Tokai TCO-1

3 knobs, Level, sustain, attack,,,,,easy right?

Nice and warm, works great with my tube amp (hotrod deville 4x10) works ok with my POD.

I does what it should and does a very nice job of making the drive channels in my deville sound just right. There was always something missing from my drive channel, this was it. They say that compressors are the musicians best keep secret to great tone, I agree. It is a subtle change but one I am not willing to go with out. The deville drive channel now sound like Greg Keelors 5 Days in May sound. I just love that sound.

The Tokai has a warmth that I didn't get with the Boss, not to mention the Boss was way over priced, hey I picked this unit up for $35CDN thats about $20US,,,,what a deal!

Sustains nice without to much noise, providing you don't get to carried away with the sustain knob. With the right settings you can use this to give your clean channel a little boost for solos. Anyway this unit does what a good compressor (stomp box style anyway) should do, and does it very nicely.

This unit is old, I'm guessing mid to late 70's,, I really don't know since Tokai dosn't make them any more I'm not sure I will ever find out. It is built very similar to a Boss pedal very heavy duty casing with the little screw to hold the pedal down and the battery under that. I took it appart to have a look at the components. Every thing looked ok but the circuit board was not mounted to anything and the soldering looked poor. However as I said it is old and still working great. Having said that I don't think this unit was used to much.

It is really to bad that Tokia don't make these pedals any more, they really are that good. If you can find one used I would recommend that you pick one up. I was luck to find this unit in almost new condition. I love the fact that it is not main stream and give my tone that added kick it needed. I'm going to give it a 9 here only because the circuit board really needs to be secured. Don't get me wrong its not bouncing all over the place inside the housing it held down by friction.

As I said it does the job very nicely!

3 Knobs. Attack, Sustain and Volume. Very simple.

This is a great compressor for the money. It sustains the note beautifully. It can be used to boost the sound for solos too. Fits in really well with my setup. Compressors are often a guitarists best kept secret as they say, i would say this compressor is the best kept secret of all. Ok, Tokai cant compete with Boss in terms of company size, but this pedal definately stands up on its own.

This pedal is very old but still works great. It has a metal chassis. I've never had a problem with it.

Never needed to contact them.

Great overall compressor! Does everything you would expect it to and more. I was very surprised when i bought it how good it actually was. It really surpassed my expectations.

Level, Sustain, Attack.
Just fiddle around a bit to find out the good amount for your type of guitar

One of the best compressors I have.
Different than the MXR or Boss, but one of my favs

Sturdy

Do they still exist ??

This really is one of my best buys, I look out for other Tokai old units. Really very good value for money

This Compressor unit has three self explanitory knobs:
Level (volume increases when turned CW)
Sustain (sound duration increases when turned CW)
Attack (compression increases when turned CW)
The ancient and tattered manual I have lists all Tokai
pedals at time of publishing and their general functions.

I use a standard Fender Telecaster and a Fender HotRod Deluxe
amp. I use the tube overdrive and spring reverb on the amp, but
have a number of effects running before the Tokai compressor.
This is the best sounding compressor pedal I have used, it is very
warm and sounds a lot like the ART Levelar tube compressor I use to
record vocals. It makes a little bit of noise when the Sustain is turned past 12 o'clock or the Level is cranked to around 3 o'clock
(hence 9 for this rating and not 10). It has the warmth and a lo-fi
elegance that makes me forgive that bit of transistor buzz. Most
other brands, to remain nameless, cause lots more noise and often
unwanted feedback.

I hope it is reliable, because I like it very much.
I think this company is out of business and from the
unit and manual, I am guessing that this unit was produced
in the mid 1970's. I don't know whether I would be able
to find another one if I had too, but I would probably try.

Like I said, they may be out of business or
perhaps no longer distributed in the USA.

This Tokai TCO-1 Compressor is old, clunky, warm, and
lo-fi. It definitely has its own voice, which is odd
among most of the 'dead' compressors on the market today.
I play bright, melodic rythm. I probably won't want to
squeeze the ambience out of everything I play, but I think
it will make a nice sonic variation on a number of songs.