I've played them all it seems. Many listed in this thread are good, and I've owned and sold a lot of them.
But the best compressor I've ever played (because it smooths your signal without leaving any compressor trace) is the RAF Mirage. It smokes the rest, imo.
But when playing with gain, it's always important to only use a little. The best phrase I ever heard regarding compressor usage is this: "If you can hear the compressor, you're using too much."