Compressors

[AREA]

I really love my Seymour Duncan Studio Bass Compressor. The "Blend Knob" is one Feature, i won't miss.... Really cool Compressor.

 

[mitchell]

I use a Keeley compressor and I really love it.

[Al Krow]

On 17/08/2018 at 17:47, BrunoBass said:

I’d be interested to hear what you think of the Behringer pedal when you receive it.

Certainly. From the reviews on the Web that I have seen some folk have found it to be noisy (attributed to using a cheaper chip set than the Boss LMB3 which it clones), so I'll be particularly listening out for that. But given that it is a pedal costing < £25 posted, I shouldn't really be expecting the earth!

If it provides me with 'proof of concept' in terms of speaker protection against (slap / synth / filter) spikes but is indeed noisy, I'll be tempted to trade up to the Keeley Bassist mentioned above which, as well as being a very decent compressor, is perhaps the most highly regarded Limiter in the market (and very transparent, which is exactly what I'd want in a Limiter) from what I can tell from folks' comments, with the Boss LMB3 being somewhere in between the two. 

Edited August 21, 2018 by Al Krow

[Al Krow]

...oh dear, I've just pulled the trigger on a Keeley Bassist. This thread is proving expensive! But I guess if following @ped's very good suggestion of getting a Limiter ends up saving a couple of speaker cabs, then maybe it will have been money well spent  

I'll post a detailed review of the Behringer BLE400 (around £24 posted on Amazon) vs the Keeley Bassist which is 8 times more expensive new (I managed to get my s/h in the FS) vs the effects patches on the Zoom MS-60B and Zoom B3n (more homework eh ped?!)

I guess we would all certainly be expecting the Keeley to be the better pedal (not least with the better chip set it has) but it will be interesting to see just how much better...

Edited August 22, 2018 by Al Krow

[MartinB]

Can I interest you in some magic beans, Al? 😁

[Al Krow]

46 minutes ago, MartinB said:

Can I interest you in some magic beans, Al? 😁

Does the resultant beanstalk have heft? 😄 

In my defence, I did manage to return my Cali 76CB comp to the store for a refund... 

[MartinB]

It's got miles of headroom, and then a brickwall floor limiter 😉

[Al Krow]

 

39 minutes ago, MartinB said:

It's got miles of headroom, and then a brickwall floor limiter 😉

Has to be yellow brick. That's the only colour acceptable (according to Tin Man anyway). Besides which, it would then match my Markbass combo...😄 

[M@23]

8 hours ago, Al Krow said:

...oh dear, I've just pulled the trigger on a Keeley Bassist. This thread is proving expensive! But I guess if following @ped's very good suggestion of getting a Limiter ends up saving a couple of speaker cabs, then maybe it will have been money well spent  

I'll post a detailed review of the Behringer BLE400 (around £24 posted on Amazon) vs the Keeley Bassist which is 8 times more expensive new (I managed to get my s/h in the FS) vs the effects patches on the Zoom MS-60B and Zoom B3n (more homework eh ped?!)

I guess we would all certainly be expecting the Keeley to be the better pedal (not least with the better chip set it has) but it will be interesting to see just how much better...

I bought my Bassist back recently, having sold it to a mate about a year ago. I've had quite a few different comps and whilst others were more exciting, it's the Bassist that seems to get business done for me. 

[Al Krow]

@BrunoBass as requested!

Behringer BLE400 vs Keeley Bassist comparison

[Al Krow]

Updated the Limiter shootout to now also include the Zoom MS-60B - definitely wouldn't want to be relying on the Limiter effects patch to be protecting my cabs against signal spikes. Hoping to get the Boss LMB-3 later this week for the final A/B of Limiter pedals.

[Al Krow]

Limiter shootout now updated for the Boss LMB-3 which arrived today.

The LMB-3 is undoubtedly better than the Behringer, but I was surprised that there was not more between them.

Keeley Bassist fairly easily won the day for me as the most capable Limiter (which is reassuring given the price differential over the Boss), but I did like the tonal 'sparkle' added by the 'Enhancer' dial on both the Boss and the Behringer which the Keeley doesn't offer, despite the tweeter hiss that the Enhancer introduced.

The Keeley is one I'll be holding on to.

Edited August 31, 2018 by Al Krow

[M@23]

29 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Limiter shootout now updated for the Boss LMB-3 which arrived today.

The LMB-3 undoubtedly better than the Behringer, but I was how surprised at that there was not more between them.

Keeley Bassist fairly easily won the day for me as the most capable Limiter (which is reassuring given the price differential over the Boss), but I did like the tonal 'sparkle' added by the 'Enhancer' dial, notwithstanding the tweeter hiss that this introduced, on both the Boss and the Behringer which the Keeley doesn't offer.

The Keeley is one I'll be holding on to.

What settings are you using with the Keeley? For me, it's an always on, and the 3 dials are at noon... Not too exciting, but it's what works! Haha. 

[Japhet]

3 minutes ago, M@23 said:

What settings are you using with the Keeley? For me, it's an always on, and the 3 dials are at noon... Not too exciting, but it's what works! Haha. 

 

I find the 'gain' a bit lively on my Keeley. I have it at about 10 o'clock and the other 2 dials at 12.

[Al Krow]

11 minutes ago, M@23 said:

What settings are you using with the Keeley? For me, it's an always on, and the 3 dials are at noon... Not too exciting, but it's what works! Haha. 

Are you using as a Limiter (to only cap spikes) or (more general) Compressor? 

Edited August 30, 2018 by Al Krow

[Al Krow]

I've got mine set up to do heavy duty Limiting (with a high compression ratio above the 'Threshold').

So my starting point is to set it up with high compression, set between [10:1] and [∞ to 1]

But ensuring that that it has very little impact on a clean tone when finger plucked, even when played at volume

=> threshold = -20

=> gain = +6

It then certainly kicks in (with the led turning red from green) to limit spikes when e.g. playing 'slap' 

Keeley Bassist setting:  heavy duty 'limiting' (rather than standard compression)

Edited August 31, 2018 by Al Krow

[M@23]

7 hours ago, Al Krow said:

Are you using as a Limiter (to only cap spikes) or (more general) Compressor? 

General compressor for me. 4:1, on all the time. First in the chain, after tuner. 

[Al Krow]

7 hours ago, M@23 said:

General compressor for me. 4:1, on all the time. First in the chain, after tuner. 

I've got mine last in the chain on 'sentry' duty to protect against spikes.

As you and @Japhetwill be aware (and as set out in the Keeley Bassist manual), the Threshold level acts as a signal strength 'floor' and only signal strength above this floor gets compressed. In my case anything between -50 and - 20 signal strength, on the Keeley Threshold scale, is going through entirely uncompressed.

If you guys have your Threshold also set at 'noon' that would suggest you're adopting a similar approach on what is being left uncompressed. I would have guessed that a lower Threshold setting (e.g. - 35) might have been the choice for general compression, but clearly not(!) and having the Threshold set as 'high' as we are doing is effectively providing an uncompressed 'clean blend' allowing full dynamic control between -50 and -20 (which is exactly what I am after).

Edited August 31, 2018 by Al Krow

[krispn]

In some interviews Mr Keeley talks about his comps - the one with Juan from Pedals and Effects (I believe the pedals on show were the bassist and bassist pro) and how he wanted it to sound good set ‘all knobs at noon’. This way if you were on a gig and your setting got changed, knocked etc all at noon would get the job done without being too much either way. 

[Japhet]

47 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

I've got mine last in the chain on 'sentry' duty to protect against spikes.

As you and @Japhetwill be aware (and as set out in the Keeley Bassist manual), the Threshold level acts as a signal strength 'floor' and only signal strength above this floor gets compressed. In my case anything between -50 and - 20 signal strength, on the Keeley Threshold scale, is going through entirely uncompressed.

If you guys have your Threshold also set at 'noon' that would suggest you're adopting a similar approach on what is being left uncompressed. I would have guessed that a lower Threshold setting (e.g. - 35) might have been the choice for general compression, but clearly not(!) and having the Threshold set as 'high' as we are doing is effectively providing an uncompressed 'clean blend' allowing full dynamic control between -50 and -20 (which is exactly what I am after).

I use my Keeley more as a limiter and the LED indicated that noon was about right for threshold with the gear I use and the way I play. I didn't like it to sound too squashed so the ratio was about right at noon too but like I said, I found the gain a bit lively (creating unwanted buzz) so knocked it back to around 10 o'clock. I like the pedal and it had a lot to live up to because it replaced a TC Electronic Nova Dynamics which was awesome. In some ways I wish I still had that but it was a bit big, 12v and total overkill.

[Al Krow]

31 minutes ago, Japhet said:

I use my Keeley more as a limiter and the LED indicated that noon was about right for threshold with the gear I use and the way I play. I didn't like it to sound too squashed so the ratio was about right at noon too but like I said, I found the gain a bit lively (creating unwanted buzz) so knocked it back to around 10 o'clock. I like the pedal and it had a lot to live up to because it replaced a TC Electronic Nova Dynamics which was awesome. In some ways I wish I still had that but it was a bit big, 12v and total overkill.

Interesting / confirmatory that we have both landed on around 'noon' / -20 Threshold for using the Keeley as a Limiter.

And also makes sense that if you have less compression above the Threshold you're going to have a lower compensating gain setting.

From @krispn's comments you and Mark seem to have naturally arrived at the Robert Keeley approved "12 noon for everything" setting  

[drake]

For a bit of old school optical compression, I can recommend the SGFX Imperial. Can be very fat and adds its own character, a lot like McCartneys sound on Taxman

[M@23]

The everything at 12 setting for me on the Keeley only really catches when I dig in or am on the B string. It's very sensitive though, if I went to minus 25 then it'd likely compress every note. Actually, I probably have it set slightly left of noon. Minus 22/23 or so! It's certainly the quietest compressor I've used. At the settings I use it doesn't amplify any hiss. The only thing i dislike it that the knobs move TOO easily... So it's lucky I do have it all at 12!

[dave_bass5]

Ive taken my Comp off my board for now. If i get too many complaints from the audience ill put it back on 🙂

[Al Krow]

My (very road worn!) LMB3, which I'd recently got from another BCer, got snapped up pretty quickly so I thought I'd just get a few clips done showing it in action as a compressor / limiter - if you're interested it's on the gear review thread.

The key takeaway for me is that in terms of use as a Limiter it's completely confirmed my view that the Keeley Bassist is in a different league and is without doubt worth the extra.