I am shopping for a compressor and would appreciate some recommendations.
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Compressors
- Thread starter Liam Wald
- Start date
Do you want utility or tone shaping? Mild compression or hard peak limiting?
Sticky at the top of the page: Testing Compressors: Cali, Smoothie, Empress, Diamond, Keeley, FEA, Darkglass, Doc Lloyd, JHS & more
OG Comp reviews: www.ovnilab.com
Sticky at the top of the page: Testing Compressors: Cali, Smoothie, Empress, Diamond, Keeley, FEA, Darkglass, Doc Lloyd, JHS & more
OG Comp reviews: www.ovnilab.com
BIG second for this recommendation, that site was ridiculously helpful when I was comp shopping, bought a used Carl Martin Classic Opto mainly based on the review there and couldn’t be happier. I was also looking for a cheap Markbass Compressore based on the ovnilab review but got a good deal on the Carl Martin before one came up. But, yeah, there’s some really good information on those links in the previous post. Good luck on the search.
What he said. LOTS of compressors to choose from. Help us narrow the field for you.
Also: studio or live? What's your budget?
I really love my diamond bass compressor, especially if you’re looking for light compression as an always on. Definitely colors your tone, but in such a pleasing way! The tilt eq is also a nice touch
Hey BioDriver, thanks for the links. They were very helpful and informative. I ended up buying a Keeley Compressor plus and I am quite pleased with it.
Thanks again.
The best compressor pedal I've played is the Wampler Ego. It's one of my favorite pedals ever, and in fact before playing it I hated compression. I shot it out directly against the Walrus Deep Six, Earthquaker Warden, Strymon OB-1 bass mod, Seymour Duncan Studio Bass, and the MXR M87 and it was honestly hard to see any contest.
compressors can be very different. And they can react to different basses differently(much like some fuzz pedals can sound great with a p bass but sound like garbage with some active basses) so I don’t really suggest going by what others say. Just try a few. Most of the big dealers have decent return policies. I think the key with pedal compressors is to lean towards more subtle compression because it’s pretty common for compression to be added to the bass after the fact in the studio or by front of house at gigs. So the main thing is to try to avoid overdoing it. One thing I would suggest though is stick to the compressors that have a wet and dry blend. They seem to work a lot better from my experience and are less prone to sounding too compressed
