Tech 21 CompTortion

For what I wanted, it was extremely easy.

I play in an r'n b/soul band. I'm not looking for distortion. I use a modified "65 Deluxe Reverb. 6L6's and a Celestion G12-85 speaker and a homemade "Strat" w/Schecter Monstertone pickup assembly. My amp is miked on stage and my volume on the Deluxe can't usually be over 3. For leads, I want the sound of my Deluxe cranked. I used to just set it at 8 or 9 and dial back on the guitar for rhythm, but singing makes that a little difficult. Don't want to be distracted trying to adjust the volume of the guitar after taking a lead while singing. Tried a Rat, a TS-9, a Menatone Blue Collar and probably a few others I can't remember right now. Am very happy w/the Comptortion. I generally set the Gain around 9 o'clock or so, the Volume around 2 to 3 o'clock, the tone somewhere around 4 or 5 o'clock (seems to be where it sound the most like the normal sound of the guitar and amp) and the compressor is barely on, if at all. Gives me a very throaty singing sound (B.B. meets Jimmy Vaughn)

Absolutely, altho make sure you carry an extra battery. When the battery starts to die, there is a clicking sound when you turn it on. Suppose I could get an adaptor but that's just one more cord running across the stage.
ALWAYS HAVE A BACKUP! What's the Boy Scout motto?

no contact

Certainly would buy one again. I think I answered all these questions above.

Plug it in. stomp it on, fool with knobs, see what it does, see what it does'nt do, find what it does well, use it for those things. It takes a little time to get to know it's limitations but once you know what it does it can be a useful tool.

I purchased this item used to drive a clean amp into a smooth overdrive and the price was reasonable. I have a Dr. Z Maz 18 Jr with 2/10's and a Top Hat Club Royale with 2/12's. I'm using the Top Hat for overdriven tones because this amp is brown as dirt and shines in that respect, The Z however sparkles in the clean mode. With an Anderson Classic I am using for Stratocaster tones, also a PRS EG, a custom 22 with dragon P.U., a custom 24 (pre 1991), A Les Paul Classic, I pretty well have the tonal spectrum of guitar tones covered. When I get a new piece of gear I will usually test it with the single coils and if the single coil produces a desirable effect then everything else usually will also with a minimum ammount of tweakage. I have PE Germ pedal which drives an amp set on the edge of breakup into a good boost and drive but does not do much for a clean set amp. I have a Marshall Drivemaster that emulates an overdriven Marshall real well but it just is'nt fat. The comptortion gets me into the FAT zone when using a clean amp. The pedal also has 2 other uses besides a marriage of compression and distortion which are that it is about the most transparent clean boost with the "tortion" and "comp knobs fully down and up to about 12:00 settings the "comp is a really fine compressor when used without the "tortion" also the "tortion', when used sparingly by itself will yeild a nice result.

It's a production line, mass produced effect and not a hand wired point to point piece but it looks sturdy and will hold up if not abused.

Not had to deal with them as of yrt

Overall, It's not a 100% but it can be a valuable tool in the arsenal. It can produce some pretty awful pong game sounding tones if you turn the "tortion and "comp" up past 12:00 but it will produce a pleasing effect at lower settings. The previous review by Adam is exactly what I found to be true. I have yet to experiment with chaining it up with other units but I was planning on purchasing a compressor and the price on this thing was good so I bought it. I don't think I would have bought it new and I don't think I would buy it again but as I work it into my scheme of things I may find it to become an integral part of my sound.

3 ADJUSTERS, LEVEL , DiSTORTION AND COMPRESSION

Sounds Very FAT so for all the ''Clean-distortion'' lovers, this pedal ain't gonna do the job, personally this distortion reminded me a lot to the ''PLACEBO''-sound, specially in songs like 'Days Before you came'. Yeah, i think that's a great link.
With lots of compression, the tone almost gets lost and it's just a lot of noice but for the better rock bands, and i play professional, it's a dream.

We toured for 8 months last year and ofcourse we have spares of every pedal but we never had to use it for the Comptortion, only some boss-pedals let me down sometimes, if ya wonna know.
Also very handy footswitch, small klick.

Easy to use pedal, manual gives some good suggestions, but this pedal really needs tweaking by the owner. Not one of those pedals where you just plug in, and jam! Too much distortion, and you get mud, too much compression, and it's not good either....

Sound quality is good, but not a distortion pedal for anyone looking to play "metal". It's more of a warm/70's style of distortion. This pedal can get a bit noisy if cranked too high.

I use a LANEY 1/2 stack, fender strats, and various other gear.

Can get great blues sounds, good blues lead tones, warm smooth distortion...etc If that's what you're into. Just not agressive enough for me on the distortion end of the pedal, but the compression end of it is really nice!

Dependability: Hmmm, built pretty sturdy, just like a Carl Martin stompbox. I guess I could depend on it.

Overall, a good pedal...Not for metal heads. (Which is what I am).

Bought it just because I wanted to see what it was like.

Wish it had a more crunchy distortion. Because the idea of a dist/compression pedal all in one, is a fabulous idea! it should be done more often, by other companies.

Stolen or Lost? I would buy a Carl Martin Compressor Limiter pedal. I have all the distortion pedals & preamps that I'll ever use. I could use a nice compression pedal however.

Overall, it's a terrific pedal, just not for me. For killer blues tones I just use my LANEY tube head.... it's perfect for that.

Even though the Comptortion has two effects in one box there's nothing to it. If you've ever used compression and distortion separately then it's no biggie. The EQ isn't like your typical EQ; if set at max then it's like you're not using EQ at all. Start to turn the knob counterclockwise and you start to reduce the high end. Also, too much of of one can overpower the other so use the separate effects judiciously. Personally, the compression only requires a little (between 9 and 11 o'clock for my tastes).

Distortion and compression are usually more a matter of personal taste so let your ears be your own judge. I have a Boss SD 1 and DS 1, a Line 6 Distortion Modeler, plus a Trademark 60 and a Boss VF 1 Multi Effects box, not to mention the plethora of pedals and multi effects I've used in the past. I got the Comptortion for two reasons: 1- I wanted something that I could take with me that would reduce the amount of gear I needed to lug around when I play out, and 2- I really like Tech 21 gear. I mainly use the Comptortion in an acoustic set up (guitar > VHT Valvulator > SansAmp Acoustic DI > Comptortion > Peavey Ecoustic 112 or Bronzewood 60 < Lexicon MPX 100 < Vortex < JamMan into the loop). I don't set the Tortion or the Comp much past 11 o'clock max so I don't experience a lot of noise. While the distortion isn't as smooth as some other pedals out there, it feels more like and overdrive pedal than a distortion pedal (if that means anything to you) and I like what it adds to my sound.

So far so good.

They have always responded to my e-mails within 3-5 days and they are pretty easy to reach via the phone if you need to.

The Comptortion is a good all around combination pedal at a reasonable price. Is it the best out there? That's a matter of opinion. Nothing is perfect and I know my preferences are changing continuously, but considering how many pedals have come and gone in my collection over the past 2 1/2 decades I like this one about as much as any others I've had. It doesn't sound like the Boss Super Overdrive or Distortion pedal or the Line 6 models and it's small and fills the bill for two effects, so I'm happy with it. Check it out.

I am mainly a jazz and blues player so I have a love for fat tones out of my guitar. When I first try this product, it delivers a fat tone for a Fender Strat. This pedal combines a compressor and distortion, then adds a noise gate to it. It is "two-effect in one"and is a good deal when comparing to buying them separately.
The manual gives some brief explanation on function of this pedal, how to avoid having both distortion and compression effect at the same time.

I use Fender Strat and Fender Blues Jr. plus a few guitars fitted with Humbucking PUs. I don't think I will use CompTortion over these guitars. But I am looking for good tones out of my Strat.
Because of noise cutting circuit built into this pedal, it is not noisy at all and therefore can be well applied to a recording situation.
I would recommend using more distortion (say at 1 to 3 o' clock) and lesss compression (varies between 9 to 12 o'clock) for most playing situation if you play rock, blues and jazz fusion. For metal music, you can add more compression effect. But remember, the more compression, the less articulated notes (bites) you get from your guitar. The problem I notice with this pedal is - weaker tones when you turn down your guitar volume - sounds like if you are running out of battery! This is something you should really be careful if you're checking out this pedal. Some players want volume sensitive distortion effect and in this respect this pedal sucks!
Despite this, the sound is very good for clean type of playing situation.

I try using this on recording situation. Very good.
Since I don;t play gig, I can't comment.

No such need so far.

I play rock, blues and jazz, fusion for 18 years. I use mostly a Strat. For other guitars, I must use other pedals to deliver a great variety of guitar tones. Since I don't have other amps, pedals will help me to deliver different sound quality while retaining the colors of the guitar tones. I think this pedal basically give you a good, fatty sound for a Strat player but won't color your tones. You can still hear a typical fat Strat tone.
Currently I use ProCo Rat distortion pedal which I enjoy the most when playing my Strat for rock music. The Rat is still the greatest in my opinion, but still a bit noisy for me. Of course, if I want a cleaner and lighter sound with more sustain, I will use my Boss OverDrive 1 or Ibanez TubeScreamer.
So I think the greatest potential use of this pedal is the compression effect whether you play clean or distorted.

Its very, very easy to use

OK, when i bought this pedal i was looking for a lead sound that has good sustain and that singing distortion and I must say that ive found it. My style is like metal/rock/blues and it covers them all. I know that others before me stated that its worthless for higher distortionsounds but i cannot agree on that one. With dist on like 3 aclock and comp at 2 aclock to you get a great johnpetrucci lead sound. This thing is very versatile and sounds great if you have the wright equipment around it, just like most pedals. I play it trough a Laney vc50 and a fender us strat so its pretty good stuff.

It seems very solid and i would use it without a backup

I chose this one cause the rythm sound i use is very harsh(boss mt2 "metallzone")so i wanted another kind of distortion that is smooth and doesnt kill the tone of my amplifier like the metallzone.
There were several other options like boss ds1 but this one had more distortion and a compressor too, which is a must for every guitarist.
It sounds great to me, but you got to try it for yourself!

Read the previous posts. Very easy to use. The manual is very straightforward. The www.tech21nyc.com website also shows and plays sample settings.

Sound quality is very good, if you figure out how to use this beast. I bought it a couple years ago; fiddled with it for a few months; was very unhappy with it and put it away; read some of the earlier posts on this review about it and looked at it again. Now, I can't live without it !! Others have commented on this previously- turning the Comp or Tortion controls up past 12 o'clock results in crap, basically. However, putting those two controls at 9 o'clock
yields a fabulous sound and lotsa dynamics depending on pick attack.

I use a Rickenbacker 650 Frisco with HB-1 humbuckers through this pedal into a Tech21 Trademark 60 combo amp. I liked the fact that the CompTortion looked like the amp's channel/boost selector footswitch. I use three basic sounds in my presentation: very clean which the TM60 provides very well; just a little dirty , which the CompTortion does very well ; and a bluesy type lead which the second channel on the TM60 does okay with this set-up, but I am not totally happy with.

One thing about the CompTortion- By using a mild picking/ strumming technique you can get a nice clean, but fat sound - when you dig in with the pick on power chords or just whacking at a note you get a nice overdriven, even crunchy sound. This is the setup I use to play 3 Doors Down 'SUPERMAN'. The 'clean' parts of the song ring through because it is a Rickenbacker playing through a clean amp with a bit of compression provided by the pedal. The ' dirty' chorus of the song has a nice crunch because it is a humbucker guitar being whacked through the compression and overdrive of the pedal. Pick with a light touch and you get clean, bang away with a heavy stroke and you get crunch. Both at about the same volume level ( the heavier attack yields a bit higher level of volume as you would expect ) I really love this sound.

I've owned it for two years or so. Playing with it continuously for the last 12 months or so. The case and switches are built like a tank. My only gripe is the L.E.D.. I played a county fair earlier today in sunlight and I couldn't see the LED whether it was on or off. This was the first time I played in the sunlight with it, indoor gigs it is not a problem. I wish somebody would invent an indicator that you can see in the bright sunlight.

I have not had to deal with Tech21 for a problem ( yet ), but I wrote to them about a lot of issues ranging from tech tips to their line of apparel and they always answer their e-mail immediately and without that condescending attitude you get from some manufacturers. I like these guys and I will probably buy more of their products.

I have been playing on and off for 30 years and I play in a band that does mostly radio rock and pop. We play a lot of newer tunes ( 3 Doors Down, Lenny Kravitz, Fuel ) and some classics ( Eddie Money, Robert Palmer ). We don't play any really hard metal, industrial or shredder songs. If I had to identify my sound I would say an unworthy emulation of Eric Clapton or David Gilmour.

I own another Rick, a 380 Laguna with piezo bridge to do the acoustic stuff. It has the same neck and HB-1's as the 650F so I can go from the acoustic song into an electric rocker. The 380 is a hollowbody, though, so I have to switch to the solidbody 650 for the loud stuff.

For rehearsal, I use either guitar through a Vox Valvetone 810 pedal into a Vox Pathfinder practice amp. I have tried to use the Valvetone in the past for an extra boost to get my lead tone through the CompTortion/ TM60 combo. Maybe I need to revisit this.

I would buy another CompTortion if it was lost, stolen or broken. Maybe I should do that anyway- I bought the Vox810 for 50 bucks new, now they are out of production and a NOS unit goes for well over 100.

While it is easy to get a good sound out of this pedal, it's easier to get a bad sound. The range of useable settings on the Comptortion is slim in my estimation, the sweet spots even slimmer.

The level knob works exactly as it's supposed to. Increase the level a notch, and your volume goes up a notch. This holds all the way through the range of level settings. It also does just what the manufacturer claims - does not alter any tonal characteristics.

I was puzzled by the inclusion of a tone knob on this pedal. I know lots of overdrive pedals have a tone knob, and I never knew why. With a distortion you expect your signal to be clipped, not altered in frequency. But I didn't know much about these matters. The manual states that the tone knob is a "traditional passive shelving tone control." I had no idea what this meant, so I did a bit of searching on the web and discovered that passive means it requires no power to work and cuts frequencies rather than amplifies them. Shelving seemed to mean that it was a broad swath of frequencies that were cut rather than a more limited range as in a graphic EQ. Basically like a tone knob on your guitar. This seems correct. To get my original tone I had to turn the tone knob full up. So the tone knob basically acts just like the tone knob on your guitar. Once you understand this it's easy to work with. Then you can also talk to your ignorant friends about "passive shelving tone control" and sound like you're smarter than you are.

If you want the pedal to do absolutely nothing to your tone: set the level to around one o'clock, and the tone full up. Just so you know where you're starting from.

Take these two controls on their own and you've got a pedal unto itself: a clean boost when the level is past 1 o'clock. At least for my rig.

Then I tried the compression. I struck an open E and started turning the comp knob, and I noticed a funny thing. I got no noticeable compression until after around 9 o'clock on the knob; and the real meat of this effect occurs from around 10 until noon. High noon is heavy compression, but still without too pronounced a pumping/breathing effect at the end of your sustained signal. From high noon position until full up there is not a whole lot of difference except in the noticeability of the pumping/breathing, and the very noticeable strangulation of your tone. So I quickly deemed over half of this knob useless for my tone when used alone. So I'd say this knob decreases the ease of use of the pedal. But not appreciably.

The tortion knob works from start position to high noon in a relatively even manner. More tortion, more gain - with really noticeable and mild overdrive starting around 9 o'clock, and high noon being a fat fuzztone. Again, as with the comp knob, from noon to full up is all the same heavy fuzz to my ears. Like the third and fourth and fifth steak after the two you've already had.

So while the level and tone knobs are easy to grasp, both the comp and tortion controls are not so transparent and simple. Most of the range on them is useless, and that range is uneven to boot. Once you are aware of their useable range, they are simple. This may be different depending on the rig and the user's ear.

The manual gives you some useful hints. Like turning the volume down when not playing (at least if you're using the tortion or the comp). Because in addition to being a distortion pedal and a compression pedal and a clean boost pedal, it is also a noise gate. I play a strat, and even though the pickups are lace sensors, the single coil buzz comes through when i have some tortion and comp on and am just letting the guitar hang. As soon as I start playing the noise disappears. If you ever have tunes where you're not producing notes at all times, then you won't want the compression anywhere past noon for it, and probably not even that high. They also say when using either comp or tortion at maximum they recommend using the other sparin

I play an 89' stratocaster through a fender stage lead. This is my only home amp. It is solid state. I have been playing live for about a year in new york city, and have encountered numerous quality tube amplifiers in the rehearsal studios I frequent. But I am too poor to afford any of them myself at the moment. But I have tested the comptortion through a variety of amplifiers.

The pedal can get noisy if the tortion or comp settings are up, and you're not playing. As long as you're playing, the pedal acts as a noise gate - which is a wonderful thing.

Many others have commented, and I will reiterate - the range of useful settings on this pedal is slim.

But the useful settings are good enough. I bought this because it was cheap, and promised to wed distortion and compression as separate effects in a single unit. It does this, within limits.

I like using compression for my basic tone, for just a little added sustain and smoothness to my tone. That being said, I'd say the compression is as good as anything you're liable to find if all you're looking for is a useable compression that will increase your sustain, smooth out your tone and not detract from the dynamics of your playing. It will not color your tone, and if you just want that little hint of compression, then you could buy this as just a compression and your only complaint would be all these extra knobs. Price would not be a complaint considering that you also get an overdrive.

But you do get a bit of overdrive. I say a bit, because I think anything more than a bit on this pedal is not good. If you play metal or are looking for any heavy overdrive, avoid this pedal because it sucks for that sort of tone. If you just desire a mild, medium warm overdrive, you can find it in the comptortion to your satisfaction.

If you find yourself using both the tortion and comp on the comptortion and enjoying the tone, as I do, then you'll be thankful for the built-in noise gate as well. And if you just want a clean boost for a song, this pedal will do it for you as well, without any detriment to your tone.

So, this pedal has good sound quality, but only within a limited range of use.

I've only had it a month so I ought to be able to depend on it.

I always gig without backup effects, because in a pinch I can do without them.

I play blues, classic-style rock and roll, brit-pop, folk-pop, roots-rock and funk. Just so you know where I'm coming from. My belief about tone is that it's mostly in the fingers. I have been playing for 14 years without effects, just a guitar and an amplifier, and I've worked hard to get good tone. Now I figure I deserve some effects to spruce up my sound, so I've begun buying effects, with the intention of making them a part of my sound.

So all I require from an effect is that if it doesn't better my tone, it at least not detract from it. The comptortion fulfills this requirement.

For the styles of music I play the comptortion is a fine match. There may be better matches. But when you consider that within a certain range of styles you're getting a very useable distortion and compression, as well as a noise gate, and with the option of using the pedal as just a clean boost, and when I take into account the price I paid - I congratulate myself on my purchase. Even if you end up paying the full C-note for this item - if your style is among those I've listed above you'll be satisfied.

The Comptortion does not diminish my tone, it gives me exactly the compression I was looking for, exactly the sort of overdrive I find most useful, and it does its job with no added noise. I now use it as an integral part of my tone, with the compression at around 11 o'clock and the tortion off. If I'm playing a song that requires more overdrive, then I'll put the tortion around 9 o'clock. I don't really need the versatility, so I don't mind the lack of versatility in the compression and distortion. I sometimes wish you could engage the tortion and comp separately with separate switches, but this isn't a major drawback.

I plan to get a separate overdrive for those times when I want a really fine overdriven tone, and also just to have the option; then I will use the comptortion as just a compressor. Then I'm going to get a separate compressor, and if I enjoy the sound of my compressor and my overdrive, then I'll just use the comptortion as a clean boost. If having a separate compressor and overdrive requires a noisegate then I'll probably get one. But then, after it's all done, and I have three pedals where before I had one, I may end up just going back to using the comptortion, since I believe that simplicity is a virtue, and the less cable and metal between your guitar and your amplifier the better.

The knobs - volume, tone, distortion, compression - are straightforward, but subtlety is key in making this thing sound good.

I am currently using this with a Yamaha Pacifica (loaded with a Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge), a Mesa Boogie Studio .22, and a Danelectro DanEcho delay pedal. I use the comptortion mainly to get a lead boost, which it does so effectively. However, as I said before, subtlety is key; this is not some Boss style "turn everything up to ten and play" pedal. The first variable involves your guitar. Apparently, the input stage reacts to the output level of your pickups, so in other words, certain settings that sound awesome with single coils will sound like crap with, say, a Les Paul (and Vice Versa). The JB humbucker on my axe is pretty lively, so I set the Compression and Distortion to the 9 o'clock setting, with the volume and tone just past 12 o'clock. This setting gives an awesome sustain boost, which is good for generating controlled feedback effects. the tone at this setting is quite bluesy, but not so much more than a tubescreamer. I can't stress it enough-SUBTLETY is the key. Be especially careful with the compressor knob; too much, and you'll be confronted by a blast of noise.

Seems solid (knock on wood). At the store, it was either this (for $120) or one or more of the new DanElectro mini-pedals ($30). The Dano units were quite good for the money, and I may get some down the road. However, they look and feel a little flimsy, so I decided that it was worth spending more to buy something more reliable.

Never needed it.

Overall, its quite good. Its useless for metal, shred, Limp dick type tones, and serves its best function as a sustainer/booster, which is what I use it for anyway. Although its a little pricey, it looks and feels like its solidly built, and unlike some pedals can be adapted to use with any guitar, depending on how patient you are with setting the knobs. However, its sensitive controls may be a turnoff for some.