It depends on your style and what you're looking to hear. If you want to just use it a clean limiting device with little or no coloration to your sound you want a compressor that leans more heavily toward what's referred to as the "limiting amplifier" end of the spectrum of compressors. If you want something that's more of an effect (i.e. increases sustain, adds some tone coloration and thickening or "
smoove" as my guitarist GF calls it) you'll want to look at compressors noted for adding "a little something" to your sound.
For clean primarily limiting functions I'd recommend a Keeley Bassist Limiting Amplifier. Easy to use, ultra clean and uncolored, and easy to set without fiddling with a lot of controls. One advantage of the simplicity is it's hard to get a really bad sound when using The Bassist. With more complex and tricked out compressors, you can get some really godawful sounds. Which is fine if that's a sound you need for a certain piece of music. But most times it's undesirable and just plain ugly to listen to. For live use, this particular compressor is as much as I need for live and mainly finger-style playing.
For more complex tone and level shaping, or for styles that need a lot of boost (tap) or attenuation (slap), or for recording, you may want something a little more controllable on a granular level. So you'll want a compressor with separate threshold, ratio, attack and release controls, some form of metering, and possibly a hard/soft knee and sidechain feature as well.
If you don't know what those all do, take a look at some of the many compressor 101 videos by makers like Keeley, along with some of the indy recording and music lesson sources on YouTube.
Check out the reviews and info at
Ovinlab's website for everything (no exaggeration) you'll ever want to know about virtually every compressor pedal out there and exactly what each does.
Be prepared to put a little time and critical focused listening into it. Compression isn't something obvious like distortion/OD or modulation effects. It tends (when used right) to be subtle but significant. My test is things sound really good
but not noticeable when it's on, and noticeably less good when it's switched off. But that's me. I'm more the limiting amplifier type of user. And it's only one (of many) ways to use a compressor.
Ultimately, it's up to you and what you're looking to accomplish. expect to spend between $150-200 for a really good quality limiting amp type compressor, and $200 (and up - as in
way up) for more than that.
Fpr basic, good and relatively inexpensive clean compression I thing the Keeley Bassist is about as good as it comes. For something that does more than that I'd recommend a Keeley Pro Compressor for clean, and a Markbass Compressore or Ovinfx Smoothie for a little thickening and color you can buy without breaking the bank. For top end do-all compressors, about the only one I have enough direct experience with to recommend it is an Empress.
Luck and happy compressor hunting!
