Maxon CP-101 Compressor

This is the black reissue. Two knobs..

First of all, I have never been a compressor type of guy. I play Rock N Roll and never needed too many pedals. Good clean boost is a great thing, though.

I use the Maxon between a standard US Strat with 3 single-coil PUs and Blackheart 5W/1x12" combo.

The comp is not noisy. Compression itself is very subtle and that??s what i like about it. I use it as a slight boost with the sustain knob very low. The thing is on all the time. I am after some kind of 70s Rory Gallagher-esque strat-and-amp magic and this box helps me to get it.

I mean, this stomp box really does make you sound better.

Sturdy little box.

Never dealt with them..

This comp is one friendly box to have between your guitar and amp, if you have been playing for long enough to know that you don??t need nothing but a cable between those things to have fun..

Price of a new one is awful, though.

Only has two dials: 1) level of compression and 2) sustain. Couldn't be much easier to use.

The key to this compressor is that you really can't even tell it is on! It does not change the tone of the guitar other than making the notes sound fuller. Of course, the major effect of this pedal is the sustain which is absolutely incredible. With a little bit of vibrato, it feels like a note can hang endlessly with little decay. I can bend the same note three or four times and not lose it! And most importantly, it sounds genuine and not artificial.

I've only had the pedal 48 hours.

I play blues and rock with a Gibson ES-335 and a Fender Scorpion Showmaster (similar to a strat but with dual buckers). What I like best about this compressor is that the effect is very subtle, but signifantly adds to the quality of the sound. This compressor is not only great with lead solos (at all pitch levels), it also improves the sound of chords. Its hard to describe but it seems to "clean up" any sloppiness in the chord. This pedal is so good that I will probably leave it on all of the time as it improves the guitar sound across the board. In this respect, it really isn't an effect, but a permanent improvement in tone.

Simple, though it's totally dependent on what you feed into it concerning levels and such. Every guitar has a sweet spot on the level knob, for me it's always somewhere between 12 and 1 o'clock. Also there's the possibility that you'll need to adjust the trimpot (I didn't but I see not all people are as lucky). So there's some tricks with it, but basically if you can't figure this out you're a dumb****.

Nothing's perfect but this is pretty close. I bought this a few years ago while I was on a major Pink Floyd kick... I was sorely disappointed that it seemed to get me no closer to getting that Gilmour squash as heard on The Wall and some of DSotM. If you're looking for that kind of compressor this is absolutely 100% NOT a good choice. It doesn't really squash anything except on extreme settings and even then it's unDynaComp-esque. So your dynamics are well intact for the most part. Despite being choked at the non-MXR or Ross characteristics of this pedal my ears were just starting to "awaken" as it were... and I could tell the pedal really did sound good, just not what I was looking for at the time. Over the last few years this pedal has made it's way into my setup more and more. It's not ubiquitous to my sound, but it's earned it's place above all other comps on my board. It adds a tonne of gorgeous sustain and overtones when I use it for a touch of a boost into my Bassman RI. The slight saturation it provides is a gorgeous thing. With the amp just breaking up (4-ish with my Firebird) I kick this on and there's shimmers and bleeding harmonic feedback in the background. The sound is thick as a brick and fills up a room (insert cheesy "3D sound" cliche here). It's a very inspiring pedal that plays nicely with other OD's and boosts. It's an exceptional unit, I consider it more of a finishing touch on my sound rather than an actual source of compression. It's very quiet on a relative basis to other comps, always sounds 100% and is overall a really tasteful way of thickening your tone. It will be way too subtle for country pickers and... well people who like to use compressors. But for people who think compression is a horse**** way of getting your sustain factor from point A to point B (like me) this is manna in the desert. I'd almost be tempted to give some bonus points for the awesome fuzzy-OD sound it has when you starve the voltage... but to rate this as a 10 is going too far. Very close though.

never a problem and the quality of the product is top drawer. No backup required.

never needed it.

I play some of everything. Nothing over the top, rarely gained out type stuff. Basically I play things you'd expect a guy who uses a tweed Fender to play... rock n' roll, psychedelic, new wave, blues, surf, jazz, post-rock, ambient, a little classic punk here and there. If I need to go crazy I plug into my VTM60 and blast it. But those days are becoming few and far between. I've been playing since I was 12... so a little over 10 years I guess. I've gone through the Metallica phase... gone through the "too cool for pop" noisemaker phase. There are some pieces of equipment you buy during these many phases that seem to transcend the genres and playing styles you bought them for; those are the ones that truly become a part of your setup. This pedal, for me and the other 40-ish guys in this review bank, is definitely one of them. But make sure you try it before you shell out, it's not usually all that cheap and I could easily see somebody being pissed at it's subtle nature.

Dead easy to use; plug and play, have a look at some sample settings from the Maxon web site and hey presto you should find what you want. But I did have to fiddle with the insides...see below

I bought the pedal from eBay; it arrived as described, with minor scratches and with a screw missing. What the hell, a screw won't make a difference. I plug my guitar and the pedal in my small Fender practice amp: great tone, everything became sparkly...but was saturating no matter the settings. Not good: I got the big brother out (Hot Rod deluxe), again it was saturating the amp...ok, let's get serious I said, Mesa Boogie Mark III out, same results. In the process I changed from a Strato to a Godin with P9 to a Les Paul. I was almost giving up when I read the comments about the trim pot and Eureka! turned it clockwise a bit at a time till I found what I wanted it, now we're talking. I must really thanks to the people who advised of that trick, I was already looking into reselling it. Great sound, it does not compress as terribly or plasticky sounding as other stomp boxes, definitely the best I've tried so far (Boss, Ibanez, Dynacomp).

Well, it is a bit battered and haven't used it for more that 2 hours, but it look alright and solid; I'm sure in hot gig gone wrong I could defend myself with it!

I play all sort of music and bought the pedal to even out some heavy strumming; well, I'm sure this will be always on, the nice, sparkly and fat sound that comes out of it will have to be there all the time.

OK, I should not have touched the trim pot (no issues with warranty, gosh it must be 2 years old), but if I hadn't done it I would be that entusiast about it. Thanks again to the reviewers who mentioned the trim pot.

Simple to use. Two knobs: volume and compression level. Nearly plug-and-play.

Gibson Les Paul > CP101 > Mesa Road King > 4x10 V30 cab
I can't understand the good reviews on this piece of garbage. I own a Maxon AD-900 analog delay, and it is the bomb, which is why I bought this pedal sight unseen. The compression's only 4:1, and Maxon claims that the optical effect is transparent on tone. HAH! That's an utter joke. Dial in compression all the way up and level the volume and you will notice that your amp's tubes are being driven harder producing more saturation. THIS SHOULD NOT BE HAPPENING. Next I played my acoustic through it, and it sounded OK. Compresses the signal? yes. Alters the tone adversely? yes. If it did a fantastic job of compressing the signal I could understand the trade-off to loose a little tone, but this one goes nowhere near this territory. And the inability to adjust the attack leaves plenty to be desired. In other words, everything you play gets stuffed into this one size fits all pedal.

Seems well-made

Good suppoort

If I could get the pedal for free and just pay the shipping charge, I would pass on the deal. As a matter of fact, if someone offered to hand me the pedal I would still not use it. And I'm not even very picky! Maxon, you really blew it on this one. It goes without saying that this puppy's going back to Musician's Friend. I played a friend's Barber Tone Press. It was nice but not exactly what I'm looking for. I think I'll try a Keeley.

Very easy to use. There not a bad setting anywhere to be found on this pedal.

I was looking for a compressor that would give me all the tonal characteristics (i.e. punch-through & shimmer) that good compressors deliver but without all the noise. The CP101 delivers these results very well. Although the CP101 is more subtle and can't deliver total squash, it can deliver great sustain and a nice transparent enhancement that can be left on all the time if desired. Works great with overdrives to thicken up and saturate my overdrive tones for rhythm and soloing and I really like that it doesn't mess with my picking attack. I've been a player for 28 years, I own (or have owned) the 70's dynacomp, cp-9, supercomp, keeley (4-knob), many others, and the CP101 is what's on my board.

Maxon pedals are well built. I like the fact that the interface components are not board level so if a component (i.e. input jack, switch, etc) needed replaced or mod'ed, that could be done easily without de-soldering from the pc board (unlike current day MXR). I also have other Maxon pedals (CS-9Pro & FL-9) that have been rock solid and never given me any troubles.

I have never dealt with them.

It's a very musical compressor, transparent, smooth sustain, works great for both clean and overdrive tones, and adds no noise. It's all I could ask for in a compressor. The CP101 is a permanent part of my live and recorded sound. I highly recommend it!

Two knobs , classic, "sustain" & "level". there is also an internal trim pot

well, i love this sound. i haven't messed with the trim pot, in fact, i don't even see mine, as this is a first-generation vintage pedal. could be behind the circuit board & i don't want to take it out. BUT, it gets an awesome mid-70s squashed sustain vibe EXACTLY like the dyna comp, in my opinion. no, it's not transparent, but that's not what i'm using it for. GREAT for sustain and squeezing extra sweetness & tone out of solos, evens out chords great. haven't tried it on my acoustic yet.

i play an american standard strat & this gets some good gilmore tones when paired with the right pedals. there is a lot of tonal possibility with this, which is why i like it's slightly-less-than-transparent qualities. i don't see too many 70s originals around, so had to grab it.

reliable. in an mxr casing. considering it's about 35 years old, not a problem yet!

godlyke is the us distributor. they don't have a ton of info on this, the original compressor, but they do reply in a couple days to queries. since it's way out of warranty, i was just writing for tech specs, which they are happy to provide.

a great little pedal. i would definitely go for the original over a reissue, but that's just me. haven't heard the reissue. the originals were red with white stripes as well, just like the dyna-comp. think they were being made at roughly the same time as the script logo dyna's so there ya go. anyway, a much more affordable way to get a similar classic sound!

2 knobs, a switch and an LED... does it get easier??

TRANSPARENT!!! the most amazing compressor pedal I have used or heard. will not color your sound.

so far so good

yep its a great little unit for the money!

Two knobs, clean layout. easy access to trimpot and spdt switch.

At first it was hard to tell what the sustain knob did-- more on that later...

**If you have a crappy sounding CP-101, try turning the trimpot. But be warned, according to previous poster this will void the warranty!!!!!!
Turn it clockwise, and you get that transparent sweet sound; counter-clockwise makes the compressor sound even worse. These pots are supposedly adjusted in the factory. BS! my pedal sounded like total garbage until I changed it myself. Maxon has some quality control issues to deal with...**

(btw, can anyone explain 'biasing the photocoupler'? how dangerous can it be?)


I bought a used cp-101 4 years ago based on Maxon's reputation for quality and value. What a dissapointment. As others have already stated, the highs were fake and plastic sounding, and the sustain knob didn't seem to affect the sound. The unit added no noise (unlike other compressors for the $), but the tone was unsuitable for any style.

So for a few years, the pedal inconspicuously sat in my closet. People on this forum seemed to be getting a good sound out of it, so I opened it up to check for anything suspicious.... 'hmmmm a trimpot right smack in the middle of the PCB....'.

Adjusting the pot brought an expressiveness to the sustain knob which controlled the amount sweet 4:1 compression. I now use it at the end of my chain ( sounds good for both rhythm/lead clean or after ts-808 or fuzz into crybaby wah-> vox AC30 and a fender twin). It almost always stays on. That's why I haven't modded the SPDT switch to true-bypass. It also sounds brilliant with Acoustic guitar straight into a PA.

HOWEVER, the pot isn't a magical cure-all by any means. My pedal now has a small volume swell, about a 1/3 second after i strum and hold a chord. It isn't noticealbe live, but still, high-end compressors shouldn't do this.

I don't know yet. The components seem high quality, and the switches and jacks seem durable.

If Maxon isn't taking accountability for some of these terrible sounding CP101's, well, then they have some problems.

Either the compressor has a design flaw and shouldn't be sold, or there are QC issues and the pots aren't being biased right at the factory.

The transparent subtle compression is a perfect fit for almost any style I play: blues, rock, funk, or noisy synthy stuff. I don't need 10:1 squishiness, although extra features like 'attack' would be nice.

Not too versatile, but if you can get one for cheap, it's worth it. If I lost mine, I would probably get a Ross-clone instead.

What could be easier than two dials?

A huge step up from the DynaComp; you get what you pay for. A very subtle effect, clarifies fingerpicking, adds presence to rhythm playing, pulls out sustain from overdrive sound. Changes EQU just a touch and is a tiny bit noisy -- hence 8 rather than 10. I am one of those people who "hate to use compression" but I am learning to use this pedal and I really like what it adds to my live sound.

It's a little on the light side; I'll try not to kick it across the room accidentally. I'm very careful.

No idea.

Have played guitar for 38 years. Play mostly church worship music (tele or Heritage semi-hollow to CP-101 to FullDrive to analog delay to Fender Twin); the presence and clarity added by this pedal really help my sound. Also play blues and rock/folk -- am still experimenting with the CP on this front. Would replace if lost, but I'd also try the other pedals in this price range. I like Maxon overall, "made in China" notwithstanding.

Very easy to get a very good sound out it. 2 simple knobs. Smaller size is great especially when you have limited real estate. We don't need no stinkin' manual. Just take your time and tweak a little. It isn't hard at all.

I feel the key to this stomper is, "LESS IS MORE". I have mine set at probably one pubic hair higher than 9:00 on the left side (sustain) and almost straight up on the right(level)side. I know that it really does smooth out my overdrive sounds. When using it clean it does wonders for my 12 string Rickenbacker whereas single notes seem to fall away quickly without it, the CP101 allows them to ring nicely and hang around awhile.

I can depend on it. It has never let me down. Not noisey either.

Never needed them.

I like this pedal so much that I bought two of them. I play classic rock 63 Beatles and up to some modern rock and it essential to my overall sound. You could leave it on and, it always sounds great. I bought my first one based on a Harmony Central recommendation when I was looking for an alternative to the much more expensive Keeley pedal and, had already dealt with the lousey Boss CS-3 compressor. For about $127.00 retail (or less used on ebay) the CP101 is a hit!

I contacted Godlyke (the North American distributor) about adjusting the internal trim pot. I received this response: "The internal trim pot in the CP101 is used to adjust the bias of the photocoupler. YOU SHOULD NEVER ADJUST IT - doing so will cause your unit to malfunction and void your warranty, requiring some expensive bench time to re-align. The CP101 circuit is optimized at the factory and there are no adjustments that can be made to the circuit without extensive electronics experience....."

Early reviews suggested "don't be afraid to adjust .... "

Caveat emptor.

two knobs like a dyna-comp.optical compression unlike a dyna-comp
no brainer!

wow,what a great sounding pedal!i dont like compressors with my strat and blackface twin cause they always do somthing weird to the tone.
even this one had that slight plasticy feel to it though not nearly as bad as a boss cs-2.THE KEY TO THIS COMP IS THE INTERNAL TRIM POT!turn it counter clockwise[dont be shy] and lose ALL the fake pedal sound!still compresses but its now the perfect fat clean boost with a hint of round,juicey compression.really transparent with lots of volume gain on tap.makes low string country licks fly out the speakers!
after the trim pot adjustment this thing really sounds perfect and can stay on all the time without driving you nuts!super quiet and i sandwich mine between to japanese sd-1's[the best jrc4558 vintage tube screamer IMHO] with no added noise.
perfect booster! perfect compressor! 10+

the footswitch seems suspect as it wiggles around in the shaft but it works flawlessly.time will tell.

quote of the day - ''all you need is ignorance and confidence,then success is sure'' mark twain

i play in a couple bands,one roots reggae/dancehall in atl,one old school country in tn[i know,opposite ends of the musical spectrum]and i listen to just about everything!groove comes in alot of flavors so soak it all in! if you want a thick yet transparent comp/clean boost get one!
actually improves my strat/twin tone and thats not an easy task!
im not going for that scooped mid de-tuned peavey xxx thing so my remarks are for using it as a very subtle compressor with enough volume to boost your signal considerably.gets along well with all my pedals too.adds that ''magic''that makes you want to dig in and spank that fretboard.

very easy 2 knobs!

After doing a lot of research i decided to buy this pedal. Paid $135 for it and it wasnt really worth it. I dont know if it was broken but the sustain knob didnt really add anything. The volume knob worked fine. But I could hardly add any sustain. I guess its supposed to be a subtle effect but it was too subtle for me. I have a DynaComp reissue and an Analogman BiComp, both of these add plenty of sustain or i can make it more subtle. I dont think this pedal is anything great.

Im sure i could depend on it, its a Maxon. The box feels light though not heavy like MXR's

Never dealt with them.

Overall I would pass on buying this, its not worth $135. Buy a DynaComp or a Keeley or an Analogman over this. I play Rock(AC/DC, Zep etc) and Hippie stuff(Dead Phish etc). Had I kept this pedal if it were stolen I would buy something else.

The knobs are easy to tune in.

Here is the dilemma for me. I know this is a high end compressor, but I really couldn't adjust to the sound. But I suspect its because I just don't like compression in my signal chain. I felt this pedal robbed many of the frequencies and dynamics coming out of my amp. Kind of sterilized my sound. Also, I didn't like the plastic attack on the notes. I brought it out to a few gigs, and eventually stopped using it. I already have sustain via my Les Paul, so I didn't need it for that. Arguably, I could use some limiting effect to tame the boominess or spikes in my playing - smooth it out as it were. But in doing this, I always feel compressors take half of the shimmer/cut out of my tone at the same time. Again - as compressors go, its one of the better ones. But, I haven't yet found a compressor that I like. I must like some kind of compression since I listen to alot of recorded music virtually all of which has been compressed in the studio. Also, my Rat Deucetone has compression in the distortion which is really great. Hmmmm.... I will say this sounds better than the Boss CS-3. Still wondering about this compression stuff......

I play all kinds of styles, mostly live. Very little studio. I've played for over 25 years. Still looking into a compression effect that would fit me.

Super easy. Two knobs that respond just right. As you turn them you can feel the sound changing with ease. I say "feel" because this pedal has a lot of it. You don't really hear the sound change you feel it. And the switch is nice and quiet too.

I use this pedal to thicken up and saturate my overdrive tones for soloing. I also use it as a booster too. And it works like a charm. With the sustain set at about 10 o'clock, the volume around 3 o'clock, and some nice overdrive (mellow or bright) dialed into your amp you get a great big thick buttery sound that sings. And it hardely colors your tone. Your tone stays the same it just gets a little louder and thicker.

I was using this pedal in the studio a few months ago, clicking it on and off during takes. The engineer had to ask if I was doing something during those parts. He could hardly tell - the only reason he suspected was because of the volume increase. He was blown away and asked me where he could get one.

I use to use an old Boss compressor (the blue one). But it started falling apart on me and was making a lot of noise. So I went out looking for something new and found this one. I wish I had found it years earlier. The difference is amazing and it is sooooooo much easier to use. And if you've never met a compressor you liked and haven't tried this one - I can almost say without a doubt that you're going to change your mind. There isn't a bad or unuseable sound in this little black box.

Build like a tank. I see this thing surviving a nulear blast. Or at least a two to three story drop. But seriously, I've never had any real problems with Maxon gear and I own other pedals by them. No worries here either.

Never had to deal with them but I've heard and read good things.

I play in a band that covers a lot of different territory as far as rock styles go. I mostly go for classic and organic sounding tones. I run a fairly conservative guitar rig - Probably the wierdest pedal in my line up is either the delay or the chorus which I use sparingly and are set to deliver a minimal amout of effect. I don't really like stuff to sound processed or synthetic. This pedal works great for all of that and is perfect for what I try to accomplish tone wise. It blends with every guitar, amp or other effect pedal I've ever teamed it up with.

1 dial for sustain, another for output. A basic set and forget

This pedal is awesome! Very very subtle compressing effect, but just enough to notice everything come together better and evenly. Doesnt breath in and out at all. Very quite, very effective. You will be the only person that notices it.

Maxon makes some of the best pedals on the market. I put all my trust in thier products. They've never let me down

Never dealt with them. Probably never need to

This is the best compressor you can get for the price. Hell even some higher priced compressors don't do work as well. Don't expect it to totally squash your sound or "add sustain", it just basically smooths everything out VERY Subtle like. If it were stolen, i would probably buy another one, even though i wouldnt rush to the store considering you don't really need compression in a guitar signal all that much.

Maxon CP - 101 compressor, two knobs, sustain and level. Has 9 volt adapter input. Overall very sinmple and easy to use.

I have never used a compressor before because I don't like the way they effect the guitar sound, but I tried this pedal on the advice of a friend and have found it to be amazing. The maxon will enhance the sustain of your note and it also allows you to increase the apparent headroom of the guitar for playing chords. I really loved the improvement of the sound of guitars with low output single coils. Also by putting the maxon in front of my overdrive/distortion pedals it improved the tone of those pedals. I really like this pedal and it has become a important part of my pedalboard.

Maxon are known for quality.

Never dealt with the company.

I have found that this pedal is very useful. I play blues and use a Les Paul 57 GT, Eric Clapton strat and a Fender Nocaster through a Super Reverb, Vibroverb and a Sewell amp. You should really try this pedal before you buy a $200 plus compressor, for the money it is a great pedal.

You can do it!

I love this thing, I never turn it off. Really, I don't know what else to say, its super smooth, its effect is hardly noticeable at first, but after a while you can feel what its going for you.

I play an SG ->maxon comp -> boss bd-2 modded like a ts9 -> G.D. phaser/volume-> boss ce-20 -> arion saf-1 -> boss dd-20 -> Carvin MTS 3212, for anyone into that stuff. I previously had a Marshall ED-1 compressor, which is a great low budget compressor. But its not in the same league as this thing. I love it.

So far, after about 8 months of daily use, no issues at all.

????

I play guitar driven psych-rock & pop, and just regular rave ups and freakouts. The CP 101 has become the foundation of my sound, evens everything out and adds a layer underneath it all that's somehow glassy, molten, piercing, in a pleasant way. Does add some noise, like all compressors, but this is the best I've used or heard.

It has only 2 knobs: Sustain and Level. What could be easier? Even my Grandmom could play with this!

I use it with a Parker Fly with Proco Deucetone Rat, Dunlop Jh-1 Wha, Guyatone Digital Delay 3, Ibanez CS9 Stereo Chorus, a Home Made Fuzz Face, a Mxr 6 band equalizer and at the end of the chain a Fender "The Twin" (red knobs). In my life i've tried all compressors in the market: Boss, Orange Squeezer, Rocktron, Dod, Mxr etc... Trust me, This pedal is the best i ever had. It has NO NOISE, even if you put the level knob at 10. I've tried it even in a Fender Roc Pro 700 and it always sounds wonderful. The Maxon Cp101 is the best investment for a compressor.

It's Heavy Duty. In the box you can also find a plastic bottom to put down the enclosure.

I've never dealt with Maxon, but it seems to be a very serious company.

I play fusion, jazz (John Scofield style), rock and blues for over 15 years and trust me again: i have never heard a compressor like this one, if you are looking for a comp don't buy boss or similiars, no matther if this jewel costs a little bit more than the other brands, just buy it and you will be totally repaid.

With just two knobs, Sustain and Level, it is easy to figure out.

This is an extemely subtle effect. Some of the other compressors I tried in this price range were too obvious (tone changing, noisey, etc). I was looking for compression that would not be noticiable to the listening audience, but that I could tell is there. Compression is a neat 'effect' when done right. Once I started learning about what compression is, I began hear it in all the recorded material by my guitar heroes. I learned that compression is used in the studio, in live rigs, and every radio stations compress their signals. I consider it smoothing, or leveling my sound.
I play fender Strats and my effects chain is usually =>compressor => overdrive and/or distortion => Voodoo Lab Tremolo => Boss CE-2 Chorus => Fedner Hot Rod Dleuxe tube amp.
I replaced a Boss CS-3 with the Maxon CP-101 as I wanted subtle....
I have not noticed any squashing of my playing dynamics with the CP-101

It's a small pedal and I have a big foot, but for the most part, I turn this on and leave it on. I hope it holds up. It seems to be solidly built. If it craps out in a gig, I'll just throw it in my gig bag and play without it.

Never dealt with Godlyke.

I play rhythm guitar and some lead work in a working classic rock and blues band. Because we cover so many styles and sounds, I think that compression is important for me. If it broke down, I'd be pissed and would probably move up to one of the $200 stomp box compressors. I replaced a Boss CS-3 with the Maxon CP-101, but I also considered the MXR Dyna-comp (pretty noisey), the Guyatone ST-2 (didn't do anything for me), the Line 6 Constrictor (wierd looking and funky working), and the Marshall Edward.
At $128 from Musicians Friend, this pedal is an investment, but it is subtle, quiet, and improves my tone, so I would recommend the Maxon CP-101 Compressor.

Any other type of compressor takes a master's degree. This thing is easy, easy , easy.

Amazing. I have tried, and failed, with compressors out there to become part of my sound without ruining it. This things is musical dammit. I only use it for certain things (like Queen and Tom Petty) but it dead on allows me to replicate the sounds I need live. Now, it is noisy buy I EXPECTED SOME OF THAT. When I need a clean tone, or a lightly overdriven tone, to come though, this thing is it.

TANK

It would have to break for me to find out.

I would buy another if stolen. It is a permanent part of my live pedal board.

Well, it has two knobs, and one is for the output level, so in fact there's only one knob for the effect. This "Sustain" knob makes what it is suposed to do, but also sets how much compression you get.

I certainly can say that the sound quality is very good. I used to hate compressors in general, why? Well I bought a Boss Compressor Sustainer... with the Boss all that I could get was an artificial tone of my guitar that I didn't like, and a lot of noise. I was touching the controls of the Boss only for about a half hour o so, but I just didn't like the feeling of the effect... You know. However, with the Maxon the results come out within seconds and very easily. Maybe the effect itself is more subtle than the Boss, but I like it that way... maybe because I don't like Compressors at all :)

Well, I think I have say everything about it. A subtle compressor effect with very easy use and very good sound quality. Just what I want. Usually I use it only when I'm recording to my home studio. I give it a 9 instead of a 10, because I think a Compressor is not a essential effect for the guitarist, just only a minimal correction of the signal dynamic. In other words, you can pass without a Compressor, but if you whant one, this is a very good option, if you know what you whant. That's my opinion.

easy as could be - level and sustain. however, you have to take the bottom of the unit off to change the battery, which is kind of a pain in the neck.

I play bass, and i use compression first in my signal chain. if i'm recording, next will come an MXR 10-band (old style, with hardwired ac plug) then a sansamp, then any other effect. In my main rig this comes first, followed by an assload of other effects, and my main amp is a hartke b120. the compression is great; does a perfect job evening out peaks and smoothing out notes. however, my basses are a schecter devil tribal and an Ibanez srx-500, and on both with the pickup volumes at full (like normal) and especially with the bass eq up at all on the basses, this thing distorts to hell. it just doesn't seem to have nearly enough headroom. i emailed maxon about this, asking if i could use a 12 volt dc adapter instead of a 9 for more headroom, and they said i probably shouldn't; the only thing they could suggest was putting an attenuator before the unit. as much as i love this pedal, i'll eventually (when i have money) be switching to a unit with more headroom, such as the aphex punch factory. i really want an EBS MultiComp, two band compression is the way to go with bass, but that's way outta my price range right now. overall, the maxon is a great unit if your bass/guitar isn't too high output, which is why i gave it an 8.

i've had this for a bunch of months and i put my gear through hell. this seems as solid as any effect i've owned, although if u shake the pedal you can feel the battery shake. it should probably be secured better.

i emailed maxon and they got back to me remarkably fast (if i remember right, i emailed them on a friday and got my response on saturday, which suprised me. i guess they don't take days off!) they also answered all my questions, including the one about what the trim pot inside the unit does. i love this company.

overall, this would be great except for the headroom issue. this pedal is as transparent as compressors get, and that's what i like to hear in a compressor: nothing. i previously used a tech 21 comptortion, and this blows it out of the water. beautiful unit, i just wish it had more headroom.

Simple operation like most compressors.

Setup: Hardtail (I really like sustain!) Strat with humbuckers into a Hot Rod Deville 2X12. Very quiet. The compression effect is subtle but does not squash your tone. I AB'd this against other more popular units and there's no comparion, except probably a Demeterr Compulator. Most notably, it does NOT remove the natural warmth of your tone. Other boxes tended to cut bass and warmth leaving a sterile sound. Also, ths sustain on this unit is amazing, paricularly for overdrive sounds. The only thing I'd change is the very slight swell of volume after hitting a chord or sustained note...it'd be cool if was more level. But really, its so subtle you barely notice (this is probably a common theme in compressors). Another thing, this has very little effect on your pick attack. Other units seemed to create this artificial pick attack sound that was cheesy and annoying.

Too early to tell.

Don't know

I cringed at the thought of dropping 140 bucks on something that affects your tone so subtly. I bought this off of ZZounds sound unheard. I decided based on Maxonn's description on the website which aligned to what I was looking for. After really running through some tests for both clean and overdrive tones, I have to say this is one of the best investments I've made in my tone. The warmth and sustain really makes physically playing the instrument easier since you don't have to strike notes/chords so hard to get the sustain I was wanting. Even a light touch on the strings sustains a long time. My only previous experience with compressors was with the Boss and that made me never consider using one. That is until a buddy of mine showed me how his Demeter Compulator helped his tone. That sold me on the need for a quality compressor.