Hartman Compressor

Excellent and simple compressor with controls for ratio and gain. Simple to use and has a very good sound indeed. I was a bit taken aback at first by the way the ratio control 'ducks' the sound when you turn it up too fast, so...just don't do it.

Using it with a modified Japanese System III Strat and/or a Tele, into Fender amps.
The price was for this and another unit, both boxed and almost new on eBay. Read on!
Hartman's compressor is somewhere between the Keeley and a Ross-clone type such as the Visual Sound Route 66, neither of which are based on the Dan Armstrong Orange Squeezer (as far as I know). This is a 'meticulous recreation' of the latter and it ain't no lemon; no noise, excellent transparency of tone, plenty of oomph and very satisfying for lead work. The Keeley rules for funk chording, but this is very, very close indeed and isn't TOO squishy either, which the Route 66 is on highest settings. Tonally, it absolutely pisses all over cheaper mass-produced compressors which I have always found rob you of lower frequency tones. This doesn't; a lovely sound.

I think you could depend on it; that's the idea, isn't it? I might put this on the same board as my 4-knob Keeley just because they both sound that good. My one carp with the Hartman is that the 9vDC-in is on the input jack side and might have been better on the front of the unit. But so what; it's very simple and absolutely quiet and steel guitarists - or any guitarists - should check out this compressor as it's a very close competitor for those mentioned above and has something of its own, too. I have never tried an Orange Squeezer so can't tell you how near to that it might be, but with quality like this on the market you'd be insane to buy a Boss.

I'm in the UK and bought this s/h on ebay along with a Maxon PH350 for ??205 all in, both boxed like new. Best ebay deal I ever had!
I am sure the Hartman electronics company are fine people, however as I'm over here I would try to get it repaired in this country first,if it went wrong.
The circuit board looks pretty simple and...oh...while I'm at it, I hate Phillips screws. Use a jeweller's screwdriver on the 4 holding the base of this unit on. If you habitually use batteries, those screws will shear in a fairly short time.

I play in a covers band; have been playing 34 years (still not nearly there yet!) and yes, i own other gear which I am not going to detail here. If I lost this and wanted another Orange Squeezer type compressor, I would consider the Analog Man Juicer along with this and probably go for the cheaper of the two; from where I am, I can't exactly try these things out. My favourite feature is the simplicity - 2 knobs - and the sound, which I think is gorgeous. Compressors can be a little hard to set up exactly and so occasionally tiring to listen to, even (sometimes) - gasp - the Keeley. I haven't tired of the Hartman yet because it's so damn simple. You won't buy a Boss if you can hear one of these!
Now how can I get hold of a Hartman analog flanger?

This is a followup to a review that I did about a month ago on this compressor, since then the maker listened to my critique and he fixed the problem and sent me back the original one fixed, all it needed was a different signal diode. This pedal is super easy to use and get a good sound out of it. 2 knobs, 1 for volume and 1 for ratio. You can get a great compression out of it or also use it as a clean boost, by turning up the gain and leaving the ratio off. I think it is a great compressor for country music.

I use the pedal with my acoustic dread and a FishmanNeod soundhole pickup. I run it thru my stereo for practice which gives a great tone, old Fisher. The pedal gives a very nice bright highly compressed sound, or lower if you wish, adjusts easy. I like playing like Brent Mason or Toy Caldwell, it's easy to get their sounds with this pedal. Only problem is that it can get noisey at higher levels of compression. The noise is like a hiss. I did request vintage transisters which are noiser than the 2447s that normally come with this compressor.

Pedal is a solid metal box, do not see any reason for a backup, built very well, good connections inside and is a very attractive effect pedal.

Theo of Hartman Electronics is super nice, I have never had better customer support, reads my e-mails and ius always quick to get back. He sent me a retrofitted model when he figured out what the problem was for free. You cannot ask for better service than that.

I play country, southern rock music. I have played guitar for over 30 years and am pretty good at the style I play. If it were lost, I would go back to this company. I did compare it with one other compressor that was an Armstrong Clone, The Kaden Sapsucker, For me, the second version of the Hartman Compressor is great. It helps me to get the tones I want out of my guitar.

This is a two knob Dan Armstrong Clone. It comes with a 1 page description and instructions. It is sort of hard to adjust as the knobs really do not have a lot of effect as the bias knob as been limited heavy towards clean sounds. It is easy to get a transparent compression sound, but if you want a really compressed, squeezed type compression, it isn't available. Sort of a bright sounding effect, that really does not remind me of anything, but a very subtle effect too. You are supposed to be able to get a clean boost just using the volume knob, but I was not able to boost much.

I used it with my practice amp in my little home studio, sort of like a PA sounding amp which I run my stereo and everything too, great for lo volume practice. It is a bit noisy when you try to get clean boost, but not a noisy effect. I can't get the sound I was hoping to get, you are supposed to get a knopler,Baxter, or country type compression with armstrong clones, just got a transparent small amount compression.

Seems very well built and reliable.

Theo of Hartman effects provided excellent customer service and answered every e-mail quickly and did everything he could to help. He had an idea of taking the limiter off of the ratio knob, but the mp3 that he sent me sounded too distorted. Great Company.

I play country and country,rock, this was not a good match, too transparent. I own a guyatone ST2 which is a better compressor for the kind of music that I play. I have been playing music for over 30 years and am a music journalist for a country music website, review music. Might be great for someone looking for a transparent type of compression, over easy, the clean boost seemed to be on a fuzz type circuit. Very well built sturdy attractive effect pedal.