MXR M76 Studio Compressor
Let’s take a look at the M76 Studio Compressor from MXR.
Every reader knows that I believe in compressors in general and for clean sounds, I tend to want an always on compressor. Unfortunately, most stomp box compressors that I have tried are of the squishy variety and invariably get kudos for being great for chicken pickin’ but I have to ask what about if you don’t pick chickens?
My list of compressors that I have found appropriate for regular use are a short list.
Origin Systems Cali 76 and Stacked Edition
Diamond Compressors Regular and Junior
Empress Compressor Original and Mark II
Strymon Compadre
Effectrode Thermionics PC2A Tube Compressor
Today, I am adding one more to my approved list, for whatever that may be worth to you.
What I Want in a Compressor
I look at a compressor not as a gain boost, and definitely not something to squash the dynamic range. What I want is a gentle bit of compression with no loss of tone, and minimal loss of amplifier headroom. I come at this from the studio side where the recognized kings are the Teletronix LA-2A tube based compressor and the UREI 1176 FET based compressor. I can say that the Effectrode is targeted at the user who loves the LA-2A and the Cali 76 family is targeted at the user of the UREI 1176. I like them both very much. Both do what I want in a studio comp and are not all clinical. Based on the name, and in fairness, MXR makes no claims about this, when the M76 is an FET based compressor and is called the M76, one might conclude what audience that the company is after.
Why Buy Another Compressor?
I bit. When I first saw this compressor advertised recently, I wanted to check one out because I was not satisfied with the results that I was getting on the board used with my REVV D20 or new Tone King Imperial Mark II. I use these amps mostly for recording. The REVV has a DI out and I mic up the Tone King. I had been using a Keeley Compressor for a while and found that it was off more than on. It also produced a noticeable lag (noticeable to me at least) and a very subtle click as the compression ratio was turned up. I am well aware that the Keeley is a well-liked product, but it’s not for me. In defence of the Keeley it is far superior to the similarly priced TC Electronics Hyper Gravity that I found to be horrible.
I changed out the Keeley for the MXR M76 and after reading the very sparse documentation, treated it the same way that I would treat a UA 1176 in a DAW. Playing my Tom Anderson Custom S type into the Tone King, I was able to get precisely what I was looking for in short order. Light to medium compression with no loss of tone or headroom.
How Does it Play and Sound?
MXR goes out of their way to talk about the Clean Headroom Technology that is in the M76. There’s no real data about what that is or what it contains, so all I can say is that I did not experience any loss of headroom. Once of the reasons that I love the Tone King so much is that for where it is located I don’t need to run the volume up high. In fact, I use the built in Iron Man II attenuator to keep the volume in check. This means that the amp has a lot of headroom available, and for me, it is now my favourite combo amp. The M76 works beautifully with the amp.
As you can see from the image at the start of this article, the unit is very simple. You have input and output level controls, so you can control how much boost or not there is. It also allows you to tweak the unit to suit pickups of differing output levels. The single coils in my Anderson are hotter than regular Strat pickups and quite a bit hotter than the Fralin Pure 54s in my green Strat. I find the input control very useful and use the output control to keep things volume level neutral engaged or not.
There is also an LED scale showing what is happening in terms of compression in real time. While it would be nice to have an input level scale as on the Empress, you get where you need to be using the Input level control pretty darn quickly.
I would suggest starting with the Release and Attack knobs at noon, and a 4:1 compression. Attack determines how quickly the compressor grabs the note, and Release determines how long it holds on to it. The compression level knob allows you to select from proven compression ratios, offering 4:1, 8:1, 12:1 and 20:1 The unit runs off a 9V battery or any pedal power supply delivering 9 volts and at least 19mA of current. Input and output jacks are on the sides as is the power connector. While I would personally prefer everything on top, this layout is the MXR standard and not a big deal. The pedal itself is a “standard” size solid aluminum box that MXR calls the same size as a Phase 90. Good comparison given the decades of success from the popular phase shifter.
Experiment with the placement of the compressor in terms of pedal order. I would always place it after a treble booster, true boost pedal and any vintage style fuzz, because most of them do not handle lower input impedance very well. Some like it after overdrive, some like it before. Whatever sounds best to you is the right answer.
In Summary
I paid $257 CAD for my unit from Amazon Canada and had it next day. I chose this route for convenience and ease of return, but you can find or order the M76 from your favourite guitar shop. They MAP for $189.99 USD. Since I was planning on replacing the Keeley anyway, I was ready to do something that I rarely do which is duplicate an existing pedal and go with another Empress Effects Compressor Mark II, this time in blue instead of silver. These are available from Empress dealers for about $335 CAD. It does have a nice MIX control that I really like with acoustic guitars and if you find the MXR price starting to go over $305, maybe give more thought to the Empress. For under $260 though, the MXR M76 really cannot be beat.
Thanks for reading and until next time, peace. To ask a question on any guitar related subject, click this link
