Compressor pedal distorting

[bencuri]

I would like to ask you about a problem I have with compressors (and also some other pedals but now I only own compressors).

Whenever I feed them with the full signal of my guitar (that has humbucker pickups), the sound I get is distorted. I need to set the volume knob on my guitar to 10% to have the distortion disappear.

I have taken this pedal into a studio. There, we tried the compressor with a PRS Singlecut SE and a PRS Custom (both have humbuckers), the situation was the same. We also tried it with a Burns Brian May Special Red that has single coils: there was no distortion even at max volume from the guitar. We thought this is a humbucker issue.
Strangely, when we tested the pedal with a cheap Chinese guitar with humbuckers, it did not distort. So it is questionable whether this problem is because of humbuckers. But anyhow, in case of guitars when it happens, the volume has to be turned down significantly to have no distortion. However this way a lot of character is lost from the tone.

I have a Zoom G1 multieffect. That one has no problem like this, it can receive my guitar's signal without issue, its compressor presets don't distort. However, when I put the compressor into the chain after the multieffect, the compressor does distort, except for the case when I turn the output volume down on the multieffect to 8%. Then the distortion disappears.

I have this issue with all compressor pedals I own, namely: Keeley Compressor Plus, Carl Martin Compressor/Limiter, Carl Martin Opto Comp, Gurus Optivalve 12V. All behaves like that. Moreover I had some other pedals in the past like a Behringer UC100 and a Visual Sound H2O Chorus/Delay, they also had the same problem. Those ones were tested with the PRS Singlecut and Custom, too, and the outcome was the same: distortion. The only pedal that did not have this issue was the Boss PS5.

Do you have an idea what may cause this? The technician said the pedals should not behave like that. And as you see this is not necessarily a humbucker issue. Moreover how is it that at the same time the Zoom G1 has no problem with the input signals?

Here is a sample to show this problem. It includes 3 tests, that are:
Test 1: guitar -> compressor (volume knob on guitar at max)
Test 2: guitar -> compressor (volume knob on guitar at 10%)
Test 3: guitar -> Zoom G1 -> compressor (volume knob on guitar at max)



See the attached photo for the compressor setting.

 

[SpiderWars]

I had similar problems with DynaComps and Keeleys, I had to run the Sustain knob no higher than 0 and it was still a little too compressed.

My Keeley was/is an old one and I specifically contacted/complained to Keeley about it. They said that’s the way they are and that was that.

My old Carl Martin Limiter/Compressor (with 120v power cable) does not do this. I use it a lot and like it. But it has Threshold and Sustain and Response controls. If you have an old ‘power cord’ version and it is distorting then there is either a problem or you’re just not dialing it in right. Start with minimum Compression and higher Threshold and go from there. Hope that helps.

 

[bencuri]

I had similar problems with DynaComps and Keeleys, I had to run the Sustain knob no higher than 0 and it was still a little too compressed.

My Keeley was/is an old one and I specifically contacted/complained to Keeley about it. They said that’s the way they are and that was that.

My old Carl Martin Limiter/Compressor (with 120v power cable) does not do this. I use it a lot and like it. But it has Threshold and Sustain and Response controls. If you have an old ‘power cord’ version and it is distorting then there is either a problem or you’re just not dialing it in right. Start with minimum Compression and higher Threshold and go from there. Hope that helps.

I don't think it's the matter of settings, because you see in the photo I chose a strong setting, yet when the Volume knob is turned down or the compressor is connected after the G1, the signal stays clean and the compressor works as should. If the gain of the signal is proper, the settings doesn't matter. It is true anyway that on a lighter setting the distortion is less, but still some dirtiness is there. I am "glad" to hear you had this problem though because at least I know I did not purchase a faulty pedal.