+1 on the Empress for an outboard pedal. On the Stomp, the LA comps seems be the choice that adds the least coloring. YMMV.
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Compressor advice/recs
- Thread starter Parzival
- Start date
The little Aguilar db599 is my current fav for this, followed by the Keeley Bassist. I am intrigued by the love squeeze. I have not tried it, but it’s my understanding it’s also a transparent comp that’s not noisy.
JeezyMcNuggles
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- Feb 23, 2018
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First time I hear about a noisy BC-1x. You might have been unlucky. No noise with mine.
I think everything between your strings and the speakers affects your tone to some degree. Maybe you’re right.
Another vote for Empress for transparency. IME, it's not colored unless you use one of the Colour settings (Empress Bass). I have not noticed distortion with my hotter basses.
I also recommend the Becos Stella.
I also recommend the Becos Stella.
Thanks for the mention, I didn't know them and it's great to see such nicely painted pedals going for this price, though tome is what really matters, in the end. Given that most of them are made after specific pedal designs, I was wondering if they're like "glorified" kits or if they sort components entirely by themselves and apply their own twist.
Of the 2 versions, I guess you were talking about the optical one:
Did you also try the other one? It looks like a completely different thing, designed to be characterful and capable of giving "creamy, od tones" according to them.
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I have the blue one...have not tried the other. The blue one is simple and quite transparent. I use it as a gentle smoother not a tone enhancer. They are not kits, but designs usually inspired by known amps or other pedals. I also have the bass bone, which is a good SVT-inspired distortion. Many of the pedals have decent demo videos but most are for guitar as opposed to bass.
For subtle, transparent compression... I'd say the CS-3 Compression Sustainer!
Just kidding, though I think it has its uses - mostly as an effect that also acts on dynamics - and it's not as drastic as usually described with "sustain" set on the lower side. But no, it has a fixed threshold set rather low, don't go for it, taking your OP into account.
Jokes aside, I read some quality stuff (on the expensive side) as suggestions. I was wondering if someone could give some feedback about the SpectraComp by TC Electronic, speaking of stuff that's rather accessible yet could serve as a versatile handy swiss army knife, given its tweakable nature.
Good option? Underwhelming baked-in tone? I've never tried it, just wondering.
I have a couple of Toneprint pedals and I quite like what you can do with them when you get nerdy: I've fine-tuned and filtered out a few pesky frequencies on my SubNUp and Infinite and now they do a good job without messing up my tone at loud volumes.
I wouldn't be surprised if you could achieve good, subtle results with a SpectraComp just spending a bit of time tweaking stuff under the hood.
I am very much a novice, having only played for about a year, and I play at home for my own enjoyment (no gigging or recording). That said, I have a spectra comp and it’s my preferred compressor. It has taken me a while to dial it in and find a tone print that I like (I use Muscle Comp), but I find it transparent and musical, and really easy to use. It’s always on.
Others that I’ve tried are UA 1176, MXR Bass Comp, Aguilar DB 599, Aguilar TLC, and the onboard comp in my SGT-DI. I’ve sold everything but the SGT (which I use without the compressor) and the 1176 (which I intend to sell soon, if anyone is interested).
I've owned at least 10 bass comps. Most of them sounded much better bypassed. Always looking for transparent light compression or hard limiting when I slap, not a tone enhancer. My favorite for years was the Aguilar TLC. But it didn't get along with a hot signal and was just ok live. Then I got the newer Empress. I couldn't be happier now. Absolutely perfect for what I want in a compressor.
I saw that bass bone on their website: to me it looks like a pedal inspired by the B3K V1 (first version) by Darkglass, control-wise. They even seem to openly mention it. Very fairly priced, though you'd need to order directly from them, I doubt you can find someone stocking them over here. Not that I'd mind the €20-ish for shipping on a €90 pedal, I just wonder how often they get held at customs for ages and what needs to be paid on top of it to have it released, were it the case.
The comps I've tried in the HX One so far are just ok. Nothing great at all. Have a few more to try out. There is one song where I really want to get a good amount of squish on the sound, not super squashed, but a good bit, and I am now thinking if I can just find one effect in the HX One to do that and sound pretty good for one song, I will look at trying a pedal for my lighter compression uses.
I got a good deal on a Rothwell Love Squeeze, so it is inbound. We'll see how it does. If it doesn't make the cut, I can't decide whether I want to try the Bass Preacher, Honey Comp, Bassist, or Empress next. The Empress has a lot of recommendations in the thread.
And I checked on the Mira. They gone. Maybe there will be more. Who knows?
I got a good deal on a Rothwell Love Squeeze, so it is inbound. We'll see how it does. If it doesn't make the cut, I can't decide whether I want to try the Bass Preacher, Honey Comp, Bassist, or Empress next. The Empress has a lot of recommendations in the thread.
And I checked on the Mira. They gone. Maybe there will be more. Who knows?
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