Compressore is here, and I love it! And this coming from a TC Electronic FANATIC (9 out of 11 pedals on my guitar board are TC) who is going to sell his HyperGravity because it sounded too digital and never transparent enough.
I got one used and it came in the exact condition described. You should buy used with confidence; the only real thing that could go wrong is needing to replace the tube, as the chassis of this thing is tank-like. Seriously, it's the most solid pedal I own now. It's got the classic Markbass yellow/black vibe going on, and really cool recessed knobs. Keeps you from accidentally changing settings when stomping. It is a little big, but I'm not a pedal guy: this will be the only pedal in front of my amp, so I could care less about the size.
The sound: fantastic. It has true tube compression, which has that great analog quality. My favorite thing? It's WHISPER quiet, even in front of the amp. I love my Markbass EQ in the loop, where it's nice and quiet, but that thing was reeeeeally noisy in front of the amp. Not so with the Compressore. Even at high compression levels, you can't hear any increase in sound switching on and off. There's a small learning curve to figuring out how the knobs affect the pedal, but nothing much worse than any other pedal. You always have to feel out a new pedal and get to know how it affects your tone, whether it's got one knob or eight. Having gain and volume is nice and helps you dial in the amount of compression you want (more gain crosses the threshold easier), while still easily wrangling the overall output. It's hard to describe exactly how this pedal affects my sound, but it only took about 30 minutes for this guy to go from still in his box to being a permanent part of my rig. My basses just sound BETTER. Playing with unity volume levels, switching the pedal on and off, the difference is night and day. There's more high and mid clarity, without adding any unwanted treble frequencies. The lows just come through more clearly in a very pleasing way. And of course, since its a compressor, it tames volume peaks well. It might take you a little time to get the amount of squash where you want, but good tone takes a little time. Maybe it took me longer because I don't like heavy compression, but I was able to dial in a nice transparent compression that still tamed the peaks.
Bottom line: it's silent, it's transparent, it's analog and tube-y, it just makes your tone better, and it can be had on the cheap. Excellent, excellent purchase, and even though I just got it, I would absolutely replace it if it was stolen. I would jump on the used deals though, I believe Markbass has discontinued the pedal! Hope this helps!
I got one used and it came in the exact condition described. You should buy used with confidence; the only real thing that could go wrong is needing to replace the tube, as the chassis of this thing is tank-like. Seriously, it's the most solid pedal I own now. It's got the classic Markbass yellow/black vibe going on, and really cool recessed knobs. Keeps you from accidentally changing settings when stomping. It is a little big, but I'm not a pedal guy: this will be the only pedal in front of my amp, so I could care less about the size.
The sound: fantastic. It has true tube compression, which has that great analog quality. My favorite thing? It's WHISPER quiet, even in front of the amp. I love my Markbass EQ in the loop, where it's nice and quiet, but that thing was reeeeeally noisy in front of the amp. Not so with the Compressore. Even at high compression levels, you can't hear any increase in sound switching on and off. There's a small learning curve to figuring out how the knobs affect the pedal, but nothing much worse than any other pedal. You always have to feel out a new pedal and get to know how it affects your tone, whether it's got one knob or eight. Having gain and volume is nice and helps you dial in the amount of compression you want (more gain crosses the threshold easier), while still easily wrangling the overall output. It's hard to describe exactly how this pedal affects my sound, but it only took about 30 minutes for this guy to go from still in his box to being a permanent part of my rig. My basses just sound BETTER. Playing with unity volume levels, switching the pedal on and off, the difference is night and day. There's more high and mid clarity, without adding any unwanted treble frequencies. The lows just come through more clearly in a very pleasing way. And of course, since its a compressor, it tames volume peaks well. It might take you a little time to get the amount of squash where you want, but good tone takes a little time. Maybe it took me longer because I don't like heavy compression, but I was able to dial in a nice transparent compression that still tamed the peaks.
Bottom line: it's silent, it's transparent, it's analog and tube-y, it just makes your tone better, and it can be had on the cheap. Excellent, excellent purchase, and even though I just got it, I would absolutely replace it if it was stolen. I would jump on the used deals though, I believe Markbass has discontinued the pedal! Hope this helps!
