CS-3 Compression Sustainer Review

The CS-3 compresses high-input signals while boosting low-input signals, giving you smooth sustain without degrading the quality of the original sound.

Ease of Use:	9
Sound:	7.8
Reliability:	9.3
Impression:	8
Overall rating:	8.5
Users rating:	7.8
Comments:	31

overall: 8

Featured review by: Dave_Mc, on june 06, 2005

Price paid: $ 100.65

Purchased from: Matchetts Music

Ease of Use: It has 4 knobs: level (this is a volume control), tone (adjusts the low and high frequencies in your sound), attack (the delay between when you strike the note, and the compression effect kicks in) and sustain (how long the compression lasts for; at lower levels, this works more like a limiter, stopping notes getting too loud, useful for e.g. clean funk riffing). Compression basically evens out the louder and quieter notes in your playing, making them all the same volume. Use high attack settings with an overdriven sound for e.g. solos to make long notes sustain for ages, and a lower attack setting with a clean tone for e.g. clean funk riffing. The manual is ok, but doesn't give any sample settings (you can get some from the Boss website though). It's a reasonably easy pedal to use, but the attack know takes a little while to get used to 9 but this is the same for all compression pedals). // 8

Sound: It gives a pretty good natural sound. Of course, you can tell when it's on, but for the price, it's pretty good. I use it with an Ibanez RG470 through a Marshall AVT100. It is, though, unfortunately, quite noisy at higher sustain levels, when used with overdrive/distortion. I use a noise suppressor with it (pretty much a necessity), but assuming you use one, it's pretty good. // 8

Reliability & Durability: Like most Boss pedals, it's built like a tank. I've had no problems, but I haven't gigged with it either, so I can't comment on how gig proof it is. // 8

Impression: It does what it says on the tin, and is reasonably tonally transparent, for its price. The only real downside is the noise, so I would recommend using a noise gate or something if you're going to use one with distortion. Overall, though, pretty good! // 8

overall: 8.8

Reviewed by: Donkey Fly, on october 25, 2007

Price paid: $ 45.75

Purchased from: Ebay

Ease of Use: I bought this second hand off ebay so there was no box or manual but I know Boss pedals, and the manuals are always great so I assume the same for this pedal. Unlike one of the other reviews where the guy said there's barely a difference (he clearly doesn't know what the purpose of the pedal is), the pedal is really easy to work. there's four knobs, level which is for the volume, tone which is like a tone knob on your guitar, attack which levels out the volume of say chords and picked notes and sustain, which well, does sustain. This is upgraded from the CS-2. // 9

Sound: In my set-up (Jackson DK2M - EHX Metal Muff - MXR Dist+ - Morley Wah - Boss CS-3 - Marshall MG100) it is a bit noisy when put through distortion but this is nothing a noise gate wouldn't fix. The effect is great. Amazing sustain and the compressor works great. I know a lot of artists that use the CS-3 so it is quite popular. // 8

Reliability & Durability: It's a Boss pedal. It's built like a tank, this thing will not break unless you crush it with a tank or something. Seriously. The Switch wont break like dpdt switches and battery life is pretty good. I would use it without a back up for sure. You wouldn't need backup for any Boss pedal. // 10

Impression: I play a lot of lead guitar in instrumentals and I'm in a metal band and a pop rock band. It works well in all styles and really improves your lead tone. If it was stolen I would probably buy another, or I would try the Line 6 Constrictor just to see how it compares. The only thing I hate about it is the hiss but I am going to Pick up a noise gate which will fix this. Very underated pedal. It'll take you a few weeks to like it but when you realise how good it is, you'll never let it go. // 8

overall: 9.5

Reviewed by: Duv, on november 12, 2009

Price paid: £ 60

Purchased from: PMT Birmingham

Ease of Use: A very simply designed and set up pedal, and thus very easy to use. Level knob - obvious enough, is essentially like a volume control. Tone - this has an effect on low/high end frequencies. When rolled up high you can hear more high end frequencies and it gives a crisper sound that feels like you can hear the contact with the string.

Attack / Sustain - these two knobs I use in co-operation to achieve different sounds. With the sustain knob on a low setting the pedal acts as a limiter, while rolling it up high increases sustain and the length the effect lasts for. Meanwhile I adjust the attack value depending on whether I'm playing clean / overdriven. When at a low value the pedal produces a crisper and cleaner sound, while it allows more Drive when rolled up high.

There is a manual which I didn't read so much. It tells you how to look after it and change batteries etc, but to be honest in terms of settings/how to use it and so on you learn more on the job or on these forums.

That said getting used to how to use a Compression/Sustain pedal can be tricky and it took me some getting used to. That is nothing on the pedal which is great and it certainly made things easier to understand.

Clean, elegant and practical design. No complaints. // 10

Sound: At the moment I use this with my Vox AC4TV, Ibanez TS9 Tubescreamer and a Boss DD-7 Delay pedal. The pedal is useful as a compressor/limiter most of the time for me when I'm searching for good cleans through my amp. By acting as a limiter and having tonal adjustment it is perfect for this.

When seeking a more driven sound, the sustain function is again excellent and provides me with extended sustain, and again serves its purpose perfectly.

Overall this doesn't massively change my sound, but importantly doesn't suck tone and is functional for what it's designed for. Ergonomics, utility and efficiency at its best in terms of what I'm looking to do whether that's clean arpeggios and stripped down/atmospheric melodies, Indie, rock or blues. // 9

Reliability & Durability: It's a compact little metal box with a very sturdy design. I can depend on it and it is very solid. I wouldn't want to test it but I'm sure that this thing could survive a helluva beating. // 10

Impression: I play a range of styles from blues, rock, Indie, minimalistic music and it does the job. To be honest a compression/sustain pedal isn't suited to a particular style BUT in terms of what I bought it for - a limiter, or to increase sustain, change my output - this pedal does everything it should.

It's easy to use, sounds great and doesn't suck tone. Perfect for what I want and does exactly what it says it should. I'm not sure if one should expect otherwise with a manufactured guitar pedal, but since this has become such a fundamental and necessary part of my setup, which I struggle to fault this thing has to get a high rating. // 9

overall: 9

Reviewed by: Elvendar, on december 04, 2008

Price paid: $ 89.99

Purchased from: Guitar Center

Ease of Use: Definitely one of, if not the easiest compressors you can find. The pedal doesn't make dramatic changes to your tone, all settings are remotely straightforward (and even more straightforward after experimenting with each knob with as few as two notes.) The manual tells you as much as it can, though it is rather small. // 9

Sound: I run this through a NS-2 Noise Suppressor, and have no trouble with it emitting any noticeable humming. The effect is great, and won't upset any material that you have written, and it may enable you to write some different stuff, too. The only problem here is the lack of range -- the compression is downright unable to seriously alter your tone. // 8

Reliability & Durability: It's a Boss metal stompbox with rubber grip. Everything about this pedal is sturdy. It could go head to head with an aluminum baseball bat and survive perfectly intact. It also operates on a very simple replacement of a 9v battery (no screwdriver needed) or an AC adapter. You shouldn't ever have to worry about replacing it due to IT breaking. // 10

Impression: I play blues, jazz, funk, classic rock, and metal... this works great for everything. It's crystal clear and plays well with other Boss products -- like Metal Zone, Digital Delay, and Noise Suppressor. It also works great with my Dunlop Crybaby from Hell Wah. I'm playing on a Schecter C-1 Classic through a Crate solid state 120w 2x12" -- the result of this pedal has 'fixed' some of my pet peeve tone issues and I'm back to playing all the time just for fun. I highly suggest you get this pedal, you'll find it's a must-have for the board! // 9

Reviewed by: unregistered, on august 08, 2005

Ease of Use: // 10

Sound: I use this pedal with a Boss SD-1 Overdrive, my weak Crate 15W amp, a Tradition G12 (Fat Strat copy), and an Epiphone Special II. With the Overdrive before it I can get a really awesome White Stripes tone. It's also good for boosting a signal or lessening it. I imagine it would be great for clean sounds as well. Takes a little getting used to having chords be the same volume as single notes, but it's a really interesting effect. // 10

Reliability & Durability: // 10

Impression: Overall, I really enjoy this pedal. It brings some cool tones and effects to the table and really lets me get close to being Jack White. I'd reccomend it to anyone who plays a lot of garage/indie rock, and of course anyone who loves the White Stripes. // 10

overall: 6

Reviewed by: slipsoad928, on january 28, 2005

Purchased from: Music Bum

Ease of Use: Ths pedal is very easy to use, it's used like a regular pedal just push down with your foot and listen to the difference, if you could notice a difference. // 8

Sound: Soundwise I'm giving this pedal a 2 because when I had it all setup and ready to go I noticed there was bearly a sound difference, it was just a little sound boost and very slight distortion, I guess it serves me right for not testing it out before I bought it. Very weak effects. // 4

Reliability & Durability: Sure this thing is durable and dependable but I wouldnt use it at a gig without a backup, I wouldnt use it at a gig at all because there would be no point. // 8

Impression: Overall this thing sucks. I've been playing for 2 years and I play all different styles of music and this doesnt suit any of them. I wish I would have tried it out before I bought it because if I did I wouldnt have it right now. If I lost it or if it was stolen I would definitely not buy a new one, part of me even hopes this gets lost or stolen. This was a huge waste of money. // 4

Comments

[ozbozz123]

^ are u sure u know what its meant to do?

[jcs5234]

i bought this thing to try and clean up the tone of my fender pro junior, but it completely eliminated the tone of the guitar and made the sound very brittle and not very warm. needless to say i returned it a week later

[Danis1]

second review doesnt even know what he is talking about christ-almighty! id be damned if he even knows what this pedal is meant to do.

[slipsoad928]

lick my balls danis1 it was almost 2 years ago i wrote that. who are you to criticize, i didnt know what the pedal did at the time, but now i do and i take back my bad comments about it.

[xSacrilegex]

I use one of these. I mainly play low tunings. I'm a 7 string fanatic. I find it works great, does cut a bit of my crunch, but sure f_ckin' clarifies the low tunings without degrading my distortion.

[aeirom1]

use a noise suppressor with it

[Nocomment]

Lol silly goose with the hating of it. even if you were younger why the hell would you buy something not knowing what it does. "Hey this looks cool, lets buy it without knowing anything about it!"

[will-loves-zep]

is there better options out there for sustainers?

[eligal]

will-loves-zep wrote:

is there better options out there for sustainers?

Ditto.
Im lookin to buy a compressor/sustainer but Im not sure on which pedals are good n not.
I was reffered to analog man's comprossor or bi-comprossor, but the things a lil pricy for me...

For those of you who might be interested though:
http://analogman.com/rossmod.htm#comp

[masterofeedback]

yeah its nosisy and can kill ur tone if its clean, but OD-1 + CS-3 is such a cool sound i only ever use this one with the OD-1 to get big fat OD tone.

[will-loves-zep]

all of these (except for the first 1) are wank...garage/indie? id be suprised to see any indie bands using a sustainer, and 3 what the frank!!??? it offers very little distortion? no shit sherlock

[WrathOscuro]

This pedal did nothing to my tone, but bring it to life, by sounding like an invisible blanket was taken off of my amp..kind of like what people say about the BBE Sonic Stomp.

[vickers89]

I think this pedal is great, aswel as using a DBX 266XL Compressor/Gate through my bass amp, i love to use this to add some volume and tons of compression. Its great for tapping and using harmonics on the Bass!

[CigarKid]

This Boss CS-3 pedal is the Balls. I use it with my Weeping Demon Wah pedal to get a Long Sustain and even allows me to mess around with feedback sustains like Joe Satriani does. He obviously uses other methods to get his forever notes but for the money, when used together like I described, it is amazing the sounds these 2 effects together can make. Ive been playing for over 30 years now and I must say these new toys can really add some fun to your playing.

[CigarKid]

Oh, One additional thing to add to my above review, like aeirom1 said, "Use A Noise Suppressor With It!"

[Goldengitar]

Seriously. This pedal does what it is supposed to. I love it and use it all the time. All hail this pedal.

[Donkey Fly]

slipsoad928 wrote:

lick my balls danis1 it was almost 2 years ago i wrote that. who are you to criticize, i didnt know what the pedal did at the time, but now i do and i take back my bad comments about it.

Sorry but im with danis...

You obviously don't know wjat the pedal does.

If you can't hear a difference then you must be tone deaf.

[ArcherTheVMan]

use it with an all-valve, and you'll have no technical or noise-related problems.

[Andraysexy]

This discussion seems to be getting very heated, so lets all just talk about Halo 3 :P

[SL!!!]

ozbozz123 wrote:

^ are u sure u know what its meant to do?

Hahaha, yeah, that last review is bad. Really bad. haha.

[xAvengerX]

Hey people. I recenylu got this pedal. It does sound better and stuff. But i don't know how to keep the sustain going and then getting that major feedback. Can anyone help me? I have a cheap Squier Standard with stock stuff. Would that..not be the best thing to use to do this? .. THanks in advance guys/gals

[Sledfang]

The feedback could be because either you or the pedal is too close to the amp. That's usually what causes excessive feedback. It's probably the pedal though, if you are using a smallish setup the guitar would have to be really close to the amp (as in, you holding the guitar right next to the input) to get unintentional feedback. Just space out your stuff.

[f1sk]

awesome, I was going to get an mxr dyna comp but I think I will be getting one of these instead
bummer that i'll have to put down dough for a noise supresor now but Im sure it wouldn't hurt to have that in my rig.

[liquidstring]

Take note that this pedal (as of most compressors) is rather noisy when used with distortion.

and you would need to do a mod with it (treble bleed) as it boosts too much highs and sucks the mid and bottom tones, which may be bad if you like bottom heavy sounds.

but ****ing good pedal for the price i got mine for us$50 first hand

[neptune1988]

slipsoad928's review = so much win!!! LOL XD

[aldrichmanabat]

got this pedal on a cheap price from a jam studio, this really helps in giving your sound a chunky, fat sound,and natural like sound, but this also gives an unwanted feedback,so you should use a noise suppression or something,,also add this effects. BOSSEQ + CS3 + BOSS DS1 + morley classic wah, and your ready to play,haha

[dudester410]

lmfao, omg does that last review even know what sustain or compression means?! XD

[gilles_frehley]

I think the last reviewer expected a distortion pedal or something xD

[CigarKid]

Get it "Modified" There is a guy on ebay that charges $50 to Modify if for you, or you can Modify it yourself with a Mod Kit for $20. "You will be glad you did!"

[guitarbutt1]

The last reviewer is clinically retarded

[menowor]

gilles_frehley wrote:

I think the last reviewer expected a distortion pedal or something xD

it is a destruction pedal. yes. tone destructor

\m/ yeeeah manowar rules btw