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Compressor Pedals in FX Loop?


Sibob
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Hurrow Mr Bwix!

Ummm, I'm looking for a replacement for my Aphex Punch Factroy, probably the EBS MultiComp, but i think i would miss the DI out of the PF.
To effect the DI signal from my head, could i place the EBS in the FX loop? Or does it have to be in-line for the best results?

Cheers

Si

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[quote name='Sibob' post='92894' date='Nov 22 2007, 05:39 PM']Hurrow Mr Bwix!

Ummm, I'm looking for a replacement for my Aphex Punch Factroy, probably the EBS MultiComp, but i think i would miss the DI out of the PF.
To effect the DI signal from my head, could i place the EBS in the FX loop? Or does it have to be in-line for the best results?

Cheers

Si[/quote]

Interesting question...

In [i]theory [/i]a compressor should be first however I have my EBS Multicomp and it is in the middle of my affects chain. :)

A few weeks ago I bought an EBS OctaBass and following the Octabass instructions I put:

Bass->MultiComp->Octabass->EQ->MXR bass auto Q->...

The sound was good but the octaver could not track the bass properly. I moved the Octabass first:

Bass->Octabass->MultiComp->EQ->MXR bass auto Q->...

and it tracked beautifully.

After a while I noticed that everytime I turned on the [i]MXR bass auto Q[/i], the last effect of the chain (Aphex Xciter) started to clip. So I decided to move the MultiComp down:

Bass->Octabass->MXR bass auto Q->EQ->MultiComp->Chorus-Reverb->Xciter->Amp

It works great. No more clipping.

In a nutshell: rules give you just a starting point. Try different combination and you may end up with a unique but very effective configuration.

Regarding putting the Multicomp in the effect loop, it depends how your effect loop works. You can try but the signal might be a little bit too high. Moreover, if the master volume control is before the SEND output, the compressor would receive a signal that change amplitude when you turn up/down the volume. It might be what you look for but in practice, the compression would depend on how loud you amp is and not on how hard you hit the strings.

I hope this helps.

Silent Fly

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I agree with the above. The multicomp does have a pad switch on the side to stop the input section from peaking..(For active basses) but to be honest, its not a line level device and would probably be better off before the amp.

Though as has been suggested above, FX loops do vary from amp to amp and some can be reduced down to instrument level on the send and boosted on the return to make up the volume again. (usually on guitar amps though)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Bear in mind the two options will have different potential effects (although how audible the difference will be is open to question).

With the bass plugged into the compressor and then into the amp the compression is occurring BEFORE the preamp stage of the amp. The peramp is processing a compressed signal. The compressor might be set to avoid any possible peaks reaching the preamp.

With the compressor in the FX loop it's working on the signal from the preamp before it is sent to the power amp. If the FX loop is "post-EQ" then the signal received by the compressor comes after all the EQ on your amp. It's a different effect.

No right or wrong here - just different.

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