DRW 4 Knob Compressor (CA3080) review

Tweakable sound squeezer

  • £149
  • €212
  • $226
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DRW builds on the Dynacomp-style pedal with an added an attack knob and a trim knob

MusicRadar Verdict

Classy guitar compression with plenty of tweakability.

Pros

  • +

    Transparent tone. Lots of extra control over classic Dynacomp-style designs. Hand-made in the UK.

Cons

  • -

    Not a lot.

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Lots of compressors are based on the MXR Dynacomp and the Ross compressor, with a CA3080 OTA at the heart of the circuitry.

"What you get is a pedal that delivers great compression for the usual tasks"

Those are regarded as the classic vintage guitar compressor stompboxes, so if it ain't broke... Well, you might not want to fix it but you may want to tweak/modify it, which is what DRW has done with the 4 Knob Compressor.

Besides the knobs for turning up the compression and output level, it has added an attack knob and a trim knob that adjusts the input gain to match the pedal to different guitars, or to its position in the signal chain (a two-knob version loses the attack and trim knobs from the top panel, replacing them as internal trim pots).

What you get is a pedal that delivers great compression for the usual tasks of sustaining, keeping a consistent level and adding snap to note envelopes, while offering a transparency of tone.

Trevor Curwen

Trevor Curwen has played guitar for several decades – he's also mimed it on the UK's Top of the Pops. Much of his working life, though, has been spent behind the mixing desk, during which time he has built up a solid collection of the guitars, amps and pedals needed to cover just about any studio session. He writes pedal reviews for Guitarist and has contributed to Total Guitar, MusicRadar and Future Music among others.