compressor on a budget

[Rojd]

EHX Bass Preacher

I use this on my small board and it works great.

 

[40Hz]

27641069[/URL], member: 399090"]I'm looking for a good always on compressor to even out my signal when I hit the strings hard. I don't mind it coloring my signal.

For straight up leveling your signal the Keeley Bassist, as someone else already suggested, is a great choice. It’s what might be considered an ideal transparent compressor. Falls into the “just sounds good” category. Which is to say you don’t notice it when it’s engaged but you immediately miss it when it’s not. And it does its thing without imparting any coloration. Super quiet too. This is one of the very few compressors out there that it’s almost impossible to make yourself sound bad with. No mean feat IMO.

If you could stretch your budget an extra 12 bucks to swing that one in the classifieds @TOOL460002 pointed out earlier you won’t be disappointed.

If you do want a little “special sauce” added to your sound along with the usual leveling then another good choice us the Ovnifx Smoothie which gets a lot of love on TB. It’s not transparent like the Bassist. It definitely adds a subtle little something extra to your sound. And it has more controllable parameters than the Bassist.

One of the unique things about the Smoothie is you can clearly hear how twiddling each knob affects your sound. So it’s an excellent learning tool if you’re new to compression besides being a very fine compressor in its own right.

I doubt you’ll find one in your budget range. (Been there many times myself. I soooo get it.) But it might be something to tuck in the back of your head for future reference. Because it’s a real workhorse.

——————
Note: I’ve got a small shelf of compressors I keep around for various purposes. But despite having supposedly “better” (and definitely more expensive!) options, the three that get the most daily use are the: Keeley Bassist, the Ovnifx Smoothie, and the Dry Bell Unit 67. Figured I’d put that out there to give you and idea of what I’m mainly using as my daily drivers.

 

[lark_z]

My TC Spark 4 knob seems to add just a touch of compression. Certainly within your budget.

 

[Texican]

I’m currently using the JHS Pulp n’ Peel, which is way over budget… however… the JHS Whitey Tighty is supposed to be a stripped down and more affordable version of the pulp n’ peel. They can be had for under $100 used. I’ve never used one, but if it sounds like the PnP then it gets my vote.

 

[metron]

Another vote for the keely bassist. I just got one coming from a highly regarded FEA OptiFET. I like the keely much better. Takes 3 seconds to set, one second to adjust for a different bass, and its very transparent.

 

[mmbongo]

I have a Kokko compressor which is around $25 on Amazon, here's a demo video of someone using it. And this is the obligatory post to Ovnilab where our very own Bongomania used to seemingly demo every compressor out there and put a full write up on each one.

Just keep in mind that the Ovnilab site hasn't been updated in about 6 years, so it's pretty outdated information.

 

[ZachM]

Wow, what a website. Just what I was looking for! Thanks.

I'm looking for a good always on compressor to even out my signal when I hit the strings hard. I don't mind it coloring my signal.

Its slightly above your budget but I always sing the praises of the Fairfield Accountant when it comes to colored compression. It’s almost a combo of compressor and low gain overdrive, and it just seems to really give some energy and shimmer to whatever instrument I plug into it. Mine serves as the front end for both my bass and guitar chains.

They normally go for $200 but I got mine used for $140, which I think is a reasonably repeatable price point.

 

[Camarillo]

I’m happy with my BBE Opto Stomp.
Cheap and very efficient.

 

[Barefoot_Bob]

Some of the options seem difficult to get in europe. I'm located in Belgium.

The keeley seems a good one and will be fairly ez to get. I migth go that route

Would a keeley pro be the same as a keeley bassist soundwise?

 

[javi_bassist]

The ones I tried and liked were: TC Hypergravity. Awesome compressor but noisy in extreme settings. EHX Preacher. Great comp.
The Ampeg gets some love, but I haven't tried it.