Adding BASIC compressor diodes across V1 clean

[Guitarist]

It sure would be nice to have a touch of twitchable on/off compresson on the clean channel. Can one simply put a couple of diodes from plate feedingback to grid 1 (protected with a DC blocking cap) of the same tube but without getting a fuzz circuit?

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I have a few extra 1N324a geraniums here from a Boss CS-3 mod. It needn't be SUPER-SQUASH but some smooth over would be nice.

Keepin' it simple.
thanks

[cbarrow7625]

You could do that. I doubt if it will sound great. A simple, but probably much nicer improvement on that would be to wire a pot in series with the cap/diodes to provide variable compliance. Obviously, wire the pot as a variable resistor and put it after the cap on the grid side.

With the variable compliance you will get uncompressed output up until the point that you have .6VAC across the diodes and then the diodes will kick in and turn on the feedback circuit and limit the output in a soft manner rather than clipping.

The way you described it would basically turn it into a fuzz circuit (and a bad sounding one at that). You would be loading the plate down way too much when the diodes are conducting. I would use a 1Meg pot minimum. If you have something larger try that as well or just wire a larger resistor in series with the pot once you find the minimum setting that you like.

I still doubt it will be the best sounding thing in the world but it might be just what you are looking for.

Chris