Empress Effects Bass Compressor Effects Pedal, Blue CPBB

This is quite possibly the best bass compressor in the market. The tone is super clean, with no noise whatsoever - something of course critical for compressors, as they are upstream in the pedalboard and an issue I had with my old compressor, which buzzed with high volume. The input knob plays the role of threshold - and do that quite precisely; combining that with the ratio switch (three positions 2:1, 4:1 and 10:1) is very handy, particularly to less experienced players, and makes the pedal easier to use. The amount of features packed into the Empress Bass Compressor is impressive, giving the player full compression control without compromise. For example, I experienced no tone smashing when capping the dynamics, which can be an issue with other compressors. The attack and release controls cover wide ranges (50 µs to 50 ms for the attack and 50 ms to 1 s for release), so you have a lot of control on your hands, and space to play. Likewise, the mix control is pretty versatile in melding compressed and uncompressed signals - what is particularly helpful for jazz players. Two other very helpful features are the sidechain high pass filter ("SC HP"), which filters specific low filters (you can control the filter threshold from 20 Hz to 400 Hz), and the tone and color switch, that scoops/does not affect/boost mid range frequencies and can make the tone richer and lusher. The led scales - one for gain reduction and another one for input cut - are great education tools for players looking to breakthrough a plateau or to move from good playing to great playing. Finally, the metallic dark blue finish is gorgeous (I'm mad that I chipped the paint when I yanked the compressor from the pedalboard and bumped it against the tuner - my bad) and the whole unit is well finished. This is must for experienced and inexperienced players alike - and, after spending days (literally) comparing the Empress Bass Compressor with other units, I'm so glad I bought one.

The Empress Bass Compressor is an outstanding product. I've been playing bass for over 40 years and have used a number of compressors over the years, both in the studio and on my gigging pedalboard. Let me start by saying that this pedal is dead quiet !! No hiss or any other extraneous noise. It functions like a studio compressor in that the input control determines the amount of compression. There is no threshold control. What sold me is the fact that parallel compression is a primary feature of this unit that many others don't have. For those of you that are unsure of how that works, its like this..... Parallel compression is a mix of the compressor output and the original uncompressed signal. It is a way of getting sustain and density while maintaining finger and slap dynamics. In terms of quality, this unit is well built, the controls and level LEDs are logically laid out, and the sound quality rivals the studio grade compressors that I've used. The price point may seem steep at first, but it is well worth the cost when you consider the quality and versatility in a stomp box package.

tl;dr: this bass compressor is AMAZING! Buy it! If you're in the market for a bass compressor, get this. PERIOD. Rest of the review: You can pay more, sure, and basically get the same features, or you can pay less and be sad, because it's just a re-badged guitar compressor that doesn't work for bass . <cough MXR.> I've been playing bass since the '80s. I'm a composer/producer/instrumentalist, so I only really use bass when things I've written call for it. I've never actually had a REAL bass rig, because I've never played bass live; I just plug into the mixing board, as required, through a bunch of gear. But, recently, I've started jamming with a fellow oldster who happens to be an ASTONISHING professional drummer. (Mostly retired.) I bought a nice bass amp just to play with him. But my bass sound made me sad. BUT: It wasn't the bass, it wasn't the amp, it was *the lack of volume and transient control.* See, I'm used to playing through an entire recording studio, and having control of every aspect of my sound...and just plugging a bass into an amp doesn't get that sound. So I started looking for a bass compressor, and that's along story... ...so let's cut to the chase: I tried a bunch of pedals and sent them all back because they were lame, not appropriate for bass, or totally overpriced, and didn't do what the promised. Why? I'm used to sculpting my sound in a studio. And that's a high bar... [insert nerdy discussion of side-chain frequencies, EQ, and how they interact with compression, etc... and stuff you don't want to read about except the lack of side chain HP filter and the mix knob.] FIVE "bass compressors" later, I hit on the Empress Bass. AND THIS THING IS AMAZING. Why? First: you need to have a High-pass side-chain filter to make the lows really punch, else the compressor is just killing the lows; Second: a mix knob lets you dial in your transients exactly how you want them to get the best of both worlds, both compressed and dry. It gives me every feature I wanted, with plenty of control of the parameters; the "tone + color" switch gives you *exactly* what you need to color your sound without obvious dirt; (get that from something else) and the EQ cuts and boosts are right where you want them to be without fussing around. The controls are logically laid out, work as expected, and the metering is perfect--there are literally NO surprises for an audio pro who knows how to use a compressor on bass. It sounds great, the coloration switch is right, and you have all the control you need on everything else. Solid and quality build in all ways. A great piece of gear! Anyway, as I said at the top, if you're in the market for BASS compressor, this is the one to buy!

The Empress Bass Compressor is a wonderful thing. I play a Jazz bass that I converted to a PJ and really needed a compressor pedal with a good deal of adjustability and granular management as I play all styles of music from punk with heavy pick attack to jazz with finger plucking. My first impression of the pedal is that it was well built and compact, simply replacing the ancient MXR compressor I had on my board before. Playing through it I was instantly reminded of some of my favorite plug in emulations of the URI 1176: gently smoothing the attack while noiselessly bringing sustain to my playing. My favorite features include the ability to blend in your uncompressed signal to get a great parallel sound, the tone circuit which lets you either bypass or take advantage of the natural coloring in the circuit, and the ability to program the pedal to turn on engaged (which I’m doing since I kind of always want it on) I could go on forever, but at the price point, there is no better compressor for bass on the market that I’m aware of that brings the clarity and control that this pedal does. Great job Empress!

Nice range of sounds, and gain. It brought my five string alive!

Versatile, great tone, and works effectively. The only point I'd dock is that the actual footswitch isn't quite as clicky as I'd like, but it's generally fine. Would recommend!

Wow! This thing is amazing! It does exactly what it's supposed to do - clean, transparent, musical compression with LOTS of control over parameters. It has an incredibly wide variety of possibilities. You can't get a bad sound out of it - everything is tasteful & musical. You can go subtle or over the top, all usable & infintely tweakable. Although it's incredibly transparent, it does have a 3-way tone+colour switch (flat, mid cut, mid boost) that also adds a slight harmonic overdrive in 2 of the settings. A 4th tonal option (harmonic overdrive without the mid contour) is also available via internal dip-switches. All 4 options are very tasty choices, and I don't feel the need for another tone knob. Incredible led monitoring, seperate attack & release knobs, parallel compression, transparency OR colour, were all my main reasons to get this versus the other options. You won't be sorry.

I have always been vaguely skeptical of compression. I understand intellectually that it helps, but I have always felt that compression took away from the sensitivity of my hands. Relying on compression seemed like a skill issue to me and compressed tones seemed limited in application beyond super slick pop. This pedal completely changed my mind. It doesnt change my tone, it doesn't take away from my dynamics. Instead, it helps elevate things like harmonics and drae out the notes in slap vs the more percussive ringing strings. It is my "make things sound better" pedal and I keep it on 100% of the time. The different compression rates and ability to blend tones is incredible, making this pedal flexible for any genre or gig.