Empress vs. Darkglass Hyper Luminal

#47
Fuzzbass said:
Do not GAS for a comp you can't afford. The good news is that there are so many great options these days, even within the $200-$250 range.

I own an FEA DE-CL: it's a great comp, worth the money. I still love my Empress, though. I also love my OvniFX Smoothie, which is even less expensive (note: has only a single LED for metering). If I couldn't have afforded the FEA, then I would be perfectly happy with either Smoothie or Empress. In fact the three are in equal rotation for gig use.

P.S. The Hyper Luminal is on my wish list. Love the idea of three comps in one. I'm like you: not thrilled about using a PC to tweak a comp. But multiple users I trust have said that the HL works great as-is.
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Thanks! The Empress seems to be an affordable no frills option that simply gets the job done and I admire that about it. The simpler option is sometimes better imo, so I'm kind of leaning towards the Empress, but who knows what I'll end up choosing lol. I guess it's a good problem to have haha
 
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#52
Fuzzbass said:
P.S. The Hyper Luminal is on my wish list. Love the idea of three comps in one. I'm like you: not thrilled about using a PC to tweak a comp. But multiple users I trust have said that the HL works great as-is.
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Look at it this way. You don't HAVE to hook it up and tweak it if you don't want to. It's 100% awesome out of the box. Now consider this...having the ability to hook it to a computer and tweak it further is not even an option with other compressors. It's there if you want it.
 
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#55
mmbongo said:
Just keep in mind he's semi-retired so newer comps from the past year or so are not there.
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When I browse uaed compressors, I literally have Reverb/Ebay going and your review page in a seperate tab on my PC or phone and scroll between them.

Your reviews got me looking at the bass version of the smaller Cali76 with the hi-pass and attack/release in one knob.

I never knew I wanted that thing until your darn reviews.(I mix with an 1176 plugin on my bass and always liked it a lot)
 
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#56
FaithNoMan said:
When I browse uaed compressors, I literally have Reverb/Ebay going and your review page in a seperate tab on my PC or phone and scroll between them.

Your reviews got me looking at the bass version of the smaller Cali76 with the hi-pass and attack/release in one knob.

I never knew I wanted that thing until your darn reviews.(I mix with an 1176 plugin on my bass and always liked it a lot)
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@bongomania is actually the compressor guy, not me!
 
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#58
bassboysam said:
from a tech perspective there is a chance the DG software may not run on devices 10, 15, 20 years from now. the empress does not have that risk...but then again this is TB. the record for holding on to a pedal can't be more than 3 years :)
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You don't need the software though, so it doesn't matter. I've never even plugged mine in.
 
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#60
+1 Empress.
Or check out FEA Labs as others suggested. The FEA Dual Band model is nice for focusing on the lower end as you mentioned and its transparent. You can usually find them in the TB Classifieds for reasonable prices
 
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