MusicRadar Verdict
A decent purchase, poised between budget and boutique.
Pros
- +
Lots of tone sculpting options. Good value. Solid Boss compact build.
Cons
- -
Lacks the natural sound of more 'boutique' models.
MusicRadar's got your back Our team of expert musicians and producers spends hours testing products to help you choose the best music-making gear for you. Find out more about how we test.
After the CS-1 and CS-2, the latest compressor in the Boss Compact series is the CS-3, offering plenty of control over the sound with the addition of a tone knob to the more standard level, attack and sustain.
"The CS-3 lets you sculpt quite a prominent note snap"
It's capable of going all the way from mild compression to a very squashed compression-as-effect tone. In addition, the CS-3 lets you sculpt quite a prominent note snap via juxtaposition of the sustain and attack knobs - with the tone knob dialling in plenty of top end if you want it.
With the four-knob setup, Boss has built enough versatility into this to make it a decent all-round buy, for comparatively little outlay.
"I'm like, I'm freaked out right now. I'm scared. I feel like I'm drowning on stage and I feel like I'm failing”: SZA on that misfiring Glastonbury headline set
“It sounded so amazing that people said to me, ‘I can hear the bass’, which usually they don’t say to me very often”: U2 bassist Adam Clayton contrasts the live audio mix in the Las Vegas Sphere to “these sports buildings that sound terrible”
"Even if people think it is ludicrous, it's an entry point. And people were just ready for a bit of fun”: Blossoms explain why they named their album Gary
