All-About the Vintage MXR Script Logo Dyna Comp - Ask Zac 68
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- Опубликовано: 1 мар 2021
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The first pedal compressor, and somewhat of a misunderstood effect. Today we will look at its history, including the changes in the pedal throughout the 70s, users, and how compressor pedals have gone from a "sometimes" effect to an "always-on" box for many.
Amazon link
MXR's reissue script logo box with the can CA3080 amzn.to/3bPkJl6
Gear for this video
1957 Fender Esquire with added Ron Ellis "New Tall" neck pickup. Restoration and aging on the body by Dan "Danocaster" Strain.
Strings:
D'Addario NYXL 10-46 amzn.to/3bWYb1M
Pick:
Danocaster Medium
Amp:
1965 Deluxe Reverb with Celestion Vintage 30 speaker, and bright cap clipped on the vibrato channel.
Effects used:
1975 Script Logo MXR Dyna Comp powered by a 9v battery. #askzac #guitartech #telecaster 
Видеоклипы
![JAM Pedals Dynassor & ’70s MXR Dyna Comp [Effector Du Jour]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Fb-9ZZpB-oI/mqdefault.jpg)
Hey Zac - You might want to add a public service announcement that folks curious to inspect the innards of their vintage MXR boxes are likely to encounter a deteriorating mess of foam padding the company originally used to shield the circuit board from the back panel.
You are oh so right! Mine was a mess!
I hate that stuff with a passion.....gummy sticky. Wouldn't be as bad if it was dry and not adhesive .......plastics and polymers DO deteriorate ...which is technically environmentally friendly. DuPont is getting sued for their FOREVER CHEMICALS....the stuff they designed that the chemical bonds never breakdown......and they have built up in the environment and now are in everything....including us and our bodies.......You have to be responsible for your actions and what you do. It will be interesting if DuPont dances their way out of it all......
I had the foam issue with my Dyna Comp. I replaced it with the thin, foam covering used in the packing, from my Seymour Duncan pick ups.
Found that happen in mine, too. Vacuumed it all out.
My Distortion + had the same problem.
Zac, love your vids and keep coming back. Dyna-Comp was my very first effects pedal purchased in mid 70's. I was playing a Strat through a blackface Super Reverb and getting overdrive the old school way, cranking the amp! My bandmates wanted me to tone my sound down some and I told them I would look into getting an OD pedal. I went to the store, came across the MXR, and was smitten and bought it instead of the OD, which came a little later. Still own and use that old Dyna-Comp.
OK! Zac using a Genesis tune as an example! Worth the price of admission (so to speak) for this old prog fan like me. Thanks Zac!
Thank you, Keith. That Genesis track, though from their pop era, always makes me think Dyna Comp.
@@AskZac hi Zac, do you like this more than the mirage?
@@smoochie3331 totally different. Mirage is more transparent, the Dyna cuts bass, adds a treble sheen, and has its own sound. I use the Mirage more.
@@AskZac I bought mirage after I watched your pedal board vid. The best compressor i ever have.
@@smoochie3331 Perfect!
Speaking of Nashville guitar players. I finally bought a nobles odr 1 and l love it
Zac you are not the first guy to put out interesting guitar videos and informational things but you are the best of them. Of all the guys putting out videos now during the Covid age your videos and I mean all of them from this to your other series keep me glued.
Thank you so much!
Paying homage to Reggie I see.... I played around with that late 70’s early 80’s Hag stuff for years and never knew it was him till your interview with him. Great video as always Zac!
Very cool!
Another cool video! I bought a script-logo Dyna Comp new in 1973, maybe early ‘74. I never turned it off! I was playing a six-night-a-week R&B gig, and at the end of each night I’d unplug my pedals and stash them behind my amp, and set them up again the next night. One night in 1974, I dragged the pedals out, set them up (no pedalboards available back then!), checked for signal-and nothing; lights are on, nobody’s home! I unplugged everything, couldn’t find the problem. Plugged everything back in, and it worked. I got so pissed (angry, not drunk), that I tossed the whole mess behind the stage and left them there, never used them again. My setup at the time was a Gibson Les Paul Deluxe, later a Fender Strat, into the Dyna Comp, then a Cry Baby wah, an MXR Distortion+, and a Maestro phase shifter, into a Kustom K200 amp with 3-12” Altec speakers, later replaced by a Music Man 410HD-130. Well, it was a house gig, and I played there for two years. When I finally quit the gig, I didn’t take those pedals with me. If the building’s still intact, they’re probably still there!
You might want to check!
Man, nothing like waking up after a good nights rest and seeing a new Ask Zac video! May have to pull out some compressors today!
Enjoy!
I’ve always heard about those compressors but never tried one. I loved Reggie Young’s solo on Footlights and cool to know that he used the Dyna Comp. I own several compressors but never a Dyna Comp. Would be cool to try a script logo one someday. I don’t think I’d buy one myself though. My favourite is my Wampler Ego compressor. Thanks as always for your knowledge of these pedals and the inside stories of those great musicians/producers. Cheers!
Hey Zac .Another great informative and entertaining episode. Longtime dynacomp user (not vintage) .Love MXR Pedals though I generally just plug straight in to the amp.I believe that some things have something about them.from guitars to pedals to cars and t shirts.Some objects have a mojo.Conversely I believe people can catch the mojo and some can hold it longer than others.Anyway MXR.I love compression and have a rack mount unit .I tend to use the pedal when I play live to keep something in the hole when I need it like an overdrive sort of.
What a great video! I’ve always loved compressor’s and tried a few now. I currently have a Jam Pedals Dyna-ssoR on my board 🙌
Two subtle compressors worth mentioning (one of them always subtle, the other capable of subtlety AND other stuff) are the BBE Opto Stomp and the Keeley Compressor Plus, which has that blend control, which is a godsend.
I love my JHS modified block logo MXR Dyna Comp. 3PM & 9PM, always on for me ;) Another great video, Zac!
Right on!
Great video, for me a compressor really brings out the jangle in my Strat and the twang in my Tele , it's always on when playing clean. If I'm using dirt it's off unless I want to use it as a solo boost which is does quite well . Thanks Zac!
Great to hear!
Great vid, Zac! Thanks for the Reggie Young licks and for explaining the use of compression. I don't use compression much but it's handy for making a part feel tighter in certain situations, helps to counteract the amp sag it seems.
Or some use it to try and make their amp sound like it has sag!
Glad you mentioned Andy Summers, the script Dyna-Comp transformed tracks like Walking on the Moon and Message in a Bottle. Interesting that although he played a tele, it had so many mods, brass bridge, changed tuners, humbucker, phase switch etc. it didn't sound that much like a tele at all.
I bought one of these, and the other original mxr boxes, back in the very early 70’s when they first came out. The dyna comp lasted longer than the other ones, only getting sold a few years ago. And I immediately regretted it. A perfect replacement - the Build Your Own Clone version, with the vintage parts kit. Sounds identical, and really quiet like the originals
I have the same one, I leave it on like you said, and both knobs all the way up. At first I didn’t know what I might need it for, now I can’t imagine playing without it as a front end to a Marshall.
Always a good morning when there is a new Ask Zac video!
Hope you enjoyed it!
@@AskZac , Your videos give us backround and history with your own firsthand personal knowledge of the days subject. Your delivery is a great, like you are there in the room with all of us just being yourself!
@@cowtowncustoms2110 Thank you.
Fantastic details, very cool
I have the SuperComp. I like it. It has a control for attack....so you can set for subtle as well as squash.
I used to have an early block logo (no led or power jack). It sounded awesome but also drove me crazy without the light. I wish I had kept it and done the simple mod. Oh well, the analogman mini bicomp has been a solid workhorse ever since. I've rediscovered it during covid and still really enjoy it.
Boy, that was the go-to compressor in our neck of the woods in the 1980's. Effects units came and went, but that DynaComp
was a tough old bird and would sit in the toolbox for decades and get pulled out when required.
such a beautiful woody tone starting at 19 seconds!
Footlights was so beautiful
Thank you for this Zac. I've always been in the camp of no-Compression. But after I had a P90 soapbar installed in the neck of my LP Gibson; leaving the burstbucker in the bridge as is....now I noticed I need to tame that savage beast, it gets louder than hell. I've been thinking of investing in a good comp pedal, for that guitar only. My 3 Tele's and Strat are not even close to loud as the modded Gibson. Thanks again Zac for your advice. : )
I used to own one but it was so noisy that I replaced it with the original 4 knob Keeley which is great for all the country stuff and then I got the Origin Effects Slide Rig for the Lowell George/Ry Cooder Warner Bros 70’s tones. Great video Zac👍
Very nice!
I miss Tusculum Music! What a throwback. I still have an old Peavey amp I bought from there.
I had bought an MXR Dyna Comp back in the mid-70's too. fooling around with it over time, I realized I didn't like the "squeezed" sound of the compressor, but wanted my strings to all have the same level each ( the bass strings sounding much louder than the treble strings straight out of the pickups). After turning down the compression knob and trying to get used to the new level of processing, I found it still too "squeezy" sounding. What to do, what to do?? I got mad at it and turned the compression all the way to Zero, but left the unit in circuit, with the gain up all the way. I found I loved the clear levels of all the strings, no "squeezy" coloration to the overall sound, and it also gave me a very good crunch (that i was looking for in the first place!!) Thank You MXR for many years of Great Guitar Sound!
Another great video Zac!! I always thought every TELE came with a Dyna Comp. I have two boards one with a Dyna, and the other with the SP, the blend knob is nice. We still need a video on JImmy O.
I agree
Great video, Zac!
Thanks!
I just sold a Hyper Gravity by TC Electronic. It was difficult to use and didn't sound right.. I know what I need now. Thanks Zac!
Glad I could help!
Reggie's work on Hag's "Just Stay Here And Drink" is another great example of his use of dyna comp.
I'm fortunate to have one. My buddy worked at MXR around 1976-77, and I asked him if he could get me one at a discount. He brought me one, and told me, "you'll be glad I got you one with this logo. They will be making them with their new logo from now on". Not a country guy, but I always use it with my Rickenbacker 12 string.
Nice!!!
Compression on a 12-string is a must-have.
I’ve also known guys who ran old marshalls an fenders to switch between 2 compressors into an amp just starting to break up or mildly distorting as their crunch rhythm tone, click on a compressor set for heavy limiting and attenuation some gain and it essentially gave their amp a pseudo clean channel. Switch it off and go to the other compressor that was set to give a boost, and now they could get a singing lead tone from the same single channel “crunch” amp.
Wow
Interesting video. Used it in the 80’s with The Forester Sisters. Still have it....a real workhorse.
Where you part of their ACL performance? The other part of the show was New Grass Revival.
@@AskZac I was. I played a MIJ Tele (changed PUs) thru a Session 400, always with a Dyna Comp on most solos.
ruclips.net/video/jCqcrxA6EB4/видео.html
That sounds fantastic! Thank you for sharing that. What else was on your board?
@@AskZac It was caveman board. guitar->DComp->Distortion+(MXR)->DM-2->DOD FX85->micro chorus (MXR)->Shobud volume pedal->Rockman stereo chorus->amps. I usually played thru a pair of Session 400s. BIG sound. Honestly, I only used the dyna comp and the delay, with the rare chorus here and there. Later I went to a Peavey Strat hard tail. (Blasphemy, I know) Enjoy your channel, dude. 👍
That sound you get from the Dynacomp is undeniable, nothing better for that chicken pickin sound
Love the opening riff of Footlights!! Merle was the Man!!
The trinity of chicken picking tone. I’m actually a fan of the new mini dyna comp. always wanted to try out an orange squeezer type of compressor though.
I love my Boss cs2..but the script dynacomp looks great right now
Great info. as always 😎🎙🎸✅
Thanks again!
Hi Zac, great episode! I'd like to know your comments about the wampler ego compressor, maybe on a future video, thank you for sharing your knowledge, really a huge contribution
Its a cool comp, it is similar to the Barber Tone Press.
new to the channel love your videos
Thank you!
MXR dynacomp with the Ross mod is the shiznit!
The Squeezer was just so noisy the Dynacomp has a great sound and quiet! I remember getting my early block in 78 for $20 great buy even then.
Another gem Zac ! Thank you ! My Boss Compressor might get replaced....on another note, what are the settings on your amp ? Cheers !
vol 3, treb 4, bass 4.5, rev 2.5
I have a j rockett squeegee which is a dyna comp copy but it just isn’t squishy enough for me.
I had a dyna comp years ago and I remember it absolutely SQUASHED my guitar
I had one of the first ones. I used it for sustain. I have no clue what i did with it. I also have the original Rat first edition and the Boss chorus C E 2. Best chorus ever.
I enjoy my Boss CP-1X. Always on just to even things out. Tim Pierce compares it to a Fairchild studio compressor.
Sweet!!
My Script logo one has a problem. When I engage it all goes silent. Kills the signal. Any ideas? Thanks.
Have you used your Dyna with your Les Paul? I was just playing and the low E overwhelms the pedal bit. Sounds great on the other strings. Any tricks to get around that?
I don't use it much with buckers
Just wanted to say again Zac how cool I think it is that guitar ended up on your possession. Tell me more about that "new tall" Ellis. I've had Ron's Mid Tall, Mid Tall Open Top staggered and he's sending me a JL to try too. I've had one of his Broadcaster bridge pickups for a long time and that nailed the Mike Campbell Broadcaster thing for after a long, long search!
The New Tall is the most stratty of the bunch
@@AskZac cheers. Suspected that might be the case.
Hey Zac! What kind of compressor would you recommend for that '80s/'90s heavily compressed squishy country guitar sound? Is that doable with an Ego Compressor or Keeley Compressor? Or do you need one of these "not transparent" compressors for that? Thanks! :)
The Dyna or a Boss CS2/3 was what guys here used in the 80s. The Keeley can do it, and the Ego can if you don't mix any dry signal in.
@@AskZac Perfect! Just what I was looking for. Thanks! :)
On what we are tossin back n fourth .. what do you this about .
Love is Just a Four Letter Word ? Im in and out of motel rooms being a long haul trucker and have not put any gear on the truck yet . We may have something here what do you think ?!
Cali 76 CD rocks! :P
Hey Zac, I’m going to buy my first tele.. just curious what size frets you prefer? Thanks in advance
I like 6105 or 95x47 size frets
Zac the musical historian!
Thanks, John!
Interesting! About your preference for the zinc boxes vs aluminum maybe there’s something to that. Very early Marshall amps had aluminum chassis as compared to the later ones and some say it makes a difference in the sound because aluminum has more conductivity as compared to steel. God knows; it’s probably imperceptible except for dogs, Eric Johnson and some cork sniffers...🤣😂
Maybe so!
Interesting stuff. I'm still trying to feel my way with compressors. I have the Byoc Orange Squeezer clone, a lend of an older Dynacomp, and a four knob Boss. Still not sure.
What do you think Reggie's rig was on "That's the Way Love Goes"?
I think he used a 50s Strat with a Dyna Comp into an early 80s Fender Concert amp.
@@AskZac Welly. Thanks! I'll grab the Strat and try the Dyna Comp again!
I always put my dynacomp first in the signal chain (when I use it at all). Is that what you would do? I usually have a simple setup, ce2 chorus->boss overdrive->phase 100->delay. It messes up my envelope filter so I alternate them first in the chain.
Yes, exactly, first
@@AskZac thanks.
I loved the point you made about Mike Rutherford. He is like a country player in the way its always the perfect part that serves the song, is thought out, but has the off the cuff feel that keeps things exciting or moody. Veering off course, it strikes me that the kind of playing I'm describing has the feeling like the guitar player actually reacted emotionally to the song and just had to play in response. Anyway, another great show. Compressors feel good under the fingers. That feeling has changed how I use OD's and boosts to sort of keep that feeling.
Hey Zac how does the compressor work with your les Paul??
I don't like to use a comp with humbuckers. Gets a bit too squishy
Hell yeah!
Zac what are your thoughts on the Exotic SP Compressor...if any ?
It's nice, and has a great form factor.
@@AskZac ..thx Zac 👍
Legend
I had to sell mine. I could Hear the buffer sucking tone when it was off. I use a wampler ego now
can you please tell me about logo on the back, i have 3 dynacomps (one is vintage, no diode), only one has it... THX!
On the housing? BUD?
@@AskZac at the bottom, right down corner, there is mxr logo engraved, but only on 1, i think its the newest
I have an opportunity to pick up a script or block(or both) locally from a guy who bought them both in the 70's. But the true bypass issue might be a deal breaker. What other compressor would you say has that something special, but without the negatives of this one?
I went ahead and picked up the script. It's a '74. $150. The interesting thing right off the bat is it only works with a battery and you have to take all the screws out to change it. I wasn't quite prepared for that. But I'm glad to have the pedal.
Mirage comp
@@AskZac Thanks!
I’ve always thought the Dyna comp was used a bunch on 70’s funk guitar as well. Seemed it was rather audible on those records
Agreed
Purely sound effect for me. It adds the snap and pop and clicky sound for country .
I got one to keep my g string from popping out.
Nope ' still popping out.
I've tried um all, still can't replace the CS-2.
Great pedal
Keith and Richard had a falling out, sold mxr. Richard started ART, Keith started Alesis. Keith was a dear friend until his untimely death.
Orville 'Red' Rhodes invented the first compressor pedal, which Nokie Edwards of The Ventures first used on The Ventures 'In space' album, recorded in late 1963!! Apparently Tony Peluso, the lead guitarist of The Carpenters used one as well. Orville 'Red' Rhodes also made the first purpose built fuzz pedal, also used by Nokie Edwards in 1962.
I met Red Rhodes in about 1988. The other guitar player in my band had his amp go down on him and Andy Marshall in Seattle told us to go to this Red Rhodes guy to get it fixed. I had no idea at the time who he was and Ventures In Space has been one of my favorite records since I was 12 or 13, let alone all of the other things he played on. Missed opportunity
Where can more info be found on the Rhodes compressor?
@@AskZac I emailed his son a few years ago and he told me that he still has the schematics. I can't remember his first name - you will need to do an internet search. According to The Ventures biography by Del Halterman, the compressor only had one knob. I assume it was adjusted internally.
@@AskZac Search for: Jeff Rhodes velvet hammer
@@snarnokisn’t the Rhodes velvet hammer a pickup not a compressor? It’s the pickup Joan Jett puts in her Melody Maker
Would anyone here say the Xotic SP is in the same class? Just curious
It has more sounds in it, and can get more subtle
Well I suppose I have to go buy a compressor now.
Get ready. This'll be a long one. But a good one.
The 3080 transconductance amp has probably the lowest headroom of any IC of that family, adding harmonic content when the input signal exceeds about 1/10 of a volt. So later compressors tend to be a little cleaner. On the other hand, that low headroom may add a little coloration that provides some of the appeal of the Dynacomp; the "sheen" you talk of. Personally, I doubt there is much difference between metal can and epoxy chip. Newer compressors will generally use LM13700 chips or chips from Rohm or THAT, all of which have better headroom specs than the 3080
One of the pivotal characteristics of any compressor is its gain-recovery time. Compressors act like a soundman with lightning-fast hands, quickly turning the gain down in response to peaks, and bringing it up again as the note dies out. One of the quirks of *long* or slow gain-recovery is that if you pick fast, throwing a lot of notes at it, you can hear the attack of the *first* note picked, but the initial attack of subsequent notes tends to get lost, because the gain is still slowly coming back up, after being forced down. Apart from the form-factor, one of the big distinctions between the Dynacomp and its contemporary, the Orange Squeezer, was that the Dynacomp had a fairly slow gain-recovery, while the Squeezer's was fairly quick. Neither had any adjustment of recovery-time. That made the Dynacomp better-suited to held notes, picking that attempts to emulate pedal steel (like those bends you were doing), and slow melodic runs, while the Squeezer was perhaps better suited to chicken-pickin, because it allowed the pick attack of quickly-played notes to be more audible. For a player like Mark Knopfler, an Orange Squeezer would be ideal.
Many commercial compressors have added what they call an "Attack" control. This is a misnomer. The control varies the gain-recovery time, such that quick gain-recovery allows the pick attack to be heard when playing quickly. Many players who try out compressors, and dicker with the "Attack" control, come away wondering if it actually *does* anything. It *does* , but the thing is that the audible impact depends fundamentally on how quickly you are playing, as well as how much compression you have it set for. Recovering from only a slight reduction in gain happens quickly. Quickly recovering from maximum gain-reduction, when picking fast, is far more audible. I installed a toggle to select between fast and slow gain-recovery on a friend's Dynacomp, and it made a world of difference to usability. I tip my hat to Fender for labelling the gain-recovery control on their "The Bends" compressor AS Recovery, rather than Attack. Kudos to Stan Cotey for that little bit of truth-telling.
Because the brunt of the harmonic content in a picked/plucked string is in the first 1/10 of a second or so, Anything that pulls back on the gain, in response to pick hitting string, will have a tendency to make the guitar sound a little duller, as the harmonically-impoverished decay phase of the string has a similar loudness to the pick attack. What many contemporary compressors have added, is a Blend/Mix control, that allows a bit of the uncompressed signal to be combined with the compressed signal. This allows one to insert a bit of normal pick attack, even if you have the pedal set for max gain reduction and long gain-recovery time. Nifty feature.
Ross compressors are essentially clones of the Dynacomp, but with a few - and I mean few - mods to improve noise specs. Indeed, many Ross pedals are clones of MXR pedals with a small mod here or there. While all-original Ross compressors may well be hard to find, a great many companies, like Keeley, Retro-Sonic and many others, make very decent clones of the Ross (i.e., Dynacomp with mods), using more recent chips.
My own favorite compressor is the little grey Univox Uni-Comp. I bought mine in '77 or so. I had to sell it a few years later, but recently found the schematic and made myself a repro, which sounds as good to my ears as my original one did. It is just about the simplest optical compressor that could exist. It has a pair of clipping diodes on the output, which mystified me, until someone on the diystompbox forum noted that many broadcast compressors and limiters would use the same strategy. The photocells in optical compressors take a moment to kick into action. The clipping diodes take care of business, hard-clamping the maximum volume for the first 50msec or so, until the photocell/s get rolling. Because the diodes' action is so short-lived, you don't really hear it. For me, my Uni-Comp and the Tele bridge pickup have a love affair that will never die. If you have a chance to try one out, give it a whirl, and let me know what you think. It has longer gain-recovery time, much like the Dynacomp. (Ironically, the Home Depot ad that interrupts your video for me starts off asking "Need something fast?" :-) )
I know many think of them as some sort of magical sustain box, but for me, compressors have two basic functions. One is to disconnect tone from amplitude. Strings picked/plucked harder will *sound* different, but you don't necessarily want them to be louder or quieter when doing so. Compressors let you separate those two qualities. The other important function is to prevent guitar volume from unintentionally drowning out a singer, especially if you're the singer. We all want a tune to have the same sort of qualities of a professional mix. It doesn't have to "sound exactly like the record", but it should be as *balanced* as a mastered recording. And it can be hard to play with enthusiasm and keep one eye on the VU meter. A bit of compression can take care of that for you.
But nice tribute to the little red box.
Fantastic info, and now I want to hear a Uni-Comp! Yes, Stan Cotey is brilliant. Met him years ago in my friend"s basement rehearsal area. He was using a Matchless with Celestion blue speakers, with a load box, and a handful of pedals to make amazing sounds.
@@AskZac I ran into Stan at Summer NAMM 2019, and felt compelled to compliment him on Fender's recent line of pedals. Very well designed, with well thought-out features and control complements. I think he understands what players need.
@@markhammer643 Agreed
Have you tried the MXR Custom Comp that has the can?
I have not. Sounds interesting
while I'm not lucky enough to have an original script, I love using mine as an overdrive. They sound great smashing the front end of a small combo.
I got a Custom Comp thinking it was going to be an improvement on the Dyna.... Lol, NO! Sigh. Live and learn.
I must have imagined that Genesis lick- or it dates back to a reckless youth before you found the righteous path to Twangdom.
That pedal is country music.
Zac .
If I shoot You a Line what can You come back with ....
She was setting on a Bench at the railway station , tears trickled from Her Eyes ..
She remembered the home that she loved so much and why she had to say goodbye
@@AskZac
She Boarded the train with a Broken Heart , InSide she wanted to Die .....
@@LUCKYB. but somehow she knew her story wasn't over, but she didn't know the reason why.
@@AskZac
She Tried so Hard to leave the pain , But it was Driving her In Sane , every time she though about Him she was living it All Again .
First