I've scoured the forums about tiny compressors and their reviews, and I think I've narrowed it down a bit.
What I currently have:
EHX Bass Preacher - it's cheap and it works, it fattens my tone up a bit I think, it's not bad sounding to my novice ear. It's my first comp.
Why I want to change it out:
Noise - it's not very quiet, which gets to be a problem when I'm using it to feed into some dirt and I want a longer sustain going in. I think it also added some weird looking high freq noise when I recorded through it for a track last year. That's easy enough for me to remove in post but why have it there to begin with?
Rolls off the highs - when my band would do some RHCP covers, my slapping would get lost in the mix when I had the comp on, but I *think* I'd like the comp to help me with the slapping if possible. Even with more makeup gain, it wouldn't really cut through. On the other hand, the lead guitarist suggested maybe I just think about getting a boost instead and ditch compression for those moments. I don't know for sure.
GAS - the thing I do when I procrastinate actually practicing bass
So it sounds like what I'm after is:
- sustain
- low noise (yeah yeah I know)
- retain my highs
- not sure if a transparent comp is what I'm after, but I don't know if 'tone magic' is something I care about.
- potentially always on, likely a 'set-and-forget' situation
- ease of use, since I'm an idiot who has less of an ear for bass tone than I'd like to admit
Oh right, and
- small size. My board is small and I like it that way. 1590A sounds like a fantastic idea to me, but I'd be open to a slightly less tiny box if the jacks are on top instead of the sides.
- standard boss jack 9v dc preferred
Here's the ones I'm thinking about:
Becos Compiq mini (One? or the full mini) - it seems like it can do everything, plus it has the LED indicators. Looks real nice. Might get the One since it has less controls for me to get confused by.
Madbean Afterlife - not afraid of doing the build myself, I've worked out how to do the Ghost Note mod as well, since some of my basses run hot and others not so much. Concern is mainly that I just know so little about compressors to know if this one is actually the right one for me. If I build it, I might have a hard time selling it later if I don't like it.
Pigtronix philosopher's bass mini? - I've heard it does sustain well. I forget why I moved it down on my list, actually.
Fairfield Accountant - probably not, looks too confusing.
Xotic Sp - too noisy? Would it play nice with my low B?
Open to recommendations.
Do I have any idea what I want? Am I spouting complete nonsense? Should I just look for a boost instead?
What I currently have:
EHX Bass Preacher - it's cheap and it works, it fattens my tone up a bit I think, it's not bad sounding to my novice ear. It's my first comp.
Why I want to change it out:
Noise - it's not very quiet, which gets to be a problem when I'm using it to feed into some dirt and I want a longer sustain going in. I think it also added some weird looking high freq noise when I recorded through it for a track last year. That's easy enough for me to remove in post but why have it there to begin with?
Rolls off the highs - when my band would do some RHCP covers, my slapping would get lost in the mix when I had the comp on, but I *think* I'd like the comp to help me with the slapping if possible. Even with more makeup gain, it wouldn't really cut through. On the other hand, the lead guitarist suggested maybe I just think about getting a boost instead and ditch compression for those moments. I don't know for sure.
GAS - the thing I do when I procrastinate actually practicing bass
So it sounds like what I'm after is:
- sustain
- low noise (yeah yeah I know)
- retain my highs
- not sure if a transparent comp is what I'm after, but I don't know if 'tone magic' is something I care about.
- potentially always on, likely a 'set-and-forget' situation
- ease of use, since I'm an idiot who has less of an ear for bass tone than I'd like to admit
Oh right, and
- small size. My board is small and I like it that way. 1590A sounds like a fantastic idea to me, but I'd be open to a slightly less tiny box if the jacks are on top instead of the sides.
- standard boss jack 9v dc preferred
Here's the ones I'm thinking about:
Becos Compiq mini (One? or the full mini) - it seems like it can do everything, plus it has the LED indicators. Looks real nice. Might get the One since it has less controls for me to get confused by.
Madbean Afterlife - not afraid of doing the build myself, I've worked out how to do the Ghost Note mod as well, since some of my basses run hot and others not so much. Concern is mainly that I just know so little about compressors to know if this one is actually the right one for me. If I build it, I might have a hard time selling it later if I don't like it.
Pigtronix philosopher's bass mini? - I've heard it does sustain well. I forget why I moved it down on my list, actually.
Fairfield Accountant - probably not, looks too confusing.
Xotic Sp - too noisy? Would it play nice with my low B?
Open to recommendations.
Do I have any idea what I want? Am I spouting complete nonsense? Should I just look for a boost instead?
Last edited:
