software

Having an out-of-town guest is great, but by Day Three I was itching to get back to work and pick up the prize that I knew awaited me there – the latest addition to my growing HBE collection, the Compressor Retro, or CPR. (I already own a Big D overdrive and Dos Mos dual buffer/boost)

The first thing that greeted me when I opened up the box was the familiar hefty weight common to HBE pedals, and the knowledge that the weight is caused not just by a fancy metal cover, but by the quality of the components within. I could see the colour of the pedal peeking out through the internal bubble wrap.

(Side note: The CPR I have is in a custom black/blue checkerboard pattern. The paint job is amazing!! It’s very Cheap Trick!!)

THE OUTSIDE
The external dimensions of the CPR are the same as the Big D and Dos Mos -- approx. 4.5” wide, 3.5” deep and 2” high. The right side of the pedal contains the input jack as well as the jack for the power supply, and the left side has the output jack. The top of the unit has only 3 controls on it: an ON/OFF switch (with the brightest LED I’ve ever seen!!), and two vintage chicken foot style knobs, labeled Sustain and Level. The paint job on my unit completely wraps around all 6 sides of the pedal. The bottom has the serial number sicker and 4 low-profile rubber feet.THE INSIDE
I eagerly removed the bottom screws to see what was inside the pedal; I’ve come to expect certain things when opening up a pedal from Joel Weaver (the brain behind HBE): point-to-point wiring from the input and output jacks (no PCB mounted jacks for HBE), thick power cables from the power supply jack, and premium components laid out on an immaculate circuit board. The CPR did not let me down in this regard – all of the oversized parts and layout I’ve come to expect were present in spades. The bottom plate also contains the battery clip (the 9v jack also connected to the circuit board via heavy duty red and black cable).

The actual circuit layout for this pedal seemed pretty simple compared to my other pedals; just a handful of resistors, capacitors, and a single IC. The large audio taper pots for the Sustain and Level controls could be seen bulging around the PCB.THE TEST RIG
I used the following system to test out the CPR: my TOC guitar (ESP body, Gajic Custom neck, OFR, Bare Knuckle Miracle Man in the bridge and Irish Tour in the neck); for gain I used the gain stage in my Rivera Knucklehead half stack as well as a mild OD from the Rivera and the HBE Big D overdrive pedal. A THD Hot Plate resides between the Rivera head and 4x12 cabinet.
HOW DOES IT SOUND?
In short, pedal sounds A M A Z I N G!! Even with the Sustain maxed out, there is very little noise from this pedal.

I began by playing with the gain maxed out on the Rivera and both controls at 9 o’clock. There was such little effect from the compressor, that I had to turn it up for a more dramatic effect to even hear what the CPR is doing; this is a VERY subtle, transparent compressor!

I ended up settling with both knobs at 12 o’clock, where I could easily discern between the effect being on and off, and then rolled it back to where the effect was transparent again, then back up, in an attempt to quantify what I was hearing.

When I put the Big D into the chain, it became much easier to hear what the CPR was doing.

So, what, exactly, did I notice with the CPR? Did I discern any improvement in tone?

The CPR is probably the best compressor pedal I’ve ever encountered; it’s very quite, very transparent, and does what it claims to do. That being said, I did notice that with fast riffing, the transient edge of the notes was dulled slightly. Of course, this is what a compressor is supposed to do; however, I prefer to really hear the pick attack when playing fast, precise riffing.

(Definition side note: transient means “sudden, sharp signal increase often referring to a sudden increase in sound volume or power”; in other words, the ‘attack’ of the pick on the string is a transient)

When playing leads, however, the CPR is a god send! The notes got slightly thicker, sustain was increased (of course), and harmonic content increased; getting screaming pinch harmonics was totally effortless, and I had a silly grin moment as I played entire passages with nothing but pinch harmonics!

COMPARING THE DOS MOS TO THE CPR
I was very curious to hear how the tone changed by swapping out the CPR with the Dos Mos in buffer mode, since I was so pleased with the sound of the CPR in lead work. When used as a buffer in front of the Big D, the Dos Mos still does it for me in terms of tone and resolution.

CONCLUSION
I still have much more experimenting to do with the CPR, as this review encompasses only about 2 hours of actual playing time with the pedal. I have yet to try using the Dos Mos to CPR to Big D all in a row, for example; I will be doing this soon, as well as trying out the CPR for solos at gig volume with the rest of the band at rehearsal.

As far as compressors go, however, the CPR blows away all of the compressor pedals I’ve heard, and many of the rack mounted compressors, too! It embodies everything I’ve come to love about HBE -- the transparency, resolution, bullet proof construction, and uber quality of the effect itself. For my personal taste, the jury is still out on whether I would use it for rhythm work. But for solos, it’s a must have!! BUY OR DIE!!

Nice review and pics! I'll have a look at that pedal if I ever decide I need a comp. I have quite mixed feelings about them and I'll have to make my mind out first.

Okay, further experimenting today has yielded the following ...

1. Dos Mos gt; Big D gt; CPR = POO. Really, terrible tone; it's contricted and flatulent.

2. Dos Mos gt; CPR gt; Big D = GODLY !!! The tone is smooth, very pro sounding, and postiviely HUGE!! It's like all the detail that gets captured by the Dos Mos is then enlarged and made beefier before it goes to the OD. I'm also not experiencing that diminishing of the pick attack any more!

I can see that I'm going to have a lot of fun with this pedal.

Nice review as always, TO.

BTW, what's a Dos MOs?

-Matt

The Dos Mos is a dual volume boost/buffer pedal from HBE. (See my quot;God Tonequot; thread for more info). I've been using it as a buffer just after my guitar and it has totally transformed my tone!!!
Hi Twilight,
I'm a big HBE fan too! I've only got the Power Screamer so far, but My God! Just awesome! Have you tried it out? A while ago I e-mailed Joel Weaver about the Big D and he said it's pretty similiar to the Power Screamer, but the P.S. is a bit brighter with less gain.

I'd be interested to know if you've tried out CPR gt; Dos Mos gt; Big D yet, or CPR gt; Big D gt; Dos Mos. I usually put my comp (MXR Super Comp) first in my chain. I read recently that Pete Cornish said you should always put your distortion/OD/boosts in descending order of gain. So I guess Mr. Cornish would put the Dos Mos last of the three.

Anyway, congratulations on your new purchase. I can't wait to get more HBE stuff now.


Originally Posted by benjaturnerHi Twilight,
I'm a big HBE fan too! I've only got the Power Screamer so far, but My God! Just awesome! Have you tried it out? A while ago I e-mailed Joel Weaver about the Big D and he said it's pretty similiar to the Power Screamer, but the P.S. is a bit brighter with less gain.

I've heard great things about the Power Screamer. I went with the Big D due to the versatility of that particular pedal, and the extra gain. I'm sure I will be trying out a Power Screamer one day, as well as a THC chorus pedal.

I'd be interested to know if you've tried out CPR gt; Dos Mos gt; Big D yet, or CPR gt; Big D gt; Dos Mos. I usually put my comp (MXR Super Comp) first in my chain. I read recently that Pete Cornish said you should always put your distortion/OD/boosts in descending order of gain. So I guess Mr. Cornish would put the Dos Mos last of the three.

No, I haven't tried (or even thought of) those combinations yet, but I will try them both out this week and report back. Watch this space for further developments! Thanx for the tips!

Anyway, congratulations on your new purchase. I can't wait to get more HBE stuff now.

They are definitely some of the best pedals out there, hands down (to me, they're the best, period) - and made right here in the US of A! The cost is a bit of a downside; I think my 3 HBE pedals combined cost more than most people's guitar! (That's something like $600 in pedals, not including the cables)


Originally Posted by benjaturnerI read recently that Pete Cornish said you should always put your distortion/OD/boosts in descending order of gain. So I guess Mr. Cornish would put the Dos Mos last of the three.

Sorry to hijack, TO, but I had a question with regards to this. Probably been discussed to deth, but, how does that leave the gain for your amp? Would this logic follow through, with your gain being low relative to pedals? Or is it to each his own?

-Matt

Sorry to hijack, TO, but I had a question with regards to this. Probably been discussed to deth, but, how does that leave the gain for your amp? Would this logic follow through, with your gain being low relative to pedals? Or is it to each his own?

Do you mean would you set the gain on your amp pretty low? I suppose if you followed the quote above, you'd set it lower than your last dist./od/boost.

I think most people who use pedals for their dirty sounds do set their amps to run pretty clean, or if you have a 2/3 channel amp, their dirty channel(s) pretty low gain. Then they use the pedals to build on that sound.

Good point though.


Originally Posted by JammerMattSorry to hijack, TO, but I had a question with regards to this. Probably been discussed to deth, but, how does that leave the gain for your amp? Would this logic follow through, with your gain being low relative to pedals? Or is it to each his own?

I don't think this is a hijack @ all; the whole point of the thread is to discuss the matter at hand!

After giving it some thought, I would say that I've probably been using this method unbeknownst to myself; it certainly sounds better than Keeley's suggestion of putting the compressor after the OD, which sounds just plain awful!

I would describe my amp's gain as saturated and mildy overdriven. I plan on making a clip which will play the same lick over and over as I add a new layer to the tone: First amp gain, then amp boost, then buffer, compressor, overdrive, so that you can hear what it is I'm trying to describe.

I usually have the same amount of overdrive from the pedal as I do from the amp, perhaps a bit more; so, this would confirm the Cornish method, I suppose.

That's why I don't think that putting the CPR first, while it probably won't sound bad, will not give me the God Tone. The buffer needs to go first to restore all those details, then it gets fattened by the compressor, then overdriven. I will still try out those other combinations, however, since you never know.

I tried the HBE CPR and one of their fuzz pedals (can't recall the name). I thought the CPR was outstanding, but I realized that I really don't need a compressor for my playing and amps these days. I was less impressed with the fuzz pedal, as it didn't clean up as well as the Fulltones when I rolled back the guitar volume knob. Nevertheless, I was very impressed overall with the HBE products, and would consider one of their ODs in the future.

hey ben got to love the H.B.E. stuff !!!!!!!! i got an early power screamer and it kills ! i am thinking about getting the cpr and ufo to go with it . did you get rid of your fulltone fat boost fd II ? later scott


Originally Posted by shred-dog

did you get rid of your fulltone fat boost fd II ? later scott

Yes he did because I bought them from him while i was in NYC in June

We were trying pedals in 30th Street guitars 1 day and his mouth dropped open when I demo'd the HBE Big D and he went back the next day and bought 1. T'was the start of a new obsession...........

good catch BROW ! those fulltones are cool as well . i have been bitten by the H.B.E. bug myself great pedals at a good price !

vault material!!!

Ben, you might also get great results using it as a compressor for recording by using it in the channel insert with a Y/stereo cord.....especially for bass, vocals, acoustic, and clean guitars.

Aren't compressors more designed for keeping a clean guitar from spiking out, especially for funk? I can see how it'd smooth out gain, but I'm curious to see what you think about it on your clean channel. Most guys I've seen with compressors are country, ska, or funk players.