Extensive compressor reviews and FAQ

BYOC 5-Knob: "BYOC" stands for "build your own clone"; they make kits and project plans for you to build your own copies of popular pedal designs. This one is their tricked-out version of the Ross/Dynacomp/Keeley/etc., and I built it from their kit using only the parts and plans they included.
 
It was a fairly easy build. All the parts were present, the instructions were clearly-written and well-illustrated, and the circuitboard was marked clearly. It's not quite as easy as their optical comp, because the 5-knobber has many more parts, and you have to adjust an internal trim pot; but it's still no big deal for a reasonable beginner to assemble.
 
The resulting pedal is a lot like all the other boutique Ross/Dyna types. In fact, it sounds every bit as good as the Keeley and Analogman, and I would be very surprised if there was any real difference between this and the Wampler or CMatMods 5-knob comps. I'd say if you are willing to do a bit of soldering, and you like this type of compressor, then this kit is a very good deal.
 
The knobs here control sustain, attack, output volume, tone, and "ratio"--which in this case is not compression ratio, but rather a mix/pan between the compressed signal and your uncompressed original signal. The sustain knob controls the threshold, and it has a decently wide range for different instrument input levels. The tone knob emphasizes the low mids when you turn it to the left, and the high mids when you turn it to the right. And the ratio knob provides the same sort of mixed clean/wet effect as the Barber, Guyatone, and Seymour Duncan comp pedals, allowing you to bring back some of your original note articulation layered with the compression. It works fairly well.
 
As with the majority of comps of this circuit type, it loses some low end. In this regard I'd say it's the same as the Keeley and Dynacomp; but the Barber, S.Duncan, and Guyatone have better lows. Using the ratio/blend knob can help a little bit, but that does not bring back the low end to a degree that a bassist would hope for. It doesn't lose the highs, but they are attenuated a bit, above 10 KHz. The noise level is exactly the same with this pedal as with all the similar ones.
 
The parts used in this kit are the same as the ones in expensive boutique pedals, and if you build it properly, then it is a good rugged pedal. It's not visually attractive by itself, but you can decorate it however you want. It runs on standard Boss-type 9 VDC (or up to 18 V if you want, for more headrooom), and the included footswitch is true bypass.
 

 
 
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