Compressor pedal on the cheap...

[Inconnu]

Ok! Here’s what’s happening. I usually don’t use compressor pedals (just a small 1/3 of rack to limit peaks) and messing with GarageBand tonight, I realized that the highly compressed sound effect that I boosted just for fun seems to be what people use when they slap

I feel like experimenting more with that sound. What pedal can I try that won’t totally kill my low end and make me crazy with its noise level but that is dirt cheap enough to by just for fun and experimenting?

The Kokko is very cheap right now, good idea?

 

[bassbrad]

If you are looking for a cheap comp the Behringer BLE400 Bass Limiter Enhancer is hard to bear imho.

 

[MattZilla]

Kokko is always cheap. People are beyond giving it away.

 

[Smurf-o-Deth]

Keep an eye out for a used TC Electronic Spectracomp. I picked mine up for $60 usd. Lots of available presets to load up, and comprehensive control via software if you want to dive in the deep end.

 

[Inconnu]

Kokko is always cheap. People are beyond giving it away.

Ok, but is worth it?

What I’m looking for is a compressor as an effect. You know, you can hear the sound is compressed. I’ve all ready got a compressor that’s subtle and effective.

 

[MattZilla]

I mean, an MXR Dyna Comp is, sonically speaking, such a stupidly obvious comp that I think some might consider just a straight limiter. Kinda fun to screw with.

 

[Boldaz-Lepton]

Try a Tc Electronic forcefield compressor.
Very cheap, sturdy and depending on what you need, plenty good

 

[darren1970]

I'd also recommend TC spectracomp.
Simple to use multiband compressor.
Quite transparent and decent quality.

 

[NoiseNinja]

I've found the 160 Comp model in the Zoom MS-60B and MS-70CDR multi stompbox pedals, modeling the legendary dbx 160A rack compressor, to actually function as a really great compressor (which, pretty far from, can't be said about all the compressor models these cheap multi effects offers, but that one genuinely works exceptionally well for bass).

But for about the same price as one of those you can get the TC Electronic SpectraComp, which, thanks to the Toneprint editor, will give you much much more control over and options for customizing your compression, in fact really detailed thorough, almost infinite, customization options.

I even dare say that, given you take the time, and eventually do the research to get you up to speed with how exactly compression works, needed to dial in the settings, utilizing the Toneprint editor, to fit your exact personal preferences and needs, despite it's relatively cheap price, the SpectraComp might very well be the very best compressor currently on the market, at very least definitely the one that offers you most personal customization options, including fully customizeable 3 band compression (that means freely selectable crossover points as well) and separate individual parallel unaffected clean blend for each of them (which makes it a great tone shaping device as well, should one wish to partially or primarily use it for this purpose).

 

[roller]

+1 on the MXR and the TC.

I can also recommend the Henretta Orange Whip, based on the Dan Armstrong Orange Squeezer... simple, affordable and effective.

I feel like experimenting more with that sound. What pedal can I try that won’t totally kill my low end and make me crazy with its noise level but that is dirt cheap enough to by just for fun and experimenting?

 

[J_Bass]

TC Electronic Spectra Comp, too.

 

[happycamper]

Yup. Spectra comp lover here. Got one used and its the best 50 bucks ive spent on a pedal.

 

[seedokebass]

My vote is Boss LMB3. I frickin love that compressor! Super easy to use and it's fairly transparent if you leave the enhance off.

The Behringer recommendation is also good lower price option compared to the Boss. Sounds very similar to the LMB3 too.

 

[amper]

Ok! Here’s what’s happening. I usually don’t use compressor pedals (just a small 1/3 of rack to limit peaks) and messing with GarageBand tonight, I realized that the highly compressed sound effect that I boosted just for fun seems to be what people use when they slap

I feel like experimenting more with that sound. What pedal can I try that won’t totally kill my low end and make me crazy with its noise level but that is dirt cheap enough to by just for fun and experimenting?

The Kokko is very cheap right now, good idea?

The best bass compressor pedal at any price is, IMO, the tc electronic SpectraComp. You can find it for under $100 used. The only problem is, it requires programming, but the benefit of that is, it's incredibly flexible.

 

[Daniel Piper]

 

[cavemanbass]

The Ampeg opto sounds very good, and it has adjustable release so you can dial in a long release time to help make the effect more obvious. It was initially priced at $99 but increased to $130 so not exactly budget anymore

 

[RattleSnack]

My vote is Boss LMB3. I frickin love that compressor! Super easy to use and it's fairly transparent if you leave the enhance off.

Another vote for cheap but great LMB-3. Here's review I agree with.

 

[seedokebass]

B

Another vote for cheap but great LMB-3. Here's review I agree with.

The best!

 

[_sky_]

Ok! Here’s what’s happening. I usually don’t use compressor pedals (just a small 1/3 of rack to limit peaks) and messing with GarageBand tonight, I realized that the highly compressed sound effect that I boosted just for fun seems to be what people use when they slap

I feel like experimenting more with that sound. What pedal can I try that won’t totally kill my low end and make me crazy with its noise level but that is dirt cheap enough to by just for fun and experimenting?

The Kokko is very cheap right now, good idea?

I have the Spectracomp (in a 30€ deal!) but before I had the Kokko compressor. For the price it is a really great pedal in my opinion. If you don´t want to waste to much money it is a good option.

 

[Sunset Shalom]

Ok! Here’s what’s happening. I usually don’t use compressor pedals (just a small 1/3 of rack to limit peaks)

Which rack out of curiosity? RNC? Alesis Nanocomp? I use the latter for studio comp/limiting and love it for being so affordable, been curious to see how a nicer rack comp would compare. Recently got the ART Pro Channel which has a tube compressor and it does sound much better though I still use the Alesis for stereo limiting and think it sounds solid.

Anyways for a good budget pedal comp I think the best option is this Sanjune 67$ 6 knob mini comp: https://www.amazon.com/SanJune-GB-C...08CSY9BRD/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

It has input gain and master volume controls, so it can go from crystal clean to dirty comp and can be dialed in with different instruments easily. It also has threshold and ratio controls so you can dial in the perfect amount of compression, and lastly it has attack and decay controls. Mostly great reviews for it as well, with people comparing it to 200$+ comp pedals. I got mine to replace the Xotic SP and was impressed how comparably good the sanjune sounds on top of being more versatile. Was expecting it to sound a bit duller compared to the SP comp which does sound amazing despite being noisy, but I think the sanjune sounds just as good if not better as it's easier to dial it in perfectly for different rigs.

I mainly use it on guitar though have had good results using it on bass a bit. It seems like a quality studio comp in pedal form so it should work with everything. There are some reviews from bassists mentioning that running it at higher voltages gives it more headroom for low end though I've been hesitant to try it past 9v and find it has plenty of headroom/bass in most situations. Running it in my guitar amp's FX loop it did have a subtle clipping issue from the preamp signal even with the gain all the way down, ended up dialing the FX loop send volume down and compensating with the return and now it's very clean. Though it can be fun cranking the input gain for dirty comp boost tones.