Extensive compressor reviews and FAQ

Aphex Punch Factory: This is a very popular pedal, as it is inexpensive and, as reviewers are quick to say, very transparent. It is indeed remarkably transparent, and has no rolloff of highs or lows. It is also a very subtle compressor; I think too subtle. One of the ways I test compressors is to watch the meters on an outboard mixer while I play or run sound. Watching the meters while using this pedal, I could see that very little compression was happening until I set it to relatively high settings. I could also see that the meter on the PF was registering a significant dB amount of gain reduction, much more than I could actually hear, or see on the outboard meters. I found that I couldn't really register noticeable compression until the "drive" was cranked up to at least 7. However, as with most comps, the higher the compression level, the higher the noise at unity gain. And even with drive at 7, the PF did not do much to limit stronger peaks, for example from slapping. Cranking drive to 10 had more noticeable compression, but also much more noise, and at that level it sort of kills your tone. Well, subtle compression is good, right? Lots of times, a good comp is expected to be "invisible", and people are encouraged not to compress signals too heavily. But the PF is so subtle, and so poor at anything other than subtlety, that it is almost not worth putting it in the signal chain at all. The lower "drive" settings sounded basically the same as when it was switched off, and looked the same on the meters, no matter what the meter on the PF claimed. So while the PF really is as amazingly transparent as people say, it's not so good at compression. As far as the construction, the jacks are plastic and they are secured only to the circuitboard, not the housing, so every time you plug or unplug you're putting strain on the circuitboard. Update: the unit I used was not true bypass, but apparently they have changed over to TBP switching on the newer units.
 

 
 
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