Colorsound Supasustain

This is a review of the real thing. It's big, purple and has a large, orange sticker on it with green and black words. The pedal looks like being designed by a hippie. On the inside there is a date that says 11 oct. 1977. It's very easy to get a good seventies rock-sound. It has two knobs; sensitivity and volume.

My main guitar is a SG with P90 pick-ups and I sometimes use a Fender Duo-Sonic. My main, and only, amp is a Vox Cambridge Reverb with a 10 inch Celestion Bulldog speaker. This is a hybrid amp with a 12ax7 tube in the distortion channel.

When I used this pedal to play through the solid-state clean channel I noticed some distortion. This distortion is coming from the pedal, but it's almost a musical distortion so I like it. With both knobs fully open it really does sound great, but when I roll down my guitar-volume to zero I still hear a hum coming from the pedal. I think this is caused by the very, very long wires in the pedal. It's the only down site. When I use the SupaSustain on the distortion-channel it absolutely sounds great. There is a little loss of bass and treble, maybe it's better to say that the dynamics were a bit lost.
As conclusion I must say that this pedal is the best overdrive/compressor when you need a seventies rock-sound.

When I stamp on the thirty year old switch I now this pedal will work and give a fantastic sound. Those English guys really knew how to make a pedal back then:)
It's smart to disconnect the battery when not in use, because it will suck all the life out of the battery.

I don't think Colorsound (Sola Sound) is still making effects these days.

Overall Rating.....hmm. Well I use this pedal more than my Fuzz Face or my Rangemaster so I think it's great.
The pedal has just two minor down sites; the battery connection and the hum.

If you find a SupaSustain, BUY IT!!! It's very rare and it's just a great vintage pedal.

well its 2 knobs. level and sustain.. pretty simple.. hate the 18v though.. i build this one with 2 jacks to take seperate 9v adapters and that seemed to do the job.. i suppose if you like going through batteries.. you could use them but meh..

this pedal not only compresses the signal into something longer, it also seems to compress the frequency and filters out bass and pumps up on treble.. wonder for acdc, deep purple stuff with a soft overdrive.. but if you wana go the slayer or sepultura.. you need some bass enhancer.. i use mt-2 \m/_ >_< _\m/.

On its own its really weak as a compressor.. but when you stick an overdrive/distorion pedal it just lasts foreva.
my setup is a scalloped
cream strat(lol malmsteen) => supasustain - (mt-2 or dod250) - analog delay - (homebrew) 50 watt poweramp with simple tone controls.

might i also add this pedal is very noisy at high level.. so its best to keep it as little as possible and pump the sustain..this also creates a slight distorion which if followed with a high gain pedal will create DEATH DISTORTION. lol not the prettiest of stuff.

lol i built it and i trust myself.. so yes i'd go without backup ..never failed me yet

umm never had to ask myself for support ;)

i play mainly power and prog metal.. so from impellateri to dream theater..
bascially you just change the distorion and other things and this pedal adapts to whateva your playing..(neat little box)
i've been using it for about 5 months now.. quite regulaly..if it were stolen or lost i would build anouther one ;) ( i don't think they make these commertially anymore it was designed in 1973)

I chose this one becasue this pedal was no1. simple no2. seemed more like a compressor then others becasue regardless what others say in truth they are "limiters"
all this beast does is hold that note...and thats all i want

I didn't buy this; I built it from a couple of schematics on the web. I couldn't find a manual online and I don't know if it came with one. I couldn't even find a single review of this effect. It is as easy to use as it should be; compressors are not mentally challenging devices.
This effect has two knobs; 'sensitivity' and 'volume'. Sensitivity adjusts the level of compression. When the sensitivity is turned up the volume also goes up, so this control also affects the volume. The 'volume' limits how much comes out, so you can match clean/compressed when you switch it off.
This effects uses 18v, so you need two 9 volts. I tried it with nine and it didn't work.

I have a typical setup consisting of humble guitars and a twin reverb amp. I found this thing not to be too noisy, but it does seem to color the sound a little like a treble boost when it isn't compressing hard. On the other hand, with the 'sensistivity' or compression turned up and the volume down it sucks a little treble out--I assume this is just a compressor characteristic in general and not specific to this unit.
When the setup is guitar > Supasustain > amp, it pumps up and down a little on chords like open G. It also feeds back pretty easy when cranked, not in a musical way. This may have something to do with the nature of the amp I use.
I give it an eight because this thing does the job with four transistors and a vactrol--ask yourself if you could do better.

Reliability doesn't apply since I put it together. I am not a performing professional. I figure most people who read these reviews aren't either. If you take care of your things they will last.

Build one and if you can't get it to work then go online and ask for help--I'm sure someone will work with you to solve the problem.

It shouldn't cost more than $30 or $40 to build one of these, considering the most expensive parts are the box, pots, jacks, and knobs. Most of the parts were obtained on the cheap from a surplus store. I highly encourage everyone to look into making their own effects; I've just begun and this pedal is not bad.
This is the first compressor I've built, simply because it does not require ICs (which I don't have yet). In order to make this pedal you either need to find a vactrol or put one together by slapping together photoresistor and LED in some shrink tubing--which anyone can do.