Extensive compressor reviews and FAQ

Note: This review is of the very first version, which is now discontinued. Only a small number were made. If you own one, or if you're considering buying a used one, Frank at FEA can upgrade the old ones to include the features and specs of the new versions.
 
FEA Dual Band: This is the first dual-band pedal (as far as I know) ever to offer full control over the threshold, ratio, attack, and release of both bands. For more explanation of dual band processing, see my article on that subject in the FAQ. This pedal also has the ability to send each band to its own output, making it useful as a signal-splitting crossover as well. The range of the crossover is from 80 Hz to 1KHz, a very useful range for bass. I tend to choose a point between 100 and 200 Hz. On most previous dual-band comps, the attack and release were preset by the manufacturer; they mostly made good choices, but there are times when it really is worth it to have that control yourself. Each band has its own LED indicating the signal crossing the threshold. The ratio is adjustable from 2:1 to 6:1, so it is not capable of extreme squash or hard limiting, but the available range is what most bassists tend to want for general smoothing of their signal. Future editions may have a stronger ratio available. There is no loss of highs at all, and while I don't think there is any loss of lows either, the lows do get "tightened up" by this comp, so the bottom end can sound less full or boomy than some players (reggae, doom, etc.) might like. But for the player who wants clear articulation, this is the pedal for you. The tone is very natural and free of artifacts.
 
The one I am testing does have a problem with some extra background noise when used with some (but not all) of my basses. Since the noise only occurred with certain basses, I don't want to say the unit "is noisy"; but it needs to be said that there can be extra noise in some instances. FEA is working on a solution to this issue, and will upgrade any early units bought that may experience any noise problems. For the non-noise instances, the unit is very quiet, with lower hiss than the Maxon and Demeter pedals. The one other issue I found (which FEA will address in future releases) is that with a low-output bass, you have to turn the threshold knobs to their max sensitivity to get any of your signal across the threshold. For most people this will not be a problem, but if your bass has low output, ask FEA about updates in that regard before buying. Overall the construction of this pedal is very high quality and solid. It looks and feels like a professional piece of equipment. In addition to the true bypass footswitch, there is a footswitch for bypassing just the high band, which can be useful if you want the maximum of dynamic articulation but still need the lows to be kept under control. The pedal runs off a normal Boss-type 9VDC supply, but like the Maxon CP9Pro+ it has a "charge pump" inside which raises the internal voltage to 18V for greater headroom (less distortion). All in all, this is an excellent pedal, I like it a lot, and I am very impressed by the efforts of the builder to make this unit the best he can. As this is the first release, there are a few things that need improvement, but I feel sure they will be taken care of in good time.
 

 
 
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