Ross Compressor

This thing is a snap, two nobs, each partly set into the body of the pedal as to prevent accidental movement. knobs are sustain and level.

I play both a fender heartfield custom with humbuckers and a old korean strat with Lindy Fralin pickups, through MXR phase 90, The Ross compressor, two TS-9s(vintage followed by a mod ri), Boss flanger, Ibanez rack DM500; all into a '71 fender deluxe reverb with jensen speakers. This pedal is definately the best compressor in foot pedal stlye I have gotten a hold of and let me tell ya, I have tried most. It is not noisy and the compression is phat. The feedback this thing can create in front of the two tude screamers is amazing, very musical.

Yes, but the power adapter in is and odd shape and I haven't been able to find anything that fits it, but its not a battery eater and seems sterdy,
*I never gig without backups for all my gear

Ross is long gone, used to be based in Kansas.

This is the pedal Trey Anastasio plays from phish. I am not a crazy phish head but his pedal choice is excellent. Good compression is a hard thing to find in pedal format. I would buy another one just to have 2.

Only two nobs, a lot easier than most other compressors. The nobs are really neat, too. They are recessed a bit back into the pedal, so they don't shift when they are accidentially bumped. Only contols are for level and sustain, so you also don't have to deal with an attack time nob.

The sound out of this thing is pretty good. I use customized strat- style guitars (one in normal tuning, the other in my alternate one), into this compressor - MXR Blue Box - Sovtek re-issue Small Stone - Sovtek re-issue Big Muff - DOD FX 90 delay, into my Fender Bandmaster Reverb amp. I play more straight forward music like Frank Black, ramones, Pixies, Mudhoney, but I also like to experiment like Sonic Youth does. The pedal is graet because it lets my effects be pushed, but they can still be subtile. I don't know how to rate compressors, but I know that I liked this one the best out of all the ones I tried out (BOSS CS-2, CS-3; DOD...). Sometimes when switching on the effect, though, your sound will be cut for a second, so some people might really hate this thing because of that (but really, who turns off and on their compressor mid song?) That also doesn't bother me because I use this thing a bit differently than most other people I know of who have compressors. With this thing, I now crank my amp up LOUD, and use the compressor to get the sound down to a usable level. That way, whenever I want to be experimental in a song, I have more than enough unbridaled power to push my effects. I am not sure how long this will sound on stage, but so far in practice it sounds good.

It's really old I guess. If it has lasted this long, it will last with me. Plus, I probably wouldn't be able to find another one (especially at this price), so lets hope so.

I think they are out of business, but I am not sure, maybe they sell toilet bowls or toothbrushed now.

For my strange use of it, it really works well. I got it because it looked cool and it was a great deal. Now, I am really glad I got it because it is a rarity and it sounds a lot better than most compressors I have tried. I like the simple design and control of this pedal, a lot better than more complicated compressors (BOSS CS-3) because you are always second guesssing your sound with more options. I am really glad I got this pedal, and I may even use it to record bass and vocals on home recordings.

It's a 2-knobber. You can only adjust how much compression, and the output.

I was looking for a replacement to my Boss CS-3 Compressor/Sustainer with which I have never really been that thrilled. I have a soft spot for the oddball effectmaker, and I heard they were used by Trey of Phish. So I found one on an on-line classifieds ad and bought it sight-unseen (more like unheard).
It definitely has its own sound, and oddly enough I like the fact it has 2 less knobs. (It is kind of like the Boss DC-2 Dimension C with the 4 buttons compared to the later version DC-3 with 4 knobs which wasn't an improvement. -- Less tweaking ability is better sometimes.) It does its job well, and has a good spank to it. I like where the attack it set and the very minor coloration of the tone. It can get noisy on some higher settings if you are driving older distortion pedals with it. You will have to experiment with it to find a suitable range. The sound will surprise you, actually the sound of all the Ross pedals will surprise you. (I am a Fender tweed amp, fender guitar person for reference.)
*An interesting note on the question of using it with other things... I have an old Ibanez AF-201 Auto Filter which was having a bit of trouble with some more passive old Fenders of mine. I thought the effect was on the fritz until I used the Ross in front of it, which helped a bit until I turned the level to about 3:00. Wham! Night and day. It just seems to kick the effect right in the frequency range it needs.

It is an extremely rugged little guy. This is one of the grey ones of the 'colored' series that were made in Kansas and had some connection with the Kustom Amp folks. Later, they were all black with the manufacturing being done in Taiwan. I stick with the US-made Ross'pedals, but I hear the black ones are not too shabby either.
They have a very solid case and the big knobs are almost all the way recessed into the body of the effect, so you won't knock them out of setting, or lose them when dragging them around from practice to gigs, etc. A neat design that I wish was more common. It's as old as a college grad now and still running.

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Ross' are sleepers right now. They are great little guys that I'm surprised haven't gathered fans like the old EH and MXR products have. The Compressor is a great one, as is their Phaser (which many consider their best effect), and their distortion is pretty solid like an MXR, but with a bit more range. They also made an A/C-only Phase/Distortion with individually selectable/dialable functionality in one pedal (kind of a poor man's Jet Phaser or ADA Final Phase). There certainly wasn't many of these dual-function pedals out there back then, and to get 2 of their best effects in one is pretty fun.
Oddly enough, with the zillions of Overdrives and Distortion/Fuzzes out there, we don't have too much choice in compressors. I would like to try the Way Huge Saffron Squeeze, but until then, this is my main comp. (For reference I am using it in conjunction with a Dallas-Arbiter Wah-Face, Klon, Fulldrive2, Ibanez Fl-305, and a SweetSound Ultra-Vibe. Sometimes I throw in the ZVex Fuzz which the Ross seems to mellow and stretch out nicely.)
Apparently Trey uses them, and I somehow think he could afford any effect on the market...

Two knobs, sustain and level. It couldn't be simpler! YAY!

Ok. This pedal was hard to find, but if you can find it, BUY IT. It has a sound all its own. My friend hipped me to it after finding out that it was a key ingredient in Trey Anastasio's(Phish) tone. And IT IS! It's not too noisy, and very smooth sounding. Crank your amp, put the sustain up and use the volume knob on the pedal to control the volume. Perfect!

It looks kind of flimsy. I'm not too sure about this one. I would buy a backup if I thought I could find one...

I doubt there is any customer support for Ross effects

I need a compressor in order to smooth out overdrive tones and such. This box makes an excellent tonal enhancer, and it has true bypass so that it won't mess with your tone when you turn it off. It's cheap, and it just sounds great. A pawnshop prize!