DaveMuadDib Posted January 28, 2008 Share Posted January 28, 2008 I've just taken the plunge and ordered a Behringer Limiter/Enhancer from eBay for general compressing/peak-smoothing purposes. At £15 including delivery, I'm not going to lose much sleep over it now, but to anyone who has used such a pedal... Seeing as I have an Active Bass (with a switch that makes it passive) was there really any point in me buying this thing? I've never owned such a pedal before, let alone any type of compressor, though I have played about on them before. Will this pedal improve my sound, or are they primarily designed to make passive basses sound active? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassbloke Posted January 28, 2008 Share Posted January 28, 2008 A limiter/enhancer won't make a bass sound active. It's designed to smooth out unwanted peaks in your sound and prevents any nasty spikes in the sound. They have even more of a place with active basses where it quite easy to dial in extreme amounts of bass and treble. Used sparingly, a limiter can make a huge difference to your sound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cris the man Posted January 28, 2008 Share Posted January 28, 2008 if you need to play a driving bassline , compressors are dead handy! spesh if your a fingerplayer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev Posted January 28, 2008 Share Posted January 28, 2008 i could do with one because i get noisy loud peaks when i run my filter through my distortions Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveMuadDib Posted January 29, 2008 Author Share Posted January 29, 2008 Thanks everyone! See, the main problem is that I'm not really sure what the difference is between a compressor/sustainer and limiter/enhancer. I use a pick, and sometimes I go a little bit crazy in a live situation, or if I'm playing something intricate, I can only semi-pluck some of the notes. Will this pedal help balance that out a bit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ped Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=337"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=337[/url] is a good read Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheddatom Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 A limiter is a compressor with the compression ratio set to 1:infinity. The limiter/enhancers you can buy let you bring the ratio down a bit, but it's still very much a hard compression ratio. These pedals are really good if your dynamics are all over the place, or, if you want a very consistent level. The "enhance" circuit could help your passive sound a bit active, but that's really not the point of these pedals. The reason I like them is that you can set the threshold, and the ratio. A compressor/sustainer will generally have less of a hard ratio. That's about all I can say (probably should have kept my mouth shut) The most important point IMHO when deciding what kind of compressor to buy is that the limiter/enhancer pedals (boss+behringer) give you more control over the compression taking place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveMuadDib Posted January 29, 2008 Author Share Posted January 29, 2008 [quote name='cheddatom' post='129936' date='Jan 29 2008, 12:31 PM']A limiter is a compressor with the compression ratio set to 1:infinity. The limiter/enhancers you can buy let you bring the ratio down a bit, but it's still very much a hard compression ratio. These pedals are really good if your dynamics are all over the place, or, if you want a very consistent level. The "enhance" circuit could help your passive sound a bit active, but that's really not the point of these pedals. The reason I like them is that you can set the threshold, and the ratio. A compressor/sustainer will generally have less of a hard ratio. That's about all I can say (probably should have kept my mouth shut) The most important point IMHO when deciding what kind of compressor to buy is that the limiter/enhancer pedals (boss+behringer) give you more control over the compression taking place.[/quote] Thank you very much, that's made it a lot clearer! To be quite honest, I think I would actually quite like the hard ratio and controlability of a Limiter/Enhancer. I'll see how I get on with my Behringer anyway, if I find it strangles my playing too much, I'll just bang it on ebay or bin it or something. The article ped linked to was very handy too, thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ou7shined Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 [quote name='Dave_MuadDib' post='129929' date='Jan 29 2008, 12:22 PM']... I use a pick, and sometimes I go a little bit crazy in a live situation... Will this pedal help balance that out a bit?[/quote] Yes. I got mine for this very reason. I'm a fingerer but when I get carried away I'll slap, pop and do like flamenco fingernail strums (don't know the name for this technique) - originally got it coz when I put my GT6 through the fx loop I've no longer got any limiting front end for when I take my fits, but now I've gone back to playing with the GT6 before the amp again so have comp/lim off that. A smidge of BLE100's "Enhance" is good in any situation (I use it at home to fatten up the sound with out adding extra volume) but it can add hiss tho. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveMuadDib Posted February 1, 2008 Author Share Posted February 1, 2008 [quote name='Ou7shined' post='130722' date='Jan 30 2008, 03:10 PM']Yes. I got mine for this very reason. I'm a fingerer but when I get carried away I'll slap, pop and do like flamenco fingernail strums (don't know the name for this technique) - originally got it coz when I put my GT6 through the fx loop I've no longer got any limiting front end for when I take my fits, but now I've gone back to playing with the GT6 before the amp again so have comp/lim off that. A smidge of BLE100's "Enhance" is good in any situation (I use it at home to fatten up the sound with out adding extra volume) but it can add hiss tho.[/quote] Just got the pedal today and I really think it's excellent! It sounds like it's worked well for you, so I can't wait to gig with this thing! I really think it's going to make a positive difference to my sound, especially since I do have a tendency to "overpluck" in the heat of the moment. Cheers to you, and everyone for the advice on this, has been really informative! Extra props to you for being a Soundgarden fan (at least, I'm assuming you are!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ou7shined Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 Ha ha. Aye, life just wouldn't be the same without a bit o Soundgarden. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev Posted February 2, 2008 Share Posted February 2, 2008 [quote name='Ou7shined' post='130722' date='Jan 30 2008, 03:10 PM']Yes. I got mine for this very reason. [b]I'm a fingerer but when I get carried away I'll slap, pop and do like flamenco fingernail strums[/b] (don't know the name for this technique) - originally got it coz when I put my GT6 through the fx loop I've no longer got any limiting front end for when I take my fits, but now I've gone back to playing with the GT6 before the amp again so have comp/lim off that. A smidge of BLE100's "Enhance" is good in any situation (I use it at home to fatten up the sound with out adding extra volume) but it can add hiss tho.[/quote] i bet the missus loves that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ou7shined Posted February 2, 2008 Share Posted February 2, 2008 [quote name='BassManKev' post='132583' date='Feb 2 2008, 03:05 PM']i bet the missus loves that! [/quote] LOL Aye she can't get enough of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toasted Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 [quote name='bassbloke' post='129570' date='Jan 28 2008, 08:59 PM']A limiter/enhancer won't make a bass sound active. It's designed to smooth out unwanted peaks in your sound and prevents any nasty spikes in the sound. They have even more of a place with active basses where it quite easy to dial in extreme amounts of bass and treble. Used sparingly, a limiter can make a huge difference to your sound.[/quote] +1, on all points. It'll also buffer your signal so you'll suffer no treble roll off from capacitance in log cable runs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.gif.9ad672bb8b84505709f76b39c8c256ec.gif)
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.