Compressor pedals

[Delamitri79]

Well folks

 

I'm on the hunt for a good, noise free or low noise compressor pedal. I've done tons of reading. I've been on onvilabs page. I've watched loads of reviews and I'm no further on 😂

 

I want to get a decent quality compressor pedal that doesn't add too much noise to the signal. I'm not after major squishyness but do want a nice even tone across the frequency range. 

 

Im running a very simple setup. 

Boss tu3 - boss geb7 - compressor? - DI box to desk. 

 

Any suggestions that won't break the bank and sounds pretty good? 

 

Many thanks 

 

[MuddBass]

Empress all the way.  https://empresseffects.com/products/bass-compressor

 

If budget is tighter, then consider the SD Studio Bass, although not quite as versatile. https://www.seymourduncan.com/single-product/studio-bass

 

All compressors will (to some degree) lift low level hums and noises if they are there, but I am more than happy with the Empress. Owned the Cali for a while but returned it.

 

Edited April 6, 2023 by MuddBass

[Delamitri79]

the empress is the dream pedal man. bit of a financial stretch but could be worth the investment. its top of my wishlist but the price is killin me :)

[Frank Blank]

Paging @Osiris

[OzJzF]

Here's another comprehensive, independent review site: https://www.compressorpedalreviews.com/ if you want more reading...

 

[Greg Edwards69]

Whilst Ovnilab is a great resource, it hasn't been updated for a number of years now so it doesn't include more recent and readily available pedals. Also, because he was burned once by TC Electronics, he refused to review anymore of their pedals, which is a shame, because I only hear great things about the Spectra Comp and Hyper Gravity pedals.

 

Also worth checking out are the Darkglass Hyper Luminal, and MXR M87

 

Lastly, do you know what sort of compressor you want? Compressor sustainer (feedback) or compressor limiter (feedforward). Robert Keeley did a great video on this that I can't seem to find at the moment (I'm at work). FWIW, I find the latter more useful for transparency and taming peaks and levelling bass. The former has more of an "effect", which is great in its own right.

[lidl e]

After thoroigh research i went with this fella and love it.

 

https://lusithanddevices.com/product-category/pedals/

 

A few other people here have it as well and are fond of it. 

 

Look up reviews.  

 

 

Edited April 6, 2023 by lidl e

[Delamitri79]

2 minutes ago, Greg Edwards69 said:

Whilst Ovnilab is a great resource, it hasn't been updated for a number of years now so it doesn't include more recent and readily available pedals. Also, because he was burned once by TC Electronics, he refused to review anymore of their pedals, which is a shame, because I only hear great things about the Spectra Comp and Hyper Gravity pedals.

 

Also worth checking out are the Darkglass Hyper Luminal, and MXR M87

 

Lastly, do you know what sort of compressor you want? Compressor sustainer (feedback) or compressor limiter (feedforward). Robert Keeley did a great video on this that I can't seem to find at the moment (I'm at work). FWIW, I find the latter more useful for transparency and taming peaks and levelling bass. The former has more of an "effect", which is great in its own right.

im after more of a levelling "effect" to my signal. i want to control the higher peaks and bring up the quieter stuff. 

[Delamitri79]

I havent seen that one before. ill defo check it out 

[ezbass]

11 minutes ago, Greg Edwards69 said:

Whilst Ovnilab is a great resource, it hasn't been updated for a number of years now so it doesn't include more recent and readily available pedals. Also, because he was burned once by TC Electronics, he refused to review anymore of their pedals, which is a shame, because I only hear great things about the Spectra Comp and Hyper Gravity pedals.

 

Also worth checking out are the Darkglass Hyper Luminal, and MXR M87

 

Lastly, do you know what sort of compressor you want? Compressor sustainer (feedback) or compressor limiter (feedforward). Robert Keeley did a great video on this that I can't seem to find at the moment (I'm at work). FWIW, I find the latter more useful for transparency and taming peaks and levelling bass. The former has more of an "effect", which is great in its own right.

 

7 minutes ago, Delamitri79 said:

im after more of a levelling "effect" to my signal. i want to control the higher peaks and bring up the quieter stuff. 

I use an M87 as I wanted to add a little punch, without, as has been said above, colouring my signal to any significant degree. It’s also not horribly expensive.

Edited April 6, 2023 by ezbass

[Delamitri79]

2 minutes ago, ezbass said:

 

I use an M87 as I wanted to add a little punch, without, as has been said above, colouring my signal to any significant degree. It’s also not horribly expensive.

The m87 is on the list for me. I've about 5 or 6 pedals at the moment which are constantly coming up as the ones to go for. I'm trying to narrow it down and balance out quality vs price etc 

[lonestar]

TC Spectracomp for simplicity and subtlety, with the option to get complicated if you want to in the edit settings

Edited April 6, 2023 by lonestar

[Lozz196]

24 minutes ago, ezbass said:

 

I use an M87 as I wanted to add a little punch, without, as has been said above, colouring my signal to any significant degree. It’s also not horribly expensive.

Same here. I only use it at home though, I find it really helps when learning new material as it makes my playing more precise.

[asingardenof]

I can heartily recommend this as a low-budget option, I love mine: https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/181102334391008--landlord-fx-a-cheeky-pint-optical-compressor-mini-pedal

[dudewheresmybass]

I'm an m87 user as well - It does the job cleanly and without massive colouration

 

[Delamitri79]

9 minutes ago, asingardenof said:

I can heartily recommend this as a low-budget option, I love mine: https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/181102334391008--landlord-fx-a-cheeky-pint-optical-compressor-mini-pedal

I've looked at a few of the really cheap pedals but I just can't see how they can produce something good at such low prices. 

 

Can ya give me a little review on it 

[Delamitri79]

3 minutes ago, dudewheresmybass said:

I'm an m87 user as well - It does the job cleanly and without massive colouration

 

It's definitely a contender. 

[Osiris]

1 hour ago, Frank Blank said:

Paging @Osiris

 

On it, Boss.

 

54 minutes ago, Delamitri79 said:

im after more of a levelling "effect" to my signal. i want to control the higher peaks and bring up the quieter stuff. 

 

That's pretty much the compressors job description 😉 

 

Compression is widely misunderstood and there's a lot of urban myths surrounding it but you say you've done your homework and that is the most important bit as it'll help you understand what to do with the right pedal once you have decided which one to go for.

 

There are many different types of compression and while they all do the same job, different circuit types do it in different ways and have different characteristics that you may or may not like. So the first thing to do is decide what type of compressor your looking for. For example, a lot of guys like optical compression circuits on bass. Optical designs are inherently slower and have a gooey feel in their action. They can also impart varying degrees of colour on your signal, something you may or may not want. Another common design is the FET based compressor which inherently has a much quicker response and is great for taming the initial note transient if you're a slapper or play aggressively. There are other types to consider too. Then you have single and multi band options, analogue and digital, transparent or coloured sounding. Do you want control over your attack and release times? Do you want to be able to blend in some clean signal or allow some of your uncompressed lows through to stop the high end getting dulled? Do you want a million parameters to tweak or just a simple one knob (fnarr) design, or something in between? Does it have to be a pedal? What about a rack unit? And then there's you as a player, what style of music do you play, what bass(es) you're using. Are you using something like a Sansamp or other pedal that's already adding a ton of compression to your sound? Do you need metering or have you already got your ears tuned in to hear the compression in action? And this is all off the top of my head...

 

There's so much to consider and it's very easy to go for the wrong compressor your needs which can then put you off for life. 

 

There's some good recommendations above, but what works for someone else may not work for you.

 

But what I would suggest is picking up a cheap Zoom multi fx pedal, something like the MS-60B or the B1 Four, as these have a few different compression models in that cover a few different compressor styles. Have a play, preferably at volume with the band if you're in one, and get a feel for the characteristics of each type to see which works best for you. Once you've decided you can then start narrowing down the choice of the millions of options out there. It's a rabbit hole that I got lost in for years, but I learnt a lot from trying as many different options that I could get my hands on and I now know what does and doesn't work for me. And my go to compressor these days is neither expensive nor complex but I know that it will give me exactly what I want every time I plug into it - which is always!

[Delamitri79]

7 minutes ago, Osiris said:

 

On it, Boss.

 

 

That's pretty much the compressors job description 😉 

 

Compression is widely misunderstood and there's a lot of urban myths surrounding it but you say you've done your homework and that is the most important bit as it'll help you understand what to do with the right pedal once you have decided which one to go for.

 

There are many different types of compression and while they all do the same job, different circuit types do it in different ways and have different characteristics that you may or may not like. So the first thing to do is decide what type of compressor your looking for. For example, a lot of guys like optical compression circuits on bass. Optical designs are inherently slower and have a gooey feel in their action. They can also impart varying degrees of colour on your signal, something you may or may not want. Another common design is the FET based compressor which inherently has a much quicker response and is great for taming the initial note transient if you're a slapper or play aggressively. There are other types to consider too. Then you have single and multi band options, analogue and digital, transparent or coloured sounding. Do you want control over your attack and release times? Do you want to be able to blend in some clean signal or allow some of your uncompressed lows through to stop the high end getting dulled? Do you want a million parameters to tweak or just a simple one knob (fnarr) design, or something in between? Does it have to be a pedal? What about a rack unit? And then there's you as a player, what style of music do you play, what bass(es) you're using. Are you using something like a Sansamp or other pedal that's already adding a ton of compression to your sound? Do you need metering or have you already got your ears tuned in to hear the compression in action? And this is all off the top of my head...

 

There's so much to consider and it's very easy to go for the wrong compressor your needs which can then put you off for life. 

 

There's some good recommendations above, but what works for someone else may not work for you.

 

But what I would suggest is picking up a cheap Zoom multi fx pedal, something like the MS-60B or the B1 Four, as these have a few different compression models in that cover a few different compressor styles. Have a play, preferably at volume with the band if you're in one, and get a feel for the characteristics of each type to see which works best for you. Once you've decided you can then start narrowing down the choice of the millions of options out there. It's a rabbit hole that I got lost in for years, but I learnt a lot from trying as many different options that I could get my hands on and I now know what does and doesn't work for me. And my go to compressor these days is neither expensive nor complex but I know that it will give me exactly what I want every time I plug into it - which is always!

 

Hey. Wow that's a response 😂. Just a little about me. 

I'm currently with a busy wedding doing a mix of everything from country, Waltz, rock and pop. I play a 5 string g&l tribute going to a boss tuner to a boss EQ pedal to hopefully a compressor and then to a DI box straight to the desk and then a fees back to me for in ears. No amp. That's as complicated as my board is ever gonna be. I'm not an effects man. I don't want a million parameters to deal with but I want a little control/options available. I'd prefer as little noise as possible. I'm not after major compression, just a nice levelling out of my signal. I definitely want a pedal as that's how I've set out my stall for live gigging. I wouldn't consider myself an aggressive player but I do like to dig in a little for dynamics. In general I'm a journey man. I'm in it for the fun and love what I do. I'm lucky enough to be out at least 2/3 times a week. 

 

So far, what's tickling my fancy is the:

Mxr m87

Empress blue sparkle 

EBS multicomp 

Keeley bass compressor 

TC electronic spectracomp 

[Frank Blank]

2 minutes ago, Delamitri79 said:

Hey. Wow that's a response 😂.

 

That's exactly why I brought @Osiris into the thread, he knows his shizzle, especially on the compression front.

[TheGreek]

EBS Multicomp - I use one of these and I'm really pleased with it. I'm surprised that it doesn't get more recommendations but that seems to be the case with lots of the EBS stuff - including the amps - very under-rated in my opinion. 

 

I agree with @Osiris regarding the Zoom B1 - many trick pony and available used for so little you can buy two - one for home use, one for outdoors - for not very much. 

[MartinB]

Since I got my Keeley Bassist, I haven't been tempted by any other compressor. It just works, with the absolute minimum of fiddling about.

[Delamitri79]

2 minutes ago, MartinB said:

Since I got my Keeley Bassist, I haven't been tempted by any other compressor. It just works, with the absolute minimum of fiddling about.

 

I can find nothing bad being said about it. It's a serious contender 

[greentext]

I've had the big OG Cali76 for about 10 years and it still crushes everything and i'll never need another, they can be pretty pricey now (if you look at The Bass Gallery there was one for £1,400 insane money!) but Bass Bros have one for around £600 which I think for a compressor you never have to replace, its a solid bet. Failing that the Keeley Pro also looks sweet, and even cheaper the MXR M87 I had before the Cali was bulletproof and sounded great! Hope you find the right one for you 

[Delamitri79]

11 minutes ago, greentext said:

I've had the big OG Cali76 for about 10 years and it still crushes everything and i'll never need another, they can be pretty pricey now (if you look at The Bass Gallery there was one for £1,400 insane money!) but Bass Bros have one for around £600 which I think for a compressor you never have to replace, its a solid bet. Failing that the Keeley Pro also looks sweet, and even cheaper the MXR M87 I had before the Cali was bulletproof and sounded great! Hope you find the right one for you 

Unfortunately that'd be well out of my pricerange and to be honest I'd never pay that for any pedal but I'm sure it's fantastic. The mxr would be closer to where I'm at