BecosFX CompIQ PRO Stella Compressor

The BecosFX CompIQ PRO Stella Compressor is an all-analog compressor pedal for guitar and bass, introduced on April 8, 2019 with a street price of $279.00¹. What sets it apart from most compact compressors is its circuit: it is built around the Analog Engine from THAT Corp, the same technology featured in rack-style compressors from dbx and PreSonus, pairing a true RMS-level sensor with a high-performance Blackmer VCA to provide compression, limiting and harmonic distortion¹².

Alongside the compression engine, the Stella carries an analog tape saturation circuit with independent saturation and level controls, which BecosFX describes as a way of adding a warming characteristic to an instrument's voicing¹². Guitar World's reviewer found the saturation can go from zero to a light fuzz sound depending on the setting³. A Dry/Wet blend knob allows parallel compression, and the pedal includes a balanced DI output that MusicRadar found extends its usefulness beyond the pedalboard¹⁴.

A THAT Corp VCA compressor with tone and saturation

The Stella's compression, limiting and harmonic distortion come from a true RMS-level sensor coupled with a Blackmer VCA, an approach Guitar.com's Terence Stanley noted is the very same technology used in rack-style compressors by dbx and PreSonus². Because the circuit is analog, BecosFX says it preserves the musical response and transparency of analog processing¹.

The tape saturation stage is the second half of the pedal's character. It features independent saturation and level controls, plus Lo- and Hi-cut filters, letting a player dial in anything from clean compression to a warmed, saturated tone². Guitar World's reviewer summed up the pedal as offering "an incredible amount of high-quality dynamic control"³.

Guitar.com named the Stella among its best effects pedals of 2019, calling it the brand's flagship compressor for bass and guitar and "the perfect embodiment of the company's spirit"⁶. Delicious Audio described it as "a one-of-a-kind compressor that will blow your mind with the amount of control and versatility it provides"⁵.

The controls

The Stella puts rack-style controls on a stompbox². Six standard-sized knobs handle the core compression parameters, and four toggle switches shape how the detector and tone sections behave¹⁴.

The four toggle switches¹²⁷:

• Compression Knee: Soft or Hard
• Side Chain Filter: Normal, Low or Deep
• Timing: Manual, Auto Fast or Auto Slower
• Tilt-EQ Frequency Pivot: 330Hz or 1KHz

The X-EQ pivot switch is worth noting for anyone playing bass: 330Hz suits bass instruments while 1KHz suits guitar and other applications, a distinction the MK2 makes explicit⁷. MusicRadar's review concluded the pedal offers "heaps of control over your sound"⁴.

Power and connections

The original Stella runs on either a 9V battery or a 9 to 12V DC power supply¹². It is true bypass, with an on/off footswitch, and its balanced DI output lets it feed a mixing desk or interface directly¹⁴.

The original and the MK2

Five years after the original, in March 2024, Becos FX released the CompIQ Stella Pro MK2, a compressor/limiter pedal for bass, guitar or any electric instrument⁷. The MK2 keeps the full analog circuit with true bypass, housed in a robust Hammond aluminum enclosure⁷⁸, and keeps the Dry/Wet mix, but it makes several changes:

• Removes the saturation engine on the dry line, the feature that added controlled harmonic distortion on the original⁷
• Adds Feed-Forward / Feed-Back selectable compression modes⁷
• Adds internal DIP-switch voicing options: Flat, Spark (adds brilliance to highs), Tight (dips low-mids slightly for depth) and Punch⁷
• Adds a variable Lo-cut/boost side-chain filter (±12dB at 90Hz, 12dB/octave) designed for bass instruments, helping prevent premature compressor engagement⁷
• Adds Fast/Slower dynamic auto attack and release timing with hold for peaks over the threshold⁷

Bass Gear Magazine's Dan Veall reviewed the MK2 and confirmed its true-bypass switching and Hammond enclosure⁸. RockBoard's PedalPedia notes the MK2 can be used with any instrument, including guitar, bass, keyboards, synths, electro-acoustic guitars, and even vocals with an appropriate preamp⁹.

Where the Stella sits in the Becos line

The Stella is the flagship of a wider CompIQ family. The CompIQ TWAIN Pro Compressor is a dual-band model announced in 2020, the CompIQ MINI ONE Pro puts studio-grade compression in a mini pedal, and the CompIQ Pro Yuna is a streamlined soft-knee Blackmer VCA studio-style compressor with fewer controls⁵. Writing at Guitar Pedal X, Stefan Karlsson said of the family: "I really love the Stella, and I feel that is probably my most favoured Compressor to date," praising its precision and granularity¹⁰.

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