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I am sitting here right trying to A/B the empress and Omni and damn I’m having a hard time deciding….
It's a no brainer for me but I had four (separate) terrible experiences with the Empress Bass Comp. I'll never own another.
Yea I’m leaning towards the Omni, it’s a little more natural sounding, by just a bit.
Sorry for asking but what is the all black pedal that is up first?
Builder out of Cali makes his version of a bee three kay. I wanted (needed) something with top jacks.
So as I am spending more time with the messenger as well I was under the impression the footswitch disengages the eq, but kept the filters? When I disengage the pedal it shuts off everything and it’s just bypassed with my signal.
The foot switch function can be assigned to mute your signal instead of bypassing the EQ. To assign the function, set the internal toggle switch to the down position. If you wish to assign the function back to EQ bypass, set the internal toggle switch to the up position.
So I totally get that, and I’m not looking to mute my signal. I was hoping that when turned “off” (red) it would just turn the three band eq off but the filters could still be used.
Well as some of you noticed, the empress is up for sale. I was leaning towards the Omni but once I turned off the filters, it was a clear winner. Even though I use the filters almost always, it was much easier to pick up what made the Omni stand out. I’m still waiting on the rest of you who were going to do a shootout to hear your thoughts…
New owner of a Studio Boost. Sounds great, but when engaging it pops quite loud. In fact, louder than any other pedal I've owned.
Is this normal?
Is this normal?
I've had a couple of PM's from newer players looking to better understand compression. Here's some more experiments to those who have a hard time hearing what it does.
Compression can be used for a variety of things. Most beginners bass players like it because it can cover up a flubbed note a bit in a live setting. Or even the sound out on a cheap bass. More seasoned bass players will use it smooth out their tone and fit in a mix better. Studios use it judiciously to get more sound on a recording without distorting the tape or digital software.
The next time you're tweaking I'd suggest looping a bass line that goes from a low open string played hard to lighter touch high notes way up on the neck and then vise versa. Like hit the high notes hard and gently hit a low note.
Now's the fun part:
Experiment #2
Keep the mix knob at 100%
Set the threshold so on the light notes the LED is still just barely coming on.
Set the Attack and Release about noon
Set the gain to unity on whatever is the loudest passage you looped. Typically when it's hitting the lowest note hard. You shouldn't hear too much of a difference.
Start with the ratio full counterclockwise so 1:1 and raise it while switching the comp in and out. You may need to correct the gain for unity on the lowest note again after each ratio adjustment.
Now note the audible difference of the other passages lighter passages and hard high notes while switching.
You'll find that as the ratio goes up there will be less of a volume jump between the different passages and typically the higher notes will gain some low end fundamental. This isn't always the case as some basses have louder thicker higher notes and the bottom falls out on open strings but it will hold true for most fender type basses.
You'll find that once the ratio gets up past noon the overall volume between the passages will eventually be the same or it will be hard to discern which was which indicating you've compressed everything even.
At this point when you switch the pedal off you'll no doubt have a great example of what compression is and what it does to your bass sound. Set the gain to unity again. You'll get to hear the bypassed sound will be thinner with some passages and yet may sound similar with the what ever passage you used to set the gain at unity. (hardest hit low notes)
Experiment #3
Keep this ratio you found that just squashes the level of all your passages to roughly equal volume from experiment #2.
Now try dialing in some of the original signal with the mix knob and listen to when you can hear some of the dynamics coming back. Note the natural punch of the bass returns but some of that thicker sonic difference noted at the end of Ex.2 still remains.
This is a very useful setting both in the studio and live.
Further tweaking can be done to the attack and release at this stage if you return the mix back to 100% wet. Attack and release should be set with more up tempo playing that you'll do.
The idea here is despite the lack of volume between the passages you are going to try to get your bass to sound a little more natural by increasing/decreasing the attack time and likely reducing the release.
Now go back and bring in the dry signal again with the mix knob. You may find this time you don't need as much dry blended in now to get that natural sound no that the attack and release settings are set more to your needs.
Compression can be used for a variety of things. Most beginners bass players like it because it can cover up a flubbed note a bit in a live setting. Or even the sound out on a cheap bass. More seasoned bass players will use it smooth out their tone and fit in a mix better. Studios use it judiciously to get more sound on a recording without distorting the tape or digital software.
The next time you're tweaking I'd suggest looping a bass line that goes from a low open string played hard to lighter touch high notes way up on the neck and then vise versa. Like hit the high notes hard and gently hit a low note.
Now's the fun part:
Experiment #2
Keep the mix knob at 100%
Set the threshold so on the light notes the LED is still just barely coming on.
Set the Attack and Release about noon
Set the gain to unity on whatever is the loudest passage you looped. Typically when it's hitting the lowest note hard. You shouldn't hear too much of a difference.
Start with the ratio full counterclockwise so 1:1 and raise it while switching the comp in and out. You may need to correct the gain for unity on the lowest note again after each ratio adjustment.
Now note the audible difference of the other passages lighter passages and hard high notes while switching.
You'll find that as the ratio goes up there will be less of a volume jump between the different passages and typically the higher notes will gain some low end fundamental. This isn't always the case as some basses have louder thicker higher notes and the bottom falls out on open strings but it will hold true for most fender type basses.
You'll find that once the ratio gets up past noon the overall volume between the passages will eventually be the same or it will be hard to discern which was which indicating you've compressed everything even.
At this point when you switch the pedal off you'll no doubt have a great example of what compression is and what it does to your bass sound. Set the gain to unity again. You'll get to hear the bypassed sound will be thinner with some passages and yet may sound similar with the what ever passage you used to set the gain at unity. (hardest hit low notes)
Experiment #3
Keep this ratio you found that just squashes the level of all your passages to roughly equal volume from experiment #2.
Now try dialing in some of the original signal with the mix knob and listen to when you can hear some of the dynamics coming back. Note the natural punch of the bass returns but some of that thicker sonic difference noted at the end of Ex.2 still remains.
This is a very useful setting both in the studio and live.
Further tweaking can be done to the attack and release at this stage if you return the mix back to 100% wet. Attack and release should be set with more up tempo playing that you'll do.
The idea here is despite the lack of volume between the passages you are going to try to get your bass to sound a little more natural by increasing/decreasing the attack time and likely reducing the release.
Now go back and bring in the dry signal again with the mix knob. You may find this time you don't need as much dry blended in now to get that natural sound no that the attack and release settings are set more to your needs.
I had no bad experiences with the Empress compressors although the newest iteration was not great and didn’t have the same magic of the original. The Omni has to be the best sounding compressor I’ve owned aside from the Cali76 TX-L I owned for a while. I immediately liked what it did.
I had no issues with the Mk 1. I actually liked it more than the BC. I’m glad you’re liking the Omni. The general consensus seems to be that it’s a knock out of the park!
To me, compressor is a type of sound processing that shouldn’t change your inherent tone too much, unless deiberately going for a squashing effect (which is not what I like). Natural tube compression and sealed cabinets did it for me so I focused more on my plucking technique instead of pedal compression to even out dynamics for a long time. But the reviews of transparency of Empress Bass Comp eventually made me get one and it does that in spades. Sidechain hpf and mix controls make it super versatile and I can do that subtle transparent thickening very well.
Omni is a very good compressor as well and if it also had sidechain filtering and I only had one board, it could potentially replace Empress.
Both offer parallel compression, both do light compression really really well and both are keepers.
Omni is a very good compressor as well and if it also had sidechain filtering and I only had one board, it could potentially replace Empress.
Both offer parallel compression, both do light compression really really well and both are keepers.
The Omni does have a side chain filter, although it is fixed. The Omni seemed to come very close to the same level of compression as my Cali76 with the HPF at 100% when playing the B string. At some point I’ll hook each of them up to a DAW and get some exact measurements (I’m out of commission with covid right now).
Yeah, coming from Josh, I’m sure it’s optimized for bass. I noticed low notes got choked just a bit more than high notes with my bass, nothing too drastic, though. I’m going by my ear but to be fair I didn’t have the chance to run omni with a ton of different basses and amps so my experience is limited to my setup.
It would be interesting to see some measurements if you get to make them.
Either way, It’s a very good compressor and it’s got it’s spot my board
It would be interesting to see some measurements if you get to make them.
Either way, It’s a very good compressor and it’s got it’s spot my board
