NPD Weirdness

Help!I'maRock!

Mediocringly Derivative
I ended up not being able to hold out, and I bought an MXR Bass Distortion and Keeley Bassist Compressor. I ordered both from CME through Reverb on Wednesday. I had asked the orders be shipped together, and when I only received one through UPS I called to notify them. Seems the instruction to combine the order didn't go through, and they said they would ship out right away.

Well, a little later I received the other pedal from USPS. So I called to cancel. They said cool, thanks. Now I see both pedals are rescheduled for shipment. So we'll see what happens when I receive it, if I receive it, tomorrow.

The MXR Bass Distortion is a Fuzzrocious designed RAT. It has a button to switch between silicon (RAT) and LED (Turbo) modes. It also has both dry and wet volumes. Turn the dry off and it operates like any other RAT, except the tone control isn't backwards. I figured I would like the Turbo setting a lot more. But it's got this high end harshness that tube amps probably cover up and my Markbass/GK setup doesn't. So I'm on the normal RAT setting. The silicon diodes have significantly more gain than the LEDs, which is normal. But they also don't clip as hard, and that harshness isn't as apparent. It sounds good, but it's not blowing me away. Maybe that'll change at rehearsal volume.

The Keeley Bassist is a limiting compressor based on old dbx comps. I'm a total idiot with compressors and never like how they make me sound. But this one is well regarded and I could use some help evening my attack, so I went for it. Off the bat, it's the first comp I've bought that I feel like I sound good with. Unfortunately, it's picking up some RF noise. I've tried it with different cables, with power supply and batteries, and by itself without anything else in the chain. And it's all the same deal.

I'm going to see if this other box shows up tomorrow before I make any decisions.
 
I wish I hadn’t read this. Just yesterday I was thinking about how great bass is because all I need is a decent instrument (ok, three or four) and a solid-state amp.
 
Second Keeley showed up this morning. Took it out of the box, plugged it into my amplifier, turned it on, and it does exactly the same thing. Lots of RF whining and stuttering. Oh well. Looks like @Chad was right.
 
And yes, my favorite guitar compressor is the Wampler Ego but I haven't tried it with a bass guitar.
 
Have you looked at the MXR Bass Compressor? http://www.jimdunlop.com/product/bass-compressor That would be my first look if I needed a Bass compressor or a compressor that works well with both bass and guitar.

I did look at the MXR. It's well regarded. But I went with the Keeley because the extra knobs on the MXR, and my terrible experience with compressors, guided me towards the fewer knobs of the Keeley. And even though I only played with it for an hour, I think my instincts were correct. What got me on previous attempts were the attack and release knobs. Keeley's attack and release are baked into the circuit. I think what's disappointing here is that I turned it on and could immediately tell the difference, and for the first time, liked that difference.

The Maxon CP9Pro+ and the BOSS LMB-3 have the same controls. I think I'm gonna take a flyer on the BOSS, keep the enhance control off, and see what happens. And if it's the same then no comp for me. @smurfco doesn't think I need one anyway.
 
I have the Wampler mini- Ego in my board now and one reason why I liked the idea of that is the same as what you said about having the attack and release preset. The blend control is super important for me though.
 
I have the Wampler mini- Ego in my board now and one reason why I liked the idea of that is the same as what you said about having the attack and release preset. The blend control is super important for me though.

Keeley's marketing copy did a great job convincing me a blend adds noise into the circuit. Course, then I got noisy pedals, so whatever.
 
Keeley's opinion from his website is to set the threshold higher so only the peaks of the signal are compressed. A blend just eliminates the effect you're using from the signal. Makes sense to me.
It depends on what you're trying to get from it I guess. I like having the dry signal in the "front" and the compressor just fattening it up "behind". I hate how a Ross-style compressor like the MXR has a pumping feel.
 
Second Keeley showed up this morning. Took it out of the box, plugged it into my amplifier, turned it on, and it does exactly the same thing. Lots of RF whining and stuttering. Oh well. Looks like @Chad was right.

I've never had an issue with their pedals like that. They have just underwhelmed me and sounded nowher near as good as they do in videos. I don't expect to sound like Andy from pro guitar shop when a pedal arrives, but pedals from Mojo Hand and Catlinbread seem to sound as good if not better when I get them.
 
I've never had an issue with their pedals like that. They have just underwhelmed me and sounded nowher near as good as they do in videos. I don't expect to sound like Andy from pro guitar shop when a pedal arrives, but pedals from Mojo Hand and Catlinbread seem to sound as good if not better when I get them.

No, but the outcome is the same, disappointment.
 
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