51m0n

A zoom interface will get you out of the box. Within a couple of weeks you'll want something better. If you get bitten by the bug you'll want an update to that to improve the quality (less drop outs, more solid USB implementation, better preamps etc).

Day job these days is Software Architect for a Fintech/Regtech firm. Currently implementing a global anti terrorist funding/anti money laundering system. By the middle of this year it will be in production, and by the year after that there is a fair chance most of you will be in its databases... Pretty cool tech involved to be fair, most interesting thing I've ever been asked to design. Scales to literally global proportions, very very big data indeed.

Weird one. 50th Birthday party, got asked to play, punter knew what to expect (we aren't your typical party function funk covers band). We arrive, set up - very reverby splashy sounding room, sprung floor to boot!. Soundcheck has some challenges, but we get through them no worries. Play the gig for the surprised birthday boy and friends and family, who pretty much ignore us throughout, no clapping to speak of. Really weird atmosphere for us as a result. Afterwards we tear down and politely say our goodbyes assuming we had gone down like a lead balloon - the only people dancing were three 10 year old girls after all... Apparently they all loved us and thought we were great, and the music was superb. Well you could have let us know that!!!! Sheesh.....

A slapped/popped bass note has a huge amount of info above 300Hz, most bass rigs output more harmonic content rather than the fundamental frequency of the note played. Certainly on the lowest 5 frets of the B, E and A string. The entire point of the dual compression is to control the 'meat' of the signal with the low compression separately from the info in the transient spikes and harmonic content. The top end can be set for a faster attack to catch the transient if desired, without stomping on the low end.

Not so, the crossover ranges from 70Hz to 1KHz with noon being at 150Hz on the dial marked X-over. That's the big dial offset to the left in the middle of the pedal Seriously that's all you need for dual compression... For slap I would probably look to set up the low end compressor to be a middling attack, about 4:1 ratio getting a consistent 5dB of gain reduction. As long a release as I can get whilst allowing the compressor to reset between notes. Trying to just get some solid leveling and punch. The top end is the 'character' though so you can go a lot of ways with this, for very obvious compression then (knowing the Becos comps) I'd go for a soft knee, very very fast attack (just not distorting), ratio of 8:1, bring the threshold down until I can really hear it grab the note hard. I'd probably have the X-over set to around 500Hz, but maybe higher. If I didnt want to 'intrude' on dynamics feel I'd back this right off though and use technique to keep the pops even Remember you can eq after or before a compressor for different objectives, but the amp eq will be fine, if you want to remove some mids going into the compressor and have a two pick up bass, just select both pickups equally, that will lower the mids on its own...

Errrm, yeah, built in to all the compressors that I would call full featured is a decent meter, you cant do compression 'properly' without it IMO. So, the full Becos range, Empress, Cali76 even the MXR IIRC. The bigger the meter (ie the more LEDs) the better...

I went from an sa450 to an EA iAmp Classic, 1200w monster, and completely agree! Very odd having to dime the volume at gigs, but it's very strong down low, so it can be very easy to dismiss it as not loud enough, it is but I've had to really work on finding the best eq settings to get it to work right within the context of my band. It's a killer amp though...

Why the Becos dual comp in particular? One of my favourite bands with monstrous slapination is The Infectious Grooves. Trujillo used two compressors in the studio, one for highs, one for lows. This is the only dual band compressor I've ever heard of with decent metering on both channels. I reviewed Al's single channel Becos a while back, it's absolutely superb. This is like that on steroids for slap. The absolute dogs bollox...

Stop mucking about, this is the one mate:- https://becosfx.com/product/compiq-twain-dual-band-stacked-pro-compressor-for-bass-and-guitar/ 🤩

It won't fit on my board at the moment 😭

The reasoning is as follows:- Compression at the start of the fx chain is likely to mean that all fx that follow will get a steadier signal, especially good for tracking fx like synths and octavers. Less obviously useful for overdrives and distortions (can depend because a compressor is a transient shaper). The limiter at the end is basically there to stop peaks from certain fx damaging speakers/pa. In normal use nothing should be causing the limiter to start limiting, but a heavy filter sweep or whacked out synth or octaver patch is going to be protected against. I know @pantherairsoft used to use a pretty mad board for his EDM stuff and I think he told me he was investigating this approach at a bassbash years ago. I wouldn't exactly call this a common approach for less ambitious setups though.

From the Keeley page:- With feed forward compressors that use this type of true-RMS detector you use a single time constant parameter So we have no idea how long that detector is averaging over. In short I cant answer you with a simple yes/no,but its using a chip closely related to the on in the Becos. Probably not a 'true' limiter circuit then. Can you set it up to behave like a limiter with a slower attack time though, well no, you dont have an attack control so not at all.

Even the fastest attack setting on a compressor circuit is not truly a limiter. Likewise a slow attack setting on a limiter does not behave quite like a compressor.

Nah its more simple than all of that really. The circuits must be different to truly be a limiter vs a compressor. Its all about how the device measures the input level. A compressor will average the input level over a (sometimes very) short time so an RMS over a few milliseconds (although longer in some circuits ie opto just because it takes time to light up the element). So if your compressor measures level as an average of the level over the last n milliseconds it can never truly limit the front edge of a transient, because that is not the point in time when the average level over time has actually changed to exceed your threshold. A true limiter circuit is designed to measure level in a far more instantaneous way, obviously there is always some delay but an 1176 can have attack times in micro seconds only because it is measuring the input level super quickly. An La2a cant possibly be as fast, but then it isnt a limiter at all.

Nah its more simple than all of that really. The circuits must be different to truly be a limiter vs a compressor. Its all about how the device measures the input level. A compressor will average the input level over a (sometimes very) short time so an RMS over a few milliseconds (although longer in some circuits ie opto just because it takes time to light up the element). So if your compressor measures level as an average of the level over the last n milliseconds it can never truly limit the front edge of a transient, because that is not the point in time when the average level over time has actually changed to exceed your threshold. A true limiter circuit is designed to measure level in a far more instantaneous way, obviously there is always some delay but an 1176 can have attack times in micro seconds only because it is measuring the input level super quickly. An La2a cant possibly be as fast, but then it isnt a limiter at all.

Yeah, but a comp even set really fast isn't a true limiter.

Ooh matron!

I would always advocate many stages of compression each doing less than you can notice for specific areas of the entire envelope of a sound. Especially a complex sound (mixed types of envelope). Super especially if you want the end result to be ultra transparent....

It might take a couple of minutes fiddling to figure it out yes 🤪🤩

Oh my! https://becosfx.com/product/compiq-twain-dual-band-stacked-pro-compressor-for-bass-and-guitar/ That is just, awesome!!

No reason not to try it. In mixes/masters I find many layers of gentler compression on channels/groups or in parallel often produces the desired effect a lot better (ie with less unwanted artifacts) than one crashingly heavy dollop of compression in one go...

Unless you are willing to pay big bucks just don't bother, use a vst. Seriously, never heard a tube pre that does noticeable 'magicks' that wasn't eye-wateringly expensive. Tubetech pres are frickin awesome

Yep it's a form of filtered parallel compression that acts as a kind of exciter, used almost exclusively on vocals IIRC. Dead easy to do in a DAW.

Anyone interested in the compression used in Motown recordings check out this link, especially the box about the kit in snakepit https://www.soundonsound.com/people/four-tops-reach-out-ill-be-there-classic-tracks A whole lot of compression as a result of a tube console, tape and even available mics... Also the di that Jameson used, was a tube di... They also said used Fairchild compressors for mastering.

Jameson's bass tone definitely included being pushed hard to tape for saturation and tape compression.... And then there's the mastering compression after that....