You want practical examples? Sure. First, acoustic guitar. Let's assume that I'm gonna try my hand at imitating Michael Hedges. His style of playing involved a LOT of percussive hits on the acoustic guitar itself, and yet a lot of subtleties in the playing of softer passages. Using a two-channeled compressor allows me to use one channel for hard limiting (to soften any fast transient peaks from an over-zealous knock on the face of my instrument), and the second to even out the overall levels, so that the performance still sounds smooth and consistent.

Not really into knocking your guitar around? The compressor can still help keep your strummed guitar signal consistent and even, which makes it easier to "place it" consistently in the mix. The compressor can also help you narrow the dynamics of your playing if your enthusiasm gets the best of you while performing a particular piece (Oh, come on, you know: THAT piece.).

How about bass, you ask? Absolutely, I respond. I record NOTHING on bass if I'm not compressed. Seriously. I'm a guitarist, for cryin' out loud. When I get on a bass I am VERY uneven in my playing, dynamically speaking. My attacks simply aren't consistent. So by gently compressing my entire performance through my Furman LC-6, I am able to create the illusion that I hit the strings more evenly and more consistently with each finger. With careful attention to the threshold and ratio settings, it's really hard to tell when the compressor is working and when it isn't.

You're an electric guitarist?? I'm with you. I use the gate function of the LC-6 to eliminate any preamp noise that may be leaking through in the mix. No matter how well-shielded your axe may be, it's GONNA humm or buzz under extreme gain situations (or near some appliances). I use my LC-6 to compress many of my processed guitar sounds. If at all possible, I place the compression/gate between the preamp and the processing. That way, I'm able to clamp down on the preamp noise without killing the decay on the reverb or delays.

Want vocals? I'm still with you. I generally use a 2:1 compression ratio and a moderate threshold setting on most of my vocal recording. It gives me the added signal onto tape that I enjoy with any of the instruments, as well as giving the singer a little more liberty to be dynamic without worrying about saturating the tape (okay, the levels going onto tape is really my worry, but I shouldn't have to worry about it either). The gate on each channel is also useful for eliminating any of the fidgeting noises that singers can make between verses or phrases.

Sometimes, I'll even run the final mix through the compressor in stereo, just to mash as MUCH sound onto tape as possible. This depends on whether I have any real outrageous volume problems, though. Usually my mixes are pretty well controlled at that point....

So really, that unit has made me sound much better than I really am, all the way around. Though ANY combination compressor/gate would probably work, I have been particularly impressed with this unit.