Until recently, I had been using an old boss guitar compressor. So I decided it was time to upgrade this essential part of my effects chain. After a lot of online research and listening to different compressors, I had narrowed my choices down to two: This Keeley bassist compressor and the MXR M87 compressor.
Although both compressors sound very good, with little to no noise and/or tone colouring, the Keeley won it for me. This is due to a couple of factors.
First, the Keeley is very user friendly. With just three knobs, it's really easy to quickly dial in the desired sound. Since I'm not an expert when it comes to compressors/limiters, this was a big plus for me. Like I mentioned before, there is no audible noise or tone colouring, which is of course quite essential. With the compression ratio set to 4:1 I got a great 'light' compression, with a very natural remaining tone from the bass. As I don't play slap style myself, any more compression is not something I would need soon, but it's good to know the Keeley will be more than capable of it (4:1 ratio is the compression knob turned to noon on the dial).
Lastly I would like to add that compared to the M87, the Keeley felt a bit more sturdy, which makes me feel confident using it in live settings, the Keeley on the other hand would win in the studio, as it has a bit more possibilities to really finetune the sound and extent of compression.
