J Rockett's 6-Band EQ Trio of Compressor and 2 Overdrives makes for a Very Compelling Trifecta

Controls - Volume, Mix : Compression to Dry Blend, 6-Band Pre Comp EQ.

Your typical smart compressor usually has around 6 controls - Volume, Blend / Mix, Attack, Release, Threshold and Compression Ratio and sometimes even a Tone control too - basically 6 of those 7 possibilities largely. Where this particular IQ Compressor kind of strips things down to bare essentials - while still giving you incredibly broad and granular versatility. There's no Attack or Release to worry about - these are all individual Thresholds you are setting per Frequency Band - so you in effect select exactly which parts of the signal you want to compress (+) and let the others play out unadulterated.

You simply select which bands you wish to target 100Hz - 3.2kHz ±18dB and then Mix in the parallel compression. As mentioned in the intro - if you dial the Mix knob right back, then this pedal functions as just a 6-Band EQ - where you can to a degree do that with the other pedals too - while the Gain control does have some residual impact versus the cleaner delivery of the IQ.

I'm fully wedded to the JA Bloom which is a 3-in-1 that I use extensively - Compression, 3-Band EQ and Blooming Boost - meaning that there really isn't much room for this compressor in my rig. While I will likely do an experiment and copy Steve Mac and David Gilmour to a degree who both deploy several compressors in their rigs.

All-round this is a really smart and pretty unique take on the Compressor genre which I would no doubt properly deploy if I weren't so reliant on the JA Bloom - I still feel that the Becos FX CompIQ Stella, CTC Phi Golden Ratio V2 and Origin Effects Cali76 Compact Deluxe are the ones to beat. While J Rockett's IQ Compressor has its own unique appeal - I would think particularly appealing for funk players!

Controls - Volume, Gain, 6-Band Post Gain EQ.

So we know that his almost ended up as Animal-based Keith Urban signature pedal - before it evolved into the Mark Lettieri Melody - which as mentioned, combines Dumble, Tube Screamer and Marshall JMP tones. It  is more typically a mid-gain overdrive vs the Rockaway Archer which has somewhat broader and more extensive gain range.

The overdrive does nothing for me with everything flat - but once you've applied some due diligence you can dial in some pretty impressive tones. It's still early days for me, and I need to figure out where this sits within the Dumble pantheon. It's not as immediate as the Rockaway, and nor is it as immediate as say my Kondo-Shifuku. I'm still in experimental stages chopping and changing the sliders regularly - and I've yet to hit my absolute perfect favourite settings - will report back once I do. This is not such a difficult pedal to dial in, while the Rockaway is a little more immediate and easier overall.

Here I'm trying to fine the perfect confluence of Gain, Harmonics and EQ profile, I'm very close to that ideal setting, but haven't hit it just yet!

Controls - Volume, Gain, 6-Band Post Gain EQ.

This is very obviously Steve Stevens' advanced take of the J Rockett Archer - of course honed with 6-Band EQ, as well as greatly extended Gain and Output Range. This is very much a Klone style pedal - but not really a Klone as you know it as this goes pretty far beyond those accepted legendary capabilities - delivering exactly the right kind of Rock tones that you would expect from Billy Idol's axe-man. In fact a lot of us Steve Stevens fans see that entity very much as a core Duo - of Steve Stevens and William Broad - better known as Generation X's original Punk Rocker Billy Idol. For me the best version of Billy Idol has always been Billy + Steven - which is exemplified most recently by said duo's recent acoustic performance

I'm a huge fan of Steve Stevens as you should already have noted, and feel that this is a magnificent signature pedal which well represent his legendary tones but where the signature angle adds rather than limits. I'm not yet in a position to acquire one of his signature Knaggs Guitars yet, while I'm delighted to own his signature pedal at last.

I've featured the Rockaway Archer numerous times on this site - it's been on the wishlist for so long - it's nice to at long last be able to tick that one off the list.

The Rockaway Archer is the most instantly gratifying of this trio - it sounds pretty great all over those sliders - while The Melody requires a little more patience and due diligence on the dial in.

I've read that some people didn't get on with the Melody, while near enough everyone seems to love the Rockaway which really takes the Klone format through the gears in the most magnificent way. One of the best Klone pedals out there for sure - and one which doesn't just offer that authentic style of output, but is capable of going far beyond those already accepted legendary tones.