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Empress compressor first impressions
- Thread starter eddododo
- Start date
scottfeldstein
Roots and fifths and a little extra.
Right.There is no frequency range that goes uncompressed.
A flat side chain will usually end up causing your lower notes to get compressed more than your higher, resulting in the higher notes sounding louder. A filter on the side chain that lowers the bass frequencies can give you a more even amount of compression across the entire fretboard.
scottfeldstein
Roots and fifths and a little extra.
That's really interesting. Your comment has shifted me from "I don't think I'll ever use this feature" to "maybe I should try this feature."
Best way to see if it's something you need, is watch the gain reduction when playing across all the strings. If you notice you are getting more reduction on the E string, start moving that HPF up until it's all balanced.
And once again, Derek gets me thinkin' 'bout stuff...
Just got mine, plugged it in, set it to “Smooth and warm” setting in quickstart guide. Marked improvement in clarity and articulation. Tone switch to left has a slight and very nice Ampeg-ish effect, although it sounds similar to slight Bass boost and lower mid cut on my Broughton SVpre pedal. Very nice, just a shame these pedals are so expensive. I have the Broughton Omnicomp on the way too.
I also hear a new clear harmonic content that is too muddled to make out with the pedal off. I thought my Broughton HPF/LPF cleaned up the tone but this compression broadens the effect.
i am a recent Zoom B3 convert for the amp simulations, stereo chorus, delay, and hall reverb.
with only 3 slots i have two options live
1. comp - pre/boost - amp
with this i would add the new Zoom MS70-CDR+ for effects after the B3, but lose the B3 XLR/DI (with FX)
2. amp - chorus - reverb
this patch i could use the Empress for comp and boost and keep the XLR routing of the B3
in studio, this isn't an issue as i use my MG-30 send to the B3 with the excellent comps and boosts in the MG-30 before the send.
thinking out loud here - of all the comp demos i've heard, the Empress sounds deeeelish.
with only 3 slots i have two options live
1. comp - pre/boost - amp
with this i would add the new Zoom MS70-CDR+ for effects after the B3, but lose the B3 XLR/DI (with FX)
2. amp - chorus - reverb
this patch i could use the Empress for comp and boost and keep the XLR routing of the B3
in studio, this isn't an issue as i use my MG-30 send to the B3 with the excellent comps and boosts in the MG-30 before the send.
thinking out loud here - of all the comp demos i've heard, the Empress sounds deeeelish.
Funny that you say that, my Empress Bass Comp is just before my B3, and it's by far the best setup I've ever had. I use the 3 slots in the B3 for things in that unit which I like (the Zoom compressor was not one of them :>), but my only comp in the chain is the Empress.
Somehow, presets in the Empress would make it a serious home run, but that's really hard to do - digital pots, vcas, other things to replace the actual pots are generally more noisy and more difficult to design in, but if that product existed, I'd buy one!!! (not so subtle hint). I was actually thinking about buying another one, and putting a switch on the board... oh oh...
ihung up my B3 for the MS-60B+, still using the MG-30 (hard to beat for bass and guitar tone $$$).
on the hunt for a next-gen all-in-one with balanced XLR outs.
Sonicake just announced their Matribox II Pro with balanced outs. but meh, big MEH.
I liked the Keeley Bassist, but the Empress still has my eye and ear.
Just saw BEAT in LA - Adrian Belew has an Empress Comp on his board.
New to the Empress Bass Comp party…I’ve tried many, and this may be the best one yet.
I switch between lower output passive Fenders and active Stingrays, and found it a hassle to adjust the compression. Here is what I currently have, Diamond, Ampeg, Becos and an Alma v1.
The Diamond shines with passive Fenders, but not so much with active. The Ampeg works fine and is super simple, but not quite enough adjustments for me, the Becos is tiny, feature packed but sill lacked the “magic”. The Alma was the favorite, but I still had to fiddle a bit too much switching between passive and active. On a whim a bought the Empress bass comp here on TB when I saw a good deal. So far I think it beats them all, it’s simple to adjust the input and output knobs on the fly, and the mix knob seems more functional than on the Alma. I’ll probably end up selling some of the other ones, and keep the Diamond and Empress
.
I switch between lower output passive Fenders and active Stingrays, and found it a hassle to adjust the compression. Here is what I currently have, Diamond, Ampeg, Becos and an Alma v1.
The Diamond shines with passive Fenders, but not so much with active. The Ampeg works fine and is super simple, but not quite enough adjustments for me, the Becos is tiny, feature packed but sill lacked the “magic”. The Alma was the favorite, but I still had to fiddle a bit too much switching between passive and active. On a whim a bought the Empress bass comp here on TB when I saw a good deal. So far I think it beats them all, it’s simple to adjust the input and output knobs on the fly, and the mix knob seems more functional than on the Alma. I’ll probably end up selling some of the other ones, and keep the Diamond and Empress
.
sub’d.
Definitely late to the party myself. Recently acquired one of the newer bass comps. At a point where I like it on more than off - but still trying to figure out optimal settings. Going for subtle. Enjoying everyone’s responses. Carry on!
Definitely late to the party myself. Recently acquired one of the newer bass comps. At a point where I like it on more than off - but still trying to figure out optimal settings. Going for subtle. Enjoying everyone’s responses. Carry on!
I've recently transitioned to playing mostly acoustic upright rather than BG, and it's always a challenge to get a solid low end and even level across the range (although the Wilson K4 piezos in the bridge are the best pickup option I've found). For reasons I don't understand, I haven't used a compressor in recent years, and hadn't ever put one on the acoustic - so last week I dug out my old dbx 163x from the 'archive', put the upright through it and was surprised how good it sounded (the dbx had been my preamp through the 90s). So I figured it was time to try one of the new-fangled pedals. I read all the reviews and bought the Empress because of its feature set - in particular, the side-chain HPF and the Mix knob for parallel compression.
It arrived in the mail today and I've just spent a satisfying Friday evening playing my upright and BG through it. Such a sweet piece of gear! I already have a well-worn Empress Para EQ so I knew the build quality would be first-rate, but I hadn't expected how much fun this thing would be - so many useful settings! At this stage, it seems I'll flick the tone switch to the left (lo-mid cut) for BG, and to the right (hi-mid boost) for clarity on the upright.
It works particularly well on the acoustic - I have enough dry sound mixed in to keep the acoustic dynamics, but layer in a fair bit of compression to keep a consistent, solid low end happening. I reckon this pedal is a keeper.
It arrived in the mail today and I've just spent a satisfying Friday evening playing my upright and BG through it. Such a sweet piece of gear! I already have a well-worn Empress Para EQ so I knew the build quality would be first-rate, but I hadn't expected how much fun this thing would be - so many useful settings! At this stage, it seems I'll flick the tone switch to the left (lo-mid cut) for BG, and to the right (hi-mid boost) for clarity on the upright.
It works particularly well on the acoustic - I have enough dry sound mixed in to keep the acoustic dynamics, but layer in a fair bit of compression to keep a consistent, solid low end happening. I reckon this pedal is a keeper.
Still digging mine…I find I dont always use the tone switch, really depends on the bass or gig.
D
I love the Empress, very clean compressor with a lot of features:
- very good upper clean register and punchy; separate Attack and Release, Mix to blend your compressed signal with the uncompressed, HPF (I find it very good with my 5 string basses, the B string is hitting hard triggering to much the comp and I have the posibility to avoid this), the tone/colour switch (scopped 500Hz/neutral/boostet 2Khz).
About the tone/colour switch: I used it in every position, the scooped tone is my "bedroom" bass sound, amazing in clean slap and when I want a warmer tone from my Stingrays, the neutral is what I use more, and the mid boost is very good in combination with my Darkglass distortion or when I want a little more presence.
- very good upper clean register and punchy; separate Attack and Release, Mix to blend your compressed signal with the uncompressed, HPF (I find it very good with my 5 string basses, the B string is hitting hard triggering to much the comp and I have the posibility to avoid this), the tone/colour switch (scopped 500Hz/neutral/boostet 2Khz).
About the tone/colour switch: I used it in every position, the scooped tone is my "bedroom" bass sound, amazing in clean slap and when I want a warmer tone from my Stingrays, the neutral is what I use more, and the mid boost is very good in combination with my Darkglass distortion or when I want a little more presence.
Good observation on the tone switch, live I don’t really use it, except to warm up a Stingray in a smaller setting
Flip it the other way to make a tame scooped Jazz more aggressive. Question, does the SC HP knob work when you are just using standard input/output and not the sidechain interface? I’ve played with it a bit and was having a hard time hearing the difference when turning the knob?
The HPF knob works, turn it up and you’ll see the led compression indicator lights go down.
So it sets the frequency that you want to bypass compression? Allowing you to have a compressed signal while not squishing your lows?
D
Yes, turn clockwise the HPF knob and the lower frequencies are not triggering as hard the compressor.Good observation on the tone switch, live I don’t really use it, except to warm up a Stingray in a smaller setting
As @butterfinger1 said, it's physically visible/audible.
