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Keeley Bassist or Empress Bass Compressor?

Chris F

Chris F

May 8, 2022
48
86
Birmingham, AL
#1
I currently have a JHS Pulp N Peel as my compressor, but the coloring it adds to my signal doesn’t sound great with my other pedals.
I want a compressor that just works and doesn’t add color to my sound. I had decided I wanted to get a Keeley Bassist, but I see a lot of people raving about the Empress as another clean style compressor. If I’m not going to use the side chain filter or tone shaping switch on the Empress, is it still worth the extra $$?
 
#3
I like the Empress for it's lack of coloration, and don't use the tone + color switch. I suspect that you'll find SC HPF useful, even if you may not think so now. It's up to you to decide if the pedal it worth what it provides.

My take: I like it enough that when it was time to upgrade my guitar comp, I got an Empress MKII (the same thing, but with a couple of feature changes). They're worth it to me, and not my first compressors.
 
#4
I’ve owned a few compressors. When I needed a comp I bought the Empress without much consideration to anything else because it’s just such a good little unit. Actually bought it today after having previously owned it in the past. I just love the features and the ease of use. The other compressor similar is the Broughton omnicomp which is also killer. But between the two you chose I don’t think you can make a bad decision.
 
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#6
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#7
scubaduba said:
The Bassist is beautiful in its simplicity. Other than that, for almost any circumstance, I would recommend the Empress Bass Compressor (or MKII).

Here is my review of the Empress Bass Compressor: https://www.compressorpedalreviews.com/post/empress-bass-compressor-review

Here is my review of the Empress MKII: https://www.compressorpedalreviews.com/post/empress-mkii-compressor-review
Click to expand...
Ha, I didn’t know that the compressor review site was yours; makes sense. Thank you for the input!
 
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#9
So the Empress bass compressor is coming in tomorrow. I need some guidance about how to dial in the attack and release. I understand the concept, but don’t know that I have the ear to know how to dial in properly. I play an P bass in a worship setting mainly. Any suggestions where to start? @scubaduba
 
#10
Chris F said:
So the Empress bass compressor is coming in tomorrow. I need some guidance about how to dial in the attack and release. I understand the concept, but don’t know that I have the ear to know how to dial in properly. I play an P bass in a worship setting mainly. Any suggestions where to start? @scubaduba
Click to expand...
You might start with a sample setting (in the user guide) and tweak from there. For me,that was a good way to get my bearings.
 
#11
willsellout said:
I’ve owned a few compressors. When I needed a comp I bought the Empress without much consideration to anything else because it’s just such a good little unit. Actually bought it today after having previously owned it in the past. I just love the features and the ease of use. The other compressor similar is the Broughton omnicomp which is also killer. But between the two you chose I don’t think you can make a bad decision.
Click to expand...
How is the Broughton Omnicomp similar? It's Optical. The Empress is FET. The Keeley is VCA.
 
#12
ShortScale24 said:
How is the Broughton Omnicomp similar? It's Optical. The Empress is FET. The Keeley is VCA.
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I don't have any of the compressors mentioned here, but while it's fair to say that the mechanism by which compression is achieved provides certain characteristics on average, it's not determinative with respect to the sound achieved at the output. There are compressors of all "types" that are transparent, and others that are quite coloured, some offer the user a very deep level of control, others offer very little, for example.

A case in point -- the Orange Squeezer is a very coloured compressor with very little user control (the original was off/on), and the Empress is famed as a transparent compressor with highly manipulable parameters. They're both FET-based circuits.
 
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#14
I've owned the current version of the Empress multiple times and owned the Keeley Bassist for a while in between times of owning the Empress. Ultimately, I sold both and am now using the Keeley Compressor Pro. For your stated goal of not adding any tone color, I don't think you can do better than the Compressor Pro. It's a bigger format than either of your stated options, but it really nails what you're after.
 
#15
Chris F said:
I currently have a JHS Pulp N Peel as my compressor, but the coloring it adds to my signal doesn’t sound great with my other pedals.
I want a compressor that just works and doesn’t add color to my sound. I had decided I wanted to get a Keeley Bassist, but I see a lot of people raving about the Empress as another clean style compressor. If I’m not going to use the side chain filter or tone shaping switch on the Empress, is it still worth the extra $$?
Click to expand...
I have the Empress. I don’t think I’ve ever owned a pedal of any kind that I like as much as this one. It’s that good.
 

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