What you use your compressors for

[J.custom]

It's true that compressor adds sustain if set above a certain level because of the way it works.

The way i view a compressor is dial-in-and-leave-it-on kinda effect block. It affects more of playing dynamics than tone if a transparent unit is used. I find it's application on acoustic guitar and electric cleans more pronounced, it will even out the volume of single string picking and 6-string struming which is quite useful in balancing live sounds.

The application with distortion is not as obvious in terms of volume if the compressor is used before the amp. what the compressor does in this case is to make the distortion level the same whether strumming hard or picking single notes softly. It becomes easier to execute pinch harmonics and also makes finger tapping easier, though string noise might be a problem if the level of compression is set too high. Dynamics definitely becomes narrower which may be desired or not, depending on individual preference.

If picking strength is an integral part of one's playing, then slight to no compression might be suitable.
More compression would be good for consistent tone and volume, quite useful in live applications.

Thanks for the detailed explanation.

@carboxymoron: Went through most of the demos for the Philsopher's tone and I think I'm pretty set on it! IMO it's pretty versatile and the prices isn't too bad. I would rather pay for this than 300+ for a 4 knob keeley compressor.

 

[MadWerewolfBoy]

OR

if you're a lil more adventurous, you could try out some Monte Allums mods for the Boss CS-3 such as:

http://www.monteallums.com/pedal_mods.html#cs3optoPlus or http://www.monteallums.com/pedal_mods.html#cs3UltraPlus

I've heard the opto plus in action and it sounds totally different from a stock CS-3. Didn't do an A/B comparison with boutique compressors, but I'm sure it should be able to hold it's own against them. If you can't solder by yourself, you can approach pedal mod-ers like randolf or mike to help you out! =D