure that will stand up. No worries.

I've talked with Lorren, and he's as good as they come. Haven't had to deal with him about the unit, though, cause it's great.

Like I said...I use it for country, jazz, some blues, funk and rock. Been playingsince I was 19. I'd replace it in a hurry, if need be. If it were cost efficient for a builder to make a product like this using strict point to point wiring, then I'd want that changed. That's not realistic, though, so I'm happy. Point is...that's the only thing I'd change if I could. Bottom line is this...it helps me make beautiful music that inspires me and others. Top-notch compressor for guitar. The ONLY reason everyone else doesn't know that is because they see the price and get scared. Trust me...in the long run you will save money by buying this one. That's because you won't have to buy all the other ones and be disappointed. (ultimately selling them off one after another-only to find out later that the Oxygen is top-notch) It chock-full of great useable features for many styles, if not all.

Compression (very agressive),
Release (is really release and attack, 5 position switch, not smooth pot)
Dirt (for adding distortion) I don't use
Gain (after compression) Great option.
Gate (great option, but a little noisey)
Limiter (I'm in love)
It can take a while to figure out just what setting you want, or where you want to place in your effects chain.

I tried my in several places, after the wah and chorus and 1 distortion, after all effects, and before all effects (gtr in to compressor).

Not surprising I have settled on guitar to compression, then effects.

This is a superb and complicated little box.

I'm a studio engineer, so I'm not dumb out compression/limiting etc... and still it has taken me a while to figure out where I want it in my chain, and what levels I want.

The settings are very dynamic, so if you change one thing it can really change yr sound.

Nuff said, It gives you WONDERFUL lead sounds and is extremely functional.

The compression is beautiful and very agressive.. I like it that way.

The Limiter is Perfect and really lets you set you peak volumes giving great santana tones.

The Gate (one of the reasons I purched) works in conjunction with the release (which is really a release and attack knob). I've had some difficulties getting these to be set where I like them... It really needs a separate attack and release for the gate... but there is no room for another pot. I also think the pedal has a little bit of it's own internal noise... which the gate will kill of course.

The gain makes up nicely if you've cut the volume at all by compressing.

Again bottom line... With my strat that has joe bardens... I get an increadible round knoppler tone on clean settings... AMAZING...

with out touching the settings on the oxy.. when I put my head into the distorted channel... I get Gary Moore to the T. 2 pretty amazing feats with one little box and just setting in up and going.

Absolutely fabulous

My inital silent , true bypass swich fails some times on turning off the effect. Not terribly too uncommon... I just wish it was better tested at the factory (tried 20-30 times) before they shipped it to me... I'll probably replace the switch my self so I don't have to live without the pedal

Some of the pot knobs needed a little tightening when I got it.

Don't know yet

Buy it!!!! but know something about compression first or you'll be frustrated.

If yr a pro musician.. get a gtr engineer to help.. try it everywhere in yr chain till you find its best spot.

Great, Great tone... and yes it does change yr tone... IT IS SUPPOSE TO.

Though it's not hard to get a good sound out of this unit, it can be tricky to get the exact sound you're looking for. It takes some patient listening and fiddling to find it. Of course, by buying this pedal, you are admitting that you enjoy this sort of thing!

If you have a decent grasp of compressors and noise gates, and a healthy respect for gain, you won't have too much trouble. What you will have to adjust to is the interactivity between the controls. For example, when you set it up for clean, light compression (gain knob at about 8 o'clock) the dirt knob doesn't do much. But if you turn the gain up past 9 o'clock, it does add some grit.

I play a Strat/PRS/Tele into a pedalboard into a Mesa Tremoverb.
The oxygen has nestled itself nicely between my Maxon re-issue compressor and my Fulltone Full-Drive2.

the sound quality of the Oxy is outstanding. The original reason that I bought it was because I needed a warm & transparent compressor that didn't jack my tone. After some fiddling, I was very happy to find that with this pedal. I adore the fact that you have independent control over the amount of limiting. This fact alone places it head & shoulders above most of the competition.
BUT! It only begins there. This pedal is capable of SO MUCH MORE.
With judicious use of the comp, dirt, and gain knobs, you can get a wonderfully natural overdrive. It will really slam the front-end of your amp if you let it!

Also, the built-in noise gate is extremely effective. I've never been a fan of noise gates, as I've had too many embarassing sustain-killing episodes with them. This one works very well, though. It must be due to how it is integrated into the circuitry of the pedal.
On the downside, the gate seems to be very necessary, since this pedal can be extremely noisy. You can sometimes hear the hiss escape before the gate shuts down on it, even at mellow clean settings.

Overall, this is a pedal that's full of pleasant surprises. It's versatility and quality will keep it mounted on my pedalboard for a good while to come.

It's too early to offer any negative criticism here.
Although it seems light for it's size, I don't forsee any problems with it. It still feels quite rugged. Besides, I had such a tough time finding this one, I don't think I could even get a back-up unit to gig with!

I truly wish every company had support like this. Lorren and I have had a couple of email-trading sessions, and he has been nothing but helpful! I have ZERO fear that there will be any problems in this area in the future!

Overall, this is a compressor for people who hate compressors. It does what a compressor is supposed to do, and quite well. But, it also has a wide pallette of other sounds in it that when used with care, can take your tone into new territory. This is heady stuff for just a little pedal, but I think that we players should expect nothing less when we pay this kind of money for a pedal!

Before thinking about getting this one, evaluate what you need for your sound. If you're just looking for a simple box that will add sustain to your distorted lead tone, buy something cheaper. But, if you like to live in the low to medium-gain zone like I do, this baby will give you all kinds of possibilities!

More complicated than the average compressor pedal. Knobs (6) are for gain, gate, limit, compression, release (5 position rotary switch) and dirt. I keep the gain (volume) around 8 to 9 o'clock. There's tons of signal boost available. The gate and release knobs are probably the most difficult to get set properly, but once you get it set properly, the unit works great. The dirt knob is very subtle. It adds a little more of a soft knee compression style and some saturation to the signal. I had the unit modified by Lorren at Blackbox and I am able to hear the dirt now, but it is still subtle. Yes, it is true-bypass!

The Oxygen sounds great. Blows away a Boss CS-2 and Alesis compressor I have. There's no loss of high end signals at all. Seems to work well with bass also. I use mine mostly with a couple of Teles (with Rio Grande Muy Grandes and Vintage Tall Boys), a Strat Plus and a few other electrics. The gate works well enough to also kill some noise with single coils and fuzz boxes. Great transparent clean boost, great range of compression and limiting. Can also overdrive the front end of a tube amp with all the boost available. There is a little work needed to get the gate and release set properly so the noise at the tail end of a long note isn't audible. If you get that down, it's studio quality in a pedal.

Seems very reliable. No problems so far.

Lorren is very cool to talk to and really knows his stuff. He's also very open to input on his products. He's made changes to my pedal (cut the gain a little and boosted the dirt) and has revamped another one of his pedals due to customer suggestions and ideas. That's very cool that he's listening to customers.

The Oxygen is probably going to be on most of the time I play. I've been buying the boutique stuff for a few years now and am putting a little collection together. (Z Vex(3 pedals), S.I.B.(2), Lovetone(3), Fulltone(2), Menatone(1), Crews(2), Diaz(1) and Vintage Technology(1)) The Blackbox stuff is kind of a cross between the Z Vex and Lovetone approaches to making weird boxes. Check out the stuff at www.blackboxmusicfx.com. I probably will be buying more boxes from them in the future. The other two units I liked were the Inferno and the new Ultraviolet.

This pedal is a little tricky at first, but with time and patience comes some fantastic compression.

The manual is a couple of printed pages, it explains the controls and gives a great definition of compression and it's applications.

There are knobs for compression, gain, gate, release, limit and dirt.
This box is capable of high gain and high compression levels, but excels at even the most subtle settings.

I had mine modified for less sweep in the gain as I want my compressor to be as close to the original signal, in terms of output, as possible.

The noise gate is a little tricky, but once you understand how it works with the rest of the pedal, and other pedals, it works great.

The limit control is great, gives you the option to limit the signal, this is what I needed in a compressor. I use it to limit the peaks in wah effects so they don't cause my amp to break up. I add a little bit of compression to smooth it all out.

The dirt control adds some saturation, when you crank the dirt and gain this thing is capable of some stellar overdrive!

I have an early one (#0003) there have been some modification to current production. All of the current production Oxy's have a high end roll off and structural/reliability improvements. blackbox@blackboxmusicfx.com will have more information about the changes.

This unit can be noisy but that's the nature of compression. Use too much and it will amplify whatever noise that is in your signal.
This pedal uses photocell technology and has a very warm signal. When used properly, it's dead quiet.

The noise gate works well, when set up properly. It can be a little tricky, and at first I didn't think it could do what I wanted. Four months later, I couldn't be happier. When used with EXTREME compression and gain settings this keeps everything dead quiet, but the release of the gate may cause pumping and breathing.

This pedal can be very transparent and subtle if you want it, it really preserves the touch and response of your guitar, or on the other extreme you can completely eliminate the attack of your guitar. It's a very versatile unit.

The overdrive is impressive, however I wasn't looking for high gain sounds so I really don't use it too, however some will be in for a pleasant surprise with the dirty tones this box can produce.

Here's my setup:

'80 Ibanez AS200 Semihollowbody>pedalboard>amps
Pedalboard:
Digitech whammy2 in a homemade truebypass loop>Teese RMC3 wah>Oxygen>Fulldrive 2 TR100>Baby Blue OD>Sweet Sound Ultravibe>Ernie ball volume>Homemade truebypass box with Boss DD-5 and Boomerang Phrase Sampler
Cables: George L's on the pedalboard, Quantum EPI for guitar>board>amp
Amps:
1968 Fender Deluxe Reverb
Allen Accomplice

I've spent a long time making my rig as quiet as possible, this compressor fits in nicely and when set up properly adds no noise to an already quiet rig.

I play in a Phish cover band, compression is an important part of the tone I'm after, but I've learned how to use it subtly and not depend on it.

I also like to play my amps on the verge of breakup (4-6 on volume) This compressors helps me stay right on that line and stay clean when I need to.

It's hand built, I have an early model and as stated above, there have since been design improvements. Mine went acted up a little recently, but I was planning on sending it back for modifications anyway, the service was quick.

Fantastic, very friendly and quick to answer e-mails and questions. They modified my pedal to taste, with a quick turnaround.

I've tried several compressors, (Vintage and Reissue Dynacomps, ross, Maxon, Visual Sound Route 66, Alesis Nanocomp and tech 21 comptortion)
Out of those the only ones I liked were the Maxon and the nanocomp, the rest I hated.
I would buy one of those two again as backup for my oxygen because I can't afford to have two oxygens. But I love the pedal, it has everything I want in a compressor and many features that no other compressor has.
I'm very pleased with this pedal, it took me some time to get a feel for what it can do and how to use it with my rig, Over the past 4 months I've really learned to appreciate what this pedal can do. In a setup with a lot of pedals this help keep things smooth and under control.