HomeBrew Electronics Arizona CPR

Two dials- easy to get a great sound.

Great sound- really allows your true tone to ring through- it does so without "squishing" the sound- which I really like.

Built very well- no worries

I really wanted to get a compressor that would work with me- not against me. I wanted just enough compression to help sustain and boost- without adding to my tone, and the CPR does this. I think that this pedal is comparable with the Keeley. However, on the attack it can compress a little too much- I think if it was lost or stolen, I would get the Barber- I really like the blend feature on that pedal. I would definitely buy that one before I bought another CPR. This being said- I really enjoy using the CPR on I leave it on at all times.

Simple and effective.

Wow. This is without a doubt the best compressor around. I traded off my original so I could try rather expensive others... I am full circle back to the CPR and it will never leave my board again. It is on at all times and just makes everything from chords to sustaining solos better. It is transparent and subtle or extreme depending on how you set it.

The build on it is stellar with no shortcuts.

Joel is very cool and friendly to deal with

If you read these reviews while your trying to decide if you should get one or not, let me save you a lot of trouble. GET IT!!!

Piece of cake. Level and sustain control. Oversize knobs.

Fabulous. Very transparent and very smooth. I use it with a strat through a fender amp. I believe this was modeled after a Keeley. Great for smooth rhythm, chicken pickin and singing solos. I would not recommend for bass since the dynamics are a lot different. Even Keeley is coming out with a new compressor just for bass. For guitar, the CPR is AWESOME! I leave it on all the time. Listen to the sample at: http://www.homebrewelectronics.com/products.htm

Exceptional. It's obvious Homebrew uses the highest quality components throughout. Built like a tank and best paintjob ever.

Exchanged e-mails. Very responsive and helpful.

I play classic rock and this really makes my Strat sing. Nice twang for clean stuff and great sustain in distortion mode.

i tried this with an active bass wanting to like it & having already made a good deal w/the store to buy it. i wanted it because of all the great reviews i read here. well i learned be carefjul of reviews we hear things differently sometimes. i was not happy w/this item. no matter how we tried to set it the box cut power to my sound & squashed the highs & lows a lot, too much. i had tried a carl martin the day before which i liked a lot but this item i told them to take back to their display cabinet. i never could get a good acceptable sound from it.

noisy, effect at almost every setting compressed the sound too much IMO. used w/active pickup warwick bass & tube ampeg head w/15" cabinet.

don't own it & wouldn't buy it.

play blues, rock & some pop in a band. i own g-k 1001 rbII w/15" & bi-amped horn. warwick thumb bolt-on. also tried boss cs-3 unmodified & digitech-both exceptionally noisy & bad sounding. demeter compulator had a lot of dynamics but did not do much to even out volme peaks or clips. sansamp bass compactor sounded best of these but was better on passive than active, + on both it had an unacceptable echo sound which i guess is their idea of tube emulation. the carl martin tho a little dark sounding was the quietest & did the best job of these 6 compressors IMHO.

Incredibly easy to dial in a great sound.

I have been searching for the perfect sound 30 years and have tried every compressor on the market except the Keeley. Hands down this is by far the best sounding comp I have tried. Just a beautiful, quality sound with no noise. I'm playing a USA Strat thru a Fender Ultimate Chorus (solid state) Amp and man this sounds nice. I get that Hendrix jazzy clean sound and singing overdrive for the distortion channel. Just awesome. Of all the compressors I've owned, I would rate the top 5 as follows:

1) Homebrew CPR
2) Maxon CP-101
3) Barber Tone Press
4) Guyatone St-2
5) MXR Dynacomp

Guyatone was the best under $100 (actually $75). I had an original Dynacomp back in 1978 that would have been #2 but it's long gone.

Joel Weaver at Homebrew has a reputation for quality. From the upgraded parts inside to the quality paint job, this is A++. I think his dad did custom paint jobs for classic cars and it reminds me of a cherry 1969 Chevy. Exceptional quality.

I had a unique live application and asked Joel if he would tweak the unit slightly for more headroom. I had it back in a couple days and wow, I was stunned this sounded so great when I got it back. It was literally the perfect compressor. Excellent customer service.

I had never heard of Homebrew Electronics until 4 weeks ago. I was very close to biting the bullet and buying the Keeley for $220 but the reviews on this were excellent and Homebrew was in my home state so I decided to give it one more try. I bought it from PedalGeek for $139 and I am thrilled with my purchase. There is nothing out there that sounds this good for the price in my opinion.

Its easy, it's intuitive - thats it !

Not 10 because you rely on the default inherent settings.

I have tried Boss, The Squeeze (forget manufacturer) - dissappointment. I play clean Shadows type music and the compressor would have to be reasonably transparent.

This pedal costs more, but you get what you pay for. I use it for clean guitar sounds. It is transparent, provides sustain but does not give that annoying 'click' (except of course at extreme settings) that the Boss gives for every note plucked. Importantly, it's quiet. I use this with a Q2 with reverb or echo's and find it best placed as guitar>q2>CPR>amp.

I have had this pedal for a month now and a divorce is not on the cards whereas the Boss and Squeeze thing were non-starters.

I hace also purchased a Barber Tone Press. This pedal allows you to blend the base signal with the compressed signal to get a natural sounfd to the start of the note but with the added benefit of compression and sustain. I thought I would sell one of them but now I am confused as I like both. Perhaps it's the colour of the TonePress.

The tonal colour of the two are different. The CPR is inherently subtlely brighter, whereas the Barber mid's to bass frequencies are more emphasised.

The bottom line is that I tend to get the CPR out more.

Not had it long enough, but it is reasonably rugged.

A couple of knobs and switches, it's not rocket science. Put the knobs at 12:00, step on the button, and enjoy the sound. After that you can adjust to your taste.

The pedal sounds great with all my guitars; from my Les Paul Custom to my Epiphone Casino to my hot-rodded Tele; through all my amps: Fender Deluxe Reverb, a variety of Vox, and a Traynor. Clean, clear, beautiful sustain that doesn't suck or alter tone, even when some grit is dialed into the amp ( I find that's when some compressors fall apart). I've tried a wide variety of compressors - having started using them almost 30 years ago, and have found this one profoundly superior to all competitors. My only complaint is that the pedal could use a little more juice. The drop in volume at the noon setting is a little greater than I expect.
I try to sing through my guitar, not play riffs and partial scales. Thes beautiful sustain of this pedal suits my playing goals perfectly.

I have another HBE product and it's had no problems. These feel like they are made to last the millenium, though that means little regarding the internal electronics. It does promote a sense of security because it's exterior is built like a tank but I've not had it long enough to speak to its reliability.

No experience had or needed.

I play a variety of music but mostly rock and have been at it for almost 40 years. Quality pedals let you express yourself in dialects your native tongue doesn't allow but it doesn't mean everyone will find those dialects appealing. The real question is whether this does, in a high quality way, what compressors are expected to do and the answer is an emphatic "Yes". I would buy a replacement if lost and am considering a second one - the first to be kept on all the time at a lower setting and another to engage when I want to "sing" long notes: sustained notes allow you to shape the tone in interesting ways not available via 8th or 16th notes.
If all you want is sustain, however, most compressors will fit the bill. This is one to buy if you care enough about clean sustain to make the more costly investment make sense. Used, this pedal is a steal.

Easy to use, only two knobs, sustain and level. They do interact so you have to compensate with the level contol as you turn the sustain up. It does have a 9 volt adaptor. The unit is built so it sets wider than the usual tall. It has a Yellow LED.

I've owned a bunch of Compressors. Keeley- Carl Martin- Mr Squishy(not squishy)- Boss CS-2 and 3.
I curently use a CS-3 on my pedal board. I wanted that squishy Boss sound except quieter. I bought this unit and a Barber Tone Press. They are both good but a little different. The CPR comes closer to the squished Boss sound with that country pick attack I was looking for. This unit is very quite for a compressor since compressors raise the noise floor of your equipment.
I use this with an old tele or a Les Paul through a variety of combo amps. I've reached a point where a tele and compressor go hand and hand even though I play a limited amount of country.

It looks like it is dependable and I bought it used so it has held up so far. I don't bring a backup to the gig.

I've never delt with them so I don't know.

I've played professionally for over 30 years. I play a wide variety of music. Whatever the gig calls for. If it were lost or stolen I might buy another although I have a Tone Pess that is also a good unit.
I wish they would have made the unit so it was orientated the tall way on the pedal board.

Having an out-of-town guest is great, but by Day Three I was itching to get back to work and pick up the prize that I knew awaited me there ? the latest addition to my growing HBE collection, the Compressor Retro, or CPR. (I already own a Big D overdrive and Dos Mos dual buffer/boost)

The first thing that greeted me when I opened up the box was the familiar hefty weight common to HBE pedals, and the knowledge that the weight is caused not just by a fancy metal cover, but by the quality of the components within. I could see the colour of the pedal peeking out through the internal bubble wrap.

(Side note: The CPR I have is in a custom black/blue checkerboard pattern. The paint job is amazing!! It?s very Cheap Trick!!)

THE OUTSIDE
The external dimensions of the CPR are the same as the Big D and Dos Mos -- approx. 4.5? wide, 3.5? deep and 2? high. The right side of the pedal contains the input jack as well as the jack for the power supply, and the left side has the output jack. The top of the unit has only 3 controls on it: an ON/OFF switch (with the brightest LED I?ve ever seen!!), and two vintage chicken foot style knobs, labeled Sustain and Level. The paint job on my unit completely wraps around all 6 sides of the pedal. The bottom has the serial number sicker and 4 low-profile rubber.

IMAGE LINKS:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v723/TwilightOdyssey/CPRTop.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v723/TwilightOdyssey/CPRSide.jpg

THE INSIDE
I eagerly removed the bottom screws to see what was inside the pedal; I?ve come to expect certain things when opening up a pedal from Joel Weaver (the brain behind HBE): point-to-point wiring from the input and output jacks (no PCB mounted jacks for HBE), thick power cables from the power supply jack, and premium components laid out on an immaculate circuit board. The CPR did not let me down in this regard ? all of the oversized parts and layout I?ve come to expect were present in spades. The bottom plate also contains the battery clip (the 9v jack also connected to the circuit board via heavy duty red and black cable).

The actual circuit layout for this pedal seemed pretty simple compared to my other pedals; just a handful of resistors, capacitors, and a single IC. The large audio taper pots for the Sustain and Level controls could be seen bulging around the PCB.

IMAGE LINKS:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v723/TwilightOdyssey/CPRInside.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v723/TwilightOdyssey/CPRInsideClose.jpg

In short, pedal sounds A M A Z I N G!! Even with the Sustain maxed out, there is very little noise from this pedal.

I began by playing with the gain maxed out on the Rivera and both controls at 9 o?clock. There was such little effect from the compressor, that I had to turn it up for a more dramatic effect to even hear what the CPR is doing; this is a VERY subtle, transparent compressor!

I ended up settling with both knobs at 12 o?clock, where I could easily discern between the effect being on and off, and then rolled it back to where the effect was transparent again, then back up, in an attempt to quantify what I was hearing.

When I put the Big D into the chain, it became much easier to hear what the CPR was doing.

So, what, exactly, did I notice with the CPR? Did I discern any improvement in tone?

The CPR is probably the best compressor pedal I?ve ever encountered; it?s very quite, very transparent, and does what it claims to do. That being said, I did notice that with fast riffing, the transient edge of the notes was dulled slightly. Of course, this is what a compressor is supposed to do; however, I prefer to really hear the pick attack when playing fast, precise riffing.

(Definition side note: transient means ?sudden, sharp signal increase often referring to a sudden increase in sound volume or power?; in other words, the ?attack? of the pick on the string is a transient)

When playing leads], however, the CPR is a god send! The notes got slightly thicker, sustain was increased (of course), and harmonic content increased; getting screaming pinch harmonics was totally effortless, and I had a silly grin moment as I played entire passages with nothing but pinch harmonics!

COMPARING THE DOS MOS TO THE CPR
I was very curious to hear how the tone changed by swapping out the CPR with the Dos Mos in buffer mode, since I was so pleased with the sound of the CPR in lead work. When used as a buffer in front of the Big D, the Dos Mos still does it for me in terms of tone and resolution.

CONCLUSION
I still have much more experimenting to do with the CPR, as this review encompasses only about 2 hours of actual playing time with the pedal. I have yet to try using the Dos Mos to CPR to Big D all in a row, for example; I will be doing this soon, as well as trying out the CPR for solos at gig volume with the rest of the band at rehearsal.

As far as compressors go, however, the CPR blows away all of the compressor pedals I?ve heard, and many of the rack mounted compressors, too! It embodies everything I?ve come to love about HBE -- the transparency, resolution, bullet proof construction, and uber quality of the effect itself. For my personal taste, the jury is still out on whether I would use it for rhythm work. But for solos, it?s a must have!! BUY OR DIE!!

I already own 2 other HBE pedals, and they are all extremely well made. I would tour with these pedals.

I've had lots of one-on-one time with Joel Weaver, and his customer service is just like his product: SECOND TO NONE!!

THE TEST RIG
I used the following system to test out the CPR: my TOC guitar (ESP body, Gajic Custom neck, OFR, Bare Knuckle Miracle Man in the bridge and Irish Tour in the neck); for gain I used the gain stage in my Rivera Knucklehead half stack as well as a mild OD from the Rivera and the HBE Big D overdrive pedal. A THD Hot Plate resides between the Rivera head and 4x12 cabinet.

IMAGE LINK:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v723/TwilightOdyssey/RiveraHotPlate1.jpg

FOLLOW UP
After a couple more hours of experimenting I have discovered that
Dos Mos > CPR > Big D produces a GODLY TONE!! Totally pro and huge sounding, this is the kind of tone that I've always been after!!!

A LITTLE BIT ABOUT MYSELF:
My name is Ben, I live in New York City, and I play guitar in the classic metal band, TWILIGHT ODYSSEY (www.twilight-odyssey.com). I have been playing guitar for 22 years.

So easy, two dials, one switch, compared to the carl martin, it's mindless.

I'm running this after a valvulator, fuzz factory, and a ts808, then into a TC chorus, small stone, T.C Jaurnig trem, deluxe memory man, into a boogie lonestar. I use teles wxclusively, one with fralins in a strat type set-up, one traditinal with rio grandes for jazz stuff. I was searching for a quality comp that I could use for my country and jazz gigging needs, something that would squish, but not destroy tone. I have owned maxon, carl martin, visual sound, all three boss models, aphex, and marshall, all which went back to the shop or were sold here on HC, because they all boosted my highs too much. This is the only comp that retains my original tone while compressing it. It can be subtle,or extreme, your choice, it does the jazz thing and the chickin pickin thing equally well. I can't stress what an amazing pedal this is.

It looks like it would withstand a war, sturdy metal enclosure, very nice,

I live in AZ, and my friend at the local store which sells these says Joel's a topknotch guy who is always willing to accomidate.

I want to say that this is a great comp, for anyone, I would urge you to check it out before dropping the $200 on a keeley or analog man comp. Just to proove I'm not a sales rep or anything, I tried the power screamer and wasn't as impressed. Nice pedal, just a bit much for me. Anyway, check out the comp, I'm sure you'll dig it.

Sustain & Level.....pretty easy

I have owned a Keeley & Barber Tone Press, ....both top notch. The Tone Press is more transparent, if that's what you want, but the CPR has more compression. This thing can go from Ross-style sustain to Boss CS-1 pump. Pretty cool. Noise is minimal. I like it better than the Keeley, but the Tone Press is really in it's own league with transparency. I dig a little color when using compression, so I don't mind this at all. Again, I would label this compressor as transparent, don't get me wrong, but nothing like the Barber. Different strokes.

Looks pretty solid. Cool color as well.

Hope I don't have to find out

Of all of the compressor's I've owned, I would rate them as follows:

1a. CPR
1b. Barber
2. Keeley
3. Maxon CP-101
4. Guyatone ST-2
5. CS-2
6. Milkbox

Easy to use, 2 knobs, sustain and level, it doesn't get easier. Came with instructions, but don't need them.

I don't know how I got by all these years without a compressor. This thing sounds awesome. Very quiet. I have several guitars, 2-Strats w/ Bill Lawrence PU's L-280(neck)/290(bridge), Schecter C-1 E/A w/Bill Lawrence L-450's, Guild Bluesbird AAA, Reverend Slingshot Custom, and a Gretsch New Jet(great guitar, sounds a lot like the Bluesbird). You can get all those awesome blues tones, with lots of sustain with this pedal. I thought at first that I lost a little of the highs, but when I turned up the level, it seemed fine. I run it about 3/4 of the way up.

Just got it, opened it up, looks solid. Should be able to depend on it, but I can't leave a opinion, too soon to tell.

Answers e-mail quickly. I asked for different "chickenhead knobs", and they offered to send them to me for free!

Matches the style of music I play perfectly! You can get all the SRV type tones you have been looking for, providing the rest of your gear is the same quality. I have been playing 15+ years, and should of bought one a long time ago. I would buy one again in a immediately if it was stolen or lost. Compared to the price of the Keeley and the Analogman, this is the better bargain. Buy one!

Its pretty much the same as all vintage comp clones (I assume thats what this is...). It's a two knob setup. If you can't figure this out, go drink bleach.

I'm using a Martin DX-1 with a fishman single coil installed into an MXR 10 Band EQ and the CPR going direct. With this setup I can get an acoustic sound, a clean-jazzbox type sound and a ringing chimy clean-electric sound. I mostly go for the jazzbox type sound: pretty heavy compression with the CPR and a serious high end roll-off with the EQ. My style is best described as (to use the cliched explanation of cross breeding two artists I have no hope of ever being as good as to describe myself) early-mid period (Small Change/Heart Attack & Vine) Tom Waits meets late (Oh Mercy/Time Out of Mind) Dylan. I play with an upright bassist and a conga drummer, and this sound works well for what I do. The CPR is excellent and does everything I could ask a compressor to do. The only better compressor I've ever used is the Summit Audio TLA-50, a $600 rackmount tube levelling amplifier, and its not really fair to compare the two.

Feels really solid. It's made out of high quality parts, the construction is clean and stable. I give it a ten.

I haven't ever needed to deal with HBE...

I hate to be lame and give it all 10's, but I can't see anywhere to dock it points. Its a solid, affordable compressor that sounds fantastic. I use it in a sort of weird way, but I'm positive that it could be used for standard (ex. Tele=>CPR=>Champ) uses. My only compaint is that when I ordered it through www.pedalgeek.com, it took forever to get to me. I'm pretty sure it was just a fluke, I can't really blame HBE. If someone stole it, I would buy another in a second. The only thing I wish it had was an easy access battery compartment. By the way, I'm not posting my e-mail, but I'm not some company stooge flooding the board with all-10 reviews. I actually use and own this beeyotch.

Simple two knobs one for sustain one for level.

Best quality out of all the compressors I have ever owned, built myself or tried out. Very smooth with no rough edges to the attack. When you really hit the strings hard it allows for great clean sounds. I like it better by itself than in combination with other pedals.

Built like a tank. True bypass switching. Bright LED.

Never dealt with Joel on service for the compressor cause its brand new. However he is friendly and responsive thru the Emails and has provided customer supprt on another pedal that was not broken but need a mod to allow for singlecoil/humbucker guitars. Who does that?

I play blues, country, rock using a variety of guitars dano 12, gibson les paul, dipintos, fenders, st blues, surfcastor etc thru a 1959 guild 20 watt amp with built in tremelo. This works great with my sons fender twin also. Stop your search for the compressor that really works and get this from HBE.

With the Sustain and Level controls it was easy to dial in exactly the kind of clear and clean compression I wanted. There is a 3rd control "Decay" which seems to be a kind of fine tuning on the duration of the note and can dial out any unwanted distortion if you use higher output pickups. This control is adjusted with the edge of your guitar pick. I tend to keep the Sustain at 10 and Level at 11 or 12 and the Decay mostly at minimal settings (can't tell where it is since it has no knob). LED is thankfully bright and easy to see. Easy to get great sounds instantly. Mine is a cool aqua green with cream barrel knobs and consumes reasonable space on my board. I power it with a VoodooLabs PedalPower 2 full time.

Using the Decay and Sustain controls you can fine tune the CPR to work with humbuckers, but my main purpose in hunting down compressors was for my Fender Telecaster. I'd been through a few other compressors-there are tons out there--and listened to lots of samples online and read tons about the choices. The CPR absolutely nailed the sound I wanted-clear, rich boosted full tone-with no masking of the original tone, or grainy distortion or uneven "pumping". It's a very transparent sound that wakes up sleeping amps and adds richness to my Tele without changing the character of the tone. It's impossible to play the Tele without the CPR now! The other bonus is that the CPR is dead silent; others are not. I am using it primarily with a SonicCord Bantam (1x15 2el34 combo) and Sloan, my Cage head (2 kt66 into a 2x12 cab). I had read plenty of reviews where people describe getting a compressor they like and then leaving it on full time - and getting so addicted to it that you only really notice it when it's off. I couldn't really appreciate that until I tried the CPR. With single coils, (Danelectro lipsticks, Tele, or MusicMan MM90s, or Gibson P90s) the CPR is on throughout the set.

It's been trucked around but not abused on my pedalboard for several months - build quality on this pedal seems very high all around. No worries about performance at a gig.

Joel at HomeBrew was great with fast responses to my questions about the Decay control. He's clearly cares about his products and is making very high quality pedals for a great price. American craftsmanship the way it should always be.

Flume plays modern jangle pop (www.flumetheband.com). Been playing for 20+ years. I would certainly replace this if it was lost; it's now an integral part of my sound, especially with the Telecaster. It sounds especially great in front of the AnalogMan Clone Chorus -seems to add more brilliance along with the full boost that I was looking for out of a compressor but without all the unattractive qualities of distortion and other "artifacts" from compromises in the circuitruy in the other compressors that I considered. While AnalogMan, Keeley, and Maxon all had good candidates, they seemed overpriced compared to the CPR. Outstanding value.

Very easy to use, 2 knobs, one switch, has a DC jack too. But as with all compressors, you need to understand what they do, and how to approach using it. Manual is very helpful. This is a pedal, so it's very straight forward, and easy to use. It took me longer to find another patch cable in my bag o' stuff, then it did for me to get a great sound out of it.

Sounds great. I am using this with the Homebrew power screamer (Killer!), warmoth strats and tele's ( always Rio Grande Pickups ) a Startouch A/B box to a/b to the tuner ( best A/B's Ever!) a Fender Reissue tube reverb, and a reissue '59 bassman. (Old School can you tell?)

Great sounding compressor. Very quiet and smooth. You can get that squished sound if you like it, but I use it rather subtly. I tried it in and out, and found I just really missed it if it wasn't just on all the time. Level very useful as well, you could probably use it for a lead boost. Really makes the notes come alive, and helps to get the chicken picken sound I love when playing country. Helps get that Brad Paisley / Brent Mason tone I dig for those occasions. Again I use it all the time, and it sounds great with blues, and anything else. Joel says it's modeled after a famous old design.

This thing is built amazingly solid. Clean wiring, solid switch and jacks, I would use it without backup with no worries. I definately depend on it, it has become such an integral part of my kit already. Built like a tank!

Joel answers questions immediately via email, and is such a great guy to deal with. Absolutely perfect service. We should all buy 2 of everything he makes so we can keep guys like this in buisness!

I play all styles of music, and this works great for everything. Again, I miss it when it's not on, so I couldn't live without it now! I have played for 20 years+ and play mostly homemade (Warmoth ) strats and teles. But play Les Pauls, and a great Wahburn Semi Solid Sammy Hagar model ( great jazz and blues tone with a pickup change). Amps are Bassman Reissue, Silver Face Super Reverb (non master late 60's ish?), and I have a Marshall DSL 50 for the rock gigs.

I would have to flat bawl my head off if something happened to this. I would replace it in half a heartbeat, and put out a voodoo curse on whoever took it. I really love the sonic blue paint and cream knobs. Really has that cool retro look ( it fits, it's full name is the ComPressor Retro = CPR). Sounded way better than the MXR or Boss stuff I compared it with. I was even thinking of getting an Alesis for compression, but this sounds better.

Again it's a compressor. They don't reach out and grab you like a new overdrive and slap you in the face. They are NOT supposed to. The test is when you miss it if it's gone. This is the one! Without it my tone is like a Hamburger with no bun. It tastes fine, but it's just missing something, and then what's the point.

Bottom line. If you need a compressor BUY THIS ONE. FORGET ANYTHING ELSE!!!