Wampler Ego Compressor V2 Guitar Effects Pedal

For me, it’s better than the Boss compressor I have used for the past 10 years. Depends most on your own preferences

After years of window shopping and YouTube research, I am finally building my dream pedal board. I started out with a BOSS CS3 for compression. I hated the way it colored my tone. Dark and muddy. I lost a lot of my high-end with the BOSS.I watched MANY "shootout" videos looking for a solution and the Wampler Ego was the clear victor in every video I saw. At least to my ear. So, I bought myself the mini Ego.I cannot express how satisfied I am with my purchase. Amazing compression and sustain. Beautiful glassy clean, especially when the tone switch is engaged. However, more importantly this pedal has true transparency. The Ego doesn't color or darken my guitar's tone at all. Love it!Every guitar player needs a compressor pedal on their board. And this is the one compressor that I would highly recommend.

The loss of tone is no more! I wish I’d learned about this baby years ago!

Flexible, nearly flawless and utterly noiseless. Chose it after much research for a compressor for an acoustic guitar into a top line AER acoustic amp. A local music salesman I trusted informed me what I was wanting to do was unusual and seemingly he thought unnecessary. True I had already spent heaps on a real expensive quality amp. As I have no use for chicken licken styles i therefore had a few misgivings, after listening to YouTube Wampler demos and then pressing the buy button and before it arrived. It was reassuring that when I tried this unit it proved itself capable of quality subtle compression. It now adds depth and warmth without the signal from the Highlander peizo pickup seeming squashed and unreal. The real asset is the tone knob which makes it possible to adjust the EQ balance. It’s incredible how effective this part of the design of the unit is. I am sure it will be reassuring to any genre of guitarist who would hate his favourite amp sounds to be sculpted in a way that took away his sound from his loved gat. Acoustic guitar is such a dynamic signal it does need a little taming was my hunch. Beautifully hand built. Probably will never hear it in it’s more common use on an electric. Only quibble is I don’t like the style of step switch used which can be dislodged and can fall off in use when mounted as I do velcroed to the side of the amp. It’s easy to put back but it would be hassle to lose it if it got knocked while on the road without my noticing. The next stage is to rig with the Highlander IP2 internal mic. Though between the peizo, the internal mic already into a good preamp thence to the DAW and the gat miked with a large condenser mic alongside the 12th fret, plus the pre-effects signal from the amp’s balanced line out, I am getting a beefy, warm, nonstrident acoustic spread to a solo vox acoustic project. Love ‘painting’ with this in the lineup. Love it when a well researched series of hunches comes off. They so often don’t in our musical journeys. The Wampler is a crucial answer to my needs in the studio and I wouldn’t be without it on the peizo alone live.

My rating is relevant to my needs. I'm using the Wampler in an acoustic set up as the first pedal in a basic effects chain. I'm still playing around with it for basic blues, rock and ballads with various combinations of chorus and reverb where it thickens tone and sweetens chorus. Tone and attack are two position switches not variable nobs but as I'm using the pedal as set and forget this doesn't worry me. I guess if you want more control you'd have to go for more nobs. The tone switch has a noticeable effect but, at least on my setup the attack switch makes little difference. Again if you want better control you'd need a nob. The essential thing is blend, you can dial in exactly the amount of original and affected signal. For acoustic this is great for dialling back feedback issues and this suits me as I like the ability to retain the acoustic quality without too much compression. The build quality is excellent as you'd expect from Wampler and the pedal size is economical on the board. So far I'm very happy with this.

I just received this compressor sold by Moore Bros. Music and fulfilled by Amazon. First let me say that I can't believe how well this thing was packed by Moore Bros. and Amazon!Let me get this out of the way first: I'm a HUGE MXR fanboy--I absolutely LOVE their pedals for their analog sound and reliability. I've tried a MXR Supercomp, Dynacomp (block logo) and finally settled on the Custom Comp. The MXR CC is great in its own right: it's not nearly as noisy as its predecessors but the internal controls ARE A P.I.T.A to get to should you want to tweak.After reading several reviews I decided to pull the trigger and buy an Ego Compressor--my last compressor. I can't imagine owning another compressor without the BLEND and ATTACK controls on the face. As so many others have said, the BLEND knob is the 'magic' of this pedal. You can dial in virtually any sound. Furthermore, it's so quiet (more so than anything else I've tried) I literally don't know it's on unless I turn it off. It's hands-down the most transparent compressor I've ever used. It's quite easy to go from a country chicken-picken sound to a smooth sustain. I play mostly hard rock (but not metal) and I also often times use clean tones and fingerpick. This pedal balances the volume nicely without a drop in volume, without adding noise, and without coloring my tone. I couldn't be happier.On a side note, I was unable to figure out on my own the control of the ATTACK knob (even after reading the instructions). I wasn't sure if full clockwise was a fast or slow attack. After using the pedal I can say with certainty rotating the ATTACK knob full clockwise makes for a very fast and clicky attack good for country. Counter clockwise makes for a slower attack allowing your picking dynamics to sound through--good for hard rock/metal.