An optical amplifier with improved transient performance has two amplifier stages and a dispersion compensating fiber inserted between the amplifier stages. A control unit generates a pump control signal for a common pump source pumping both amplifier stages via a power splitter. The pump control signal has a feedforward component with a delayed reaction. A feedforward delay time is adjusted to minimize gain variations resulting from input power drops. In a preferred embodiment, the splitting ratio of the power splitter is adjustable to achieve, for instance, either optimum steady-state performance or optimum transient performance.