Together, Kevin Suhr and Andy Wood have built a compressor that is the foundation of some of Andy’s favorite tones. As you know, Andy plays in multiple musical environments and this small compressor echos his versatility. The conception of the Suhr Woodshed Comp was to make something unique and with more character than the commonly used compressors on the market.
Whether he’s tearing down the house with Nashville-style twang or shredding out frighteningly fast alternate-picked leads, Andy Wood’s core tone is built upon the subtle boost and rich sustain of a clean compressor. Thus, it’s no surprise that Andy’s first pedal collaboration with Suhr comes in the form of the Suhr Andy Wood Signature Woodshed Comp — a VCA feed-forward compressor engineered from the ground up to fulfill Andy’s dream compressor tone.
“When I use compression, I’m using it to really boost the signal. This is kinda a trick that some of my heroes have used over the years, where you’re adding plenty of signal to your clean tone just to bring it up…I mean as much as 3, 4, or 5 decibels….which doesn’t sound like a lot but musically that’s a big bump in front of a clean channel.
Speed is a thing in compressors, typically in pedals and even some rack gear and studio gear, speed is a variable. A lot of times speed ends up on a knob and its a sweeping type of thing, but to me, if you’re at 8 o clock, the speed compared to at 9 o clock isn’t that drastically different. So with the Woodshed Compressor, we chose my favorite versions of what my optimum fast, medium, and slow attack settings are and put them on a 3-way toggle, right where I like it. To me, the most important knob on a compressor is the ratio, that’s why we made it the biggest.
Most of my favorite compressors over the years had huge power supplies and were permanently built-in, you know, like big, bulky wall-wart style things, taking up tons of room on a pedalboard. A lot of times, you would need back-ups of these pedals, because of them being so paramount to your sound, when one would inevitably break, you can’t wait to find and buy another. On top of all of this, the Woodshed Comp is amazingly tough and tiny, something that was incredibly important to me.”
— ANDY WOOD —
SUHR: UNRIVALED IN CRAFTSMANSHIP
Suhr doesn’t just build handcrafted, boutique-quality instruments and amplifiers — the company creates exceptional tools that fuel musical dreams and artistic passions. John Suhr began crafting custom guitars in the mid-1970s, and by the dawn of the 1980s, he was building made-to-order Pensa-Suhr instruments for a who’s who of top musicians. In the 1990s, John collaborated with celebrated rig builder Bob Bradshaw to design the now-legendary CAA 3+ and 3+SE preamps and the CAA OD-100 amplifier. In 1997, after a stint as senior master builder for Fender’s Custom Shop, John founded his own company, a decision that enabled him to bring to fruition products of unrivaled quality, detail, and craftsmanship.
Today, the Suhr name is synonymous with prestige; a guitar, bass, or amplifier with the Suhr marque garners instant respect. With elite players such as Mateus Asato, Reb Beach, Scott Henderson, James Norbert Ivanyi, Andre Nieri, Pete Thorn, Ian Thornley, Doug Aldrich, and Andy Wood on the company’s roster, you can be certain that your Suhr places you in esteemed company.
MAIN FEATURES
- A tonal collaboration between genre-bending 6-string master Andy Wood and John Suhr, designed to deliver rich compression without compromising on your signal’s transients and base tone
- Feed-forward VCA design delivers compelling compression and massive sustain with a remarkably transparent and open-sounding voice
- 3-way Attack switch allows you to dial in your tone’s initial attack from a transient-rich slow setting to smooth ultra-fast sounds
- Ratio, Threshold, and Gain knobs offer an extended range compared to most compressors, accommodating everything from low-output single-coils to high-power humbuckers
- Engineered to provide you with massive headroom, making for a superb clean boost pedal — Andy’s preferred usage
