Shop Keyboard Deals, Financing, and More

Keeley Compressor Pro Professional Studio Compressor Pedal

Studio/Stage Compressor/Limiter with Hard- and Soft-knee Compression, Exact RMS Analysis, LED Display, Auto Mode, and True Bypass
$299.00

Earn $15 back in Bonus Bucks OR pay $13/month with 24 month financing*

Find it used on Sweetwater's Gear Exchange
listed for
$199.99
In Stock!

Only 3 left in stock! Order Soon!
Add to Cart
Notify me about deals

Ask An Expert

Our expertly trained Sales Engineers are ready to help!

What is a Sales Engineer?

Most Popular Accessories & Related Items

Keeley Compressor Pro Professional Studio Compressor Pedal
In Stock!
$299.00
Add to Cart
Add to list
Back to navigation

This article was Written By

Our Product Research Team

Get to know them!

Use This Compressor On Anything

Delivering both hard- and soft-knee compression, the Keeley Compressor Pro is a stompbox-format compressor/limiter that works great onstage, but its superior frequency response and noise specs also make it a superb studio compressor that accepts a broad range of inputs from guitar and voice, to bass, keyboards, and drums. In live settings, the Compressor Pro helps you achieve polished, full-sounding performances while safeguarding your amps and speakers against overload. It's even great for maintaining professional sound levels for your podcasts and YouTube videos! At home, it's perfect for creating gobs of sustain at low volume. Take it from Sweetwater, the Keeley Compressor Pro will improve the sound of any instrument, in any situation.

Keeley Compressor Pro at a Glance:
  • Live or in the studio: your new best friend
  • Hard- or soft-knee: take your pick
  • Auto mode: concentrate on your performance
Live or in the studio: your new best friend

Keeley engineered the Compressor Pro for the broadest spectrum of input flexibility. The result is a stompbox-sized device that's perfect for studio, stage, and home use. With a huge range of adjustment from -50dBu to +10dBu, you'll be ready for anything. To put this into perspective, let's have a look some common audio signals. Pro audio (studio) levels are +4dBu; consumer audio levels are -10dBu. Passive guitar or bass pickups are generally in the range of -25dBu to 2.5dBu. So you see that the Keeley Compressor Pro has you covered, no matter what you need to compress.

Hard- or soft-knee: take your pick

The Keeley Compressor Pro supports both hard- and soft-knee compression, which is another key to its outstanding versatility onstage and in the studio. If you're looking for strong, limiter-like action, set the little chrome toggle switch on the left to "H" (hard-knee). In this mode, once the threshold is met, the Compressor Pro will compress at the the ratio you've set with the Ratio dial. No mercy. "Komfort Kompression" is what Keeley calls soft-knee. Set the toggle to "S," and you've got the ideal way to control your dynamics while keeping your compressed guitar or instrument part sounding natural, lively, and dynamic.

Auto mode: concentrate on your performance

Keeley's Compressor Pro sports an Auto mode - and this is your ticket to great performances. Set the chrome toggle switch on the right to On, and you've got automatic setting of your Attack and Release times. In most cases, Auto mode will sound natural and give you the dynamics control you need, while you attend to your performance. Under the hood, it works like this: the Compressor Pro looks at its input signal - be it guitar, bass, vocals, drums, etc., and derives the optimal attack and release times for what you're playing and the signal levels it's detecting.

Keeley Compressor Pro Features:
  • Perfect for stage, studio, and home use!
  • Accepts a huge range of input levels from -50dBu to +10dBu
  • Exact RMS Analysis (ERA) senses true RMS value of the input program material
  • Hard-knee compression for limiting or adding sustain
  • Soft-knee (Komfort Kompression) keeps performances lively and natural-sounding
  • Auto Mode provides program-dependent Attack and Release times
  • 7-segment LED display for fast, accurate compression/gain-reduction metering
  • Bi-color Threshold LED indicates when compression is initiated and released
  • True-Bypass circuitry - no signal degradation or gain loss when off
  • Handcrafted in Keeley's Oklahoma, USA factory
Onstage and in the studio, the Keeley Compressor Pro has you covered!

Warranty Info

Sweetwater's FREE 2-Year Total Confidence Coverage Warranty

Extra peace of mind at no extra cost.

  • Save money with FREE parts and labor
  • Get back to making music with the industry's fastest turnaround time
  • Fix it the first time with our award-winning, factory-certified Service Department
Learn More about Total Confidence Coverage

Free 2-year Warranty

Sweetwater's 2-year Total Confidence Coverage™ Warranty gives you extra peace of mind at no extra cost.

Learn More about Total Confidence Coverage
Tools Icon

Save money with free parts & labor!

Fast Icon

Get back to making music with the industry's fastest turnaround time.

Award Icon

Fix it the first time with our award-winning, factory-certified Service Department.

Back to navigation

Tech Specs

  • Pedal Type: Compressor
  • Analog/Digital: Analog
  • Inputs: 1 x 1/4"
  • Outputs: 1 x 1/4"
  • True Bypass: Yes
  • Power Source: 9V DC power supply required (sold separately)
  • Power Usage: 50mA
  • Height: 2"
  • Width: 4.7"
  • Depth: 3.8"
  • Manufacturer Part Number: KCPro

What Makes Our Sales Engineers Great?

Sweetwater Sales Engineers are a world-class team of experts dedicated to you. Hand selected from across the globe, each brings a wealth of experience and expertise in the world of music gear to provide you with unparalleled service completely free of charge. Friendly relationships, real trust, and the right gear are only a call or a click away!

Back to navigation

Customer Reviews

Write your review
Rated 5/5

just one of the best

There are two basic circuit types of compressor, a compression-limiter type and a more overt compression-sustainer type. The Pro unit is more a limiter type and is extremely transparent. It can be used later in the chain more like a mastering compressor. Set moderately you can't hardly tell it is on, till you switch it off. Pretty much every thing you have heard recorded is mastered through a slight limiter-compressor during final mix down and mastering. The Pro unit is a very useful multiple position compressor you can place to just polish the final tone more end of chain after gains or even in the loop. Or up front to just add that bit of thickening and leveling the compressor does. The Auto feature is just amazing. Most do not understand how to adjust release and attack, having the auto feature be able to detect and alter that without changing knobs is great and unique. Basically with compressors, less is more, keep the ratio about 4:1 at the highest for guitar, when attack goes up, release goes down and vise-versa. They are adusted in reverse tandem up and down, one goes up the other opposite. Part of the problem with players hating compressors is how they are adjusted. Add the soft or hard knee and it has it all. Those who hate overt compressors will love the Pro unit. If you are a country player that wants that overt squeeze (chicken pickin) and Ross/Dynacomp pedal like compression, this is probably not your best choice. But if you want a more subtle, transparent, studio quality compression-limiter this is just a great unit. It's been around a few years but still one of Keeley's flagship units.
Rated 5/5

A Necessity.

So, once upon a time, I didn't believe in the power of the pedal. I'm a bass player, and I believed that the best tone was a pure one, relying on the powerful pre-amps my active basses have in them and relying on my head for complete tonal control/shaping. I have learned, and, boy, am I glad that I did! This pedal is absolutely fantastic. I mean that in the most literal sense. The amount of tonal variance you can squeeze out of this puppy, while maintaining an even, professional sound is head spinning. I run this at the end of my loop, taking advantage of the limiting compression to send that perfect signal to my boogie machine. I run the MXR bass compression at the front of my chain for even more shaping/tonal control. What's different about the pedal from 85% of the other compression pedals I see on the market, is that it's a compression "LIMITER." Which is exactly what you need at the end of your pedal loop. It's called the "Pro," for a reason. This little box can give you the most professional sounding, even tone. I can't speak well enough about it. There's a terrific video floating about on Youtube that features Robert Keeley himself talking about this pedal and showing off its sonic capabilities. That video sold me on this pedal, and I'm absolutely happy that I stumbled upon it. If you're on this page, reading the reviews, don't over think it. BUY IT. You can thank me later!
Music background: Former pro, life time gigger, and friendly neighborhood bassist.
Rated 5/5

Worth Every Penny

Robert Keeley is the expert in compressors and this has all you will ever need. Being able to see when the compression kicks in is so essential. The compression is subtle but you can tell it's working. It's not like a Dynacomp although you can use the auto function to get close to that sound. Overall, it's worth the price.
Music background: Drummer and Bassist
Rated 5/5

Perfect for acoustic guitar

I use this in a house of worship with very 'live' acoustics. Three things I love: 1. A fast attack eliminates the string noise from the bridge pickup in my Taylor, and takes the amplified sound of my Lowden to another level of warmth & clarity. 2. Using 4:1 soft knee compression tames the strident treble frequencies and aids in feedback suppression so that I can get full, round bass notes without having to notch them out with EQ. 3. The sum of all the parts is a full, string-to-string balanced acoustic sound: strummed or finger picked. I've been chasing this sound for 30 years and found it! Worth every penny.
Music background: Worship leader, pro musician
Rated 5/5

Great compressor

Title says it all.

An all around great compressor that can be used in a lot of different ways.


There is lot of control with this thing, which is fantastic if you know how to use a compressor... Less so if you're not familiar with them, especially if you don't know how to set the attack and release.

The attack and release relationship is crucial to all styles of compression, whether it's super squashed or transparent. Spend some time with that relationship and it will shine.

Top loading inputs so you can put it side by side with other pedals, love it.

For being 9v it still has a ton of headroom and is quiet.
I compared it to my Origin Effects Cali76 CB and i couldn't hear any noise difference between the two.

The Keeley Compressor Pro is a highly versatile compressor in any situation or style of playing.
Close Close $2,000 Pick Your PRS Giveaway -- input your email address below to enter or click here to learn more.

See giveaway details & rules or check out our past winners!

Success!

Your email, has been entered to win this giveaway. Good Luck!