Extensive compressor reviews and FAQ

Arion SCO-1: Wow. This is one of the absolute worst-sounding compressors I have ever heard. It is like playing through a tiny transistor radio. In fact, it's actually a really great lo-fi effect. By cranking up the compression and tone knobs you can get a super biting, snarly, noisy, torn-speaker effect, like playing through a cranked 10 Watt guitar combo amp with a ripped cone. So if you are looking for a "secret weapon" for nasty lo-fi tone, this is a great find. It sounds very cool on bass if you blend it with your clean signal in a parallel loop. But again, as a compressor this the very bottom of the barrel, a waste of time.
 
The bypass is also the worst bypass I have heard, it sucks all the life out of your signal, and rolls off the lows. And the pedal construction is very cheap and flimsy. Thumbs up for such a spectacular failure! For what it's worth, the one I am reviewing is an old "vintage" one; I don't know if the more recent production ones sound the same, but I also don't plan on spending any money to find out.
 
Price in USD: new $50, used $20
 

 

 
 
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