Compressors: Empress v Diamond v Whirlwind v ?

[PhatRon]

yes, that solod bridge pu sounds much better with that low end tightened up doesn't it?
congrats on purchasing the empress. I have an empress para eq. if the comp. is anywhere near the same quality (and I hear/read nothing that says it isn't) you'll be pleased.
while learning the comp. i suggest becoming super familiar with where to set threshold. That's the point where the compressor begins to do it's thing. If you get this too low you will kill your finger dynamics. leave some headroom here. IMO that's the key to using any comp. enjoy, you'll spend hours and hours tweaking that comp.

 

[Twick]

I think the Empress is much more flexible than the MXR M87, it's got a much broader range of attack times (50mcs-50 ms vs 20-800 mcs on mxr). Add in the ability to blend in your dry signal and play with side chain control of the gain reduction circuit, and the empress has it beat on pretty much all fronts except for the ability to limit huge peaks (the mxr can go up to 20:1, whereas the empress is only 10:1).
You'll love the empress, it's a fantastic comp

 

[Hobobob]

I know you didn't have it on your list but I use a Markbass Compressore for thickening up my J bass. It's subtle but it brings up the mids in a non-harsh way. Sounds different than boosting mids or going for a barky bridge pickup mid heavy tone.

That said I've been wanting to try a Diamond Bcp-1 forever and have one coming within the week! Should be fun to A/B the it with the Compressore.

Please please please post or start a new thread when you do this. I've been trying to decide between these two for awhile.

 

[rmars]

Please please please post or start a new thread when you do this. I've been trying to decide between these two for awhile.

Will do. Should be here Monday and I have two gigs next weekend to try it out. I really like the Compressore but it can take some fiddling to get it where I want, really looking forward to the simplicity of the Diamond and messing with the tilt eq.

 

[Robus]

Looking forward to the thread.

 

[4StringsEnough]

I haven't tried the Diamond or the Empress but the Whirlwind Bass OC has just replaced an MXR Bass Compressor on my board. I had been totally happy with the MXR and just tried the Whirlwind out of curiosity. It blew the MXR out the water so I had to have it!

 

[Robus]

It would be awesome if you could do a review of the Whirlwind OC, or better yet an A/B comparison with the MXR.

 

[envy1400]

Please post your thoughts on the empress when you get it back. I also play out of a sansamp and been thinking about getting a compressor to get some control. I was concerned by ovni labs saying that the empress has to have to threshold set really low to handle high signal spikes so please post your experience on it. Thanks!

 

[Twick]

I play finger style rock and pop in my EBMM bongo through the empress comp into a BDDI. I've found that the empress has been able to handle any musical signal I've pushed through it while playing with no audible clipping. The only time I've made it clip was when I really really pushed it (boosted bass pre amp and very aggressive attack).

 

[rmars]

My Diamond Bcp-1 showed up this weekend and so far I'm very impressed. I'd describe it as tight, punchy, percussive and fat. Good tone is just baked into this thing.

Though it sounds very different than my Compressore I'm struggling to write the comparison. I will try to work on it but until then if you have any specific question I will do my best to answer.

 

[TinyE]

Subscribed. I'm in the same boat...empress, diamond and compressore are the 3 I'm looking at. Please review ad naseum!

 

[rmars]

To update; after gigging with both pedals on my board I ended up keeping the Diamond sold the Markbass. The Diamond was more tight & fat while the Compressore was a bit more wooly and less defined in the lows and didn't have the magic of the Diamond in the mids. The compression on the Markbass seems to taper off towards the high end so it's almost like it focuses on the lows and eases up through the mids and the highs seem almost unaffected. The Diamond's compression is more uniform across the spectrum though I initially thought the highs sounded choked compared to the MB. While the Markbass never sounded noisey the Diamond is REALLY quiet and clean.

 

[Unchain]

To update; after gigging with both pedals on my board I ended up keeping the Diamond sold the Markbass. The Diamond was more tight & fat while the Compressore was a bit more wooly and less defined in the lows and didn't have the magic of the Diamond in the mids. The compression on the Markbass seems to taper off towards the high end so it's almost like it focuses on the lows and eases up through the mids and the highs seem almost unaffected. The Diamond's compression is more uniform across the spectrum though I initially thought the highs sounded choked compared to the MB. While the Markbass never sounded noisey the Diamond is REALLY quiet and clean.

That is literally my -exact- experience with those two compressors. The Diamond is still on my board now.

 

[MMStingRay]

I'm in the same boat... Need some help.

Am I in the ball park with what I'm hearing?
1. MXR, People seem to like it but not me. (maybe I’m wrong?) Don't know why people say it's transparent because it seems heavy to me and too easy to make mud with over compression. To me it’s not compression it’s an effect.
2. Like the Aguilar, up its maybe too light on the compression and lacks flexibility, range and options for a compressor at that price range.
3. Tried the Empress, Liked it... Like the blend and side chain options. Good sounding pedal. Didn’t really feel like it fatten the sound, might be punchier?
4. Can't find a Diamond anywhere yet.
5. Last option, do I really need a compressor? Will it be worth the money?

My Gig sitch:
I play most weekends mainly top 40 country with PA support.
Most of the time I play a P-Bass, sometimes the Stingray.

I play through several amps:
* Gig = GB Shuttle 6.0/210 or GK 700rd/410neo.
* Practice = Ampeg PF500/PF210 or MB210 combo.
* Just added = Th500/2x Db112's

Is a compressor really a need?
Will it have a noticeable "positive" impact on my sound (more on stage or FOH?)?
Will one compress do justice to bass guitar so different with a wide range of amps???

Side note... I'm not a big MB fan, it sounds great with the Stingray but the P-bass never hits the mark.

 

[Crabby]

I have owned the Empress, tried the Markbass and now have the Diamond and am just over the moon with it. The real secret trick with this pedal is to open it up and hit the little toggle switch to bypass the eq. Once the eq is out of the circuit, the Diamond sounds dramatically better! There is more clarity, punch and sweetness to the tone! Just a fabulous "set it and forget it" pedal that I am completely crazy about.

 

[Adamixoye]

I think the Empress is much more flexible than the MXR M87, it's got a much broader range of attack times (50mcs-50 ms vs 20-800 mcs on mxr). Add in the ability to blend in your dry signal and play with side chain control of the gain reduction circuit, and the empress has it beat on pretty much all fronts except for the ability to limit huge peaks (the mxr can go up to 20:1, whereas the empress is only 10:1).
You'll love the empress, it's a fantastic comp

I can't speak to the other two, but this is exactly the pros/cons of MXR vs. Empress, and why I sold my MXR and bought an Empress. And I haven't been disappointed.

 

[FaithNoMan]

OP: Personally, I highly recommend dumping the outboard hardware processing and using software processing instead - that way if you don't like something you can easily redo it rather than being stuck with it.

Cheers,
Joe

Exactly what I do. I can change anything I want and change it back for reference. It works great.

I use a vst called CLA-76(based off an 1176 which I can't afford) and love it. It smooths things out so nicely and can add character or not. And it totally preserves my attack which I love. It even has me going past a 4:1(I love a setting at 12:1 now) ratio which I "swore" I would never do because it "kills my tone". Lol.

 

[rmars]

I have owned the Empress, tried the Markbass and now have the Diamond and am just over the moon with it. The real secret trick with this pedal is to open it up and hit the little toggle switch to bypass the eq. Once the eq is out of the circuit, the Diamond sounds dramatically better! There is more clarity, punch and sweetness to the tone! Just a fabulous "set it and forget it" pedal that I am completely crazy about.

Didn't realize there was an internal toggle. I'll have to check that out, I don't use the eq anyway.

 

[Crabby]

Yes, bypassing the eq (which I also never used) made a big difference. I found the pedal cut the highs a bit and had less punch with the eq engaged.

 

[JustSomeDude]

For recording...stick to Plugins unless you are going to spend the $$$ for an excellent compressor (DBXvu, Distressor, La-2a, 1176 for me).

That said, I have gotten sounds that specifically worked better with Pedals.
EBS and MXR in my case.
They all color the sound and tend to add hiss.
Just play louder than the Hiss

The MXR tends to be confusing to non engineers.
It will only over compress if you set it that way.
Once you take the time to learn how to optimize the gain/ratio etc...it is excellent.
I really like being able to see how much compression is going on.

The EBS hides the controls from you and is easier to get an 'automatically good' sound.
I prefer to have the control of the MXR available but don't always need it.