Keeley Bassist/GC-2 vs Markbass Compressore

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kat888

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Oct 13, 2015
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#1
The effect I am seeking from a compressor is the closest approximation I can reasonably afford of 70s warm fat studio compression - George Murray on the David Bowie album Station to Station is my archetype here.

I have been thinking along the lines of studio compressor ... Keeley Bassist/GC-2 BUT then again Tony Visconti was probably using valve (or 'tube' as you cousins call it) compression, which makes me wonder whether I would be better off with the MB Compressore.

Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines - convince me!
 
#2
I own a Keeley bassist , and I will say it isn't warm or fat, it's really transparent, I don't notice a difference in tone when it's on or off. That's the reason I bought it, to be as least tone altering as possible while limiting peaks and evening out my volume output from a mixture of play styles. I run active and passive basses through it. It is the only compressor I have ever had so I do not have a large experience base, but I run it early in my signal chain immediately after my tuner and right before my Darkglass B7K and the rest of my effects(chorus, synth, delay)
 
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#4
That IS expensive! Also I'd have to find one ... and I could actually power a Compressore (600mA) off my Cioks PSU with a current doubler if I needed to. I don't want to run any wallwarts.

So, realistically it's outside my budget and doesn't meet juice requirements.
 
#5
... doesnt HAVE to be a valve comp but definitely fat and warm (even a little dark -- my piezo bass is obnoxiously bright).

9V centre -ve would be a bonus but 12V@600mA is doable.
 
#7
angrychair said:
I own a Keeley bassist , and I will say it isn't warm or fat, it's really transparent, I don't notice a difference in tone when it's on or off. That's the reason I bought it, to be as least tone altering as possible while limiting peaks and evening out my volume output from a mixture of play styles. I run active and passive basses through it. It is the only compressor I have ever had so I do not have a large experience base, but I run it early in my signal chain immediately after my tuner and right before my Darkglass B7K and the rest of my effects(chorus, synth, delay)
Click to expand...

@SkinCoffin maybe the keeley GC2 is to honest? repeat of the darkglass SS.
 
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#11
The tone on "Station-to-Station" isn't really especially dark but then terms like "warm" and "dark" are hard to quantify. What I'm hearing is a fat, warm but still relatively bright sound.

I had an Old World Audio 1960 compressor that did that. Added fatness but still transparent. I don't know if they still make them. The Diamond with the tilt control flat is another.

But if you really do want to "vintage" up your tone you can do the Diamond with the tile towards the bass side.

Peronally favorite compressor I've owned for that kind of vintage sound was the Retrospec Squeezebox which is big, hard to power, hard to find and expensive. The Markbass isn't a bad choice that has similar action. The Darkglass Super Symmetry is also surprisingly warm/vintage sounding and much more pedalboard friendly (smaller and easier to power) that most true tube comps.
 
#13
Jared Lash said:
The tone on "Station-to-Station" isn't really especially dark but then terms like "warm" and "dark" are hard to quantify. What I'm hearing is a fat, warm but still relatively bright sound.
Click to expand...

I only said 'dark' because the bass I will be using with the compressor is very very bright. It has a piezo pup with 2 band eq and even with the treble rolled right off, it's still pretty ganky, so I was thinking about countering that.

I am leaning towards the Diamond BCP-1 now, as from the clips I have heard it sounds very 'musical' (there's another of those terms), the tilt eq looks really effective, it's easy for me to power and I can order one (with free shipping) nearly locally.

EDITED for clarity
 
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#14
... holy fires of f**k -- just got my Diamond BCP-1 today and I can't switch the bloody thing off! Using it with a pick to slam the ECC82 in my OD and it sounds MASSIVE. I'll get around to the fingerstyle soul stylee one of these weeks.

Thanks to @bongomania and @blindrabbit and others for all your advice in various threads.
 
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