Bear Hug

1776 Effects Bear Hug Compressor. This is a design by Jon Patton who does a lot of posting on diystompboxes.com. This isn't a compressor that's terribly squishy or puts a lot of color on the tone. It could even be described as more of a limiter. It's been designed to be linear in its compression effect and can also be used to limit pedals and their volume levels. Limiting may come into play with hot pickups regardless of the instrument.

Thermionic Studios has one(1) Bear Hug Compressor pedal available for rental.

Controls

Image from Reference Image

• Knob 1 - "Level": Sets the volume shelf where the compression takes place. "Noon" sets the dial to unity volume. Turn right to increase output, left to decrease.
• Knob 2 - "Compression": Adjusts the level of gain feeding into the compression function, thereby adjusting the level of compression. Clockwise increases compression.
• Toggle 1 - "Decay": (short/long) This toggles between a short decay setting for the compression and a longer decay for the compression.
• Footswitch 1 - "On/Off": This footswitch toggles the pedal between engaged/active ("On"), and bypassed ("Off")

Bypass: True

The Bear Hug Compressor is a true bypass pedal.

General Information

This FET-based compressor can offer 10 to 15 decibels of boost when the level knob is increased beyond the unity gain setting (around noon). As the compression knob is turned up the gain setting is increased thereby increasing the level of compression that gets fed into the level control. In the long decay setting, the compressor will provide more of a "duck-and-swell" effect that is typically expected of compressors.

This is one of those "subtle" effects that you'll have a hard time hearing when it's on, but that you'll definitely hear when it isn't on.

Build Details

In the instance where this is a pedal built by Thermionic Studios, provide the specifics of the build in this section here. In the instance of a production pedal, either post an image of the completed PCB of the production in the enclosure, or remove this page section entirely.

JMKPCBs Testing Rig PCB

Item	Value
PCB Creator	(PCB Creator)
PCB Dimensions	length X width (metric) length x width (SAE)
Enclosure Size	Hammond 1590(!!)/1550(!!)
Enclosure Orientation	Portrait / Landscape
Power Adapter	9 volts, Standard Boss "barrel-negative" supply 9-volt battery snap available
Power Consumption	'XXX' milliamps

Phase Inversion: Yes/No

Schematic ID	Electronic Part	Action	Phase State
X	X	X	X

Schematic

© Copyright 2019, Thermionic Studios

Artists

We are currently unaware of any artists actively using the pedal now, or who have in the past.

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Additional Sources

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBJ3qcMjUcU