Monte Allums MXR Dynacomp Mod

i bought this pre-owned off ebaY 65 quid. been modded by Monte i presume there is only 1 mod for the dyna comp. Its a very easy to use pedal only 2 controls, output and sensitivity. However if you are trying to vary the compression rolling back the sensitivity just seems to loose you a load of hisss and sustain, the compression seems to always be there.

It has an amazing sound to it i can get some really good maiden sounds out using it after my boss metal zone into a line6 spider 2 30 watt. But then when you stop playing the hiss kicks in which also brings feedback with it so if you were playing a riff with pauses in between (like domination/Pantera) you get a high pitch squeak of feedback building up before you play again, when you can hear the compressor kick in. I think i noise gate, or noise surpressor is essential.
This was my first compressor i bought and as i am into heavy metal at firt i didnt like the way it compressed my hi-gain distortion which lost me a lot of bass and treble, it kind of evened out the eq. i tended to play slightly midscooped for that thrash shred sound and it god read of that tone but kept the sound i had. so my playing sounded just as good even better but a lot cleaner sound allowing you to hear all the notes and it also added some sustain.
It also brings out individual notes a lot more when you are using high distortion which is why i like it for the ending to floods by pantera it smooths out my harsh metal zone so i can get a clearer warmer sounding fuzz, it sounds perfect.

On clean it is very good again if you stop playing you get hiss but nothing a noise gate cant sort out. i also play some bluesy style things on a strat as well as metal. using it straight into my amp with humbuckers on clean i got a very clear yet thick sound which wasnt muddy so if you played a six string chord you could hear everynote ring, it also evens out the volume for every string and note so you dont get those shrill sounding treble notes high up and if you are doing bassy riffs it brings out the sound of them more.
Through my strat it had a very nice chunky clean sound on neck quite bassy and got a bit muddy im guessing that was my stock squier pickups, and on the bridge it had a very glassy fresh twang to it but i found you could get some good direstraits sounds like in sultans of swing, and gave me much more richness on my solos you could hear every note ring into the next one so it didnt sound quite and run short, and if you palm muted a little run it gave you a nice click on evry note.

well its been good only me so far.

havnt had to use them.

i would say this is a great pedal for anyones pedal board no matter what kind of music you play unless you really do play the scoopedout speed metal but im not into that kind of stuff. i also have a boss cs-3 and although the boss adds much more sustain it is very thin sounding and doesnt give you the richness. the boss cs-3 has a very helpfull tone control but again it is very thin sounding and trebley.
i always use mine it can also be good as a booost im thinking of selling my cs-3 its always lying on my bedroom floor lacking use. i find the dyna comp also smoothens out the shrill sweeps you can get if u have it after a crybaby so it brings out the wah very nicely.

and you cant forget that lovely bright green LED although it hurts your eyes if u look at it for to long.

I did the Blues Driver mod prior to this one. I'll talk about that later but this one was easier. Agree with what has been said about wicking all of the old solder away.

This mod went off without a hitch. No problems to report. You must have basic skills in soldering.

One suggestion I have for these mods: When you remove a part, put it on a piece of paper under scotch tape. Label it "Step C" or whatever. When you're done you'll have a cataloged sheet with all your old parts on it in case you need to reinstall one of the original parts. If you are a novice like me and don't do this, there is virtually no way you can be certain that you will find the stock part once it is removed.

The sound is much better with the mod. $20 well spent. It is clearer and punchier. The "click" of the pick attack with the stock unit is basically gone. There is very little momentary sensing of the pick attack where it's loud and then immediately squashed. Much smoother and clearer without losing warmth. The unit has slightly more output too.

I wasn't terribly impressed with the stock unit. I'm not someone who uses a ton of compression so it wasn't a big deal to me. I see myself using it more now. And I see myself being able to use it clean without having to automatically mask the compression with overdrive.

The new green LED is a nice touch too. Meaningless, but it looks kind of cool. My rating of 10 isn't based on all compression units out there. It's compared to the original unit and what it cost in time and money to improve it. I'm sure there are better compressions out there. But I doubt you'd find a better one for the money. I bought the pedal used for $50. +$20 mod = $70 for what I have. Not a bad deal.

Seems like once it works, it will always work. If the original unit was going to be reliable, this surely will too. Check back with me in 10 years...

Monte is very supportive and seem to be willing to help in any way he can, within reason of course. I didn't try calling him but he was always very responsive to E-mail inquiries.

I think people like him sometimes forget how little people like me know about diodes and capacitors and such. I ain't stupid. Got smarts real good. But beyond being handy with a soldering iron, I don't really know much about this kind of thing. Ideas like taping parts to a piece of paper is something I learned the hard way.

I think you get what you pay for in the form of products and service. See below for more comments.

I stand behind everything I stated above. But one other piece of info based on my experience: when you delve into this project be willing to sacrifice your pedal in the process. Since you're doing the work yourself, know that there is no one to go to if the mods don't work right or, in my case, if your Blues Driver doesn't work when you're all done with it. Monte is helpful but there's only so much he can do through E-mail or possibly over the phone.

I don't hold this against Monte. It was a chance I was willing to take. But I followed his directions on my Blues Driver, checked each mod after it was done. Closed up the pedal and it didn't work. Checked checked checked and rechecked connections and got different results. But ultimately I spent $20 and some frustrating hours to basically waste my Blues Driver. I'm so sick of it I can't even stand the idea of checking connections further.

After this, I ended up buying a pedal that basically sounds like I wanted my BD to sound so it's all good in the end. Just know ahead of time that destroying your pedal is a possibility. And if you want more insurance, pay someone more than $20 and have them do it.

As it is, with just this MXR project, I have no complaints. Each mod went in without a problem and the pedal works like a charm. I would recommend Monte's mods with the above information added. I'm assuming Monte will read this at some point and I hope he doesn't take this as a troll post or someone with a chip on their shoulder. Maybe he can use the info to modify his business for the better.

Instructions were good and easy to follow. Unsoldering the old components is little bit tricky since pcp has solder joints in both sides. It takes little time and patience not to break the board. Be carefull and it'll come out nicely.

I was very sceptic about this mod but it surprised me totally. Tone is so much better. Still sounds like dynacomp should, but sound is clear, fuller and biting. Not to mention the lower noise level. Before the mod it was pumping, muddy and had some annoying upper range freq. With one amp it gave huge treble boost, that was 4k??? boutigue amp..

Gives me those lovely Script logo-tones a la Gilmour.

Site gives somewhat arrogant impression and I think religion should be kept apart of tone-business. After the mod I had brief correspondence with the man himself and he seemd nice stand up guy. I understand it must be annoying as hell when people cock up themselves and then start asking help so those strick instuctions are in place.

Huge improvement. Don't really use comp other than getting those Gilmour tones when doing PF songs. Don't have it in my regular pedalboard, cause I don't use it that much. Not gonna brag with my other gear, but have those basic Animal-The Wall Gilmour gadgets and this fits the bill.

Two knobs: turn left or right to achieve different degrees of compression and output.

This Monte Allums mod is a huge improvement for the MXR Dyna Comp. Why? Because it no longer adds excessive treble frequencies when turned on. The output is a lot smoother without coloring the tone of your guitar and amp. I noticed that difference immediately. YOUR TONE WILL REMAIN UNTAINTED if you perform this modification. Save yer monies and don't waste it on the high dollar, bootgeek pedals.

So far so good

Very pleased with this mod. I'm looking forward to performing the Blues Driver mod.

Like the other reviewer(s), I have modded some other pedals with Monte's kits. I agree this was the toughest one. This is not Monte's fault. The PCB holes for the components are double sided, meaning the solder flows onto both sides of the board. I have found the best way to get around this is by doing these 2 things: 1) Go to Radio Shack and buy their desoldering braid. 2) Wick away your solder, then snip your braid and do it again on the same hole. Repeat this until you see the hole go empty, meaning the solder is completely wicked away.

*Hint* This particular mod kit included a very loosely woven desoldering braid, so I'm glad I had that Radio Shack spool handy.

Also, just get some good tweezers. Long handled ones if possible. Heat up the points of the component you are removing (after you've removed all the solder you can) , one at a time, and pull with the tweezers. You need these. Period.

Also, the pedal itself requires you to remove the switch, knob & input nuts and four bottom screws just to get inside of it! Give yourself an extra couple of minutes to pay attention to where these go. The MXR clearly is built well: Great components and a very robust design inside. The I/O jacks are very heavy duty. One design flaw: The pedal comes with a set screw to mod your Attack. You CANNOT change this setting w/o completely taking the pedal apart! Set this AFTER the mods and BEFORE you put it all back together, or you will be undoing all those screws and washers again. Be careful of static discharge while handling it outside of the casing!

Stock, this pedal sounded good. REALLY good. My brother was saying, "Man don't touch it. I've got one and I like it the way it is."

While I liked the stock sound a lot, it does color the tone quite a bit. I don't like that. So I modded it. This is the biggest difference. I want to A/B mine with his now that it's done, so we can compare how much the original pedal colors the tone. So that's the biggest plus: The signal sounds pure now. You don't come across that with most stock compressors.

Next I'll cover the 2 points of the compressor: Picking dynamics and Sustain.

As far as picking, I need to tweak that darn set screw again to see if I can lessen the attack just a hair more. I like the dynamics of the picking to be there, which it is, but it's just a little bit too diminished. Now, this could just be that I need to get used to it because for 16 years I've never played with a compressor. I think it may just be me. I'd just like my lower notes to "breathe" a little better.

As far as sustain, that's where I give it great marks. GREAT sustain. Not squishy sounding. You can hear the gradual build of sustain while the note decays, but it doesn't get hissy or colored. Very VERY transparent. The pedal was on the verge of this, but the mod helped greatly. It's now balanced very well.

One last point: The "output" knob must be all the way up, otherwise the dynamics of your picking don't sound very good. This has created a little problem, because when I kill the pedal the level drops quite a bit. I guess I'll have to tweak it some more, or just leave the compressor on all the time, but I would like to have the option of leaving it off and having the level stay the same. Time will tell I suppose.

I'm giving it a 9 1/2 for the actual quality of sound, but must dock it a little for the output issue.

I can definitely depend on it. It's a trade off: While it's tougher to Mod than the Boss pedals, it's definitely built to take abuse inside the pot-metal casing and double sided PCB holes. I'm more confident in these components staying put than my Boss mods.

Monte is great. I understand Jim Dunlop tech support is really good as well. They stamped their web address on the PCB inside the pedal. How many pedal companies do that? Very clear PCB markings, clean layout.

I play a lot of blues, funk and some hard rock. Been playing for 16 years. I would be curious to see how this compressor sounds on something like a Dual Recifier or even a good Solid State amp. I really like it on my tube amp, but I'm still getting used to playing with a compressor.

I like this mod. I like the pedal stock, but after the mod there's no denying it sounds better. If you are a purist who does not want to color your tone AT ALL, and has to have a compressor, you should do yourself a favor by saving the extra $200 bucks for a "real" compressor and just get this one and mod it. BTW, I do not like any other mods for compressors. I've listened to several and just did not like them, including Monte's Boss CS-3 mod. I'm sorry, but that pedal just sucks. Also, I don't like the MP3 clip on Monte's site for the DynaComp mod. It doesn't do it justice. He compresses the crap out of it!

Bought this mod kit off ebay. I liked the dynacomp but have always felt it could be better. I have done mods on many other pedals and never had a problem, but this one was tricky. At first when I recieved the kit I discovered the plans were for the m102 and mine was not. However, Monte was quick to respond with updated intstructions for this model. So off I went. I tried it after each mod as suggested and everyhting seemed fine. When I was all done and I plugged it in, I wasn't functioning properly. There was power and sound, but when I dug in with the guitar the volume cut right out and was distorted, and I had to turn volume all the way up. So into the parts drawer it went. Well after a few months I recieved an e-mail from Monte regarding a mistake in the original instructions. Well mine was okay, but suddenly I realized after looking at picture that I had the cap values mixed up. All the caps came together and look identical and I never thought about checking values. So i changed them around and it's now working great. Maybe marking the one different value cap as "A" would have been cool, but lesson learned. I will also add that the dunlop version I have is a little more difficult than any other pedal I have ever worked on to get the solder off to remove components.

One word, awesome. The improvements are impressive and well worth the hassle to mod. After the mods this pedal is very quiet, and so much more usable. I like the way there is very little change in the guitars original sound compared to before mod when the bottom end would drop out and the mids would come up. I put it first in the chain right after volume pedal. I was surprised to find that modulation effects like delay and chorus sound better, and the wah is a little smoother, wasn't expecting that. I would have been happy with just the noise improvements. I pretty much leav it on all the time now.

I don't see no reason for it to crap out but who knows, the guy that did the mod isn't perfect. I think I can depend on it though.

Monte is a first class guy. Fast response to e-mails and helpful all the way. I will definately buy from him.

I play mostly blues and old school rock for fun. But I play alot of contemporary christian music. I have been playing guitar for 15 years. I play a strat, tele and a few others through various amps, tube and solid state. This does add to my sound and If It was lost or stolen, I would buy another used Dynacomp on ebay as they are slawsy selling for so cheap and order this mod kit. I don't think you get a better pedal at twice the price or more. Though I can't say for sure as i havent played any high end ones.