I love the tone I get out of this pedal. Keeps everything nice and clean while adding that natural sustained feel . Makes all your notes ring out quite well and the sustain can even create a swelling effect on chords that are held out. Can be used effectively to bring the tone out of any guitar. Additionally I would love for it to have eq control in order to bring out certain frequencies, but it does a great job regardless.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Just no- simple as that- nope. Sounds cheap and artificial and you can't seem to dial in the attack properly- you end up with it sustaining notes in an unnatural way and tons of noise form your fingers sliding on the strings- the pick attacking the note, etc. And I can't seem to dial it out- if I do, then it's not really compressing properly. My other compressors- much, much better- I can easily dial out all that unwanted noise without messing up my ratio, and when it sustains a note, it sounds right. Get a Keeley, get a Vertex, get a Xotic- if nothing else buy a budget Mosky C4- but don't get this.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
The Boss CS-3 pedal is a decent compressor. Its definitely worth finding a cheaper used one because they are durable and last forever. The cost to sound quality ratio is good compared to other pedals. I use it first in my effects chain to increase attack and occasionally use it as a gain booster to help overdrive my preamp. The volume knob can match the pedal volume to your clean volume no matter how much compression you dial in. The level pot has a lot of range from zero to loud. The tone pot is not very useful set on low or high as the range is a little extreme. Attack and sustain knobs are effective from zero to about 2 o'clock. If turned up too high there is considerable noise and hiss between notes. Great pedal for the cost. Like all reasonably priced compressors the more effect you dial in the louder the background noise. Find a used one for $40-50 and you'll always use it somewhere in your pedal chain.Read full review
I have tediously tried many bass compressor pedals and just couldn't find the one that I was comfortable with. You want a lot of sustain and a nice punchy but squashed signal for most rock or metal. I had been very impressed with the boss cs-3 for my guitar and wondered if there were a bass version. I stumbled accross the bass smasher which is a modified version of the cs-3 and felt very confident it would do what i wanted. It performs beautifully. The only reason i dont give it a five star is because it can still be a little noisy if dial up to high. But if you know how to use noise suppression gear this won't really bother you. I imagine when compressing notes with high sustain its very difficult to get rid of all the noise. Highly recommend for a cheap and easy way to get balanced tone and high sustain. Great job Humphrey Audio keep it up!Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
Straight forward and easy to use. Can be a little shrill if not used correctly but just work that eq a bit and you'll get it right. Can get a good chicken pickin' / country squash or just make your notes ring and sustain a bit more. Great to add balance and presence to arpeggios and and rhythm guitar. From my experience with a p bass and drum kits, it's not so hot, there's probably a better option, but for live it'd probably fine.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
I bought the pedal in order to tighten up and thicken my distorted and lead sound, and to help my single coil pickups (i think they are Seymour Duncan), sound a little fatter. Well this pedal does both very well. The controls are easy to use, and i found myself fine tuning for a while, due to the multiple settings you can achieve. I have not yet found something I do not like, but i am not a critic, and I like my tone much more now than prior to my purchase. I have only used BOSS compression pedals, and this one compares very well to the others I have owned.
Good compressor pedal, Boss is always high quality. Only thing I'd look out for is if you're getting an old/vintage one make sure to test out different voltages. a regular 9v adapter usually doesn't work and you should try the 12v or the 9v battery pack, worked great for me.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
It surprised me in the way these two effects (compression and sustainer) were put together. Definitely has it's own type of sound. Sounds great. No problems.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
Can't believe how well these sound compared to many other brands. I was a die hard Ibanez pedal fan for many years until they stopped making them. And the pedal boards while convenient just don't always produce the same sound quality as much as they say they do. Some will argue they do but to my ear they just don't. Boss for me makes the most amazing pedals and you're getting exactly what you pay for. Cheap knock offs are just that and it shows over time!
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
This pedal is good for keeping things tight and/or can be used to add a slight effect as well as adjusting level. It also allows you to EQ the tone a bit as well. I bought this used off of E-bay with shipping for about $50.00. Boss makes a lot of great products and you can't go wrong with anything they make. This is a pedal that is correct for guitar useage and as long as you are not expecting a drastic change from it, you will not be dis-appointed. There are compressors out there that are high end and are designed for vocals, drums and/or recording. This is not that compressor although it surely would add effect and could tighten some stuff a bit. I am happy with this pedal and for the price I feel it is a good deal! Peace!
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Best-selling in Compressors & Sustainers
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- You may also like
