Fender COM-1 Compressor

This pedal is fairly easy to use... four knobs. Volume, Tone, Attack (Slow-Fast), and Sustain (Min-Max). Adjust them to your liking... From the control labels I suspect it may be a rebox of the Boss compressor.

I use the pedal mostly as kind of a "Lead Switch" that I hit to play a solo. As such, I crank the volume, set the tone to 7.5 (halfway between flat eq and high), the attack to 7.5 (fast, but not the fastest attack) and sustain to maximum.

My setup (at the moment) is: Danelectro DC-3 > Fender Compressor > Ibanez Echomachine Delay > Arion Stereo Phaser (the 2nd, unused out goes to my tuner) > Rocktek Vibrator > 60's Rickenbacker tube-type. My influences include Pink Floyd & Radiohead, and the Who, Zeppelin, Simon & Garfunkel, Oasis, & some other stuff.

I've also tried it with the same effects chain behind my roomate's 1960 Les Paul reissue into a Mesa Nomad 45 (not in the effects loop... I put it in front). I also stuck a Crybaby wah behind it and in front of it with good results.

As I said, I use it as a lead switch to pick up highs, volume, and sustain for solos... I also use it to overload the front end of the amp a little bit to pick up gain. It's not noisy, but tweaking it takes a little bit of time.

The volume and tone controls are completely idiot-proof. The range of tones offered is not that wide, and the volume range is moderate as well.

Select the amount of sustain you want and then adjust the attack... if the attack is set wrong, or if you're not playing through enough gain, it'll have that punched-in-the-stomach sound... a burst of pick that hushes into a sustained guitar note. I've found that the more sustain you dial in, the faster the attack you'll need.

Of course, being a compressor, it adds some noise, especially toward the far end of a note, but not a lot of noise.

The footswitch on this pedal is the nicest I've ever seen... instead of focusing your weight on some arbitrary point in the middle of a squarish pedal, the pedal is a piece of plastic angled over the edge of the box... so you push on an edge... very nice feel. The rest of the thing is made of metal and built like a tank. The knobs are recessed so if you trip and fall on it the knobs won't break off. I'd gig it without a backup. Not that I have a choice... but it seems the most reliable pedal in my setup.

The unit is painted in a smooth pink color with black trim and white lettering. The typefaces, angular design, and the colors all scream "I was made in the 80s!!!" although I don't know the year of manufacture.

Never dealt with them. But it is Fender...

I'd replace it with the same thing if I could find one, if not, then I'd probably get the Boss equivalent if I could afford it. My favorite feature has to be the footswitch... if only all of my effects had the same kind of switch... I wish that it would give a bit more of a volume boost, but hey... it's not a preamp...