Any recommendations for a decent guitar compressor pedal?

I never used one live before, but love what comps do to my sound in the studio.

Thanks guys!
-Neil

Love my Keeley. Get the four-button model if you can. Best of luck.

All of the compressor pedals that I have and have tried are cool in different ways. The TC Electronic is my favorite for that Bill Frisell clean sound. The old blue Boss one is cool for over the top compression.

Try them as an insert in a mix too. The orange DOD pedal works good this way.

the keeley is great.

Valve electro harmonix black finger

For tone and sustain, an original MXR Dyna-Comp can't be beat. For clean and shimmery, I like the Carl Martin.

Keeley Four Knob. Best I've ever come across for bass or guitar.

Two knob is the same schematic, but I think it has the other two pots inside as surface mount attenuators.

+1 for the Keeley

I like the Keeley, but my fave is the vintage dynacomp. I also like the old Boss CS-2 (hate CS-3) and Carl Martin.

+1 on the Carl Martin.

The recently discontinued TC Electronics Vintage Compressor Pedal or some other variety?

Boss pedals are always great. Tough as nails and last forever, in addition to being great pedals. If you're already using heavy distortion I'd say don't even use a compressor pedal because of the amount of compression the distortion puts in. If you're having trouble getting good sustain out of the guitar you might want to look at your technique, guitar set-up, and even what your guitar is made out of. Using the compressor pedal just to get sustain is for pussies IMO. If you're just using it for an acoustic then ignore the inflammatory remarks I just made

+4 for the Carl Martin; it's the least tone-sucking of all the compressor pedals I tried. I hated the Boss, just plug it in and even in bypass your sound gets a little duller. Unlike most compressors the Carl Martin has true bypass. it's pricey, but well worth it.

I've got the two knob keeley and the 74 reissue dynacomp - for me - it's the dynacomp.

keeley is smoother.

dynacomp is bolder.

Modded versions of the early Ibanez pedals (orange two-knob version) are excellent, though getting scarce these days.

The mod is simple enough to do as it involves swapping out the 741 op amp chip for a TL071 equivalent. Makes them clean, quiet and luscious!!

Ross/Keeley is a great design, but there's something about the flawed but lovable squawk of a Dynacomp that I really dig.

My Damage Control Liquid Blues has a really smooth optical compressor on the front end, it's probably my favorite "transparent" compressor, just evens out the strings very naturally without stepping all over your playing dynamics. One of those things where you hear it when you first turn it up but not again until you turn it off.

to my ear, the keeley is pretty hard core. I love the diamond compressor pedal, and I'm definitely interested in the barber tone press, though I emailed them about building a custom pedal, and they sort of dropped the ball and weren't very friendly about it. The diamond guys are great, though, and all their pedals are amazing. Memory Lane is sick.

Get a signal router and set up an RNC on stage!

The Boss compressor pedal has a DBX chip in it.

You can plug a 58 into it and use it as a mic preamp for drums.

I have a Carl Martin and it works very well for me.
It is a very versatile box, unlike the Boss, which is nice, but a one trick pony IMHO.

dyna comp.

Lovin' the Barber Tone Press!

The Diamond comp is the sweetest i've tried, it doesn't do the overtly squashed thing but for a subtle squeeze it's just right.

Now you're talkin' - the TP sounds as good or better than the other popular comps and adds parallel compression, which is indispensable once you've tried it.

Another favorite is the Demeter Compulator, which is on the warm side of compressors. It makes everything sound better, and you'll play better, too. An addicting pedal.

The Carl Martin is a rather characterless compressor, which isn't a bad thing.

Keeley's compressor is nice.

If you're willing to spend a little money, BJF's (Pale Green) compressor is one of the better options.

I saw a plug for the Black Finger. I'll throw in a plug for the White Finger, too. They're wicked for guitar, bass, or keys.

soul preacher, for anything and everything.

I have a Keeley Compressor, and a Boss CS-2. Both are great at what they do, but I've found that I prefer the natural compression I get from the amp. I eventually pulled both compressors off of my pedalboard, and now go compressor free.

+1 for the Diamond Compressor

I like what Analogman's Juicer does too, and TonePress... and Janglebox!

Different beasts... Gotta have them all!

GUITARS LOVE OPTOs!

you could try one of these

rack gear

AnalogMan BiComprossor, with my Tele it also acts as a second gain stage for distorted sounds, the Juicer side is particularily great for that.