Carl Martin Classic Opto Compressor Pedal

by Carl Martin

Product Features

• Bypass footswitch Gain control Level control Comp control Attack control Solid die-cast housing Chicken head knobs

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 3 inches ; 1.8 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B001P5GYX6
• Item model number: Classic Opto Compressor
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #55,172 in Musical Instruments (See Top 100 in Musical Instruments)

Product Description

One day while Carl was adding some compression to a guitar track in his studio, he thought, why hasn’t anyone built a small opto-compressor for guitarists? An optical compressor performs gain reduction control via a light source into a photo sensitive cell... as the light source gets brighter, the photo sensitive cell sends a signal to reduce dynamic range, or what becomes a compressed signal. Welcome to the Vintage Opto-Compressor….an old-school compressor from the days where colouring was an important factor to the sound. The four controls (from left to right) are the Gain, which controls the ‘pre-glow’ of the optical circuit (the more you turn this up, the fatter the sound); Level, which controls the overall volume of the compressor; Compression, which controls how hard or soft the compression is, and the Attack control which takes the signal from transparent to outright total squeeze. A short time with this compressor will allow you to find some of those classic guitar sounds which may somehow have escaped you before. Again, like all the Vintage pedals, the Opto-Compressor comes in a solid diecast housing with cool chicken-head knobs, CM colour and graphics and a 9v battery compartment. Due to the nature of compressors, we highly recommend a regulated power supply (like the CM Big John or CM PowerJack) or a large stock of batteries….

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Value and Great Versatility, October 31, 2010

By 

Dustin - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Carl Martin Classic Opto Compressor Pedal (Electronics)

A great compressor that I picked up for my bass. The compression is a smooth optical squish. You can sometimes hear the classic "swell" when it's working and it's very natural and organic sounding. The tone is extremely transparent. I had to plug my signal into audacity to see what it was doing, so it's not something that will color your sound. It's priced like a budget / intro compressor, but it's features are so versatile, it could easily cost much more and be of good value.

For a more technical review of this and other compressors, this site helped me choose the right compressor for me, visit [...]

3.0 out of 5 stars Ok compressor, September 19, 2010

By 

moeron - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Carl Martin Classic Opto Compressor Pedal (Electronics)

Though Carl Martin gear is well-known for it's great reputation, I found that this compressor was a bit noisy for my liking. It's very easy to use, but I learned that when turning up the level and gain a bit, the noise was way too uncomfortable for my taste, but that's just one persons opinion and for the application it was being used for.
I'm pretty sure that this unit would work perfectly for another musician.

Since then, I have purchased/replaced it with a Keeley hand made compressor and the difference has been like night and day. : )