There's going to be a bit of variation from unit to unit because pot tapers from pot to pot are never perfectly consistent - especially in log pots.  Unfortunately that's the nature of logarithmic pots.

There's going to be a bit of variation from unit to unit because pot tapers from pot to pot are never perfectly consistent - especially in log pots.  Unfortunately that's the nature of logarithmic pots.

For a grittier dirtier setting, try 10:1, release at 10oclock, and doing 15-20dB of compression, then maybe use the blend to mix to taste. You'll introduce some harmonics with this setting that will thicken things up a bit. It should be great for sustain too.

There's going to be a bit of variation from unit to unit because pot tapers from pot to pot are never perfectly consistent - especially in log pots.  Unfortunately that's the nature of logarithmic pots.

The Compressor MKII has a tilt style Eq knob and a switch for setting the cutoff frequency of the Sidechain Highpass Filter (off, 120Hz, or 240Hz).


The Bass Compressor has a knob to set the cutoff frequency of the Sidechain Highpass Filter (20Hz - 400Hz) and a Tone + Color switch which adds mild harmonic distortion with a mid range cut or an upper mid range boost (sounds great on everything, including guitar).

Our new compressors use 1/8" TRS jacks for the sidechain insert. The tip is the send and the ring is the return. This means the tip of the connected cable will send the audio out coming from the audio input of the compressor and will return the signal on the ring of the TRS cable. The send is handy if you want to insert an effect into you compressors sidechain.

If you want to insert an external signal for sidechain compression you would want to use a breakout cable and ignore the tip side of the cable as you want your external signal going to the compressor on the ring.


Here are a few cables you could use to achieve this:

https://hosatech.com/products/analog-audio/stereo-breakouts/hosa-breakouts/ymm-261/ - Great for connecting a phone, modular or other 3.5mm cable

https://hosatech.com/products/analog-audio/stereo-breakouts/hosa-breakouts/cmp-150/ - Good for inserting another pedal into the sidechain.


If you plug a TRS cable directly to the sidechain insert from a device that is sending a signal on both the ring and the tip, when using a phone or a laptop for example, you may experience the audio bleeding from the phone to the compressors output. Connecting to the ring of a stereo breakout cable connected would solve this issue.

All compressors work by turning down the loud parts of your playing, then to get the average level back to normal you have to turn the whole signal up. The benefit of this is that you get longer sustain, and more even dynamics to your sound. Unfortunately, this also turns up any noise that comes into the compressors input. The Empress Compressor is already designed to have quite low internal noise. One possible way to improve the overall noise is to use the compressor early in your pedal chain before any other more noisy effects you use.