This unit is a decent value at the current price, but if you pay MSRP you're nuts. The 2 bands of compression are useful, as is the blend, gain and output knobs, and the vu meter. The downside to this unit is that the battery requires screws to get to, there is an incessant hum no matter what equipment you use, and the knobs are a bit shoddy (I have one that is loose and the red dot no longer aligns with the minimum or maximum settings). For the price it could be worth it, and it is the only dual band compressor in it's price range.

When I saw a dual band compressor for under a hundred bucks, I had to try it. I got the pedal, played with the settings for 3 minutes & found a great setting for my p-bass. Its the smoothest compressor I’ve used on my bass in the studio or through my amp, it is studio quality, I don't hear any pumping & breathing effects from it at all, just a really nice rounded out sound. The attack & release times are set perfect for the two bands. Any compressor (or any component for that matter) will distort if you feed it too hot of a signal, that is why this pedal has a input trim pot on it. I ran this compressor inline right after my bass, before all my other effects, before my amp at instrument level. I haven't tried it through my effects loop because I wanted it inline pre-eq. Great pedal, they could easily charge the list price for it & it would still be worth it. Only thing I would change is to have the VU meter show gain reduction, not input level, or make it switchable to view either. Great pedal!

I bought the Ashdown Dual Compressor thinking that it would be like the highly drooled-over, out of print Trace Eliott Dual Comp that was made briefly in the mid 90's. I was wrong. First of all, let me cover the good points: The pedal itself is built in a durable metal housing with a "silver button" footswitch. It DOES have true bypass as advertised and the controls are easy to understand and useful. My sole problem is that upon plugging it in, I recieve a hum that is roughly the same volume of my signal. Not Good. I tried tweaking it out with the controls on both the pedal and my head (Trace Elliot 250w w/7band EQ) and then on my basses (Tobias Killer B, Warmoth 5 string fretless Gecko) but the hum was still there. The compression circuits were very powerful and I found the EQ balance very useful for dialing up the perfect tone, but I could not bear the nasty hum. I returned the pedal. I hate to leave a bad review, but this was designed to be a great pedal, take the hum away and it changes the review entirely. I also nearly bought the Chorus Plus but a reviewer that experienced a noisy whistling from his stopped me. Ashdown should revamp and re-release. The pedals would be great units if the wiring was up to snuff. Hopefully, I just had a defective one....going back to my Line 6 Constrictor....sounds MUCH better, no hum, and a sustainer to boot!

This is quite a good compression pedal for the money. Being Dual-band, it allows you to dial in different amounts of compression for each frequency range. It also lets you alter the volume for each frequency range using the EQ balance function. I've found this particularly useful for solo or harmonics stuff because you can accentuate the higher frequencies (or lower ones) with a set rate of compression. My only beef with this thing is that in turning on the compression, and more so with EQ balance to high; you lose many of the lower harmonic overtones that give your sound depth and fullness. I've used other compressors and they've found a way around this. I compensate for this by using an EQ post, but there's something lost in translation. Other than that there's a solid VU for input (which is useful for active instruments because it can make distortion) and a pretty cool housing. nice deal.

I would buy this compressor if it was offered as a rack mount and came with a regular plug. Here is the complaints that add up. All in the same area, how it's powered. I despise wall warts. That being said the power input to the box has no voltage marking on it. No adapter with it. The battery cover is the worst. It is held on by a mini screw which will wear out very soon. The battery itself will die in about three or four gigs if taken care of. Not good especially for extensive practicing. Putting the input cord in activates the power. Problem there is if it is stressed even slightly it pops on and off. I'm going to see if I can correct that myself.