Albuquerque's Flat line compressor vs Gamechanger Audio Plus Sustain
The Albuquerque's Flat line compressor and the Gamechanger Audio Plus Sustain are both pedals. The Albuquerque's Flat line compressor leans sustaining and transparent. The Gamechanger Audio Plus Sustain leans ambient. Current prices: $109 vs $379.
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Blended from circuit-archetype lineage, dynamic feel, tone-signal overlap and tone-vector distance — the tone vector itself is derived from editorial description text, not a measured acoustic signal, so this reflects how similarly the catalog copy describes the two, not a lab measurement. Shown only within a gear class, and only where there's enough evidence to be meaningful.35% — somewhat different
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Citation/mention fame — how often this gear is cited across artist rigs and gear discussion.$109via Reverb
$379via Reverb
Albuquerque's Flat Line Compressor is a boutique build of the John Hollis Flatline circuit, a well-known optical compressor design within the DIY guitar effects community using an LED-and-photoresistor combination, sometimes called a Vactrol, to control gain reduction. With the sustain control dialed back the circuit offers roughly three times gain between soft and hard playing dynamics, and fully engaged that ratio climbs to around twenty times, flattening output enough to produce long, even sustain while keeping the characteristically transparent, non-distorted compressed tone optical designs are known for. Hollis was an early and influential contributor to the DIY pedal scene, and his Flatline circuit has since been built and sold by multiple small boutique makers, of which this Albuquerque's version is one example.
The Gamechanger Audio PLUS is an optical sustain pedal from Latvian innovator Gamechanger Audio (Riga, Latvia), delivering infinite sustain through optical excitation of guitar strings using LEDs and photosensors to create sustained tones. The PLUS provides a controllable, foot-activated sustain system that maintains guitar notes indefinitely. An innovative take on sustain pedal technology from Gamechanger Audio.
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Genres this gear is documented as being used in.- country
- country pop
- alternative
- Post-Rock
- Ambient
- Experimental
- sustaining
- transparent
- compressed
- ambient