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too different to work in the same Circuit without anything else changing.You "can" set up the circuit so that "ANY" device will work.
Here's a design:

This will "work" for any device with these minimum specs:
Mu > 20
hFE > 50
Idss > 1mA, Vto < +/-3V
But...
It is not a great use of any of these parts. The input impedance is lower than a tube/FET allows. The voltage gain is just 9 or 10, which is less than a tube or BJT allows. The current gain is just 9 or10, which is far below the intrinsic current gain of any of these devices.
The distortion is quite small up to a point and then it clips cleanly. No "soft compression" such as many people think a tube offers.
Tube or JFET cathode resistance is ~~1K; input overload typically near a Volt. Transistor emitter resistance (at 0.2mA) is 150 Ohms; input overload uniformly 25mV-50mV. They are very different devices. To work them in the "same" circuit I slagged it with so much resistance that the device differences become small.
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how can I objectively compare the difference in using a tube to compress a signal or using transistors to compress a signal.Then build the BEST transistor mangler you can. Build the BEST tube mangler you can. For completeness you should fool with FETs also.
All of this will keep you busy for three lifetimes.
And your taste for what is "best" may change in the process.
Note that while amplifiers "do" mangle large signals, this is often not the best way. For predictable steady-state manglement it is often better to use biased diodes. For plucked music it is often fun to have R-C time constants which change the mangle over the duration of a note.
Steal a happy circuit and wring the changes on it.
Ah.... you want a thesis to research and defend. Not a box you will play-through down at the Drunken Frog tavern. Then build the circuit above, abuse it, write-up your findings, and note that the circuit may sound different when optimized for the device. While it may not be a good lesson in "compression", it is still a fine exercise of your fact-finding and writing-up talents.