However, in the 50s, many blues bands took this flaw in their current amp to create some of the “low-down and dirty” bluesy sounds. Mainly because a compressor is more commonly favored for an electric guitar rather than acoustic. Granted distortion naturally creates compression, so a high gain distorted guitar will have lots of compression already. Well, okay — it’s based on the same function, but made much more aggressive and precise by a softer cap to the signa. Like fuzz, distortion shares characteristics with semiconductors, like transistors or integrated circuits. However, natural sustain doesn’t add any distortion allowing you to be heard better in the mix. The first guitar amplifiers invented were kind of quality, and often distorted the tone when their volume (gain) was increased to exceed their designed limit or if they had some minor damages. Secondly, this pedal will usually take lower priority over other sexier acoustic guitar-based pedals. Many players debate whether a compressor pedal is necessary with an acoustic guitar for use with their gigging pedalboard. Today, we’re going to look into what a compressor pedal can do for … Distortion and overdrive are forms of audio signal processing used to alter the sound of amplified electric musical instruments, usually by increasing their gain, producing a "fuzzy", "growling", or "gritty" tone.Distortion is most commonly used with the electric guitar, but may also be used with other electric instruments such as bass guitar, electric piano, and Hammond organ. It also does not affect the sound and dynamics of your tone. Below is an example of how compressed guitars and bass sound like. Reason 3 – Clean Boost . Distortion is just a souped-up version of overdrive. Nevertheless, a compressor pedal, when used properly, can shape and enhance your guitar tone in some rather significant ways. In fact, there’s a lot of compression going on here, even on the drums. Compression is a subtle effect, especially when compared to a distortion, delay, or a phase shifter—which is often why it gets overlooked, especially by beginner or intermediate guitarists. Such as reverb, octave, looper, and other […] Due to the nature of the size needed for tube circuits, almost all guitar compressor pedals feature a FET or VCA circuit design, ... Guitarists generally use compressors to add extra sustain to their sound without adding distortion or overdrive, and to help even out and thicken their overall guitar sound. HOW DISTORTION EFFECT WORKS. Take a listen: Being a dynamic effect, compressors are usually placed right before the distortion in the signal chain, after wah pedals and other filters and EQs. The reason why is that in the late '60s, I had given up on guitar amps, because at that time, tubes were a dying technology. I got into multiband distortion in the mid-'80s, and designed a processor called the Quadrafuzz.