Is the Empress Bass Compressor Really That Transparent?

[900se]

Hi,

I've been using the Empress for a while and find it has a lot more colourful than is usually attributed to it. Especally as the attack and release times are very fast - almost 1176 speed. Setting both near these limits will wave-shape the signal into distortion, as the speed will allow the compression to hit individual cycles of the waveform.

(I know the Cali76 is a favourite for colour, but the attack only goes down to 0.3ms - whereas the original 1176 had a time of 0.02ms)

I thought I'd experiment with some different settings - and post them in case they're of any use to anyone thinking of getting an Empress. The bass is a regular P-Bass, oldish rounds, with just the Empress and a DI box to record. I put the same track though various settings below. Not that polished, but simple enough to hear what it's doing. Each recording is split into four parts - delimted with a hihat where the changes occur.

The first section is the plain DI, the second is compressed, the third is compressed with the empress tone switch set to mid-cut, the fourth is compressed with the tone switch set to upper-mid-boost (both the final two have the harmonics option enabled as default).


First recording is a standard config I see a lot, ratio 4:1, medium-fast attack and fast release, a bit of the original signal mixed in, a little HPF in the side-chain:



The next is the favourite 1176 "Dr Pepper" setting - 4:1, medium-slow attack, medium-fast release. With no parallel mix and a little HPF:



This one starts to show the distortion. Very fast attack and very fast release, 4:1, no parallel mix and a little HPF so the lowest frequencies don't hit the compressor too hard:



This time, the same but no HPF (just to say, there's no clipping anywhere in the chain, the distortion is just the compressor wave-shaping):



Finally, playing with getting some useable colour. 10:1 with a fast attack and very fast release, equal parallel mix and some HPF:



Generally, the gain-reduction is about 6-8dB for each track, though it was more like 8-10dB for the final one. I've tried my best to level match through the whole thing. I hope someone finds this useful. Cheers.

 

[Deleted member 409773]

It may be considered transparent because it doesn't favor certain frequencies, but any FET compressor with a very high attack will affect the signal, and the Empress can be set to be much faster or slower compared to the Cali76 v2. Initially I said that the Cali76 v2 has lows, that's how I felt, but rather it has mids and is sharp in the high mids, it is even sharper than the Empress (without tone/colour activated at 2khz), but this is at the expense of the lows, where the Empress seems much richer to me.

But I don't use fast attack, I try to get a percussive sound out of the compressor, but on the Empress I made a slight mistake in the setting when I recorded, I only realized afterwards, the SC HPF had to be raised from 11 o'clock to 1, to let the B string be exactly as percussive as the E string. On the Cali76 I had the HPF at 2 o'clock.

Empress Bass MKII settings: 4:1 Ratio, 23ms Attack, 90ms Release, HPF at 11 o'clock (this was my mistake, at 1 o'clock would have made the B string as present as the E string), Blend at 2 o'clock, In at 1 o'clock, Out at 10 o'clock.
Cali76 v2 Bass settings: Dry at noon, Out at 10 o'clock, In at 1, Ratio 4:1, Attack/Release maxed out (5.1ms/73ms), HPF at 2 o'clock.

On each part the Empress MKII Bass Compressor is first, followed by the Cali76 v2 Bass Compressor.

 

[MCS4]

Someone else posted a thread mentioning that not long ago, but it sounds pretty darn transparent at mild to moderate settings to me. I'm someone who doesn't want to feel like a compressor is interfering with my basic tone and the Empress is one of literally only two compressors I have ever found that is transparent enough for me and also doesn't impact my attack and dynamics in a way I find stifling (the Keeley Bassist being the other). However, I will grant that it is always possible there is something about my gear and/or playing that makes the Empress sound more transparent for my usage compared to other people.

 

[900se]

Agreed, it can be very transparent, but I was making the point that it can be pushed into a fair amount of colouration.

 

[blmeier7]

I’ve been using the Empress Bass for 4-5 months now, and I think it has more coloration than other compressors I have tried. I was using the Keeley Bassist prior to the Empress, and I thought it was very transparent. I wouldn’t consider the Empress to have drastic coloration, but I do hear a tonal difference when bypassing it. But, in my opinion it’s a positive coloration.

 

[Mike_Empress]

With compressors, a very fast attack combined with heavy compression will result in the dynamics effectively changing the shape of the input signal, and that change of shape can cause distortion. Rolling back the Attack and Release knobs and/or using a lower ratio could help. The Empress Compressors have a very fast Attack and Release time compared to other compressors on the market for maximum versatility, but this versatility can cause unwanted distortion, depending on how hot the input signal is and how things are set on the pedal. I've made a quick diagram that shows how this works:

 

[Deleted member 409773]

With compressors, a very fast attack combined with heavy compression will result in the dynamics effectively changing the shape of the input signal, and that change of shape can cause distortion. Rolling back the Attack and Release knobs and/or using a lower ratio could help. The Empress Compressors have a very fast Attack and Release time compared to other compressors on the market for maximum versatility, but this versatility can cause unwanted distortion, depending on how hot the input signal is and how things are set on the pedal. I've made a quick diagram that shows how this works:

View attachment 7424748

Yes, that's exactly what I mentioned in another post.: "Harmonic distortion in a compressor is a consequence of changing a waveform's shape. The 1176's attack is extremely fast, it can begin to shape the signal's waveform itself. This rapid action introduces harmonics that are perceived as a "growl" or an abrasive texture (grind)."
From what I wrote, we can replace the 1176 with FET compressors.
We can say that VCA compressors are the most transparent, generally FET ones are more or less colored, but also more aggressive, which I like. And the Empress is the best slap compressor I've ever laid my hand (or foot) on. The only flaw of the Empress compressors is that they don't have a foot-operable tone/color switch, that would have been awesome. But I solved the problem with two Empress compressors.

 

[900se]

With compressors, a very fast attack combined with heavy compression will result in the dynamics effectively changing the shape of the input signal, and that change of shape can cause distortion. Rolling back the Attack and Release knobs and/or using a lower ratio could help. The Empress Compressors have a very fast Attack and Release time compared to other compressors on the market for maximum versatility, but this versatility can cause unwanted distortion, depending on how hot the input signal is and how things are set on the pedal. I've made a quick diagram that shows how this works:

View attachment 7424748

Yes, but hitting it hard like that and putting it with a mix of the original can sound great too!

 

[Fuzzbass]

In short: the Empress is my top choice for transparent comp because it's only colorful when I want it to be.

 

[silky smoove]

I've owned the current version three different times, and I've always ended up getting rid of it. Even with the color switch disengaged and the compression settings dialed in modestly to avoid obvious distortion characteristics from too-fast attack times, I always felt like it was doing something to the frequency response of my tone. My preference with compressors is for them to be as transparent as possible while still providing modest dynamic control. At one point I owned the Empress and a Keeley Compressor Pro simultaneously. Switching from the Empress to the Keeley and then to bypassing both was quite revealing. The Keeley was what I would consider to be a truly transparent compressor, whereas the Empress was not what I would consider transparent. If you want a compressor with light coloration that has the option to add even more coloration, then I think it's a great option. If you want something that's transparent I think there are better choices.