Extensive compressor reviews and FAQ

FX Engineering RAF Mirage: This is a boutique handmade pedal that resembles many others in some ways: small MXR-sized box, two knobs "Comp" and "Level"; and yet it does not seem to be a clone of the usual varieties. It has an amazingly transparent tone, with fairly low noise and no rolloff of highs or lows. I A/B/C'd it with the Demeter and my favorite OS clone (by Pedal Doctor), and they were all equal in quality, but different in flavor. The Demeter's tone seems more "solid" or "focused" than the dry uneffected signal; whereas the Mirage essentially left the original dry tone unchanged. The OS was brighter and more percussive than the other two, but not as beefy in the low end. The Mirage has the most "open" and un-effected sound.
 
It has a fixed ratio of about 4:1, a pretty low ratio, so it is best suited to light smoothing and bringing out harmonics, rather than peak limiting. The "Comp" knob appears to adjust the threshold. The Level knob is at unity gain at around 9:00, and this pedal can provide an insane amount of clean boost. I actually think this pedal was designed for use with a tube guitar amp, to push it into overdrive while also providing moderate compression. It would be equally great for any bassist looking for a boost during their solos, or wanting to drive their amp into stoner doom OD. In my opinion, if it weren't for the clean boost potential, this pedal would honestly be competing more with the Punch Factory or Opto Stomp than with the higher end of pedals, just because of the limited range of compression ratio. However it does sound really nice, not altering or hindering your instrument's tone at all, and it is smaller and cooler-looking than the Punch Factory or Opto Stomp. It has two LED lights: one for on/off, and the other lights up brighter as the compression increases. The construction quality is solid, and the footswitch is true bypass.
 

 
 
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