NPD - Orange Squeezer Build

[yawny]

So, since i'm bored waiting for my new guitar, i suppose i'll show everyone the Orange Squeezer that i built over the course of the past few weeks. Compressor reviews on the internet never seemed like they did much to me, mostly due to the audio being compressed in its entirety, so i figured that this was the low cost alternative to buying one.

I built it mostly in one night about 3 weeks ago, but i partially fried the IC inside when i accidentally inserted it backward so it was out of commission for about a week while i waited for the new chip (the old one worked, but was noisy). It sat on my board for a few weeks unpainted since i was too lazy to de-solder the 9v jack so i could yank the internals. It was built with the Mad Bean Pedals board and part i sourced from Small Bear.

I also did the painting myself, obviously, and while it looks decent, there are some pretty rough spots that you can see in the pictures. However, as a side effect of me spraying another box (that will get its own thread) in a metallic silver, i ended up with a light metallic sparkle in the orange color, which i think looks awesome

SOUND REVIEW

I like this thing, definitely has some cool features. It's my first comp so i don't really have much to compare it against, but it does what a compressor is supposed to: sorta equalize the volume of notes and add sustain.

I changed the internal trim pot to an external to i could control it, and you can do some weird stuff because of that, but it makes the pedal TONS more versatile.

First, unity gain is just below 9 o clock on the level control, which allows for a ton of volume boost which, strangely, i find this pedal really good at, but i'll get to that in a second.

Second, the "Sustain" control has a really strange range of usefulness. All the way down it's essentially a bypass with minimal, if any, tone suck. It may rob you of a slight amount of highs, but it isn't really noticeable. I usually play with it a little below 9, varying downward, since past that, it just sorta starts to mush and destroy your tone. Past 9 you hear more of the attack "clunk" than any real notes, but boosting the volume at this point will clear it up a little, so you have more usable compression with a little tweaking if you so desire. You get some really nice attack boost and it really levels out your sound. It nails Under the Bridge on the neck pickup of my LP and gets you some really cool clean sounds. Chords seem a little undefined if you push too far as it seems to suck some of yours highs, or maybe just boost mids, i'll have to play with it more to know. After a certain point, you don't hear anything at all, it slowly compresses your sound into a black hole of oblivion. Great if you want to mute your sound

The most awesome part of this pedal has to be that it functions as a sort of hybrid overdrive/boost if you put the level past unity and roll the sustain all the way back. There isn't much, if any, discernible tone suck and it has a metric crap-ton of gain on tap. I found that with it at about noon, it can push my clean Deluxe fairly far into overdrive and a very, very transparent, natural sounding overdrive at that, which i find especially awesome. Maybe i'm just obsessing over something that every pedal does, but this one does it incredibly well to my ear.

Hope i didn't miss anything and here are the pics:

[opalburn]

I love all the little pieces of wire and resistor legs lying about, looks like how I do things lol.

[gibsonguitar1988]

Wow - I have to admit that is catching my eye. I've always been somewhat attracted to the OS circuit. I someday may have you build one of these for me! Great work! I'm going to be building a 2nd board soon and I'm going to need a comp for it for sure.

[Hector Arcadius]

Coolness!


Congrats on the new DIY pedal buddy!

[CheopisIV]

Totally cool build there; I love the huge knobs you used! I'm also currently building up a 'pressor but having no luck with the designs I've tried so far. I may have to try this circuit out and see how it sounds!

[lilkuku]

Nice, I was just looking at the PedalDoctor Orange Squeeze. Yours looks great. I'd love to build one, but I'm lost as to how you guys do it from scratch. I have to have instructions!