5 out of 5 stars! Excellent value, good sound, easy to use 2010-02-26With this compressor and a Sansamp Bass driver, you can get any popular bass sound, and do everything that the TC electronic 450 or Staccato heads do, but at a fraction of the cost. This thing is easy to adjust, makes very little noise and works well with all basses. Unlike the one-knob 3-band compression of TC heads, this allows players to adjust the crossover frequency and compression level. That's a great feature because every player, amp and bass is different.
I have found that this is also great for guitar. Most compressors set attack based on an averaged voltage of the entire input. Separating the bands into lows and highs, and then adjusting the attack differently, allows you to get a great Jazz tone without losing dynamics.
Before you go out and spend a ton of money on one of those new TC heads, Check out the Sansamp Bass driver and this pedal together. You can get all the useful sonic functions of the egregiously expensive TC heads at a fraction of the cost. The only things you will not get: bells-and-whistles like a built in tuner, pretty lights and the wallet-raping.
Sansamp Bass Driver is about $200. Add $65 for this. If you already have any kind of bass amp, you can use these with it.
Compare that cost with the $1500 of the TC bass heads, and you can see why so many informed pro-bassists refuse to shell out the extortion money TC wants for their pretty new amps.
Because Digitech is owned by Harmon, and Harmon also owns DBX, they were able to incorporate some of the DBX "over-easy" compression algorithms into this inexpensive unit. That means it sounds good almost no matter how you set it.
It has two outputs, one optimized for bass amps, the other for going straight into a mixing desk. That means you can also use it with low-noise professional mixers like Mackie or go directly into a pro-power amp.
This is a versatile and useful pedal for bass or guitar. I have even used it to record snare drums with great results! The dual band feature allows you to put heavy compression on the low end so every hit has that authoritative wallop, but you can ease off the compression on the high-end so that nuances of good drumming comes through the mix.
If you have a low-budget home recording studio,
are a pro-bassist looking for the tonal excellence of over-priced boutique amps without the exorbitant tariff,
or are a jazz guitarist who needs a smooth professional sound without losing tone and dynamics,
This is a good gamble that usually pays off.
Try it, especially if you were drooling over a new TC bass head. You don't need to spend a fortune to get great tone.
Combine this with a Sansamp Bass Driver and you will be in Funky Heaven.
-- G. Conner USA