Effectrode PC-2A User manual

Review of the PC-2APhoto-optical Tube
Compressor by Ovnilabs
EffectrodePC-2A: Thisisan
opticalcomppedalwith atube gain
stage.It usesa6021 military
subminiaturetubeinsteadof the
usual12A*7usedbymostsimilar
pedals.Thistubeoffersgreater
resistancetovibrationandimpact,
andaslightlydifferenttoneand
feel.
The opticalelement hasafast
attack,and itsrelease
characteristicsdepend on the
intensityof the signal--soitwill
releasemorequicklywith smaller
spikes,and moreslowlyafter
compressing tallerspikes.Italsoreleasesintwostages,ashortsteep
risefollowed byalong slowrise. Thisismeantto emulate theaction of
theopticaldeviceinthefamed UreiLA-2A. The pedalhasatoggle
switchonthebackforselectingbetween lowand highratios.The low
ratiosettingisgood formore"natural",unobtrusiveaction and general
smoothing.It can be set foranythingfromaninvisibletouchto amore
noticeablesquashing. The high-ratio"limit"settingisaveryheavy
squashwith adip-and-swellaction,suitableforchicken-pickin'orfunk.
It'snotgreat asaclean/invisiblepeaklimiter,becausethe effectisso
prominent.Butifyou likethe funky dip-and-swelleffect, thenitdoes
limitbigpeaksjustfine. Becausethereleasetimeissovariableand
dependent onthe signalpassing through, the amount eachnewnote's
first peakwillbe compressed can change dramatically.So you'llget the
smoothest, mostconsistent action byplaying smoothlyand consistently,
with fewlong rests.
Aside fromthe ratioswitch,ithasonlytwocontrols:threshold(labeled
"peakreduction")and outputgain.Thereisnolight to indicate when
you'vecrossedthethreshold. Whilethe controlsareverylimited, the
good newsisthatthe range ofthe peakreduction controlisquitewide,
andcapableof awiderange of flavorsand effects.It justtakessome
timeand experimentation to find the flavorthat willworkbestforyou. It
doesseemtogetinto aheavier-squashing range fairlyquickly:playing
abasswith "average"output levels,itseemed tocrossthe threshold
quiteoften, with the peakreduction knob at around9:00. Soifyou want
morerangeof light/subtleaction,youmayneed to reducethe levelof
the signalyou feedinto thispedal.
Thereisno loss ofhighsorlows,although both high and lowendcan
soundabitcongested orattenuatedduringmomentsof heavy
squeezing. Mostof thetimeit'snot an issue, plentyofhighsand lows.

Infactatlight settingsthelowsseemto notget compressedasmuch
themidsand highs;thiscan be aprooracon depending onyour
expectations:at alowratioandhighthreshold,thelowfrequenciesare
simplymassive,whichsoundsfantasticbut mayresultinclipping of
yourampormixer.The toneisverynaturaland musical;itapproaches
transparent, butit'sjustcoloredenough to "haveatone",and to
sweetenbut not harmyoursound.The noiselevelisverylow,even at
strongercomp settings.
It'sinthe same"medium"sizeastheBarber,Diamond,and BBE
pedals.Theconstruction isclean andsolid,andthe footswitchisa
relay-basedtrue bypass (myfavorite kind of bypass).It runsona
12VDC,1.5Awallwartpowersupply;itwillnot be poweredbyany
daisy chainorbrick-type supply.
Comparing itagainst some othertube comps:
The Markbassismuchmorecontrollable,andlessexpensive,but it's
muchlarger.The Markbass can squashasheavily,butitdoesn'thave
the funkydip/swell;otherwise, their tone isequivalent.
The Retrospecismoreversatile(DI,EQ, preamp),butit'salot larger,
and also harderto find.TheRetrospeccolorsthe tonemore.
The Voxismuchcheaper,and itcando the samesortof extrasquashy
effect, butisnot capableof the "unobtrusive"ornearly-transparent
tone oraction the Effectrode canachieve.It'smuchlarger,but on the
otherhandit doesn'trequirea specialpowersupply.
The mostdirectcomparison wouldbeto theCAE V-Comp, butit'sbeen
averylong timesinceI'veused thatone, somycomment heremaynot
beaccurate.Iintend togetanotherV-Compsometimesoon. My
recollection,however,wasthattheV-Compwasn'tquite asversatile,
andwasa bitnoisier.
Allinall,ifyouareinthe market fora"high end"tubecompinpedal
format,the Effectrode isone ofthe best choicescurrentlyavailable.
Check out the Ovnilabs website formoreindependent compressorpedal
reviews: www.ovnilab.com