Distressor Compressor

Jim · Post by **Jim** » Tue Jan 31, 2006 7:56 pm

I noted from the studio photos thread that a few of you have Emprical Distressors in your kit.

I was wondering what your overall impressions of that unit are. I was considering getting one after I win the lottery to use to compress my snare in record mode. My snare sound isn't manly enough.

qo · Post by qo » Tue Jan 31, 2006 11:50 pm

The Distressor put the biggest smile on my face of any piece of gear I've ever bought, close seconds would be the Great River MP-2NV pre and Royer 122 mic.

The Distressor has Mojo that makes anything sound good. There's a lot of character packed into 1 IU, and a lot of versatility. Too, I returned a Fatso due to a noise issue and they said they couldn't reproduce the issue, but sent me a new Fatso anyway. Empirical Labs is a very cool company in my book.

Just to balance out my gushing, I'm not overwhelmed with EmpLab's Lil' FrEQ. But, I've not had them that long and so perhaps just haven't found their niche yet. They are impeccably clean.

The Distressor though, it's Miracle Gear•„•.

BradLyons · Post by **BradLyons** » Wed Feb 01, 2006 12:53 pm

The Distressor is definitely a unique piece and has its own signature sound. I guess the best way to describe it is "aggressive"....does wonders on Bass and Electric Guitars. It can be tricky on vocals but on the right style and voice, sometimes it's that right amount of "mojo" as mentioned.

owel · Post by **owel** » Wed Feb 01, 2006 7:12 pm

Not to steal the thread but... Brad! I didn't know you hang out here. I'm one of your customer... a Yamaha i88x and MOTU 828mk2 were my last purchases from you recently.

I can't afford a Distressor so this is my "distressor look-alike". It's basically a Gyraf SSL compressor clone (SSL4044E desk).

BradLyons · Post by **BradLyons** » Wed Feb 01, 2006 7:17 pm

Ruel? How's it going? Man, I can't even build a square box let alone a compressor

owel · Post by **owel** » Wed Feb 01, 2006 7:22 pm

Doing good. How about you?

Okay, now... did you look it up on your computer or did you just remember the nut that whined about how bad mLan is!

BradLyons · Post by **BradLyons** » Wed Feb 01, 2006 7:27 pm

I looked it up of course, my memory isn't THAT good (especially when I had Nyquil for dinner! ha!). I mistakingly took Nyquil instead of Dayquil this morning, WOOOOAH never do that again! But things are good

In fact, time to zzzzzz zzz z zzzz zzzzzz

jerkrecords · Post by **jerkrecords** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 1:12 pm

my parents had a stove with those same knobs.

if you're going to take the plunge for a 1st real deal compressor, a distressor is a great way to go. It can sound like a lot of different things. i have to dissagree with brad though (it's cool) and say that it doesn't always sound aggressive. its capable of that, sure- but will not sound like that all the time. Also - the opto setting for vocals seems pretty easy to me... YMMV of course.

one more thing....
if your snare sound isn't "manly" enough, look for less expensive alternatives before buying a distressor to fix that:
1) try another snare
2) try another drummer (could be more expensive in other non-financial ways)

-pete[/quote]

detroitdiesel · Post by **detroitdiesel** » Sat Mar 11, 2006 4:30 am

Another way to go is the dbx 286A pre and comp combo. I love these. They can wrangle any drum into place. Under $200. Scoop out the right mids (and make sure that your overheads are not undoing what you have done) and you're ready to go.

Some of the larger $ stuff was never an option for me. This inexpensive unit is worth a look.

Good luck,
DD

m2 · Post by m2 » Thu Mar 16, 2006 2:40 pm

Distressor is cool. I've used it and dug it, but found it noisey for some situations.

EMRR · Post by **EMRR** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 8:44 pm

I've never found a distressor to be noisy in a rock/pop setting, nor in any reasonably non-catatonic acoustic music - makes me want to quote the Beastie Boys "why would you want to reduce the noise?!" - now an earthworks TC30K on classical guitar, that's noisy! Seriously though, the Distressor is the most swiss-army like compression device I've encountered, and will give the most bang if you are tracking many different sources through the same channel. Forget that non-sense about it simulating the sound of tube limiters though, it doesn't compare to the real thing, but it does sound pretty great more frequently than many many other units across a wide spectrum of sources. It does have a sound, though, so you should try one out if possible.

...or take up the old soldering iron if $ is lacking and build what you want!