Boss CS-3 Compressor Sustainer

4 knobs. 1 Level aka Volume. 2 Tone. So you are really concentrating on the attack and sustain. Couldn't ask something to be easier to use.

ATTENTION!!!
I am a rock player, who just wanted my notes to last for an infinity. I use a Ibanez Jem through a Boss DS-1, and I have a Crate GT-200. I have been on a quest to get those long, vibrato notes that I love at any time I desire. First I had a Marshall MG100FX, and the notes went no where, lasted no time [clean or distorted]. So, I got the Crate, which is stronger and has tube. The solid state is WAY longer than the Marshall, and the tube adds just a little bit more. My DS-1 is hanging out there a very long time and I am very pleased. Lately, I have been having trouble getting over my band during the solo's, so I decided that since the Boss CS-3 Compressor has a "Level" control, I can use it for a boost, turn the Sustain ALL the way up, so my notes could go for an infinity, and I wouldn't care about any "buzz" noise, since I would be using it for distorted solo's only.

I am greatly disappointed. GREATLY!

My notes last longer with it off. All it does is get loud, then shuts off. I tried it every which way I could, with attack, w/o, Tone up/down, etc. It was not enhancing my sustain, it was killing it. I am shocked. I have a Johnson J-Station, and the compressor on there makes notes go on and on and on. I would use the J-Station, but there is no bypass.

You can say I was using it for the wrong reason, but the pedal says "Sustainer", the knob says "Sustain". It does neither. I even saw a video of a guy strumming all the strings on Expert Village on You Tube, and saying it stays longer. Maybe hitting open strings, but hitting one string does not work as long.

AND, you got the buzz. To me, it almost sounds like there is some sort of distortion going on, but very weak.

Like I said, I was really looking forward to this pedal, I actually drove for 3 hours [1 1/2 there and 1 1/2 back] to get the pedal, and it is quite disappointing.

And for just clean "sound", a lot of hiss.

I will be cutting my losses and taking this to the pawn shop tomorrow.

Boss strength. All Boss pedals are made for abuse.

Never spoke.

If you are buying this pedal for the same reason I did, and that is to sustain out the notes longer with and without distortion, do NOT buy this pedal. Do not do it.

It's pretty easy to use to be honest, I don't really use it as a sustainer though, I us it more of a clean boost, just to get the tubes biting, plus get a bit more volume.

There is nothing wrong with the sound, not too noisy, no pops when you stomp on it, I used it as a sustian pedal at first but as said above it works as a really good clean boost, and that's what I use it for mainly. When used as a sustainer you can quite happilly go doing legato really easily, all day long, even string skipping legato, on a clean sound as though you have loads of gain without having loads of gain. I use it through a Bugera 6260 half stack, which is BTW, a very good amp if you get a good un, despite the low price.

It can make a Strat sound like a Lucille, a Les Paul, Buddy Guy (with the tone turned all the way up), or even just a more levelled out Strat.

When used as a clean boost, it still levels all the sound out, and gives compression of course, and in this application gives a very bluesy sound.

It is definitely dependable, certainly strong as an ox.

Not delt with them

Fantaastic, I went with this over a Marshall ED-1 because the guy at the shop said the Marshall would more than likely break as soon as the warranty ran out, which is probably true. I cannot fault the pedal in the application that I use it.

Typical Boss pedal. Four knobs and each one does something distinct. Manual isn't anything special, but Boss manuals usually aren't. If you know what you're doing, you can probably get it do whatever you'd like it to after fifteen minutes of tinkering.

Here's where things get interesting...

First things first, I love Boss pedals. Let me say that again: I love Boss pedals. Everything in my effects chain (with the exception of my EBow, which isn't a pedal) is Boss.

I bought this pedal a few years ago, thinking that I could get some really cool sounds out of it. I played with it a few times and I could never get anything good. I ended up trading it a few days ago because I was tired of having it collect dust on my pedalboard.

Everyone else seems to be giving it good reviews, so I probably didn't know how to use the darn thing, or expected it to do something it wasn't designed for. That being said, if you're expecting an obvious effect, the CS-3 won't do it. Very subtle and while I'm sure it's useful for something, I didn't like it and I never used it.

Can't fault Boss here. Tough stuff, no doubt about that. Never had a Boss pedal fail, and I don't think I ever will.

Boss' Website is pretty good, and I think they upgraded the whole thing a few months ago too. Other than that, I've never had to deal with their customer support. Rumor has it that it isn't very good, but that's just hearsay.

OK...so maybe I didn't know how to use it properly. Maybe I had the wrong idea of what this pedal did. Maybe mine was a lemon. In any case, for me, this was a worthless effect. Never did anything to my sound to convince me it was worth keeping. If you know what you're doing, then maybe this is a great pedal. Just be warned...

Straight forward layout, easy to use, as usual with Boss.

Well it does what a compressor should do, nothing more nothing less.
It is not slow and boingy as the older compressors out there(that too has its charms and usage) but this is a modern fast working unit, I like that it be pretty "invisible" until you turn it off, can be set to more extreme settings if you like.
Suits my needs quite well, keeps my guitar sound even and fattens up my drives as well.
Very silent in normal settings, gets the usual pops and the noisefloor raises when set to extremes, but that is what they do those things, so that is ok as well.
Use it on all the time.

It is a Boss.....

Dunno....but their site is informative.

Have a bunch of different compressor/limiters....this one will not leave my home, as it works as it should, and keeps working as well, does not make any funny decaying noises or anything, some might find it too clean and discrete, I like that in some comps, I have others that colours the sound alot more, but those are only used at occasions where certain sounds are required.
Topnotch compressor, that does what it is supposed to do, keeping your levels even without distracting you.

Level, Tone, Attack and Sustain. Adequate for a stompbox compressor. If you need more control you should probably go with a rack unit. Attack control is very subtle, not much range or audible difference from 0-10. Other controls should seldom stray beyond 12 o'clock.

This pedal is best for clean rhythm playing at moderate settings using a tube amp. Recording direct, more exteme settings might be useful. It will make noise when used along with a distortion or overdrive stompbox, but as a rule can be controlled with a noise reduction unit, e.g. Boss NS-2. To my ears this is a very musical pedal when playing clean or even slightly overdriven, especially with the natural overdrive of a tube amp, but begins to suck tone when distortion is increased. Can be used as a clean boost with decent results in most situations. In my experience, in a live rig this pedal is on about 40% to 50% of the time, and in recording applications it often is left on even longer. I would call it extremely useful on those terms. I've owned it nearly 10 years. During that time I have owned/used VS Route 66, dbx 266 rack unit and various modeling units with compression effects: Digitech, Line6, etc. Sound-wise I keep returning to the CS-3.

Countless Boss pedals have come and gone, none have ever failed.

Have never needed it.

Used properly and judiciously, a very good-sounding, time-tested compressor. A safe choice.

The first thing I would have to say is LEARN TO KNOW WHAT COMPRESSION IS before using compression, if you don`t know what "attack" is or "sustain", inform yourself and then you will have a better understanding of what it can do.
Also compression is not made to be used at all times, work much better with clean/overdrive , don`t use it if you play with lots of distortion, the distortion sounds good when playing solos though, not chords.

I`m using a HB-35 Washburn, a Marshall 250X

The pedal can create noise if the sustain is past 1:00, but this is what a compressor doesn, might want to try it with a Noise reduction pedal, but I suggest that people don`t go over 1:00, doesn`t make it sound better, though there is much more sustain, with a slight bit of overdrive that sustain can be longer.

It obviously doesn`t always sound good, you have to be the judge, know when you need it on and when you don`t, if you do take off the effect and then put it back on, make sure your level on your pedal is leveled with the level of your guitar when the pedal is not on.

Warm chorus and overdrive sounds good with this pedal, not distortion, distortion will sound good is you`re playing solos, but not chords.

Does the work when I need it to do the work.

Never had to get customer support, Boss pedals are made to last

Overall this pedal is very good, I think I will still go ahead and try different compression pedals, see what the difference is.

I wish it had presets for people who don`t know how to use it

I do hate the fact that it makes noise, but again.. you can`t avoid it, especially if you have lots of pedals plugged into the chain, get rid of the ones you don`t use, or use a A-B pedal and have two rigs.

Before we get started I'll note that I don't have this unit anymore and I was new to stomp boxes when I owned the unit. That being said...

4 knobs and a bypass switch. Level, tone, attack, sustain.

This is a little confusing because I'm not sure which of these is supposed to control, well, -compression-. Attack I guess? If I still had the unit maybe I would be able to tell now...

Signal chain was thus:

Epiphone Sheraton II >> Boss CS-3 Compressor >> Vox 847A Wah >> Boss OD-3 Dist/Overdrive >> Boss DS-1 Distortion >> EH Big Muff Pi (Russian) >> Boss TR-2 >> MXR Phase 90 >> MXR Carbon Copy Delay >> Fender Princeton Chorus Amp

At gig volume level, the compressor was noticeably hum-y when clean and went to hiss, crackle, pop, etc. etc. with any sort of gain box turned on.

Admittedly, you can probably blame at least a little of this on the length of my signal chain and lack of noise gate. But unuseable is unuseable.

The CS-3 is digital sounds like it. It produces a pretty noticeable (well, to guitar players anyway) digital sheen that coats the rest of your sound. So much for that new tube amp.

I'm giving a bonus point here because I do like the Sustain function; it couldn't quite sustain a clean sound well enough to do the intro to "With or Without You"... but close! With a little gain it would sustain 10-15 seconds.

Despite my otherwise low opinion of the pedal, I've gotta give Boss props; although the knobs are probably slightly more vulnerable to breaking off than some other Boss pedals, the case would probably protect the internal electronics from an indirect nuclear strike and could be used for hand-to-hand combat in a pinch.

Didn't deal with them.

Maybe this pedal just had more features than I needed. I had it on my board for a few practices and a gig before I noticed I wasn't using it very much, and was spending most of the time that I was using it wishing I had never bought it.

Again, a few bonus points for the Sustain function. Unfortunately it, like every other knob on the unit, ups your volume very noticeable. It's possible that with a good noise gate you could set the Level down low, the other controls dead center, and then use the CS-3 as a second compressor just for the sustain function, but I didn't bother with it.

I bought an MXR DynaComp with the trade in money.

Pretty simple to use, like all pedals. Once you get to "know" it, it's easy to get the compression you require. Standard Boss manual.

Pretty transparent and very subtle. Don't know why some of the other review say it changes their tone by that much, but I didn't notice it myself. With "sustain" at maximum I got noise, but that's expected (it's a compressor - it's its job). IMHO, the tone control low pass filter cuts of too many highs when below 11 o'clock.

Yeah, very reliable. Metal casing. It will probably outlast me, he-he.

I've been playing for 7-8 years and was reluctant to get a compressor because I thought it would "squish" my dynamics. It does no such thing at my settings, as I've said it's very subtle. I plug my guitar straight into it and then on to other pedals and it's perfect for correcting the "little mistakes" I make. Good value for the money.

It's easy to use, the manual is sensible, easy to read and understand.

I bought this based on the reliability and reputation of Boss effects, primarily to use in conjunction with my Rickenbacker 12-string. I'm a big fan of The Beatles and the Byrds, and that jangly electric 12-string sound of the 60's. After I got it, I realized the sound was wrong for my purposes. I wanted a Janglebox, but the Boss was cheaper. I got what I paid for, I'm afraid. The CS-3 pinches and contricts your tone terribly. It was totally wrong for the sound I wanted. I generally don't use compression on my 6-string guitars, only the 12-string. The CS-3 was totally inappropriate for my needs.

I'm sure it's reliable. Boss effects are known for reliability.

I have nothing but good things to say about Boss's CS. I have a Boss trem pedal that I like just fine, but the first two of them went bad on me (one didn't work right out of the box). Boss replaced the second one without argument. Nice people and very easy to work with.

After using the CS-3 for about three months, I bought a Janglebox, which is what I wanted in the first place, and sold the CS-3 on Ebay. Needless to say, I'd never buy another one. The Janglebox is perfect for my needs. The best compressor available.

Four standard knobs, not really too difficult to deal with. The level, tone and sustain parameters are fairly self-explanatory. The "attack" knob, however, doesn't really do what it's supposed to!

This is a noisy pedal. There's a loud, annoying hiss, especially when played through humbuckers. When the "attack" setting is positioned anywhere past 0%, it only gets worse. Even gently tapping a muted string with your pick produces a dull, nasty thud when the attack knob is anywhere past 6'o'clock. If you want some nice subtle compression whilst perserving your natural guitar tone, I suggest a Barber Tone press. Or get your pedal modified by Humphrey Audio for a great, versatile compression sound.

It's built Ford tuff. Just kidding, its actually very sturdy.

n/a

If you are just starting to play guitar (and you are in that cheap axe + little solid-state practice amp phase), then this could be a fun pedal. For people with high quality gear, this stompbox is not for you. After all, what's the point of playing your $2000+ PRS through a CS-3 if it'll make it sound like crap? For pedal novices, this little guy could be a lot of fun. You experienced jerks should know better. Send yours to Humphrey Audio to get a mod (or buy one new from his eBay store). **I am no way endorsed or related in any way to Mark Humphrey or his company**