NAMM 2016: Electro-Harmonix Bass Preacher

This might be one of the most exciting game changers of 2016!!!

Yes, I know it's a bass compressor, not the most tantalizing of releases one might think, but the bass compressor market is actually surprisingly tough. The aim of the game recently has been to put as many controls on bass comps as possible, and maybe require the player to have a complete studio engineer's understanding of multi-band compression. Prices have been going through the roof, with the most popular incarnation of last year being the MXR Bass Compressor; a great pedal, riddled with controls for every subtle nuance of your tone, hitting the shelves at between £150 and £180. 

Bass players aren't forced into this price range by any means, but the alternatives are non-bass specific simple compressors, such as the Dynacomp or the legendary Boss CS-3, both great, but not 100% designed for the mighty full range of a modern bass guitar. 

Enter the EHX Bass Preacher. As simple as it is affordable, the Preacher offers intuitive preset attack settings (fast, medium and slow) a volume control, and a sustain control for the overall compression. The pedal has a broad -10db to +2db making it ideal for either passive or active basses. 

What more could you need? The Preacher offers a wide range of usable types of compression without any of the faff of the modern day Bass specific compressor, and hitting the shelves at well under the £100 mark, it will surely sell by the truck load and find its way onto ever discerning bass players board this year.