The Steel Guitar Forum

I'm curious how the Slide Rig Compact Deluxe and the Cali76 Compact Deluxe sound with pedal steel. Any users of either out there with a review? Thanks.

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Hi, John, I had the larger duo model when they first came out, while not a big fan of compression on pedal steel, it sounded really good, especially for emulating a Lowell George type slide sound. I much prefer it on lap steel, it's one of those compressors you get tactile feedback from and can "play" with bar pressure, attack etc. Very nice effects.

Thanks for that useful feedback, Mark. How does that Lowell George vibe sound on pedal steel? Appropriate? Off-base? Did you use it with some overdrive?

I have one of the bigger Slide Rigs too. I leave it on pretty much all the time (though usually set pretty mild) for lap steel stuff. It really helps with the "unity gain" issue of keeping a consisent level and has a really hi-fi sounding preamp too; subtle but effective. I would definitely recommend it for that application. It responds great with overdrives and other pedals. You can crank it and get that elusive clean feedback too, which is much more of an effect. I'm pretty indifferent with it on the Carter U-12; I haven't found it to be quite as useful useful as with the Supro string-thru lap steel for whatever reason. That said, I'm just using a little boost, volume, reverb and sometimes a touch of delay thru an old Bandmaster for most pedal steel stuff so pretty pure and simple. If I was adding more pedals to that rig, the SlideRig would be right there. I would think if you're chasing the Lowell tone, it'd be easier had on a 6 string G tuning than a pedal but you could still get pretty close with one and a PSG. Great piece of gear for sure!

yes and yes, John, I preferred it with overdrive, but you can use less with the compressor on. For the George thing, notes hanging and then crossing over the sustain envelope into the compressed sustain, I felt better about string off of the higher register on the thin strings, but I'm like that with a lot of effects. It's really nice to have two presets for compression that can combine.

Hey John! I've been rocking the Cali76 Compact Deluxe since release in September. It's hopefully my last stop (for a while) in the search for a compressor that can be transparent enough to sound good with the steel and handle its high output gracefully. Previous stops were the Keeley 2 knob compressor (not subtle enough) and Strymon Ob.1 (decent but still not quite subtle enough with super high output). I set the dry blend knob very high and tweak the attack to taste to find a sweet spot that still lets the highs through. Since it's a full featured studio compressor you can get it to sound pretty much however you want. The metering is also really clever with the multi colored jewel to indicate gain reduction. I use it all the time with my Milkman Half & Half, but don't normally use it with the Milkman Mini which already has plenty of natural tube compression (unless I'm trying to really make some harmonics or other quiet part shine through). I definitely recommend it if you're a fan of compression, probably overkill for occasional use. Feel free to hit me up with any other questions and I hope all is well up North!

Here is my current board with my usual Cali76-CD settings visible:

Kevin Milner, your pedalboard is lustworthy! Thanks for the notes on the Cali76, sorry it took me so long to find your reply!! All is well up north, teaching like crazy, not gigging much, just a different scene up here in Olympia and the PacNW in general. If you ever tour through here, let's hook up.

Folks, Kevin is one of my most capable students from a few years back, he's getting noticed on the LA country music scene now and just tearing it up. I claim just a smidgen of credit, he came to me already on the right path and sounding good, now he's great!