Today I did a bass compressor clone SHOOTOUT, because I’m building my mega super duper awesome bass multi-effects pedal for recording, and a good compressor is one of the “must haves” in that chain. At the Tone Priest factory I’m usually not trying to straight-up clone stuff that’s still in production, but I do love combining circuits into one useful box. In this case, I’m pairing compressors with my SansAmp-style bass preamp idea (the sound of my childhood, before all the Darkglass “something or other” took over the world), and I wanted to figure out which compressor circuit actually earns a spot in the final build. I quickly covered why bass players benefit from compression (clean signals don’t get that natural squish you get from drive), and how makeup gain can bring up harmonics without letting the fundamental explode. Then I ran four builds: a Boss CS-3 style VCA, a Keeley/Barber (Ross-style) OTAA build, plus a SexyComp76 and a Cornish OC-1 style optical. I did a noise test, some “plank test” playing (yes, I whacked the strings like an idiot on purpose), and side-by-side comparisons. The SexyComp76 was the quietest and most transparent but a little too subtle for what I wanted; the Cornish squished like a champ but was noisy and got earmarked for another project. The final winner for my bass multi was the Keeley/Barber style build—mostly because it sounds great and the blend control makes parallel compression a no-brainer.