Electro-Harmonix Soul Preacher Compressor

Fairly easy to get good compression/sustain.

The manual is a no-brainer. Of course, if you can't figure out two knobs you probably can't tune a guitar anyway, so sell all your gear and go skateboarding.

This is the Nano version Soul Preacher which I believe EH just discontinued.

Someone complained about with the setting turned up high it was "hissy and compressed sounding"...Duhhhh, IT'S A COMPRESSOR!!! This is what it does.

Yes, it is somewhat noisy, but just stick a good noise suppressor with it and that's taken care of.

Great sustain, though still a little compressed sounding (LOL).

Seems to be well built, and it is small, so it doesn't take up much space on the pedal board.

They don't return calls or emails at all. I wish my business were that good that I didn't have to provide customer support.

Rock. Classic Rock. Blues. Country. I would buy another one if the price were right. I like the sustain, hate the hiss, but I use a noise suppressor so I don't hear it any more.

Not much difference from the Keeley compressor, except the Keeley is a little quieter.

Good compressor for under $100.

Sustain is really, really great. Long....singing....soulful....

Manual is decent. You'd have to be a mental midget to not be able to figure out two knobs though.

Use a PRS Santana III and a Music Man Silhouette guitar(s). Use Mesa Boogie Mark I Reissue amp and a Rivera Clubster 45 112 amp.

The sustain itself sounds wonderful, best I've heard.... but.....

It is pretty hissy when the sustain is turned past 12 o'clock.

It makes a HUGE pop when engaging the footswitch. HUGE HUGE HUGE!!! No matter where I put it in the signal path HUGE HUGE HUGE!!!

It also "clips" the signal severely when you first pick a note, and tweaking (external or internal) doesn't do anything for it.

Looks to be well built.

Don't know. They don't return calls.

Play classic rock and blues. Can't use this pedal because of the huge popping everytime you touch it.

Buy a Boss CS-2 or CS-3. You'll be much happier. I am.

Well, with two knobs and 1 toggle, it's pretty easy to get a good sound out of it. What impressed me was this: Unlike most mainstream compressors (Boss, MXR, Digitech, etc), the compressor could actually go far enough to sound BAD when cranked to 10.

Why is it good to sound bad? Because with Boss et al, I would try for the sound I wanted and turn the knobs higher and higher until I ran out of knob. It still sounded GOOD at 10, but it still wasn't MY sound, and I couldn't go any further. This baby can easily capture that subtle Boss sound, the more abrupt squashing that I wanted, or a completely disgusting, sterile, crushed tone at 10.

The idea is this- NOTHING should sound good at minimum or maximum settings. If it does, then it's limited by someone else's idea of what sounds good. Every effect, amp setting, and knob that a musician should have contact with should have the ability to go TOO FAR. That way, I get to choose what setting I want, not some engineer.

The "instructions" was one sheet- brief, but informative. I'd gotten used to the Boss model of listing sample settings to get started, but EH obviously suspects you already know what you're doing.

Ok, I'm using this with a bunch of gear. My signal path is Epiphone Les Paul or Fender Stratocaster -> Boss TU-2 Tuner -> Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor (effects loop) -> Soul Preacher -> Boss V-Wah -> Visual Sound Jekyll & Hyde Overdrive -> Rogue EQ -> Arion Flanger -> Boss EQ -> Ernie Ball Volume -> NS-2 (via the effects loop) -> Ibanez DL 10 Delay -> Fender Supra Chorus or Epiphone Slingshot.

I bought this to replace an aging Ibanez BP10 Bass Compressor... yes, a bass comp. A bass playing buddy gave it to me years ago, and after hearing someone get a great tone out of the Boss compressor, I hooked this up and liked the tone quite a bit (when the ancient pedal worked, that is). It even inspired me to experiment with compression in recording and live sound system applications. After a half dozen hiccups and straight failures of this pedal at live performances, though, I finally decided to replace it.

My first instinct was to go to the inspirational pedal- the Boss Compressor/Sustainer... but as I complained above, the pedal wouldn't give me the sound I wanted. None of the other available compressors seemed to do any better. I was looking at the Aphex Punch Factory next, but I couldn't find anyone with it in stock. My local music store had the Soul Preacher, so I decided to give it a shot.

With that out of the way, let me say that I really enjoy the tone. I'm still experimenting, since this sounds far better and more transparent than the old Ibanez Bass Comp, but it's a great device, going from subtle to glaringly apparent with just a twist of one knob.

The compressor does raise the noise floor, but nowhere near as much as the Ibanez I have or even the Digitech that I demoed over the weekend. The Boss Noise Suppressor kills the hiss, though, so even though it's not much noise, it disappears.

I did notice a bit of a pop when the effect turns on or off. It didn't seem audible (at least not distracting) when signal is going through it, but you can definitely hear it when everything is silent. My Noise Suppressor kills this too, however, so it's not really much of a concern.

I look how little distortion this gets, as I often like to use it on clean settings. Into my distortion pedals or even into my amp, it really smooths out the dynamics without destroying my tone. All in all, I'm very pleased with the purchase.

Don't know yet. Looks very solid, and Electro-Harmonix has been around long enough to learn to make reliable gear. I only bought it this afternoon, but I wanted to post my initial reactions. I'll get on in a few months to a year and post again (as I try to do with a lot of my gear).

N/A

I did end up spending considerably more for this than one might spend at GC or Musician's Friend, but I also supported a brick and mortar local store, so I don't mind doing a tiny bit of markup.

I play lots of pop-rock style music. Some hard rock (no metal), some jazz (although not with this pedalboard, obviously), and everything in between.

I've been playing guitar for 14 years now. If this were lost or stolen, at this point I'd buy another in a heartbeat (maybe from an online retailer this time).

I love the sound, and didn't necessarily love the price.

I'll start by saying that I've got the NANO version.

As with most EHX stuff, the instruction card is very brief. It is easy to get a good sound out of the unit... a very good sound.

But you have to OPEN IT UP and adjust an INTERNAL TRIM POT for input gain. in the stock setting, mine was clipping the signal from my single coils as the input gain was set too high at the factory.

for this... it gets a five. It doesn't tell you about the trim pot on the instruction card.

-1 point for having to open the unit to adjust the settings to taste.

The sound quality is awesome. Use with decent cables and power supply and its so crisp.

you can get a very punchy, funky sound, or you can be really subtle with it, the different attack modes really do make a difference.

I use mine to give my single coils more of an evened-out, punchy sound. I play a mix of lead and rhythm most of the time and single notes tend to be very quiet compared to chords... this little beauty evens everything out, but in a really subtle way.

I seem to remember that the switch is mounted on the board, which is bad news... but it is a very good switch

I play my own stuff... quite diverse I suppose. A healthy mixture of styles ranging from Radiohead to Jeff Buckley to Tori Amos inspired weirdness. This pedal is a very good match to what I play.

I have been playing 8 years or so, my setup is... Fender Nashville Tele > Artec Switch Box (as bypass for a Boss TU-12H) > EHX Micro POG > Boss LS-2 [loop A: EHX Nano Soul Preacher, loop B: Vexter Fuzz Factory] > Boss DD-20 > EHX Nano Small Stone > Artec EQ > Moogerfooger Ring Modulator > Vox Valvetronix AD-50

I do think that it would have made a lot of sense to have put the trim pot on the outside of the case and label it as 'input gain', I thought I'd bought a lemon, til I read up on it.

The Soul Preacher has the usual two knobs plus a switch to set the attack speed. What could possibly go wrong?

I play a Fender Strat into a Marshall combo. Amp for overdrive, modulation and delay in the effects loop, wah and compressor between the guitar and the amp (and an optional micro-synthesizer, when called for.

If you use compression as a kind of clean volume boost, then I wouldn't advise you to pick the soul preacher. It sounds best when the volume level matches the bypass signal - otherwise it gets a bit noisy and you'd probably want to throw a noise gate into the equation too.

I tend to use the attack set to slow.

This pedal sounds great when I play rhythm, it really helps squash out the unwanted bits and pieces when strumming and it really helps certain types of arpeggio picking.

The slow amd medium settings are my favourite, you can get great compression from this pedal. As with most E-H pedals it takes the settings up to the point where they become seemingly unuseable.

The bypass mode is excellent and the slight coloration it gives your sound is warm and pleasing in an analog way.

Generally speaking you should use it immediately after your guitar, or after any filter effects (wah wah, etc) that occur before distortion/overdrive.

Haven't gigged it yet. It looks and feels as though it's made of stone, although I suspect it's actually metal of some kind. Really nice clunky switch as with all EH pedals.

Not dealt with them

I play various styles of music in a couple of bands. This pedal is great for when I have to get nice tight rhythm sounds out of my strat, be that strumming or picking. It works particularly well when I use the bridge and neck (yeah, that's a mod) pickups together for a kind of Tele like sound.

Been playing 8 years, own a variety of effects pedals, Marshall amp and a Line 6 POD XT Live.

Compared to other compressors I've tried, it's not as good as the very best but it's certainly a lot cheaper and it's certainly a classy little pedal... It also has to be a candidate for the best named pedal in history (along with the big muff Pi and the Z-Vex super hard on)

I think there is confusion here with the old soul preachers and the new soul preacher nano. So i will clarify my review as this is the Soul Preacher Nano.
I really wanted to try this one out. Curious to see what our friends at EH built as a compressor and I was glad to finally figure this baby out. It is simple to use- vol. sustain and attacks.

I have tried this on my acoustic rig and it didn't really sell it for me honestly. I thought it may help to remove the ice picks but alas no just killed the sound that I wanted. It creates a wonderful feedback response from my acoustic amp and you have to be careful not to use too much compression. Honestly I don't use it for that anymore. I love using EH pedals on my acoustic but sadly this did not deliver.

Slow attack is probably what I use the most however when I get all tele action fast attack with a lot of sustain means creamy sounds.
I am only using this for electric guitar actually telecaster only. I am yet to try it out on our bass.

It looks tough and it is so little. You could quite easily put 6 soul preachers on top one big muff. Its tiny. It looks well made and have had no problems with it to date. Touch wood

NA

I play alternative, blues, rock and jazz. Hmm replacing it hey... Not sure. I wouldn't rush out the door to do it but there would be times i miss the sound mixed with my tele. I have tested this little baby out and it doesn't do everything I want it to do. It is colourless which I love. It can be noisy if the vol. is set to high. It can create beautiuful sounds. I have had some dodgy compressors and this one is definitely better but I have such a mixture of thoughts in regards to this one. Hmmmmm I think I would try the BBE out before I would replace this one actually.

Easy to dial in volume, attack and sustan (threshold) - two knobs and a three way toggle switch. The three attack settings are useful and makes it convenient to dial in to your tatse. I like the small enclosure, smooth pots and nice graphics - it's a handsome pedal. You pedal geeks know what I mean. Manual is useful and informative.

I bought it for two reasons - I wanted to replace a Line 6 Tone Core compressor. Analog sounds more organic to me. I read a favorable review in Guitar World magazine, and was intrigued by the fact that the circuit design is reminiscent of older compressors and the price point. I wnet to GC to buy strings and saw the Soul Preacher in the glass case as I looked down so the impulse hit me and off I went. $98 seems like a fair price. I have not experienced the noise that other reviewers have mentioned. I set the volume at unity with my amp and isn't noisy. I like this pedal. It doesn't color my sound. It fact in the slow attack setting my tone is preserved quite nicely. A compressor WILL color your tone to a degree. I especially notice it on my clean tone. If you really listen closely and compare your clean tone by switching the compressor on and off, you'll definitely hear a difference. It's sort of like a blanket. But having said that, you can have fund with a compressor. To my ears the Soul Preacher is pretty transparent for a compressor. It does the job nicely for me. I can't put my finger on it at this point (only owned it 2 weeks), but it has a more pleasant sound than the line 6 Tone Core. I really like the slow setting. It lets the entire signal pass before the comprssion kick in. Thereby preserving the attack you are used to hearing without a compressor. There really are a lot of variations to dial in. I am very pleased with pedal.

Seem rugged but two early to tell

never had an experience with EH

I play variety of rock - sting, santana, beatles, trower, deep purple. Playing 40 years. I would buy it again if stolen. Very reasonaable price point - good value based on sound, size, vibe. If you apprecaite analog you'll like this pedal. I also own a Boss compressor. Again, mine is not noisy. Maybe others are crankin' the volume. I set it at unity or just a hair above unity. I hghly recommend this if you're looking for an affordable analog compressor.

Simple to operate, 2 knobs and a toggle switch to set the attack.
If you're looking at compressors the chances are you know what they do already.

I don't seem to be having the same problem with noise levels as other reviewers. I play a Les Paul ('57 Classic Humbuckers) and a Strat with '69 single coils through a Marshall DSL and find the noise levels generated by this pedal to be more than acceptable. I have owned Boss CS1s, CS2s, CS3s and an MXR dynacomp and the hiss was bad on the Boss pedals which I expected with the old cs1 and cs2 but I had the same problem with the cs3 which was brand new. I don't remember having any probs with the dynacomp either noise wise.
I am yet to try a compressor that doesn't make any hiss yet but this one is above average. Whether this has anything to do with the fact it is one of the "nano" range I'm not sure.
The sounds are all what you'd expect but again the pedal compares favourably in the smoothness department. The toggle switch to set the attack is useful and covers everything from fast, percussive attack sounds to slower, more mellow sounds. The sustain is also very effective and is great for solos.

I've been very lucky with fx pedals so far and I look after my stuff so I would expect this to be dependable but I haven't owned the pedal long enough to say for sure.

Never contacted them.

Great compressed sounds in a tidy looking package.
Very happy.

easypeasy to use - usual suspects, knob-wise

more hiss than a whole boxful of snakes through the single coils on my Fender Am Strat, humbuckers on my Gibson Explorer and the EMGs on my Steinberg. Maybe the Fender amps I use (Deluxe Reverb/Vibrochamp)exacerbate the problem...I use a whole bunch of effects but nothing ever produced this much noise...really, you have to abandon foolish dreams of compression and use the Soul Preacher as a boost pedal. And unfortunately there are other boost pedals which do the job far better

well, it's still going after much abuse before I got it (I pamper my gear)

n/a

I have a weakness for EH pedals - the look, the sound, the individuality of them...however, the Soul Preacher is sadly not up to the job it's supposed to do. Looks cool, though.

Well, pretty average compressor. Two controls for volume and threshold, one treble boost switch. Pretty easy to dial in a fine tone.

First of all, this thing produces a nearly unbearable hiss if it is used. Especially when playing it through a very clean and silent amp like my fenders. Even if the volume knob is turned all the way up this won't overdrive your old amp without a mastervolume. I tried it with my Princeton Reverb and it still was clean - though hissy and compressed.
The compression itself is pretty decent - only on the highest settings it produces breathing and pumping noises.
The Treble-Boost produces a soft treble boost - introducing even more hiss into the signal. You won't get a treble-booster-like sound. It doesn't distort by itself like the Dallas Rangemaster or its clones.
It is pretty muddy sounding - there are some high frequencies missing when it is engaged. You won't notice it if it is bypassed. It seems to have some sort of true bypass.

Well - it still works after all these years. That's reliable!

The old company that produced these doesn't excist anymore. New EH won't support it, I think.

It's a very basic compressor. It colors your sound with hiss and missing high frequencies. I think there are a load of better compressor out today.