Far better than my last compressor pedal!

This is the compressor pedal I should have bought instead of the NUX Komp Core.

It was a breeze to set up. I can get a gorgeous compressed tone to make my cleans more punchy and my overdriven tone closer to that beautiful singing tone I've always wanted.

A lot of people sleep on compression, as did I. But it's a great little tool to have! And if you can find one of these used like I did, you're well on your way! Of course, Boss stompbox form factor means it can survive any and all abuse one would be able to throw at it.

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Perfect... for me!

I know it's not a very popular pedal ... well, it's used by many people including pros but it's also pretty much criticized by gear snobs who prefer the boutique stuff. The latter is arguably more transparent and most other compressor pedals offer a "blend" knob or the possibility to set the attack and release independently, which is probably a good thing. But I love this thing. I love how it colors the tone. It's an actual effect, not just an utility pedal like a proper pro compressor would be. By this I mean you can play with it. I like the chime it's adding to my tone and I know how to dial it. It's clearly not a transparent compressor but this is perfect to have chords and arpeggios that ring as well as a fatter sound generally. I'm not pushing the knobs to extreme settings, far from that. But it works for me and while I also have an Xotic SP Compressor (that I find fantastic), it's the Boss CS-3 that I keep on my main pedalboard these days.

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does everything you'd need it to

honestly it just takes up space on my pedalboard, but every producer I work with usually wants me to use it at some point so it receives a moderate amount of attention in the studio and i've begun treating it as an always on pedal. I played on MXR's version of this pedal a long time ago and the only reason I prefer this one is because of the sustain feature; otherwise, I would just trade it in for the MXR Dyna Comp. this pedal is good but it just alters your tone in a weird way and it takes a lot of effort and time (more than usual) to make it work well with whatever your setup is. it's still good, and I actually get really cool sounds from this pedal when paired with a modulation; i like the way they react with each other.

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From Gear Setup

All you need.

This has a really good and is really useful when playing, this was the first pedal I used. It has a lot of This and that witch just makes it really practical and good sustainer and compression.

From Gear Setup

Boss Reliability, but not the best in terms of sound.

This compressor definitely works, but subtle compression is out of the picture. Best setting is probably attack and level set to fully clockwise and sustain at minimum. Fine for casual use but get a better one if you're gonna record.

Bonus: it's go so much compression that you can get the Tony levin sledgehammer sound if you put attack at 0 and sustain at max. So it's fun for overcompressed, synthy stuff where you want some of the life taken out of your natural tone.

Not the best.

I had one of the older, Japanese models (it needed an ACA as opposed to a PSA adapter). Every now and then, I got a good sound out of it. It sounded fine when it was pushing some light overdrive, but on a clean sound, I found the sterile edge it gave to my sound that was too overwhelming to be enjoyable. It somehow sounded too bright without having any high end; something about it was super piercing, and I didn't find it enjoyable. Maybe newer models sound a little different, but I was expecting something close to the transparent brilliance of the CS-2, and I was quite disappointed. For their low-ish price point, you'd be better off with a CP-1X, and you can even find some great deals on the old CS-2s.

Last Compressor I'll Ever Need?

It certainly sustains the treble strings for crunchy leads, and keeps things crisp on the clean channel.

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Boosts high signals, reduces low signals, great even tone

I use this with my bass guitars. It does what I want it to. It boosts the high signals and slightly reduces the low signals so that all are even. This pedal is almost always on when I play. I am sure there are other compression pedals out there (bass specific too); however, this one will certainly do the trick.

Great compressor with reasonable attack!

Boss CS-3 is a great compression pedal for your pedalboard. This pedal, of course, is suitable for all genres of music. I bought this pedal out of the need for this effect and decided to take the classic— Boss. For a reasonable price, you get not only the opportunity to change the output of your signal, but also to experiment with sound extraction without experiencing any inconvenience.

Going Strong With CS3 15+ Years

This BOSS CS-3 was one of the first pedals I ever bought & I still have it...! I'm not sure I had any idea what it would do for what was then an untested sound, but it has served me well & is an indispensable part of of tone.

People seem to have love/hate relationships w/ compression & I bought a lot of my current gear in Canada & attitudes do differ from one side of the pond to the other.

I keep my CS3 as the first pedal in my chain & follow it up w/ any number of pedals. I keep the settings generally about the same depending on the environment, where I may adjust level.

I took a bit chance last year when I decided to experiment w/ some other units & went through my first foray into optical compression (transparent). The CS3 pedal may be accused as a "tone sucker" by some as it is anything but transparent but i happen to like the warmth & "squash" it can impart to my sound, particularly when I have some overdrive in the chain. The optical compressors didn't work for me but I did get a Monte Allums mod done to the pedal & it has seems to have really improved what was already a great pedal by reducing noise.