DigiTech X-Series Bass Squeeze

If you are familiar with compressors, very easy to use. If you're not to familiar with them, its easy to overdo. Take the time to learn to use it properly and you'll be rewarded.

Nice and transparent at lower compression settings. Can really mangle your tone (in a good or bad way) depending on how you use it. Some reviews I've read complain about hiss. I have tried this pedal on a couple instruments, and it only hisses with lesser pickups or a long chain of effects. Its a compressor, if your setup is noisy and sucks it will make it worse.
The mixer output actually sounds pretty good straight into a board for recording. No, really. Other than that - does your bass rig sound bad? If it does, this won't help. If your setup is good but you just need a little more control or if you want to record with it- this is your pedal. Also works well messing with guitars to add a little beef to the low end of that 7 or 8 string, but leave the highs out of it for that.

Knobs feel a little cheap, otherwise built tough.

Haven't had to use it yet.

Portable,great sounding, 2 band comp with selectable x-over for under $100. What more do you need?

Like all compressors, if you dont know how to use one, you will struggle. But this is fairly intuitive, and it only took my a couple of minutes to find the sweet spot. I got it used, so I dont know if it came with a manual. If you have experience with compressors, you certainly dont need one. But, since not everyone has experience using a compressor, I'll give it an 8.

I find this to be a very quiet compressor. My favorite feature of this unit, and the selling point for me on it was the dual band feature. I play with my compressor set pretty high, so I was having a problem with glassy highs. The dual band controls enabled me to find the sweet spot, and then bak away the highs, gradually until I found the really sweet spot. The only compressor I've used that was more invisible was the Aphex Punch Factory which lacked the level of control that I was looking for. I know that there are better compressors on the market but, since this one is EXACTLY what I was looking for, I cant justify giving it anything less than a 10.

These Digitech pedals are built like tanks. They are heavier than Boss, and built basically the same way. They were meant to be used. Since a compressor is such an important aspect of my tone, I wouldnt gig without a back-up, no matter what the quality of the unit is. That's just common sense. (You dont go on a road trip without a spare, just becasue you have good tires.) But, I am not concerned that this unit will not perform.

I've never dealt with customer support. As I said, they are dependable units.

I play a bit of everything, but I have a funky style. A little slapping and popping, and a lot of hard plucking. This unit does a great job of making those sounds very dynamic and defined. I use it first in line in front of a Digitech Bass Multi-Chorus, and a Boss Bass EQ, running into a Peavy combo with a 15" driver. If this were lost or stolen, I'd scramble for another one. No question.
My only complaint is that it eats batteries like popcorn. Get a power supply. I used to use the Aphex Punch Factory, which is a very good unit at twice the price, and the Aphex is now my back-up. I've also used an Ibanez Soundtank, which is a crappy little compressor. I still have it, but dont use it. In the 90's i used a Boss Micro rack compressor. I can honestly say that I like this one best of all of them. As I mentioned, I chose this one for the added control of the dual bands. It doesnt have all of the bells and whistles that the Aphex has, but since I didnt use those bells and whistles anyway, I cant really think of anything that I wish it had. As I've said, it may not be perfect, but it's perfect for me. There isnt a better bass compressor on the market for under $100. (In my opinion, there isnt a better bass compressor on the market for under $200.)The way this unit chews up batteries and spits them out, keeps me from giving it a 10. (It isnt always convenient to plug in your effects).

Basically 2 simple compressors in a box. Level for the amount of compression you want, the crossover between lo and hi bands, and then lo and hi band level. No need to tweak attack and release or threshold. The 4 "presets" on their website are a great place to start from.

I love this effect! Brings out a lot of POP in my P-bass. dbx compression algorhythms, no noise, and I don't have to turn the level down so I don't hear the compressors working. On bass, this sounds better than the Rane and Behringer rack compressors I have in my studio.

I haven't tried the "mixer" out with 4x10 cab emulation, the normal out sounds so good.

All metal shell like a Boss effect, so it's built like a tank, though the spring loaded clips on the battery compartment look a little flimsy. I've had a Digitech rack effect (TSR-24) for about a decade now, and it's never blinked in terms of reliability. Treat the Bass Squeeze with a little drop of respect and it'll last forever I think.

Digitech is part of the conglomorate Harmon group, so I wouldn't expect a whole lot from their customer support people. That said, and as I said, this thing is built like a tank and I hope not to have to get support.

Buy this! It's a fantasic compressor for bass.

This is an up-dated review for this product. No patches to edit, produces usable sounds, manual is very easy to understand, and I think this is the latest one. It says 'made in China' at the base, for whatever that entails.

The sound quality is exactly like first one. Very Good, if you are knowleagable about tweaking fx pedals. I don't use this pedals for bass or guitars at all. I use them to 'mangle' synth and drum (acoustic and electric) sounds in weird ways to get some interesting sonics.

Very dependable. Do't gig with them anymore. They stay home, permanently attached to the out-puts of my Emu Procussions. These are drum modules that lend themselves very well to my 'mad' experiments.

Digitech customer support has always been great. I can't say that for Boss, Line 6, etc.

The units are used in the studio for all kinds of stuff, especially 'hard-sounding extreme' stuff.
I used to own Boss SYB-5s, but not anymore.
I am getting to the point where I really believe that Digitech pedals have overtaken Boss in quality and usability. I think Digitech's AUDIO-DNA technology is walking all over Roland/Boss COSM. You be the judge.

It's pretty easy to get a good sound out of it, if you know what you are doing and what you are trying to achieve. This is not a 'fix' effect or 'nice' control, it's a compressor, you're not supposed to hear it working as an effect, and it won't turn you into a seasoned pro. Many words over the years have been writted on the complicated art of compression, too much to go into here, but it does what it says on the tin: It splits teh sound into 2 bands and allows indiviadual compression of each.
The bit I'm most pleased with is the sweepable crossover, allowing me to choose the split between the 2 bands. I had previously used the Ashdown dual band compressor who had kindly decided for me where the crossover point should be, unfortunately it was in teh wrong position for what I wanted and and can't be changed. The Ashdown also has a pointless input control so you can see it in action (which if you understand compression, you don;t need to, you're dealing with sound, not vision), and a pointless tone control, basically a bass/treble balance, in which place a crossover control would have been much more useful.
I did however feel that individual attack control may have been a useful addition on the digitech, but they seem to have got these settings pretty much spot on for me anyway. But I will have to dock a couple of points for this as it would have been a useful addition, even if it were control you could tweak directly on the circuit board like some other manufacturers offerings.
The only issue I do have, as I do with all X-series pedals is it's power draw. I leave this pedal on all the time, and only get a couple of hours out of it on batteries, ok for the odd short gig, when there's lots of band playing and little set up time, but you really need to run it on mains.

I used to use a Behringer rack compressor, a dual band one, (along with a GT6B for effects, and a rack exciter) but only single band. This is where I learnt anout compression and would it could and couldn't do for me. After watching a Billy Sheehan DVD, I realised dual band was the way to go, as I was after getting a clear high end for tapping and harmonics, but without losing the low end. I tried using my bass v-amp in bi-amping mode to split the signal into both channels of the rack compressor then combine them into the rest of the chain. It worked to a certain extent, but was a messy solution, and too much gear to lug around.I also realised that I was addign more and more to the signal path to improve the sound but was in fact destroying it. I then tried out the Ashdown for a while and dumped the whole rack unit, but quickly found it's faults, then came across the Digitech.

Needless to say, I have also dumped the GT6B in favour of a few stompboxes, and my whole rig (bar the amp) fits into my gig bag, so I'm a happy bunny.

I am using this in conjunction with a Warwick Thumb BO and the sound is pretty much close to what I'm after, that Billy Sheehan smoothness, flatness even across the whole frequency range. I'm not trying to emulate Billy's sound, but I am trying to learn from what he does to get 'that sound' and cut though. I always used to have trouble cutting through the mix playing up the neck, or tapping, but not anymore.

For setup I boost the high band and sweep the crossover till get a guitar like tone, without the bassiness, then tweak the high compression till I can tap and pluck ant more or less the same volume.
I take a note of the high band position and turn in right down, then boost the bass control till it even out the low end playing. This should pretty much sound all bass and very little high or mids. I then raise the high end again and the sound is pretty much there. As I said before the crossoever for me is key.

The other key concept is not to over compress and lose all dynamic range, I still want to be able to play softly and sound quieter. What I'm really trying to do it get the same sound plugged in as unplugged. The unplugged bass has a lot less dynamic range than an amplified one. I sometime practice unplugged and can do certain things that would otherwise vanish when amplified without compression.

To sum up, yes the pedal does what I'm after, it's still not perfect, more to do with the lack of deeper control, but it's ball park.

It is built very stronly, just like a Boss really, but sounds better. Although it is bigger and considerably heavier than Boss pedals, not a great thing when they are stuffed in your gig bag.

I have heard about the CPU's frying on digitech pedals, but I think these are few and far between.

I have gigged it without backup, and although compression is an integral part of 'my sound' these gigs I could have coped without it if it broke, I would just have had to play less fancy stuff.

nothing to see here yet...move along

The pedal does what I've been after, and has helped me considerably cut down my rig, which has helped both setup/breakdown time, tone and my back.

I used to find with so much gear and control going on that it was easy to get very anal to get 'that sound', creating patches for every song, trying to emulate the original. I now have a very much stripped down rig, and have got back the sound of my bass and my amp, tweaked to my liking. It's my sound.

I actually bought it from Thomann, who even with shipping to UK, worked out cheaper than buying over here, the delivery was very quick too, so if it broke or was stolen I wouldn't hesitate getting another.

Very easy to get a sound out of the only problem is its the same sound the bass makes without this $80.00 volume control.

I'm using a 1967 Fender Jazzbass through an Ampeg BA115HP amp.
There is a distinct frying sound when compression is set to max on both bands.
The effect of the pedal on the overall bass sound is limp and slushy.
The pedal really should do more for the price.
Twiddling with the knobs reveals that the range of sound is very limited, and to be perfectly honest, the bass sounds better without it.
Don't expect to plug into this pedal and start sounding like Jack Daley or Nate Mendel.
In other words the pedal will have a very hard time living up to the promises of the advertising department.

The pedal is very sturidly made and should last through many gigs. I would definately use it for its output to the sound board. I would also use it on a gig without a backup because it could be taken out of line and hardly missed. be sure to get a power adapter with it or else buy stock in a battery company. It uses approx. one battery every three to four hours.

I havn't had to deal with the company. I understand they have good tech support.

I play mostly country rock, shuffle and ballads. I've been playing for nearly 20 years. I also own a fender stratocaster guitar and twin reverb amp. If it were to come up missing I'd say good luck to the chump that took it. I'd most likely try something else. I bought the Digi-Tech pedal because of the glowing advertising and raving user reviews, I kinda think now that some of those reviews were a little less than honest.what I like most about it is its good looks and sturdiness. I really don't hate anything about it. My favorite feature is the very clever way the battery is stowed under the switch lever and the way it is accessed with the tip of a guitar cord plug, no special tools needed. My only wish is that it would perform up to the advertising promises. I mostly leave it at home if there is not a good sound system the pedal can plug into at the gig.

Basically this is a two band compressor simple as that ! If your looking to create compression charactoristics of higher end rack mount compressors,, you've bought the wrong tool... This pedal makes use of the dbx Overeasy technology, which has it's own pre-programed compression attack & release algorythums.. All you can do here is simly make a decicion where you want to split the two bands, then set your compression ratio for each.. You only have independent ratio control across the two selected bands.. Like I said, the attach and release is controled by the Overeasy modeling.. If you take your time and play around with it,,you'll most certainly get this thing to do what it was designed to do,,, no more or no less .. I've used it, and have come to discover,, it does what it's intended to do just fine.. This is not a dbx 160,, so headroom is most certainly a restriction... Just don't over push it to the max , and you'll be fine.. If your looking for thundering bass or sharper edgy highs that you currently just not getting anything close to,, you might want to to go back and take a good look at your equipment first ? Pedeals don't make entry level instruments and amps sound like top of the line pro gear... at least not in a real world.

Like I said,, this is not a dbx160 by no means.. as long as you don't over push this thing to max... you'll be fine.. I find it has just enough headroom in the circut design to do what it's intended to do..

Well,, by judging by the rock solid design of the case,, looks pretty bullet proof to me... What do ya want for $100 bucks ??

Dunno,,, never had to deal with them..

Actually bought it for my 15 year old Son,,, he plays a Fender 'P' into a Traynor/ Yorkville amp. Pretty well plays top of the charts Pop & Rock music. If it were stollen ?? I assume we'd replace it.. What he likes about it... Its nice and small like all the DigiTech & Boss pedals..

You must have a litle knolage of how compressors work and read the manual a litle!
other vise it is straihgt forword!

overall the sound coming out is good! But any extreme setings are some what distorted or fuzzy! But it isn't intended to go to extrems! No compressor was!
if you need compression then you aply it in little mesoures if too much is needed then some thing is wrong with your other equiptment! This is a general rule even in mastering!

i like how it brings deep tones to life out of my 77'Ibanez Jazz!
for the price nothing comes close!

solid as a rock!

I play all kinds of music except ROCK! I hate rock!!!
mostly i play Jazz, classical and electronic!
this device brought me controled deep tones. for most of the bass players it has an excelent slap sound but i prefer some overdrive for this job!
best bang for the buck i would say in the concludion!

Very easy to use... 4 knobs only, Volume, X-over, Lo/Hi Bands. You'll get the desired sound out of it after a few minutes... Digitech has some presets in the Manual but they actually dont do what they promise, just try to find some nice settings on your own i'd suggest.

I play a cheap Warwick Streamer Rockbass (China) w/ an ancient Simms-Watts MK2 and some Simms-Watts GE Boxes i think. The overall sound so far was lousy, I think the Amp or Boxes are somewhat broken... no idea.

The pedal does exactly what i needed: it really thickens up my sound adding some serious beef! At high volumes, the pedal will provide a sweet Overdrive which is very welcome. It's not uber-present and therefore is great for some really hypnotic lines. The effect is very subtle, i wouldn't even consider it an effect... it's more like tonal shaping.

Our band is into Indie/Stoner/Noise-Rock with some Drone influences (Sonic Youth, Pumpkins, Kyuss, Electric Wizard, Sunn0)))...) and the pedal offers me the low-end growls that my other equipment wont produce. Since i can't afford better gear, this pedal is just great at an unbeatable low price.

I've been told that the pedal is also great for cutting the bottom if you wanna play funky slap-sound. Since i'm not into slapping and funky sounds at all, i can't comment on this.

The only noises it produced so far was when the battery it came with went down... nothing to worry about since nobody uses batteries anyways i guess.

No problems so far. I own the pedal only for a week, so i guess this is what you would expect from any new pedal. I have some other Digitechs pedals though and they NEVER failed me. I'd certainly use it without backup.

My skills are rather low since im playing the Bass for only like 8 Months or so. My technique is rather poor i guess. This pedal is great if you have poor gear and poor skills. High End equipment will make this pedal obsolete of course, but I'd highly recommend it to people with rather crappy gear who want to beef up their sound a little. I would replace the pedal if it were stolen, since I wouldn't want to play without it.

There are lots of decent sounds available, and it's fairly easy to dial in a tone that's good for the style at hand. The presets in the manual are pretty right on and even beyond that, things are pretty intuitive.

I play a mia fender jazz bass into a behringer 300 watt head and 15 inch trace elliot speaker cabinet. I use a stage tuner only, and while I had this pedal put it after the stage tuner. The pedal makes a small amount of noise when powered with AC, but not enough to be prohibitive. Turning up any one control too far can create some unpleasant noises, but you learn quickly not to crank anything. It's a subtle effect, and it's all about tone.

It is built very solidly. I would not hesitate to gig without backup.

I play country and americana music. I play in two bands, gig weekly, and have been doing so for years. I own three fender jazz basses, the amp and speaker mentioned above, and a 100 watt carvin practice amp. I ultimately found this pedal unnecessary for my style of play and returned it. I didn't find many usefull tones I couldn't get just with my amp's eq. I think it's probably a good way to get a second tone on demand, for solo's, etc., but I generally just set things and leave them for the whole show, so that isn't necessary. Esseentially I was looking for something that would tighten up my sound by squashing errantly loud notes and bringing the volume of different frequencies more in line with each other. I guess it was foolish of my to think this pedal would do it. Probably not a bad pedal, but not was I was looking for.

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

The Bass Squeeze is an awesome compressor in a stompbox package, very easy to use, 4 knobs, Level, X-over, Lo Band, High Band.

I run this jewel second in my FX chain just after the Bass Synth Wah (another really cool pedal) into a GNX 3 to a Crown K2 then to 2 SWR Golith III cabs, It is not noisy at all and gives my bass sustain for days. I love the crossover set at about 10 o'clock and turn up the Lo band to about 11 o'clock and the High band to about 9 o'clock then set the level to unity when bypass and effect on match in level. This setting gives me a very heavy bottom end with just enough highs to sit in the mix with very good definition. It is a joint venture with dbx compression so very top notch compressor in my opinion, smooth and killer tone focused, it can be very tranparent or totally shape your sound, I use it to shape my tone so I don't get lost in the mix, and it makes my bass very touch sensitive.

I have had this box for about 2 months and no problems at all, I turn it on and leave it on all the time I play, could not play with out it now. I gig with it without a backup and no problems, I used a DOD Milkbox before this, but the dual band is sooo much better. I LOVE THIS STOMPBOX !!!!!

Always have been very helpful with other units I have used, 2101, 2112, 2120, Studio Quad, TSR 24, ect... always helped when I needed help getting setup or foot control stuff like that, never needed repair on any of my Digitech stuff so I can't say anything about that.

I play very heavy hard core nu-old school metal and have found that I can get any sound I am after with the rig I am using now, I am very impressed with the sound I get and people ask how do you get such a great sound. I'm really impressed with this pedal and all my other Digitech stuff, I record with it, play guitar for 24 years and bass for 4 years now, and won't play without this stuff.