Using Zoom G3 compressor - a) any good? b) OK after an overdrive pedal?

Megii

After considering for a while just using my Zoom G3 for everything FX-wise, it's now looking like I will be having a small pedal board after all - at least for home use. I just received a Zendrive clone (a Big Knob Zed Drive, bought on this very forum from @randomhandclaps, cheers mate) and having had a chance to test it, I do really like the sounds I'm getting from it - always thought I would, based on the Zendrive demos I've seen, and nice that it seems to work out for me in practice.

So - it's going to be the Zed Drive going into the G3 - which will provide all the modulation/delay/reverb, going into my Digitech JamMan Solo XT looper. I'm thinking I might want to use a bit of compression with the Zed Drive at times, so I'm thinking the G3 can do that as well... But is it usual/OK to have the compression after an overdrive pedal? Also, is there any downside to the compressor models on the G3, compared to a "real" analogue compressor pedal?

Cheers for any help or advice, thanks!

samzadgan

i've tried the comps on the G3 before as i was trying to set it up as my 2nd board...have to admit i didnt like them at all. I also like having comp before Dirt, so the solution was to use the zoom dirt, and that with the comps was horrible and noisy.

you may find it to be ok since your using another pedal for dirt, but im not a fan of comp post dirt, i think it kills the character and rawness of the dirt pedal. 

Branshen

I love compressor after drive. I get to use my volume knob to control how much drive I get, something that would be much harder to do with a compressor affecting the signal before going into the drive pedal. And because the compression squeezes the signal after the gain stage, I can get a very consistent volume between clean and dirty. Dirty is still louder than clean but it isn't a jarring difference.

I recognise that there are benefits of putting compressor before drive, I.e. You get a very even, sustained drive sound. And of course, some people use boost pedals to push drive pedals (as opposed to using your volume knob), so a compressor before wouldn't affect the responsiveness of the drive pedal (responding to your volume knob).

The downside to compressor after drive is it increases noise since it would boost the noise coming from a drive pedal. My drive pedal and compressor don't produce any noticeable unwanted noise, but then again, that's partly because I don't use very much gain.

Megii

samzadgan said:

i've tried the comps on the G3 before as i was trying to set it up as my 2nd board...have to admit i didnt like them at all. I also like having comp before Dirt, so the solution was to use the zoom dirt, and that with the comps was horrible and noisy.

you may find it to be ok since your using another pedal for dirt, but im not a fan of comp post dirt, i think it kills the character and rawness of the dirt pedal. 

Thanks @samzadgan - I didn't say, but I do actually have a Behringer cs400 compressor - a cheapy I know, but it seems OK to me. I'm trying to keep the pedal board small, but if I have to, maybe I can squeeze that one on there somewhere as well. I'm after a fairly smooth kind of overdrive (which the Zed Drive seems very much to my taste for) but all the same, I don't want a dull tone, with all the character compressed away.

Megii

Branshen said:

I love compressor after drive. I get to use my volume knob to control how much drive I get, something that would be much harder to do with a compressor affecting the signal before going into the drive pedal. And because the compression squeezes the signal after the gain stage, I can get a very consistent volume between clean and dirty. Dirty is still louder than clean but it isn't a jarring difference.

I recognise that there are benefits of putting compressor before drive, I.e. You get a very even, sustained drive sound. And of course, some people use boost pedals to push drive pedals (as opposed to using your volume knob), so a compressor before wouldn't affect the responsiveness of the drive pedal (responding to your volume knob).

The downside to compressor after drive is it increases noise since it would boost the noise coming from a drive pedal. My drive pedal and compressor don't produce any noticeable unwanted noise, but then again, that's partly because I don't use very much gain.

Must say I do like the ability to back off on the guitar volume (or just play with a lighter touch) and have the tone clean up - on it's own the Zed Drive is pretty good for this. I guess I'm just going to have to test things out in various configurations, and see what suits me best. Cheers for your thoughts though @Branshen, good points and useful stuff.

hobbio

@Megii Coda are flogging Dr.J compressors new for £25 here http://www.coda-music.com/aerolite-comp-compressor-pedal-p-15416.html

I bought one off the back of a recommendation to replace my Behringer CS400, for £25 you can't go wrong and it might allow you a bit more flexibility.

EDIT: It only arrived yesterday so I've not been able to try it out. I'll give you a review tonight when I've plugged it in.

Megii

hobbio said:

@Megii Coda are flogging Dr.J compressors new for £25 here http://www.coda-music.com/aerolite-comp-compressor-pedal-p-15416.html

I bought one off the back of a recommendation to replace my Behringer CS400, for £25 you can't go wrong and it might allow you a bit more flexibility.

EDIT: It only arrived yesterday so I've not been able to try it out. I'll give you a review tonight when I've plugged it in.

You evil person, tempting me into buying more pedals, when I'm trying to reign in the GAS and keep things minimal.  ;D  - but that does look bloody good for the money, so worth knowing about, cheers mate. I'm not really sure if the compression thought is all that important for me, but I just think it might usefully help me to refine the tone a bit more in the way I like. I'll definitely be very interested in your review anyhow, cheers.

hobbio

Hey, we enable each other's GAS - you should know that by now!

Did you see guitar that's arriving at mine in a few days for the forum modding challenge?


Lol.

Megii

hobbio said:

Hey, we enable each other's GAS - you should know that by now!

Did you see guitar that's arriving at mine in a few days for the forum modding challenge?


Lol.

Bastard - I think you know I'm tempted by that one... But of course it may be (at least partly) my fault that you're getting that anyway. What goes around comes around it seems! Please do a review of it as received anyhow - again I'm interested.

hobbio

I ordered a b-stock model and I'm interested in seeing what that actually means to Thomann.

Megii

hobbio said:

I ordered a b-stock model and I'm interested in seeing what that actually means to Thomann.

From what I read, they can be pretty faultless a lot of the time, or very simple to sort out - it seems some people return guitars for very slight reasons.

hobbio

That's what I'm hoping! I know that they mark the properly borked stuff as DEKO and the b-stock is usually minor issues.

The only thing I don't want it to be is a very noticeable finish blemish on the top as I don't intend to refinish it, anything to do with set up will be taken care of as part of the process.

Megii

Very much doubt there will be any issue with the finish - especially on the front. I think their expression is "there may be slight signs of use" - I'd think that's going to similar to a guitar that's been in a shop for a while probably, at the very most. Maybe a slight imperfection on the metalwork or hardware, something like that. Could even be that someone returned it just because they weren't able to adjust the setup themselves.

UnclePsychosis

It's not unusual to have compression after dirt.

The only downside to digital compression instead of analogue is that it can sound a bit different. You'll get mixed reviews of the G3 compressors, personally I think they're ok, others hate them.

Try it and see, if it sounds right to you that's all that matters.

hobbio

@Megii I've tried the Dr J comp now, and although I don't know enough about about compression to be able to describe it very comprehensively I can comprehensively say that it's better than the Behringer!

It just does so much more, and sounds so much more natural if you get me? 

Megii

UnclePsychosis said:

It's not unusual to have compression after dirt.

The only downside to digital compression instead of analogue is that it can sound a bit different. You'll get mixed reviews of the G3 compressors, personally I think they're ok, others hate them.

Try it and see, if it sounds right to you that's all that matters.

That's what I'm gonna have to do, cheers for that @UnclePsychosis

Megii

hobbio said:

@Megii I've tried the Dr J comp now, and although I don't know enough about about compression to be able to describe it very comprehensively I can comprehensively say that it's better than the Behringer!

It just does so much more, and sounds so much more natural if you get me? 

I do get you @hobbio - cheers for that quick first impression. I think I'm just going to have to see if I can get what I want from the G3 - if so, it may just be that one. Otherwise, it will be highly tempting to invest in the Dr J...