Compressor Keeley 4knob/Diamond/Barber comparison

[Heritage Softail]

Finally found one store with all three in stock. Jackson into a Stilleto, no other effects.

Keeley was very adjustable, instant recognition of the Keeley coloration of the tone. Had a bit more squish, but it sounded very good in clean/blues. By far the best Brad Paisley new country unit. Sounds exactly right, makes me wish I could play some nashville licks.

Barber Tone Press had less coloration of the tone. The mix knob was the key to high gain use. You could fairly well cover the Keeley with the mix maxed out but it still was not quite as good, did not have that trademark sound. Best unit overall for me. You really can have it moderately mixed in and barely tell it is there by the coloration of the tone.

Diamond was a little less coloring of the tone than the Keeley. It sounded good with high/low gain. Great unit. It did not mix the dry and comp tones as well as the Barber. It was a very close second.

If I was a country player it would be the Keeley hands down. It covers that perfectly. I may get one for that if I ever get any good in that style. Keeley has a trademark tone.

The deciding factor was the Barber could let me play some Dire Straits licks with it and it smoothed but didn't smother. The mix and sustain features work well. I was surprised to find the Barber was the cheapest.

I bought it.

 

[droptrd]

Im a huge Barber fan. Great stuff

What kind of coloration did the keeley have exactly?

 

[Laskyman]

The Tone Press is the best comp on the market IMHO, because it *can* be squishy, class a clean boost, or anywhere in between without owning your core tone...nice choice-

 

[Heritage Softail]

Im a huge Barber fan. Great stuff

What kind of coloration did the keeley have exactly?

I hate to use the word color but struggle for another one. To me it has the trademark Keeley sound. I can recognize it on records and friends that play it. It was hard to get the pedal to compress and not have that trademark sound. I like that sound but only for clean/country licks. If I took it home and played with it for a week I may have found a way to adjust it to my liking. The Barber seemed to work but not be as in your face, if you dialed down the mix. Barber ended up being more fun as I played with it yesterday and can 'cover' the Keeley sound about 80% dialing up the mix. It's all about having the desirable effect but not changing the Boogie tone too much. I have ran w/o a compressor for years, finally finding a transparent one was good.

When the money tree yeilds another crop, I could see getting the Keeley later and putting it in front of my Fender Blues Deluxe with a Strat. That woul be if I ever get mad skills and could cover any Brad Paisley licks. It is easier to buy gear than attain some of those wicked skills. :lol:

 

[gonzo]

cut and paste from earlier time:

i had a dynacomp for 10 years.

then i tried a barber tone press, and was absolutely sold.

i a/b'd it against a Keeley compressor.

here's my review:



got to a-b a Keeley compressor against a Barber tone press


both of these, are guitar player magazine editor's choice award winners.

my luthier, bought a keeley comp.

i bought a Barber tone press.

we got together last night and a/b'd the two-- same rig, same guitar, same settings, etc.

gotta say, they're both amazingly good sounding compressers.

both are pretty transparent.

both are dirt simple to operate.

both have true bypass. you don't hear them in line at all, when the effect is off.
all other compressors, i've ever tried, sucked tone when off.

both have led's to show when the effect is engaged.

both are made very well.

the barber is bigger, and a bit heftier, than the keeley. i like heavy, myself, but if it was an issue of fitting a smaller pedal on a pedalboard, the keeley has the upper hand.

$219

the keeley, is based somewhat on the mxr dynacomp.
i had a dyncomp, til about a month ago, so i'm well versed in the feel of that classic comp.
the keeley, is more transparent, and not quite as noisy, as the original mxr dynacomp.
the keeley has more aggressive settings on the sensitivity, and gets pretty noisy when dimed (completely understandable with high settings of ANY compressor).

-but the middle settings sounds really nice, and even at really low settings, you can get very transparent compressor settings. Still, you can hear a certain amount of 'pop' at the harder pick attacks, and this is very much in line with the classic dynacomp sound....and it still sounds 'squished' to my ears...... it's more obvious that this effect is on, even on mild settings, than what is achievable with the tone press.

it has an 'attack' control, inside the box, that can be tweaked to a degree, but is somewhat a nuisance to get to and mess with...
we left this set on the factory setting for this test.

the barber Tone Press, can do this same sound, but has a completely other side as well....

it can do "Parallel compression".
and it works.

website defines it best:
Barber developed a one-of-a-kind and quite proprietary continuous “blend control” circuit and combined it with a discrete “Class A” FET mixer circuit to allow you to continuously blend the natural signal of your carefully selected guitar with a “phase-corrected” classic compression circuit.

basically, i can dial in the amount of compression (sustain) i want, then take the blend knob and dial in the straight, dry unaffected guitar signal along with the compressed signal.
this allows me to set the compressor so i get exactly the amount of 'attack' i want, and it comes through without being squished.

when i first plugged it in, it almost seemed like the compressor was not doing anything...
because you hear all of your original attack, and with typical compressors, you hear the compressor working on the signal right away. i had to leave that session, come back later with a different mindset, before i really became aware of how this thing really works.

--with the tone press, it's very subtle how it's working, and doesn't mess with the basic tone and dynamics as much, based on how you set the blend control. but you still get all the compression you want, it's just way more dynamic.

it seems to enhance the tone as well, meaning, it doesn't 'take away' any of the treble or bass response. you can turn the blend all the way to the right, and get the 'dynacomp' sound if you want it.

but i'm finding, the unique sound of this compressor has allowed me to dial in a much more natural sounding effect.

it sounds perfect for strats.

i back it down a bit for humbuckers....... which is as easy as just dialing the 'blend' knob back a notch or two.....

a side benefit of this pedal...
you can use it as a class A 'clean boost'.......... with 8 db of boost, and the blend all the way to the left.

there is a 'color' trim pot inside the box. you can tweak this to give a more round vintage sound. i like it in the factory 'full on' setting.

$139.95

for the price, i think it's a no brainer.

YMMV

 

[gonzo]

i know it's the keeley 2 knobber i reviewed, not the 4 knobber, but it's basically the same compressor with internal components moved to the outside.

 

[droptrd]

great reviews guys. think i want a tone press now. love that barber stuff. Havent heard a pedal from barber I didnt like yet

 

[Shai`tan]

Question. Just got a Tone Press for my Mrk III. What do you think is a good starting settings area for the 3 knobs when we use High Gain of Channel 2 and 3? Thx.

 

[gonzo]

when i use the press on higher gains, seems to me that's where the blend knob shines.

it becomes less apparent that the effect is 'in line'...

but, you can set the levels for unity gain, unless you want the output of the pedal to hit the front end to drive it harder for some reason...
and then, i use the sustain straight up, and start with the blend straight up.

it's very personal, you really just have to twist em.

 

[jab]

i settled into the blend/sustain at about 11:00. In the manual it's near where Barber calls it "Magic Dust" setting.

 

[gonzo]

that setting works good for both clean (where you want to just tweak the sustain, not squish it) and Lead channel, that setting with crunchy power chords is perfect!