CMATMODS Boss CS-3 Compressor Mod

The pedal still functions the same as it always did, but it's much easier to make it sound better than it ever did.

The mod makes the pedal sound a lot better, but I'm not a fan of the pedal to begin with and as far as I'm concerned, it didn't make the pedal worth having. It did make the pedal quieter and the tone much more natural. It also made it so that when the pedal is off it doesn't kill your tone like the stock one did.

they do good work and cmatmods and the parts they add to the pedal are higher quality than the ones they took out. This makes the pedal more reliable than it was before and it was built like a rock to begin with.

I haven't had any problems with this pedal but there was a time when a pedal I ordered was damaged in shipping and they were happy to send me replacments.

I build pickups and guitars for a living and I got the compressor because I was hoping to make my bassman sound a little more spongey and bluesy. Unfortunately it was a bad pedal to begin with and although chad made it much better with his mod, he wasn???t able to turn lead into gold. I???ve had this pedal for about a year now and I have only used it for a matter of minutes. Perhaps I didn???t give it a chance but why bother when real cmat pedals like the ross clone or the sigma comp sound so much better.

If you like the tone of the boss compressor then get the mod, it???ll make the pedal much nicer. If, like me, you don???t like the pedal to begin with, then don???t expect any miracles.

Well, as the MAN in SEARCH of THE HOLY GROWL, I have gone past several OD pedals, old amps, new amps AND I have owned EIGHT COMPRESSORS. Looking for thar CLEAN UNDISTORTED SUSTAIN has been my aim since I begain. Well, I bought a ROSS Compressor, 3 Dyna Comps Block Logo compressors, an Ibanez CP-835, An Ibanez CP-9, A Boss CS-1, CS-2, and CS-3. I had the CS-3 modded (see Indy-Guitarist for review). And I thought I was pretty much done. I traded the Ross for 3 Jake Jones SC pups installed and I sold all the pedals except the CS-3.
With that said I bought this one. CMATMODS SCRIPT LOGO COMPRESSOR.
DO YOURSELF A FAVOR. START WITH THIS ONE. The pedal is as good or better than any other compressor I have used. True Bypass, classy paint job. About the same size as a Dyna Comp. I go to jams with one pedal. THIS ONE. Adds little or no color. Is that EASY or What.

Again, as I stated earlier. I currently own a modded Epiphone EA26RVT (see that review) and a mid 50's tweed American amp with two 6V6's and one 5Y3 rectifier. I forget the name of that one. This pedal DOES NOT, I repeat DOES NOT, change the tone of either of those amps. BUT IT WIDENS THE TONE.

I HOPE SO. I GO ONE TOUR IN JUNE. This would go on my funeral pyre, if it would burn. As it is, I'll use it to block the wheel on my hearse as they unload the man from the long black van for that last stand at the BIG BAR IN THE SKY. MY OH MY.

Well, as you can see I am not easiest customer to work with. CMATMODS was successful in that regard. This is a sleeper deal. Go to www.cmatmods.com You will not be disappointed. Numerous emails were exchanged. Chad Is always cordial and very prompt with his responses. HE'S ON THE MAP. Don't forget.

I play jazz, rock, country. Do sessions and show up at club jams once in a while. Clean Sustain with my ears still working is my focus, goal, and source of income. This pedal is one of the best.
I plan to use it, earn money with it, and I expect everyone who hears it will say: "What's that? Where'd you get it? How much was it? That's a really nice pedal. Can I try it."

This has happened. I was not surprised.

The pedal is easy to use but its functionality will confuse artists who are using this pedal outside of country/chicken pickin/funk or extreme compression sustain tones. Compression compliments itself to consistency frequently associated with post production sound. This pedal offers you that convenience within your pedalboard/rig. I'm not saying live or in the studio you wont still need a compressor or limiter but the pedal also offers more tonal control.

I own several "high end" compressors that weren't getting the squeezed tone that I had now acquired a taste for. I tried a CS3 in my local music shop and found the sound I wanted but I felt the CS3 was too noisy/hissing at extreme Sustain settings; It sounded like there was a crowd cheering for me through my amplifier.

The mod fixed this problem.

The parameters of the knobs react slightly differently then on the stock pedal but this is a welcomed change as wider tonal flexibility is allowed via the mod.

Boss is an excellent product line.

Chad wen't the distance with his customer service. He actually saved me the leg work of buying a new pedal, shipping it to him etc. he ordered the pedal for me, modded it and shipped it. Saved me time and money.

I will definetly be a repeat customer of CMATMODS.

The CS-3 is more complex than most pedal compressors with four controls (level,tone,attack,sustain). The modification does change usability slightly. I quickly realized my old settings didn't work as well as they used to. This isn't a negative though. After playing around with the pedal for a litttle while, I created new settings that sound significantly better.

Compressors are real easy to accidentally set to sound bad. Before the mod my CS-3 had a very limited range of control to get good tone. Now much more of the spectrum is available. Any of the controls now function well at their extremes. Before the mod, maxing any of the controls was a waste of time, it just guaranteed bad tone.

It's now signifcantly better in bypass mode and makes less noise in operation. I keep it in my regular pedal board even when not in use. That wasn't an option before. It used to dull my signal a little when off.

A compressor is not like other pedals in that it does one thing and that's what you review it on. It subtly effects the whole signal chain. It's how it plays with the other parts while its doing what its doing that is most important. This is where the modification really shines.

This is my set-up : I go 61' SG reissue --> Fuzz Factory --> Dunlop 535 Wah --> CS-3 --> MJM BritBender --> Crowther Hot Cake --> EH Pulsar --> SIB EchoDrive --> Hiwatt FL-112 combo

The fuzzes used to hate the CS-3, get noisy and unuseable. Now, wow! Those horrible (in a beautiful way) sputtering and dying sounds you can set a fuzz factory to make take on a new life with a good compressor after them. As the signal from your guitar decays, the fuzz sputters, changes pitch and character, the CS-3 keeps the volume constant while the tone evolves. I love that.

The MJM gets a little bit of smoothing and sustain without changing its character (the CS-3 negatively affected the tone too much before).

The wah loses the hard edge that was an unfortunate part of its tone.

When I pull out my PodXT to record quitely, the CS-3 does a great job improving the feel and believability of the digital sounds.

As an added bonus, you can spike the volume and tone and it actually makes a decent little treble booster. Before, too noisy and mediocre sounding to even consider this.

I couldn't be happier. I went from being ready to give up on the pedal and upset that no one seems to make a good pedal compressor with a tone control to the CS-3 being an integral part of my set up.

The wiring looks great, soldering is clean and efficient, no need to worry. But, honestly the only backups I need are for my guitar, cable, and amp. As long as those three work fine, you can get through your gig.

Every email I had, and there were a few, was responded to within a couple of hours. My pedal must have been shipped back within a day of Chad getting it. The turnaround from Toronto to Tennessee and back was less than two weeks and I shipped it regular post.

I play 60's and 70's soul, RnB, Rock and Roll. I also love to do Swervdriver like textural work and huge soundscapes like Mono. Soem times I break out the jazz trying to do Thelonious Monk on guitar. This pedal works in all of those applications.

The price was $40 US for parts, labour, and return shipping. I also got juiced by my own government for $25 CDN in taxes at the border. Even after that, I'd do it again. Great value, great service, now its a great pedal.