Watchman Optical Compressor

From the vendor

Keep a watchful eye on your signal with this optical compressor.

Highly tweakable and offering a vast range of compression dynamics, from 'is it on?' to being sat on by a particularly large elephant.

Level, tone, attack, release, sustain and ratio give you all the control you need over how much squashing goes on. All with mucho boost and headroom available thanks to the onboard 18V charge pump.

The original uses a GL5516 LDR coupled with a white LED, but we've tested it with the NSL-32 vactrol, having similar specs, and it works nicely without any need to shield the parts from the light while testing.

We've updated the build document to outline how to make Chuck D. Bones' modification detailed on the PedalPCB forums. If you're happy with a couple of slightly fiddly/ugly hacks you'll get a much improved experience.

The kit is supplied with vertical-mount pots which have round shafts, so you'll need set-screw fitting knobs. Pot spacing is 17.5mm so keep those knobs small.

If you want the PCB without parts there's a link for that at the bottom of the page.

Partial kit: PCB, all board-mounted components), pots.

Full kit: As above, plus footswitch and appropriate daughterboard/components for your selected bypass type (see Downloads section for details of those), jack sockets, DC socket, battery snap, hook-up wire, LED.

Enclosure (pre-drilled) is available as an option with full kits, and will not take a battery. Knobs are not included.

Builds are only available with full kits including enclosure. Please choose appropriate knobs.

Inspired by: The Warden

Difficulty: Medium

PCB size: 50 x 50mm

Knobs required: 6

Enclosure: 1590B

Direct-Connect compatible (4-way)

Download the INSTRUCTION PDF