Hi! I try different settings with Arturia comp plugins. Many configurations sound great but I would know if guitarists and engineers have favorite compressor and settings for rock guitars (back or solo).
I don’t make the usual guitar sounds, but I don’t use compressors on guitar tracks. I use a gate, and an amp, and I use a distortion, possibly a mix tool (studio one) to get the volume up by a lot so I don’t have to pre amp it more than I want. I actually made a video playing some guitar yesterday so I know I was using REAgate (reaper gate freeware vst), PSA SoftDrive, ProEQ (Studio One) and Limiter No6 (older VST limiter any limiter would do I guess, any Eq, any Drive, any gate).
I send it to Reverb if desired via a partial volume send. I have another send or two if I want different fx. I have recently found the Arturia FX collection and I like a lot of those as well. With Rock guitar you just make it sound the way you feel.
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Hi @Paulbi and welcome to The Sound Explorers Forum!
@nModular is right in many respects there, it’s ALL subjective to quite an extent, but i think i see where you’re coming from here.
I’m assuming you’re talking about mixing here and not tracking the guitars?
MOST engineers i know use 1176 style FET compressors for mixing electric guitars, regardless of which style of music, as they are SERIOUSLY FAST… the hardware one i have here has an attack time of between 50 and 500 MICROSECONDS!!! Whereas an La2a style opto-comp is around 20-30 MILLISECONDS, which is WAY slower.
Faster compression is really useful for electric guitars, distorted or otherwise, as the attack times on them can really help to control pick attack as they’re THAT FAST, and 1176 style comps can also add some really nice odd harmonics when pushed too.
Most people i know start off with either a 2:1 or 4:1 ratio, slowest attack and fastest release.
You might find you want a faster attack if there’s too much of a transient at the start of the signal and you might want to adjust the release to a slower one if you feel it sounds ‘too energetic’.
Generally i look for about 3dB of gain reduction on the ‘loudest’ sections, you may prefer more or less, depending on the material and your own personal tastes, or lack of it 
lol.
As @nModular suggests though, use your ears, go with what you like the sound of and what makes you feel is right for whatever you’re working on.
It’s definitely worth just spending some time purely looking at how different ratios, attack/release times and how hard you hit the compressor will change and shape your sound for you.
As always, there’s NOTHING that can replace experience with any of the tools we use though.
Have fun! 
Ps,
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Thank you @matjones ! Your advice confirms what I could test with FX collection. FET seems to control perfectly my distorted guitars tracks. I’ll try a slower comp (tube STA for example?) for clean and warm guitar tracks. Maybe FET before STA?
Hi again @Paulbi
It might be an idea to post your typical recording chain and then your usual mixing chain for guitars too.
Also, it kind of depends on what style/s you’re working in as well.
I wouldn’t use the tube STA myself on electric guitars, i use it ALL OVER bass guitars/bass synths and acoustic guitars in a heartbeat though, it’s been my favourite compressor for all types of bass since its launch, obviously though that’s just my own opinion and in the styles i work in.
A tape sim can work wonders on guitars too, helps to round the transients a little, adds a bit of compression and saturation depending on how hard you hit it.
I’ve REALLY been enjoying the new Arturia tape-J37 lately. I LOVE the late70’s/early 80’s vibe you can get out of it and i think it’s one of the very best tape sims around currently.
If you use a ‘channel strip’ type plugin you can push into it/and out if the output stage is modeled too, to introduce more saturation or outright distortion.
Some engineers and producers like to use an 1176 as a ‘distortion box’ too, i have one here and yep they can get pretty angry when pushed hard!
If you’re also using a bus compressor on your guitar bus/ses then you probably shouldn’t need another compressor after the Fet, but rules are there to be broken sometimes and it’s what it sounds like that REALLY matters anyway… so experiment! That’s how all these wonderful techniques came about in the first place… by people experimenting 
Hope that gets you thinking!
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Good idea! I’ll try different plugin chain and I’ll let you know my feelings on results. I’ve purchased J37 and I’ve tried on mixbus, or on the bass. It’s really amazing. So I’m going to test it on guitar, as you said. And it could be interesting to make different settings with different styles.
I’ll post here my experiences.
Thank you all.
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Hi!
ChatGPT is also great for providing compressor setting ideas or even entire mixing chains.
Try: “Three different compressor settings for an 1176 on guitar.”
Cheers,