MXR Bass Compressor

[KJung]

I'm one who never really felt the need for a compressor. My technique is reasonably good (i.e., my slap volume is the same as my fingerstyle volume, etc.), but I thought 'what the heck' and purchased the relatively new MXR Bass Compressor to check out.

My thinking was that it might allow me to get a bit more volume out of my smallest cabs toward the end of the night when the band is cranking and I start digging in a bit more.

The good news.... the compression works very well, and the controls provide about everything you would need... attack, release, ratio, input gain and output 'makeup' volume.

The bad news (and why it is already in the box on the way back for a refund)... the noise level. My god... hisses like a snake, even in 'true bypass' mode (which suggests it is not really true bypass... or maybe something wrong with the unit).

To me, completely unusable (at least if you have a cab with a tweeter). Yes, when the band is cranking, you probably wouldn't have noticed it, but it was definitely not a 'professional' piece of gear due to that noise level IMO.

It is a shame, since the actual compression/limiting was as good as I've heard in a small unit.

FYI, and IME.

[cybersnyder]

I didn't notice any hiss when I had one. Ended up replacing it with a FEA Opti-FET, but I didn't have any issues with the M87.

[Melvin7822]

I also didn't notice any hiss with mine as well. Perhaps a dud?

[KJung]

Originally Posted by Melvin7822

I also didn't notice any hiss with mine as well. Perhaps a dud?

I'm thinking that must be the case, because it was really noticable. Oh well, I kind of ordered it on a whim, and really didn't need it, so nothing lost except a bit of shipping.

One question, do you guys use cabs with tweeters? The hiss was very high frequency, which probably wouldn't even come through a one way cab.

That being said, since the hiss happened when the unit was bypassed, something seemed wrong, even though the compression worked very nicely.

[Melvin7822]

I guess I have a dud as well. I went back and checked mine and not only did I notice more hiss; if I touched the footswitch with my finger, it hummed like touching the unplugged end of the cable that's plugged into your amp. Sounds like bad wiring to me. Thankfully I bought mine through Sweetwater and have a free 2-year warranty through them. I'll let you know how it goes.

[stflbn]

I've had 2 and neither had any hiss issues at all.

[KJung]

Originally Posted by Melvin7822

I guess I have a dud as well. I went back and checked mine and not only did I notice more hiss; if I touched the footswitch with my finger, it hummed like touching the unplugged end of the cable that's plugged into your amp. Sounds like bad wiring to me. Thankfully I bought mine through Sweetwater and have a free 2-year warranty through them. I'll let you know how it goes.

Sounds like maybe there is some quality control issues possibly happening with these. I also noticed a bit more hum/noise with my pickup than usual, although nothing as extreme as what you are experiencing.

[Bjazzman]

try the aguilar tlc. it works great and has no noise

[KJung]

Originally Posted by Bjazzman

try the aguilar tlc. it works great and has no noise

Thanks for the tip!

[alec]

No hiss from mine.

[Laurent]

No hiss on mine. It's actually super quiet.

You have a defective unit. Just get it exchanged.

MXR excels at customer service and they will take care of you.

[RickenBoogie]

I too suspect a bad unit. Way back, reading Bongo's compressor reviews, I read about the TRex Squeezer, and the comment that stood out was that they're noisy, hissy, little boxes. But, i've got one, and use it all the time, no hiss, no nothing but creamy, slightly squished tone. Makes it kinda hard to judge one from another, if these "duds" keep rolling off the lines unchecked.

[gidbass]

No hiss here either.

[cthomas5200]

No hiss on mine. Sounds like a bad unit.

[bongomania]

Mine doesn't hiss, and that's with headphones that have an emphasis on the highs up where noise lives. It's true what rickenboogie says about the T-Rex pedal, too... I have no idea whether the hissy one I reviewed was typical or defective. I've had it go both ways with various comps I re-bought, where the second unit I bought was either much better than the first one, or equally bad.

[SoonerMatt]

Mine had no hiss at all; rather, it cuts down on the hiss of my passive J pups. It sounds like you have a bad unit and I'd contact their support peeps. IME they're some of the best in the biz.

[KJung]

Originally Posted by bongomania

Mine doesn't hiss, and that's with headphones that have an emphasis on the highs up where noise lives. It's true what rickenboogie says about the T-Rex pedal, too... I have no idea whether the hissy one I reviewed was typical or defective. I've had it go both ways with various comps I re-bought, where the second unit I bought was either much better than the first one, or equally bad.

Must have just been a dud. And, thanks for the great compressor reviews, which I used to narrow down the unit. I may try another one of these, or move to the Aguilar, which seems to be a little more ruggedly built, etc.

I'm really just looking for some minimal peak limiting, which the MXR did very nicely. Looks like the Aguilar is also good at that.

[KJung]

Thanks for the comments guys. Good to know what I heard was not typical of this unit, and also good to know I'm not nuts and that others have experienced various levels of noise with the same unit!

[gillento]

the Maxon CP9Pro+ is my compressor of choice.
I like it better than the Aguilar TLC, Demeter Compulator and EBS MultiComp I had before

[scottfeldstein]

Mine's as silent as a grave.