Let The Battle Begin! (Compressor edition)

What do you want the compressor to do for you? eg peak limiting, more 'punch' or 'fatness', general evening out etc. That will help people give useful opinions, as different pedals may be more or less suitable for each of these things. For example, I love the Diamond Compressor, but if you're after peak limiting it will be a complete disappointment

 

What he said. It depends on what you want compression for. I use a Diamond with just a bit of compression to even things out and compensate for my sometimes sloppy right hand technique. It's an always on, set it and forget it, kind of pedal. Not really and effect, more of an enhancement. If you play more slap/funk, you might need a comp with more attack/decay adjustment capabilities.
Good luck with your search, B.

 

I've been using a Markbass Tube Compressore for over a year now, and I can recommend it highly. It's very flexible in the type of the compression you're looking for, and the tube sort of helps to smooth everything out. It's a little hard to integrate into a pedal board, because it needs to use it's own higher current (600 mA) 12V power supply, but that never stopped anyone. I'd try to find one in a store and mess with it, because I still remain impressed by mine.

I mostly play finger style, which I got this compressor really tuned in for, but on a few occasions when playing slap, I just adjusted the attack and release a little bit to get a nice balance between slappy-ness, and sustain, and I can tell you it does both finger style and slap well. I haven't tried it, but I'm sure it could be honed in for nice balanced picking sound as well. It has a bit more adjustment than some other compressors, but with enough playtime, it's pretty easy to learn and know what it's capable of.

 

I won't vote not having compared. I use the MXR M87 which I find transparent (no tone magic) and works well as a compressor or a limiter.
Based on my reading of this site I've seen a lot of love for Keeley Bassist, Spectracomp & MXR M87. Anecdotally(sp?), I haven't read much on the Boss BC-1X.

 

Testing Compressors: Cali, Smoothie, Empress, Diamond, Keeley, FEA, Darkglass, Doc Lloyd, JHS & more


If you haven't seen this yet, check it out. Great reviews of the comps in question (except the Spectracomp) and tons of others that might work for what you need.

 

Out of your choices, I voted Keeley. The MXR is great, but it's a bit noisey. If you went into the next price bracket though you would have some incredible options. IE Origin, FEA, Darkglass etc.