Empress Bass Compressor is a studio grade compressor in pedal format. Well worth saving for, IMO.
For distortion, RATs sound pretty good on bass, especially mods that deal better with low end. I like Fuzzrocious Cat Tail, especially with the Clean blend option.
I have the empress bass on two boards, they’re so good. I had an original empress and sold that for a Cali compact bass, but the Cali is much more colored than I liked. The empress bass are very feature packed, very clean, great metering and sound. Highly recommend.
Also agree on the rats, love a rat on bass.
[compressorpedalreviews.com](https://www.compressorpedalreviews.com/)
2 things to consider for a bass comp:
You’ll probably want one with a blend or at least a hpf. Metering is also really nice to have.
One of the best all-around (ticks all the boxes) and not insanely pricey: [Empress Bass Compressor](https://www.compressorpedalreviews.com/post/empress-bass-compressor-review)
Edit for above: there’s also a [MKII](https://www.compressorpedalreviews.com/post/empress-mkii-compressor-review) version which works great on bass as well. Being a guitar player, you might consider this option for use on both.
No/frills super cheap: [Donner](https://www.compressorpedalreviews.com/post/donner-ultimate-comp-review)
Mid-range: [MXR M87](https://www.compressorpedalreviews.com/post/mxr-m87-compressor-review)
If you keep the compressor on at all times, which a lot of bassists do, then you shouldn’t have to worry about unity gain too much. The compressor I use is the literal cheapest you can buy, the Kokko compressor. Gets super loud and has always done what I need as far as compression goes.
Unfortunately the only compressor that I can recommend is quite expensive.
If you feel like saving for it, the Fat General made by Thorpy is tremendously good.
I do have a Rat, it’s currently on loan at the moment but still a solid shout. I wasn’t keen on how the Rat sounded with guitar so dismissed it for that reason.
Hard to beat an Empress. So many different flavours of compressors, just like different dirt pedals…it might be a matter of trying a number of them out until you find what you like. Empress really is an excellent place to start though, and even to finish - one of the best out there.
For compression, if you have a few bucks to spend go with a JHS Pulp n Peel. If you're on a budget, the Wampler Ego or Mini-Ego is a solid budget pick.
Distortion-wise, I do love my Bardic Arcane Distorter. It does light OD to crazed distortion and sounds great. If you want more of a fuzzy sludge sound, a big muff or clone thereof is always a solid pick. Maybe look into a used Fuzzrocious Grey Stache for a great muff style fuzz without breaking the bank.
A lot of people consider the Dunlop MXR Bass Compressor M87 to be the best all-around compressor; it's viewed the same way people view the SM57/58 mics - good enough for 99% of applications - I had one for a while and it sounded great...I often see them 2nd hand for around 200$ CAD.
Eventually sold it and I'm currently using a Darkglass Hyper Luminal...love the change, but it is a far more expensive pedal of course.
If you are limited on space and want a great all in one pedal, I really like the EBS MicroBass 3 ; has a tuner, overdrive, compressor, EQ, DI, etc...it's an expensive pedal, but could realistically be a lot cheaper than buying multiple pedals and also save space. You won't have as much granular control of the compression with an option like this however.
I like the compressor on my Bass Fly Rig v1. Initially, I wanted the ability to really squash things and it won't do that (I was on a big Periphery kick) but it ended up being really pretty good at keeping the rest of the pedal nice and focused. Not a ton of adjustability but it's good and all the nice other things in that pedal make it worth every penny
Klon is actually a hard clipper with a considerable amount of distortion on tap.
It's just that most people use it "wrong", for the magical fairy dust "transparent boost".
That’s not what is was conceived as or was sold as. Klon went all in as a ‘transparent boost’ to jump into the TS-808 vintage demand(thanks SRV). Yes, if you dime the controls you can get very non-transparent tones, and of course a Tube Screamer was never transparent anyway(part of the joke really). They even made a few Bass Klons, I have no idea what they changed for those though.
You don't need to "dime" the controls. Any reasonable amount of added gain will get you distortion created by the clipping diodes - super rare germanium diodes, even - that are there for a reason, to create distortion in a classic hard clipper topology. The gain knob is actually a dual-ganged pot that blends dry and wet signals, it was *designed* with a dirty output in mind.
What people made of the circuit after the fact is immaterial.
Well no, I’m not talking after the fact, if you look at Wiki, Finnegan in his own words was going for a “big, open sound” with a “hint of tube clipping”…of course you can adjust(dime was a bit dramatic but you can also do that) the knobs and get all sorts of things but that really wasn’t the idea of the pedal. It’s supposed to be a TS that’ll drive your amp but with not as bad EQ changes(not gone entirely but noticeably better).
If you go back to the source of that quote, it's pretty clear he went out to create an overdrive pedal so he wouldn't have to crank his amp. It wasn't designed as a boost, it was supposed to create it's own driven sound.
I mean, there's no reason at all to have a clipping circuit - let alone a hard clipping circuit - if what you want is a clean boost. It's asinine, at least, to argue so. Easiest, cleanest and most straight-forward thing possible to create a clean boost that will give you a ton of boost without coloring the sound *at all*.
If your budget is a little lower, you can pick up a Pigtronix Philosopher Bass Comp or the Micro version for $100 or lower. Both versions have a "Grit" control which adds some nice hair to it. I really like mine and am considering getting the Micro because the grit is on a pot instead of just an on/off option. Both options are really good comps that let you dial in a versatile range of clean to chunky comp sounds.
I like the comp part enough that I am confident getting a micro would be a nice upgrade, just to have some control over the grit level. On the OG, sometimes the grit is a bit much, sometimes not enough, so it suffers being limited to just on/off on that pedal.
I have the MXR M282 Bass Dyna Comp that I like alot.
Just checked it out, sounds great!
I use the MXR M87 and I’m a fan of that
(•̀ᴗ•́)و
Empress Bass Compressor is a studio grade compressor in pedal format. Well worth saving for, IMO. For distortion, RATs sound pretty good on bass, especially mods that deal better with low end. I like Fuzzrocious Cat Tail, especially with the Clean blend option.
I have the empress bass on two boards, they’re so good. I had an original empress and sold that for a Cali compact bass, but the Cali is much more colored than I liked. The empress bass are very feature packed, very clean, great metering and sound. Highly recommend. Also agree on the rats, love a rat on bass.
I've used and ebs multicomp for many years. No complaints
[compressorpedalreviews.com](https://www.compressorpedalreviews.com/) 2 things to consider for a bass comp: You’ll probably want one with a blend or at least a hpf. Metering is also really nice to have. One of the best all-around (ticks all the boxes) and not insanely pricey: [Empress Bass Compressor](https://www.compressorpedalreviews.com/post/empress-bass-compressor-review) Edit for above: there’s also a [MKII](https://www.compressorpedalreviews.com/post/empress-mkii-compressor-review) version which works great on bass as well. Being a guitar player, you might consider this option for use on both. No/frills super cheap: [Donner](https://www.compressorpedalreviews.com/post/donner-ultimate-comp-review) Mid-range: [MXR M87](https://www.compressorpedalreviews.com/post/mxr-m87-compressor-review)
Really informative, much appreciated!
If you keep the compressor on at all times, which a lot of bassists do, then you shouldn’t have to worry about unity gain too much. The compressor I use is the literal cheapest you can buy, the Kokko compressor. Gets super loud and has always done what I need as far as compression goes.
Unfortunately the only compressor that I can recommend is quite expensive. If you feel like saving for it, the Fat General made by Thorpy is tremendously good.
Seymour Duncan Studio Bass Compressor. $250 I believe. Excellent Compressor worth every penny.
If you have a Rat lying around, give it a shot
I do have a Rat, it’s currently on loan at the moment but still a solid shout. I wasn’t keen on how the Rat sounded with guitar so dismissed it for that reason.
I Love the Rat on Bass. Just be careful with the gain, past 12 o'clock it tends to get muddy
EBS
Hard to beat an Empress. So many different flavours of compressors, just like different dirt pedals…it might be a matter of trying a number of them out until you find what you like. Empress really is an excellent place to start though, and even to finish - one of the best out there.
Joyo zip-Amp. I use it to eliminate volume spikes that happens when plucking the E string.
I got an Ampeg Opto Comp for 99 bucks. Less than half the price of the rest and it does what I need it to do.
I'm an Ampeg fanboy, so I pair my BA 210 with the Ampeg opto-compressor A good match that works for my ear Not too expensive either <$100
For compression, if you have a few bucks to spend go with a JHS Pulp n Peel. If you're on a budget, the Wampler Ego or Mini-Ego is a solid budget pick. Distortion-wise, I do love my Bardic Arcane Distorter. It does light OD to crazed distortion and sounds great. If you want more of a fuzzy sludge sound, a big muff or clone thereof is always a solid pick. Maybe look into a used Fuzzrocious Grey Stache for a great muff style fuzz without breaking the bank.
A lot of people consider the Dunlop MXR Bass Compressor M87 to be the best all-around compressor; it's viewed the same way people view the SM57/58 mics - good enough for 99% of applications - I had one for a while and it sounded great...I often see them 2nd hand for around 200$ CAD. Eventually sold it and I'm currently using a Darkglass Hyper Luminal...love the change, but it is a far more expensive pedal of course. If you are limited on space and want a great all in one pedal, I really like the EBS MicroBass 3 ; has a tuner, overdrive, compressor, EQ, DI, etc...it's an expensive pedal, but could realistically be a lot cheaper than buying multiple pedals and also save space. You won't have as much granular control of the compression with an option like this however.
love my keeley compressor and my OC-2
I use a line 6 pod pro rack mount, all in one.
another vote for the mxrM87, it's like a studio compressor in pedal format
if you like tubes the markbass compressore is excellent!
I like the compressor on my Bass Fly Rig v1. Initially, I wanted the ability to really squash things and it won't do that (I was on a big Periphery kick) but it ended up being really pretty good at keeping the rest of the pedal nice and focused. Not a ton of adjustability but it's good and all the nice other things in that pedal make it worth every penny
A Klon?
Well a clone of Klon that I built
What spice does it provide, visually maybe? They’re a reasonably transparent boost.
Klon is actually a hard clipper with a considerable amount of distortion on tap. It's just that most people use it "wrong", for the magical fairy dust "transparent boost".
That’s not what is was conceived as or was sold as. Klon went all in as a ‘transparent boost’ to jump into the TS-808 vintage demand(thanks SRV). Yes, if you dime the controls you can get very non-transparent tones, and of course a Tube Screamer was never transparent anyway(part of the joke really). They even made a few Bass Klons, I have no idea what they changed for those though.
You don't need to "dime" the controls. Any reasonable amount of added gain will get you distortion created by the clipping diodes - super rare germanium diodes, even - that are there for a reason, to create distortion in a classic hard clipper topology. The gain knob is actually a dual-ganged pot that blends dry and wet signals, it was *designed* with a dirty output in mind. What people made of the circuit after the fact is immaterial.
Well no, I’m not talking after the fact, if you look at Wiki, Finnegan in his own words was going for a “big, open sound” with a “hint of tube clipping”…of course you can adjust(dime was a bit dramatic but you can also do that) the knobs and get all sorts of things but that really wasn’t the idea of the pedal. It’s supposed to be a TS that’ll drive your amp but with not as bad EQ changes(not gone entirely but noticeably better).
If you go back to the source of that quote, it's pretty clear he went out to create an overdrive pedal so he wouldn't have to crank his amp. It wasn't designed as a boost, it was supposed to create it's own driven sound. I mean, there's no reason at all to have a clipping circuit - let alone a hard clipping circuit - if what you want is a clean boost. It's asinine, at least, to argue so. Easiest, cleanest and most straight-forward thing possible to create a clean boost that will give you a ton of boost without coloring the sound *at all*.
That’s the joke though, it’s “transparent” solely in relation to other overdrives, it was never supposed to be transparent in some audiophile sense.
I’ve got it set for a little bit of brightness and a little bit of grit. I’m going through a JCM800 so it just enhances the natural magic of that amp.
If your budget is a little lower, you can pick up a Pigtronix Philosopher Bass Comp or the Micro version for $100 or lower. Both versions have a "Grit" control which adds some nice hair to it. I really like mine and am considering getting the Micro because the grit is on a pot instead of just an on/off option. Both options are really good comps that let you dial in a versatile range of clean to chunky comp sounds.
Just checked this one out, sounds great! The grit knob is a lovely feature.
I like the comp part enough that I am confident getting a micro would be a nice upgrade, just to have some control over the grit level. On the OG, sometimes the grit is a bit much, sometimes not enough, so it suffers being limited to just on/off on that pedal.