This one is decent too and still ongoing.
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I just checked out my favorite little $69 compressor pedal on this site.
The reviews was overall positive, and much of that was based on what you get for the price, and the fact it blows anything in that price range out of the water,
But
he stuck up on the pain job of the housing, and says the input jacks are really cheap. I am no expert in imputes jacks, but the ones I have are really strong, and well connected.
If anybody is interested in this pedal, see the review here
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If I remember you ranked your compressor pedals like this…
- Markbass Compressore
- Keeley Bassist
- Boss BC-1X
Also, I seem to remember you said you liked them all for different reasons and in different situations. Where does the SanJune fit in that list? Or, since it an optical compressor does it sit on it’s own as another compressor you like depending on what your doing at the time?
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Pretty sure the original Keeley is mostly a modified DynaComp, but not sure about the Bassist. It has a really good rep.
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- Markbass Compressore (Do not own one currently)
- San June
- Keeley Bassist
- Boss BC-1x
That is the order they run in, with San June and Keeley before effects, and the Boss after distortion. The San June is my alway on compressor, the Kelley is great pre distortion boost, and the Boss is nice when compressing after pedals.
If I were to let one go it would be the Boss.
I do like all 4 compressors very much, if I could only have one compressor, I would like to have the MarkBass, and it would take up the room of 3.5 to 3 compressors, so you could only have one compressor on your board with it.
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Yeah, the Bassist was built to add limiting, and then guitarists loved it too, so they put the exact same thing as the bassist, in a new case with new name.
I never tied the original Keeley
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I got the feeling that this was one of his early reviews and he had to write something to justify the price 
Same. I sold mine. I’m only using my Cali76 these days (which is also my most favourite pedal of all time).
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Favorite pedal, or favorite comp pedal?
Its OK, Comps are some of my favorite pedals too.
Those are strong enough words to my attention.
Added t9 the list.
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Both! If you can get one for a good price I would definitely recommend them. The compact deluxe and compact bass are both good. The bass version has a HPF and the attack/release is one knob but I might prefer the separate attack and release knob on the deluxe.
I also got a used Darkglass super symmetry which I really like. It sounds super smooth. I tend to switch when I get bored with my sound.
Of course I really like my preamp pedals too but to me they are more part of my “amp”. I either use a preamp as amp or the preamp of my amp.
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I have started fiddling with my compressor pedal, don’t have my head fully wrapped around it quite yet, need a few sessions where i just focus on it and what it can do. I fully understand the concepts but not the 'is this result good or $hit". I need to find a new friend that is a recording engineer, with a boat (hey, why not dream big).
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It takes some time @John_E. A compression pedal can have multiple purposes. Some people use it as a limiter but most players use it to control peaks. I actually use it for a bit of tone shaping and boost. Especially with drive on my (pre)amp and playin’ with fingers and pick.
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Guitar-centric, but Dan & Mick of That Pedal show cover the basics of compression plus some cool things you can do with it (and they cover bass at the end!)
I run multiple compressors on my guitar board. Pre and post drive makes a big difference, so I have both 
For my bass, the compressor is there to knock down the peaks a little to even out my less-than-perfect dynamics, especially on slap stuff. It also adds some sustain, and can be used as a clean boost.
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I’ve watched countless videos, what I would love is someone sitting with me, play someting, change something, get me to understand what that change did, if it was good or not, what is better to, etc, basically help me train my ear.
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Likewise. I managed to get a used M87 in the end and I’m struggling to hear much difference in the various settings.
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I picked up an M87 but haven’t tried it much. Seems to be a detour right now. It’s fine waiting until I’m ready.
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I can’t imagine trying to learn compression for the first time on a pedal. I’d suggest working on a DAW plugin first so you can have full graphic representation of controls and metering of what you are actually doing.
I believe the attack knob on the M87 is backwards to what some people think. The manual is of no help in the language it uses.
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I did this part, now trying to apply to the pedal by making samples in DAW and looking at waveforms and listening etc. but still need a “hey you suck” or “hey that’s cool”
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Yep, I can certainly see the advantage to that. Maybe people should start offering production lessons like music lessons.
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Mmmmm, I’m gonna push back on that a bit. DAWs, and the studio compressors I used to work with, have a dizzying array of controls and multiple ways to view the input & output signals. It can be a bit much. No one needs to deal with attack and release time fussiness on their first outing with a compressor.
For @John_E, here’s an example:
Let’s take the Keeley Bassist as a solid compressor, but most will have the same knobs. Attack & release are program-dependent, i.e. they match what you’re playing & you don’t have to worry about it. I’m good with that.
Turn the Compression ratio up to something ridiculous, higher than 10:1, and turn the Threshold down to -40 or less. This is what “sucks” sounds like 
. The sound will be flat and lifeless, dynamics non-existent.
Roll the Compression ratio back to something sensible like 3:1 or 4:1, then slowly turn the Threshold clockwise until the compression indicator light just flickers when you really dig in. This is moderate to light compression and may not be enough.
Dial the Threshold back until you can see the light matching your plucking & quickly disappearing. You should be able to hear a hint of compression, but it will be invisible to the listener.
Bump the output gain up by 3dB or so for makeup gain or a slight boost.
Experiment with that & see if you can hear the differences. Yes, it would be great to have an engineer there to help, and I have to admit to fussing with my compressors more than is probably healthy, but this is a decent start.
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I used twelve in my last mix 
only three on the bass though.
All in the DAW of course.
I’m only counting the three that Neutron added to the bass track as two as it’s really one multiband and the track limiter. And I added another multiband at the start.
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