STOMPBOXES
Comp 66 has controls for gain and compression. There is no attack control—the
attack time is slow at lower compression
settings and gets faster as you turn up the
Comp knob. I found cranking the Comp
made it easy to get a full helping of Dyna
Comp-like squeeze. Adding compression
also increased sustain, evened out the
volume of all the voices in a chord, and
the level of the notes that I picked—more
in the warm, uncolored style of a studio
compressor than in the more obvious style
of some stompboxes. Backing the compression control off allowed more attack
through for a subtlety unobtainable with
MXR and BOSS units.
The Visual Sound version also offers a
tone control that can be switched on with
a mini-toggle. With the tone control off,
this is one of the most transparent pedal
compressors I have ever heard—what
goes in, comes out. Still, the tone control
proved useful for adding treble to help
funk chords cut, and to restore highs lost
to long cables. Since you can back the
compression control all the way off and
use the Comp 66 as a clean boost, I found
that turning the tone control down when I
kicked in the pedal for solos helped fatten
out Strat single coils.
With its transparency, warm sound, and
many uses, the Comp 66 is set up nicely
to compete with Keeley, Diamond and
Demeter in the world of high-quality compressor pedals. – MR
Buy if … you are looking for warm, variable, transparent compression.
Skip if … you hate compression, or need
an even smaller footprint.
Rating...
4. 5
MSRP $178
Visual Sound
visualsound.net
Boosts
Moollon Class A Boost
The very stylish, top-end Class A boost
from Korean maker Geo Woo looks like it
was designed by a tattoo artist turned silversmith; a peek inside reveals even more
craftsmanship: clean point-to-point wiring
and good quality components.
Instead of Gain or Volume controls, the
Moollon offers only a three-stage transis-tor-based EQ (Lo, Mid, Hi) and an On/Off
switch with LED indicator for straightforward tone-shaping simplicity. Many newer
boosts based on the vintage units such as
the Rangemaster offer a switching option
for mid or bass boost. The Moollon’s three
independent EQ controls, by contrast,
