Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Four stars because the price is so low for a multiband compressor. I'm as much a live audio engineer (touring and at a large church) as I am a bass player. I also do some studio session bass. I bought this to try it because, honestly, a compressor stomp box for under $100 is disposable in a world where decent compression costs at least 3 times as much. That's just the reality of the cost of internal components and I set my expectations accordingly.
If you're playing live on a budget I think this is a good shot at multiband compression. As far as I know, this Digitech and the EBS Multicomp are the only mulitband bass stomp box compressors in town. The EBS felt like more of a risk because $200 isn't much but it's not disposable, it has no crossover frequency adjustment, and a bass mag review said they couldn't tell the difference between its multiband mode and its "Tube Sim" mode. I'm sure the EBS sounds cleaner but I like lots of control. If I get a chance to demo one and it sounds better I'll probably buy it but the local Guitar Center doesn't keep them in stock. For now, this Digitech works for me.
True to Digitech form this box hisses when you get agressive with it. At $70 you forfeit all rights to complain about a little hiss. Try to find another multiband comp for that price. They did put in a noise gate that's set pretty well so it doesn't hiss when you're not playing and if you play solidly the signal to noise ratio is just good enough for live but I wouldn't take it to the studio. The 4 knobs are for level, crossover point, low compression and high compression. You can get a wide range of tone out of this. The single compression dials seem to drop the threshold and raise the makeup gain at the same time as you turn them up. The higher you turn them the more the noise floor comes up. 1/4 turn is plenty of compression so don't overdo it. (Compression is a fine art - more is not necessarily better and the best fix for uneven tone is better playing style.)
It has an alternative output that simulates an amp. Nice touch but I don't use it. I think it tries too hard. If you don't use another amp or amp modeler then I can see this cleaning up your tone on a semi-pro live system in a saturated mix like most churches: 2 electrics, keyboards, acoustics, drums, tons of vocals, all playing all the time... you want plenty of midrange to maintain clarity of tone and this will do it for you.
Here's how this has helped me: For my vintage tone I play a Fender Jaguar in passive mode through a POD X3 Fender Bassman model. The Jag thunders on the low end (first 5 frets of the E string) but when you want to get the right overdrive evenly across the whole fretboard the low notes overdrive more and turn to mush; no clarity or focus. I set the crossover point on the compressor so it evens out the low end, I get just enough edge evenly on all notes, then I make up the low end after the amp like you would in the studio. It sound just gritty enough down low and the upper notes stay nice and thick. I get compliments on that tone almost every time I use it and the minor hiss in a live setting isn't that noticeable.
Remember, go easy on compression; you only need just enough. Tone is in the finger, not the gear.
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The Bass Squeeze\' is the result of collaboration between DigiTech and dbx to create the world\'s finest bass compression pedal. Utilizing award- winning dbx OverEasy\' technology, the Bass Squeeze\' delivers dual-band compression, creating the most transparent bass compressor found in any stompbox.
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