Another Origin Cali76 v2 vs Empress Bass MKII

[Deleted member 409773]

There are always discussions on the forum about the two compressors. There are preferences and preferences. For me they are both great, I think that is also the reason why they keep appearing in different topics, that they are two of the most popular choices among bassists. It is very difficult for me to choose one, there are days when I say that Cali76 is the cherry on the cake, other days Empress is the icing on the cake.

I feel that the Empress is clean, precise, with the settings I use it is very punchy, the Cali76 with my setting has a gorgeous growl, a fantastic raspiness, it is not clean but has character (my settings transform the Cali76 compressor from a utility tool into a tonal saturator), more bottom end, it is round, but not as sharp as the Empress in the upper register (the Empress is gorgeous for slap with my settings). But these are just personal opinions, I'd rather present my favorite settings are on each compressor (I'll put a picture at the end), and let's hear them in action on several basses.

Settings:
- Cali76 v2 - 4:1 Ratio, 5.1ms/73ms attack/release (maxed out), HPF maxed out (400hz) Dry at noon, In at 1 o'clock, Out at 10 o'clock.
- Empress Bass MKII - 4:1 Ratio, 23ms Attack, 90ms Release, HPF at 11 o'clock (which roughly corresponds to 200Hz), Blend at 2 o'clock, In at 1 o'clock, Out at 10 o'clock.

Each recording is made with SansAmp BDDI v2 (the settings on SansAmp are the ones in the picture, as well as the settings on the compressors), each has four parts: 1. Cali76 clean, 2. Empress clean, 3. Cali76 slap, 4. Empress slap.

Cali76 vs Empress with Sandberg VM5 Tobacco Sunburst:


Cali76 vs Empress with Ibanez EHB1505:


Cali76 vs Empress with Sandberg TM5 Ida Nielsen (old strings):

 

[becosfx]

There are always discussions on the forum about the two compressors. There are preferences and preferences. For me they are both great, I think that is also the reason why they keep appearing in different topics, that they are two of the most popular choices among bassists. It is very difficult for me to choose one, there are days when I say that Cali76 is the cherry on the cake, other days Empress is the icing on the cake.

I feel that the Empress is clean, precise, with the settings I use it is very punchy, the Cali76 with my setting has a gorgeous growl, a fantastic raspiness, it is not clean but has character (my settings transform the Cali76 compressor from a utility tool into a tonal saturator), more bottom end, it is round, but not as sharp as the Empress in the upper register (the Empress is gorgeous for slap with my settings). But these are just personal opinions, I'd rather present my favorite settings are on each compressor (I'll put a picture at the end), and let's hear them in action on several basses.

Settings:
- Cali76 v2 - 4:1 Ratio, 5.1ms/73ms attack/release (maxed out), HPF maxed out (400hz) Dry at noon, In at 1 o'clock, Out at 10 o'clock.
- Empress Bass MKII - 4:1 Ratio, 23ms Attack, 90ms Release, HPF at 11 o'clock (which roughly corresponds to 200Hz), Blend at 2 o'clock, In at 1 o'clock, Out at 10 o'clock.

Each recording is made with SansAmp BDDI v2 (the settings on SansAmp are the ones in the picture, as well as the settings on the compressors), each has four parts: 1. Cali76 clean, 2. Empress clean, 3. Cali76 slap, 4. Empress slap.

Cali76 vs Empress with Sandberg VM5 Tobacco Sunburst:


Cali76 vs Empress with Ibanez EHB1505:


Cali76 vs Empress with Sandberg TM5 Ida Nielsen (old strings):


View attachment 7416991

Cool samples Thank you for sharing. It would have been interesting to hear the direct recordings without the SansAmp, which brings its own magic. Also a take with the clean raw instrument, to compare it with the compressed result. But differences can be heard: Cali is brighter and Empress seem to add something in the lows. Looking at the waveforms, I think Empress compresses more than the Cali, at these settings. Instrument-wise, of the three, subjectively, I like the Ibanez sound more Great demo!

 

[Deleted member 409773]

Cool samples Thank you for sharing. It would have been interesting to hear the direct recordings without the SansAmp, which brings its own magic. Also a take with the clean raw instrument, to compare it with the compressed result. But differences can be heard: Cali is brighter and Empress seem to add something in the lows. Looking at the waveforms, I think Empress compresses more than the Cali, at these settings. Instrument-wise, of the three, subjectively, I like the Ibanez sound more Great demo!

Thank you, especially since the appreciation comes from a compressor manufacturer from whom I learned a lot!
I followed your posts about SC HPF very carefully, because contrary to many statements on the forum it was clear that I hear a big difference in the lows when I access this setting. I even made the slap bass setting on the Empress after seeing in one of your posts that the ideal Attack for slap is between 15-30ms, the Release between 50-100ms. That's why I say that my appreciation is immense for the lessons you offer us so kindly, that I can't say them otherwise, and that in the best sense (to be serious, most of us are amateurs here), because they really are lessons, and if we do our homework carefully to what you tell us, we may be able to understand compressor better and set our pedals better.

First of all, I made the comparison for myself with the settings that I like on the two compressors, without being a specialist in compressors. And there is a conflict within me, in the sense that I don't know which one to choose. One day I am firmly convinced that I prefer Cali76, another day Empress.
I have also made few recordings without involving a preamp (which can also add color and even compression), but I want to use these compressors associated with this preamp, so I was curious how they behave together.
And yes, at the settings that I have shown, Empress will clearly compress more, there is also a difference in the HPF setting (200hz on Empress, 400hz on Cali76), more Dry on Cali76 compared to how Blend is on Empress. On the Empress I tried to make a setting that would sound good in slap, but could also be an always on one, on the Cali76 the goal was to function as an always on compression, that's why I added more Dry. Now I don't know if I achieved what I set out to do with my settings, as the saying goes: it's the desire, but not the ability.

 

[becosfx]

First of all, I made the comparison for myself with the settings that I like on the two compressors, without being a specialist in compressors. And there is a conflict within me, in the sense that I don't know which one to choose. One day I am firmly convinced that I prefer Cali76, another day Empress.

I think your choice of compressors is very good: these two are among the best and one shouldn’t necessarily exclude the other.

Thank you for the kind words

 

[JamesGrant]

Sounds like a lovely dilemma. Both are fab, both look great.

 

[Mazrak]

I recently bought the Empress as my first compressor and have been learning to love it. I was considering the Cali76 though. I actually preferred the Cali76 in all these clips. Ugh… I guess the only solution is to own both. Thanks for reigniting the gas.

 

[Deleted member 409773]

Today I'm going to record the same passages without using the preamp, only the compressors. Plus I'm going to record the compressors with the two Stingrays I own with the SansAmp.

 

[monkeyland]

We truly live in amazing times where we can pontificate over readily available tools of this elevated quality. Once was a time that the standard answer was that you really can't get anything close to studio level compression from a pedal. Some people carried around DBX 166/266 in their racks. Teenaged me had an Alesis 3630 and was blissfully unaware of how bad it sounded.

I now own both the Cali and the Empress, and have owned the Keeley pro along with others. I think that I'm happy with anything that has the built in High pass side chain but I do spend more time with my Cali. Not that it's better, it's just the flavor that scratches my particular itch. My settings are very similar to the photo above except that my input and output end up more toward 11:00

 

[Deleted member 409773]

As promised, I'm back with three more tracks: the two compressors with the Ibanez EHB1505 without preamp, and then with the two Stingrays and the SansAmp BDDI v2.
As before, the order is: 1. Cali76 clean, 2. Empress clean, 3. Cali76 slap, 4. Empress slap.

Cali76 vs Empress with Ibanez EHB1505 (no preamp):


Cali76 vs Empress with Stingray 5 Raspberry:


Cali76 vs Empress with Stingray 5 Amethyst Sparkle:

 

[74hc]

I think one cannot go wrong with either of those two compressors. The tiebreaker for me was Empress, being in Canada, is close to my timezone. I actually had several, almost real time email exchanges with them.

 

[makanudo]

Thank you, especially since the appreciation comes from a compressor manufacturer from whom I learned a lot!
I followed your posts about SC HPF very carefully, because contrary to many statements on the forum it was clear that I hear a big difference in the lows when I access this setting. I even made the slap bass setting on the Empress after seeing in one of your posts that the ideal Attack for slap is between 15-30ms, the Release between 50-100ms. That's why I say that my appreciation is immense for the lessons you offer us so kindly, that I can't say them otherwise, and that in the best sense (to be serious, most of us are amateurs here), because they really are lessons, and if we do our homework carefully to what you tell us, we may be able to understand compressor better and set our pedals better.

First of all, I made the comparison for myself with the settings that I like on the two compressors, without being a specialist in compressors. And there is a conflict within me, in the sense that I don't know which one to choose. One day I am firmly convinced that I prefer Cali76, another day Empress.
I have also made few recordings without involving a preamp (which can also add color and even compression), but I want to use these compressors associated with this preamp, so I was curious how they behave together.
And yes, at the settings that I have shown, Empress will clearly compress more, there is also a difference in the HPF setting (200hz on Empress, 400hz on Cali76), more Dry on Cali76 compared to how Blend is on Empress. On the Empress I tried to make a setting that would sound good in slap, but could also be an always on one, on the Cali76 the goal was to function as an always on compression, that's why I added more Dry. Now I don't know if I achieved what I set out to do with my settings, as the saying goes: it's the desire, but not the ability.

Would you be oh so kind as to direct ime to that post where he addresses the slap style parameters? I want to nerd out and try out!

 

[Guiseppe]

Absolutely loving this thread; thanks so much for the samples! I'm in the process of planning the purchases for my first board, and these 2 compressors are what I'm looking at. Much obliged!

 

[Deleted member 409773]

Would you be oh so kind as to direct ime to that post where he addresses the slap style parameters? I want to nerd out and try out!

This are the discussions about Attack/Release. from @becosfx: "However, with manual attack set longer, around 15–30ms, and a relatively faster release of 50–100ms or even less, depending on how rapid the succession of input bursts is (like rapid and strong slap bass playing or drum hits), a different percussive feel can be obtained by letting slightly longer transients through, which get amplified by makeup gain."

https://www.talkbass.com/threads/ho...ls-are-available.1674049/page-2#post-29155165

https://www.talkbass.com/threads/ho...ls-are-available.1674049/page-3#post-29160198

But equally interesting was when he discussed the SC HPF, how the compressor (even if it is not a dual band) will start to work similar to one because of the SC HPF. He explained how a Sidechain High-Pass Filter (SC HPF) allows a standard single-band compressor to mimic the behavior of a dual-band unit by making its gain reduction frequency-dependent.

 

[nozkcb]

I tried a lot of compressors before I landed on the Cali-76-TX (old school large platform/not fun sized).

As others have stated, it is not purely transparent, it does affect the tone a little bit, but for me it did exactly what I wanted it to do. The punch, articulation and ability to sit perfectly in the mix plus some tonal mojo that makes even a bass with dead round wounds sound good.

I have been using it for over 10 years now, and in my many many years of playing, I've never had more FOH guys comment how much they liked my tone since I added the Cali 76.

This is of course not saying anything negative about the Empress compressor which is also fantastic. Just personal anecdotal feedback.

 

[scubaduba]

Can't go wrong with either of those. Frankly, two of the very best on the market. Two different flavors of excellence. And then there are the offerings from Becos. Stella and Yuna are also two of the very best on the market.

 

[Deleted member 409773]

Can't go wrong with either of those. Frankly, two of the very best on the market. Two different flavors of excellence. And then there are the offerings from Becos. Stella and Yuna are also two of the very best on the market.

That's right, I still have the same preference as you, I won't say exactly which one, but I'll give a hint, it has a larger range on Attack.

 

[Deleted member 409773]

Yesterday I was thinking that I still prefer the Empress a little for slap, because it has a larger Attack range. Today I'm turning around again.

I tried to achieve a slap bass tone similar to that of Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers) and Tim Commerford (Rage Against the Machine). I used the Music Man Stingray 5 HH Raspberry bass, Origin Cali76 v2 Bass Compressor and Origin BassRig Super Vintage.

 

[Deleted member 409773]

I've been stuck in this dilemma (Cali76 vs. Empress) for a year and a half.

Cali76 has that growl, more present in the mids, colored, but the Empress can also be colored if you activate one of the tones, but it won't be the same color. The Empress has nice, round lows, faithful highs, but I think the low mids and high mids on the Cali76 hit harder (I think that in these areas lies the sonic secret of this pedal).

In dense mixes I prefer Cali76, its specific "dirt" cuts through the mix, but if I want a clean and punchy tone I'll choose Empress (and musically it's possible that the Canadian pedal is closer to my tastes, just like the Tech21 preamp, because I love the sound of the bass in Mezzoforte - Johann Asmundsson - and I feel like these pedals are closer to that type of sound).

If I want a more Mid-forward sound, like Vincen Garcia or Joe Dart, or if I want that slap sound from "funk rock" (Flea, Tim Commerford), I'll first try to get close to that sound with Cali76, because the specific sound is Mid-forward and it has that growl in the mids.
If I want that Marcus Miller, Mark King, Johann Asmundsson, Ida Nielsen sound, with crisp and tight bass and treble, more scooped in sound, the first choice is Empress. But either one is a good choice, what separates them are our musical tastes.

I'm also including a recording I made yesterday with Empres and SansAmp, but in the end I didn't use the balanced output from the SansAmp, but the DI from the Darkglass Microtubes X Ultra with the Nolly Mega Meld IR.


In other recordings I've used Cali76, Origin SV and Darkglass, I played bass on two demos with the two bands I play with (Elephant Skin and Supernova), the first one is intended to be a nu metal band, the second one is death/metalcore. I said that for dense mixes the first choice is usually Cali76.



I also post pictures of the pedalboards used for the various recordings and the basses that participated in the tests.
P.S. All tracks were recorded with a Focusrite Scarlett 3rd Gen and I used Reaper.

 

[wolffire99]

Cali76 has that growl

I’m always so confused when people describe compressors having growl. I’ve had a few different compressors including cali76 and lots of different studio plugin compressors and never once have I ever heard a compressor growl. I say this wishing they did. But what am I missing?

 

[Deleted member 409773]

I’m always so confused when people describe compressors having growl. I’ve had a few different compressors including cali76 and lots of different studio plugin compressors and never once have I ever heard a compressor growl. I say this wishing they did. But what am I missing?

Harmonic distortion in a compressor is a consequence of changing a waveform's shape. The 1176's attack is extremely fast, it can begin to shape the signal's waveform itself. This rapid action introduces harmonics that are perceived as a "growl" or an abrasive texture (grind).
For example, UA 1176 (FET compressor) can add brighter, more aggressive odd-order harmonics compared to a tube compressor (ex. Teletronix LA-2A). On Bass, driving the input of a FET compressor (like the Universal Audio 1176) is a standard trick to add harmonic richness and grind that helps a bass cut through a dense mix, and the Origin pedal inherited this quality from the 1176.