# Empress Compressor



## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

Just wondering who uses or has used this pedal. I'm considering the exotic sp, Wampler ego and Diamond as well. I like a very transparent compressor. Not looking for the squishy sound. More or a tone sweetener. I had the Effectrod PC-2a and should've kept it. Don't want to spend that much to get another one and I'd probably wait a long time for another used one to pop up.
One thing I really like about the exotic, wampler and empress is they have blend\mix knobs. I'm leaning heavily towards compressors that have that.
So just looking for opinions mainly on the empress and if you've used any of the other compressor mentioned, how it compares.


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## Clean Channel (Apr 18, 2011)

The Empress is the best comp I've ever played. I highly recommend it!

Yes, having a blend knob is a very useful feature. I'd never own a comp without a blend ever again.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Keeley has a new one with all the bells and whistles. https://robertkeeley.com/product/keeley-compressor-pro-namm-2015/


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

I use a Diamond at home and have an Xotic on the band board.

No blend on the Diamond, but it is very transparent.
The Xotic does have a blend and I like the small footprint for a utility pedal.
It won't break the bank either. Both are good comps, imo.

Barber also has a comp out, now in the compact design with a blend knob.
His stuff is reasonably priced too, worth a look.


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

janglebox is another nice one as well


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## Guest (Aug 14, 2015)

I will profess my love of the empress compressor. It's currently on loan to my bass player who would probably bite you like a rabid dog if you tried to pry it off his cute, little bass player board. It's always-on for him and he loves it. It can be as subtle or unsubtle as you need it to be. It's got a lot of power hidden behind a nice, simple interface. You adjust input to change the gain of the signal going in to the compressor and thus how much compression is applied to your signal, attach and release set the attack and release times and then output is used to cut or boost the output so you have parity level with the pedal when it's bypassed. There are switches for compression ratios, hard and soft knees on the attack curve, etc. And a side chain input, which is pretty awesome for bass players: split your signal and run it through a low pass filter and then run that filtered signal in to the side chain input so you compress where there's lots of low frequency content, but not when there's not a lot of low frequency content. Amazing.

Deadly quiet too.


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

Well after lots of consideration, review reading, research, etc I've ordered the Empress Compressor and Tape delay from L&M. Thank you for all who contributed to both my threads on this subject.


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## Kerry Brown (Mar 31, 2014)

I'm new to using pedals and had never heard of Empress. Just spent an hour on their site. I may have to order a Germ Drive


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