Nic Compressor

The Catalinbread Nic Compressor is based on the Loco Box "The Choker" compressor from the 1970s, and it was the final pedal design by Catalinbread founder Nicholas J.P. Harris. The "Nic" in the name is a tribute to him.

The circuit uses FET compression (MPF4393/MPF4394), not optical. Attack is fixed at 4.8ms and release at 350ms, optimized for guitar dynamics. Three controls shape the post-compression signal: Treble and Bass provide two-band EQ, and Gain adds grit and grain back into the compressed signal, from clean sustain to lightly overdriven.

The Choker was an obscure Japanese compressor that Harris recognized as having exceptional transparency and natural feel. The Nic Compressor captures that character: compression you feel more than hear, evening out dynamics without the obvious squash of Ross/Dyna-Comp style circuits.