Sugar – Electric guitar pedal – Compressor, sustainer

Sugar compressor is a studio compressor in the size of a guitar pedal.

The ways of use are manifold but the simplicity of its 4 controls is truly amazing!

What is a compressor?

A compressor amplifies low sounds (intended as low intensity sounds, not frequency) and reduces loud signals. For example, if we play a succession of notes by progressively increasing the strength of our plectrum using a compressor set in a very invasive way, the result will be to have the same volume for all the notes.

The efficiency of a good compressor can also be listened by not flattening the performance and destroying all the dynamics of our playing, for this reason we paid attention about the design of Sugar Compressor: amplifying or attenuating our guitar without destroying the dynamic and our style of execution. Sugar always knows how to avoid it, even at extreme settings.

The controls

Compress: determines how much the guitar signal should be squeezed, high values ​​lead to unparalleled dynamic linearity.

Release: determines the compression release time; low values ​​”turn off” the effect quickly, high values ​​let the compression continue to work.

Attack: determines the compression intervention time; low values ​​for an immediate attack of compression, high values ​​cause compression to come more slowly.

Make-Up: crushing the “loud” sounds of intensity leads to an inevitable reduction in volume, with the “Make-Up” control we bring the volume back to the most appropriate level.

Main uses

In the recording studio or in radio stations studios, the compressor is an indispensable component. This is not a typical effect for guitar, it is used for all instruments as well as for mixing and mastering.

In the guitar world many sacred monsters have made the compressor a real guitar effect. Just think of David Gilmour, solos like “Another Brick In The Wall pt.2” has made it a trademark, both for the executive setting and for the final result.

In some musical genres the compressor on guitars plays a fundamental role; in Country music it is widely used. Brad Paisley, one of the best known countrymans of international level, defined it indispensable and inevitable in his setup as the compression of a tube amplifier is not sufficient to obtain the desired result.

Another interesting use of the compressor is when is needed to balance two very different instruments (for example a guitar equipped with a single coil and one equipped with a humbucker); you preserve the original characteristics of the guitars used having two perfectly balanced output levels.