Hi all,
I just tried out my new Blackfinger and it seems a bit strange to me. Can anyone help me out by telling me if what it’s doing is normal?

I tried it on a bass guitar, and the compression effect is much weaker than I expected. I was curious, so I recorded a bit in PT and looked at the waveform with and without effect. The dry waveform is symmetrical about the 0 line, the compressed waveform is limited in the positive-going direction, but still has full amplitude in the negative direction. This isn’t just on the attack transient – I could understand the compressor needing a few wavelengths to pull the level down – but is consistent throughout the length of the note. This is on normal lamp setting, full compresion, pre and post gains around the mid point, adjusted to give peak meter LED brightness on the note attacks.

Also, ‘squash’ setting drops the output level massively (on lamp, I know it’s not supposed to work on LED) – at least 20 db, maybe more. Is that usual? What is it actually doing? Is it some kind of side-chain eq?

I really want to like this compressor – I was excited to find a valve opto compressor pedal because I love the sound of the LA-2A – but so far I must confess I’m finding it disappointing.

Cheers,
gerard