DigiTech X-Series Bass Squeeze

Controls are kind of cryptic. Takes a bit of getting used to. The manual doesn't help much except for the example settings. Best thing to do is just to play around with it.

I use this with a fender p bass and mesa boogie walkabout head with an ampeg 2x10. It is fairly quiet but I haven't used it for recording yet. It sounded horrible in my effects loop but when I put it before the amp it sounded great. Smoothed everything out nicely!

I haven't had it long so I can't comment on reliablity. I had a digitech bass synth wah that crapped out on me after 2 practices. It was a bad switch but luckily I could return it for a new one. I hope not to have the same problem with this pedal. It is built like a tank - the only thing I'd worry about is the switch but since I intend to have it on all the time I shouldn't be switching too much...

Haven't dealt with digitech

I play rock/pop. It fits nicely. I've used a Boss LMB-3 (Limiter) which is much more subtle but just as good a pedal. If it were stolen I would probably just use my LMB-3 instead. I like the fact it's a dual band compressor in compact form. I wish the controls weren't so cryptic.

I bought it new when Digi-key was promoting the "buy two x-series pedals and get one free" sale, along with the Bass Synth Wah and Bass Driver. The pedal case is very well designed and built with a nice finish. I like the clever battery access. One negative is the label on the bottom that pulls off when velcro is used to fasten the pedal to a pedalboard.
I've had it for about 14 months and still cannot find the secret of using it. Many hours spent sifting through compressor articles on the web has failed to discover what the knobs are for. Hours of experimentation produced contradictory results.
I used it with a model MB-2 Mercury series Washburn Bass. The ax is slim and graceful. I use Rotosound FM-66 Funk master strings, (.30 .50 .70 .90), which seem to be made for the Washburn MB-2. The dry tone has a grand piano like sound. Heavier strings pull and stress the beautiful slim neck too much.
I tried the Bass Squeeze into a Kustom KBA-100 bass amp for a good while with disappointing results.
I now use a Traynor YSR-1 amp. with a Traynor 4/10" cabinet and find that I get best sound when I leave the pedal in the gig bag.
According to the Einsteins who say it is "very easy to use"the pedal adjust itself. Somewhere in this world there must be someone who genuinely understands how to make this thing work. I hope they will please step forward, and in the best interest of humanity, write an article that pulls away the curtain of secrecy that surrounds this pedal. How to adjust and control the Digi-tech Bass Squeeze dual compression pedal to get the sound you want, the best kept secret since the Philadelphia experiment

Washburn MB-2 4 string bass. Fender 196x Mustang bass.
It simply will not level out the volume on different notes.
The sound is unpredictable.
Kustom KBA-100 and Traynor YSR-1.
I want to get my own favorite sound.
Compression seemed non-existant. Nothing to write home about.

Its parked on the shelf until the controls are deciphered.
No I wont use it on the gig as it is now.

The Bass Synth Wah pedal quit working (my fault for plugging it into an ancient Sears Silvertone amp.) Customer service happily fixed it for me and had it back in service in a very timely manner, no questions asked.

I play 50's and 60's rock and classic country.
I've been playing for 35 years. My other equipment is an SVT-140TC Ampeg amp w/4/10" and an Ampeg Gemini 2 tube guitar amp. I use a 60's solid body Japanese six string guitar to find the chords in new songs. I also keep a little 60 watt HARTKE bass amp handy for informal living room get together's.

It takes a little getting used to if you aren't really familiar with compressors, like I was when I bought it. Once you figure it out though, it's fairly easy to get what you want. If it's too complex for you, use the presets in the manual. They are surprisingly good. But like all pedals, once you get it set, you really don't have to worry about it. I give it an eight, because for beginners, it would be nice to know what the knobs do.

I use an Ibanez SRX500, which has a pretty high output, so this thing can get carried away sometimes. I usually keep the EQ on my bass low-end oreintated, so it's nice to have this handy little stompbox to switch from low-end orgasmic tones to lead-quality treble in no time at all.

I find it's really easy to get Claypool-ish sounds with this unit. Especially from Frizzle Fry. It really cleans up your sound for slap and stum playing. I also like the sensitivity (volume) boost it gives for my bass, allowing me to touch-style tapping up and down the neck.

One little not - If you want to have fun at the expense of your soundman, use this unit with the high treble settings and a distortion stompbox. It gives off a high-frequency feedback. It's great entertainment watching your soundman's fingers flying over the board trying to figure out whats going on. I know it's mean, but he's a got a good sense of humor about it.

Solid as a rock.

Could use without a backup, but have batteries on hand, and lots of em. You'll go through one a session, depending on how much you use it.

if you play any kind of funk, or just like to slap around every once in awhile, get this handy little box.

The unit is easy to get good sound out of, but there is one big "gotcha" that messed me up: Level. I've found that the "Level" needs to be at about 75% (or more) for the volume-pot on my bass to be usable. At lower settings, the volume-pot on my bass became nearly useless. Presumably, the level affects the "threshold" in "compressor-speak". Once I finally figured this out (18-24 months later...), I find the unit extremely easy to use.

The manual is rather limited, but has a couple of good sample settings.

It's an under $100 compressor, so don't expect miracles - but I like it! Having the dual bands gives you a lot of control. It colors the sound much more than the more subtle compression in my Bassman 200 amp or my Fishman Platinum Pro EQ Bass.

I've heard some digital artifacts, but I think that was only when running from batteries. This thing has MASSIVE power requirements, as evidenced by the 4-hour battery life.

It feels, and has been ROCK SOLID. Just make sure you have the wall-wart...

I called-up Digitech, and quickly got a live person. They were moderately knowledable, but overall quite responsive. Graded this low because of the depth of knowledge of the person I happened to speak to.

I like it! I'm looking for a big phat sound to go with my Ibanez 6-stringer with TI Jazz Flats until I can get a Podxt. I was tiring of the rather "thin" sound of my Fishman Platinum Pro EQ (great at what it does, but I wanted some "meat" in my sound).

Two tips:
1) Keep the level at 75% or greater - this will be LOUD when you punch-in the stomp-box, but at lower setting the volume-pot on your bass may be useless. I use the Bass Squeeze full-time, so this is a non-issue for me.
2) Watch the low-EQ at high-volume. Much like the "loudness" button on a stereo, be sure to turn-down the low-EQ (bass) when you play at loud volumes, since this unit adds so much "meat" to your sound.

Easy to use like an para-EQ. You need no manual.

I use it live with an 5-string MusicMan, in front of an Zoom 708 II, then direct into de PA-Mixer. In the Studio it is obsolete because of other Studio Equipment.
Live it sounds really great in 2 ways:
1. with low crossover settings, I can boost the low end frequencies in a very smooth way mithout mudd. This is my favourite setting!
2. with high crossover setting I can boost the high end for extreme clear Slapping.
One may say both also could be done with an normal EQ, but though the handling is quite the same, the result is very different.
Boosting the low end with my BOSS GEB7 results in catastrophic mulm an extreme movements of the PA- speakers.
Boosting with this Compressor produces low-end without those negative effects.

BOSS pedals are massive, this one ist double the heava and massive!
I use it since 2 months. So far no problems.

Manuals downloadable as PDF. Nothing else to say.

I play Funk, Pop & Rock. The Device is great for my sound!
My musicians like it too, because the bass fits much smoother to the band-sound.
The Squeezer would be even better with 3 frequencies, because this would be nearer to a normal 3-band EQ. At the moment you habe to decide between low- or high- boost. The ramaining broad frequency-range behaves as a "normal" compressor - not very exciting.

This product is very easy to use...... and produces an awesome sound...... the manual is practically useless...... it's something that you need to play with to get what you want....... and it delivers as long as you have a good amp with plenty of volume.... because as the product is.... it's a compressor.... it compresses the sounds......... not boosts them...... so if you want volume..... try getting an amp with more watts or a volume pedal perhaps (never used one).

It is great in the sound dept. It gives people different ranges especially if your wanting to play different styles of music. I have a very very small practice amp that this can get noisy with... but it's not a bass amp so that's probably the reason...... but with my amp (peavy 115) and the pedal fully up the damn thing is quiet aside from the strings vibration noise when you set it down. It works the best to make the bass stand out in situations...... such as..... i play metal..... so i set up my amp and pedal to the same volumes when i turn the pedal on and off......... and i have them both set to different settings... ie.(amp set to thick bottom end and pedal to blistering highs) that way when i step on the pedal it recreates a different bass and gives me a specific and prominent change.

i was sold one of them that was flakey and it screwed up on me.... but it was also my fault because i didn't check to see if it had been a previous return (it wasn't in it's bag)... but i got it replaced with ease at guitar center and the lady was kind enough to check and make sure that it along with the power supply worked (the digitech power supply doesn't work with the digitech pedal for some reason.... trust me on this...... the lady assisting me also confirmed it and she tried an ibanez power supply that works fantastic with my new one)

never dealt with them...... if i have to i probably wouldn't appreciate the product as much. I don't think i'll have a problem with this product.

I play everything from country to jazz to metal....... because i'm in my dads band that plays older music..... and my band which is metal.... and i love it for both situations. I dislike distortion pedals and delays and things like that because it hampers the lovley sound of the bass...... so this is the only thing i own minus my amp and my p-bass. I had EMG's installed in it.... and it blows away the competition. I love everything about this pedal.... and i'd surley replace it if it was stolen or lost........ it doesn't help me make music because i hardly write anything on the bass with an amp.... i like to strain my ear to pick out precicley what i'm playing amp-less. I actually chose this pedal because the biggest influence of mine (mudvayne's bassist Ryknow) uses the rackmount version of this pedal....... and he's always had an awesome bass sound so i figured i'd try it. It works beyond the capabilities i thought it had..... i recommend it to anyone with a spare 85 in their pocket.

Not very easy because it's a 2 band compressor & maximizer. So it can't be easy!

I use 2 different basses : a ROADRUNNER hand-made (active)(http://www.roadrunner-guitars.com) and a fender std US JB (passive)
My preamp is a SVT2P AMPEG
The amp is a AMPEG AP350
The speaker is a AMPEG SVT410HLF

It cuts the bottom end. Especially for the Active bass. So I can't use it with one of my two basses.
With the Jass Bass, the compression is good. The 2nd output (cab simulator) is very effective when recording.

It seems to be very reliable. No need for a backup.

No need to deal with them.

I play hardcore / funk /hip-hop. This effect is a good match but be careful if you have an active bass with a very powerful output! In this case, it doesn't work properly. So try it with your bass before buying it.
I play for 10 years and try a lot of compressors. The best I had used is a behringer one!?

Manual is almost useless - there is a lot left unexplained (see below) - and their sample settings vary from the sample settings of the same name on their website (??). Sound samples sound awful on the website - their pedals sound much better in reality.

The attack/ratio/decay is fixed differently for the low and high bands, with a sweepable crossover line between the two from 100Hz to 3kHz. As you increase the low or high knobs you're effectively boosting those bands. Almost an active EQ I suppose.

Easy enough to get a good sound at low volumes, much harder at higher volumes.

The attack/ratio/decay is fixed differently for the low and high bands, with a sweepable crossover line between the two from 100Hz to 3kHz. As you increase the low or high knobs you're effectively boosting those bands. Almost an active EQ I suppose.

Sounds very good and dry but gets distorted somewhat at higher volumes (I think that's due to me not easing off the "level" and sending too much low end to my preamp). At low volumes it sounds fab, expecially so, IMO, for the higher frequencies though I tend to shy away from that range in general.

The fixed attack/ratio/decay is fine, but maybe not extreme enough for those wishing to limit really hard pops (like strings hitting fretboard and pickups) and in fact you might even "enhance" those depending how you have it set. For those who wish to make the lows creamy and normally find they're left with no highs, this allows to you set an individual level for the highs and they still sound pleasing - not too thin. Too much highs though and you get the typical compressor hissing, but overall it's fairly quiet ... dead quiet in fact if you're not overly boosting the highs (or cranking the lows).

Putting in front of a SansAmp Driver DI can make for massive tones. You can almost emulate a Mesa 400+ type of big tube cream - again perhaps too much so as a milder setting would be nice.

Comparing it to my Tech-21 Bass Compactor, I preferred this one slightly at first in that it allows for more pleasing highs (Tech 21's highs can be a bit thin on the SansAmp or Compactor IMO) but since I focus on the lows this doesn't really do anything the more esthetically pleasing Compactor can't do (and it too can be huge in front of the SansAmp in a chain and mine is totally quiet unless you boost the compression to unseless levels).

The DigiTech is more refined at lower volumes but it gets to sounding more distorted at higher volumes (more if it's true sound being heard, or maybe just me needing to ease off the level?). The compactor can sound really woolly if you want it to, or you can ease off it more. With the DigiTech, as I said, you're stuck with a fixed setting though you have a variety of sounds depending how you twist the knobs of course. I could be more specific but am not a champion at describing sounds and the manual, as I said, is practically a waste of ink and paper.

With at-home levels I could make it sound fine, but in rehearsal or in a live mix it wasn't great so I returned it.

It is heavy and it is metal (physically I mean). Gotta give the company credit too as they apparently have very good and fast customer support and even an online forum at their wesbite.

This is built better than BOSS. More solid, smarter battery access.

I didn't need it, but from the look of their website (forums) and other comments their support is good.

My bias is against "effects" and "DigiTech" in general. That said, this pedal is more solid and better designed (battery access) than BOSS. It is heavy and it is metal (physically I mean). Gotta give the company credit too as they apparently have very good and fast customer support and even an online forum at their wesbite.

Manual is almost useless and their sample settings vary from the sample settings of the same name on their website (??). Sound samples sound awful on the website - their pedals sound much better in reality. I tried their new x-series synth wah and it had a few great sounds but was too trebly. Also the esthetics are fairly crass but at least it is brown and not pink or worse. Physically in size/shape it falls between a BOSS and DOD pedal.

The attack/ratio/decay is fixed differently for the low and high bands, with a sweepable crossover line between the two from 100Hz to 3kHz. As you increase the low or high knobs you're effectively boosting those bands. Almost an active EQ I suppose.

Sounds very good and dry but gets distorted somewhat at higher volumes (I think that's due to me not easing off the "level" and sending too much low end to my preamp). At low volumes it sounds fab, expecially so, IMO, for the higher frequencies though I tend to shy away from that range in general. The fixed attack/ratio/decay is fine, but maybe not extreme enough for those wishing to limit really hard pops (like strings hitting fretboard and pickups) and in fact you might even "enhance" those depending how you have it set. For those who wish to make the lows creamy and normally find they're left with no highs, this allows to you set an individual level for the highs and they still sound pleasing - not too thin. Too much highs though and you get the typical compressor hissing, but overall it's fairly quiet ... dead quiet in fact if you're not overly boosting the highs (or cranking the lows).

Putting in front of a SansAmp Driver DI can make for massive tones. You can almost emulate a Mesa 400+ type of big tube cream - again perhaps too much so as a milder setting would be nice.

Comparing it to my Tech-21 Bass Compactor, I preferred this one slightly at first in that it allows for more pleasing highs (Tech 21's highs can be a bit thin on the SansAmp or Compactor IMO) but since I focus on the lows this doesn't really do anything the more esthetically pleasing Compactor can't do (and it too can be huge in front of the SansAmp in a chain and mine is totally quiet unless you boost the compression to unseless levels).

The DigiTech is more refined at lower volumes but it gets to sounding more distorted at higher volumes (more if it's true sound being heard, or maybe just me needing to ease off the level?). The compactor can sound really woolly if you want it to, or you can ease off it more. With the DigiTech, as I said, you're stuck with a fixed setting though you have a variety of sounds depending how you twist the knobs of course. I could be more specific but am not a champion at describing sounds and the manual, as I said, is practically a waste of ink and paper.

For a more sophisticated player the DigiTech would probably be preferable, but then again a more sophisticated player wouldn't need it at all or would have a rack compressor. For a more novice player with perhaps thin sounding gear that just wants to add some thickness or limit the noise that comes from poor technique (strings on fretboard clicking, strings on pickups poppin, etc.) or pick noise then the Compactor is much easier and versatile. Probably a fancy slapper would prefer the DigiTech too, but if the fixed settings don't suit you then I guess you're left with "it's better than nothing". The compactor can be used as a straight-up active (bass & treble) EQ so it takes the advantage there. They cost about the same I believe.

Really though, with good gear and good technique these kinds of things aren't

Really easy to use. Overall level, crossover freq, lo band compression, hi band compression. The crossover setting determines what frequency the dividing line is between the hi and lo compressor knobs. Really simple. Use the level to set the unit for some boost or for unity- your choice. It took some tweaking to get the sound I was after because there are also a variety of tone shaping options on my amp, but that was due to the configuration of my rig, not the box.

I'm running this unit in front of a Gallien-Krueger RB400 III 2X10 combo with a GK RB115S 15" cabinet. The sound is KILLER!!!! Playing blues and classic rock. Really tight, lots of punch, and sustain. No noise that I noticed. The compression algorithm was licensed by Digitech from DBX. I gigged with it for the first time in a good size bar last weekend, and a friend of mine who plays came up and said he could feel the bass really solid in his gut clear on the other side of the bar. I asked him if it was too loud, and he said no, just extremely tight and solid. I loved it!! I only got about 4 hours out of the battery, though. That was good, too, in a way, because the unit just quit and the light went out. I didn't notice any sonic funkiness before it quit.

This thing is built like a tank. I downgraded the rating because it's such a battery hog...

No experience

If you play bass, and you want to keep your rig simple, you need one of these!!!!!

This peadal is pretty easy to use, pretty much self explanitory. DigiTech gives you a Sample diagram but i dont think your would need it.

SOUND IS AWESOME!!!!!! i am really happy with this compressors sound. I use it with a LTD B-305 and an Ampeg cabnet. it has a little hiss to it, but that just might be my settings. i go for the HI's. i love that metallic/sandpapper hi treble sound. if you want a thick bottom, you wont have any hiss at all. again its just the way i have it magnifying the Hi's
i use it with my SansAmp Tech 21 tube emulator and i think the two compliment eachother very very very well.. the tech 21 is also a must have. over all on the sound EXCELLENT!!! digitech knew what the deal was when they made this

just bought it, it hasn't been through much war & tar but it seems very heavily built... its going to last a long time

the guy just rang me up at guitar center.......... thats about all the support i got

you gotta get this pedal, its a must have.... honestly. buy it. you will love it