Osiris

Nailed it! @Al Krow unfortunately I am no longer in a band so cannot grant your request for audio with and without compression with other musicians, plus, I do not have a DAW for recording any clips at home. While I appreciate that this all sounds like feeble excuses you are, however, more than welcome to bring a laptop with some suitable software over (who knows, I may even offer you a cheese sandwich this time) over so that I can appease your desire. I've got a couple of different poxy pedal comps plus a few models on my Stomp that we can run through, although having been through a number of Helixes you are no doubt familiar with the various options that the Helix family has to offer. Alternatively I'm sure @Cuzzie will happily post his clip again where even though it's only a phone recording you can clearly hear him engage his compressor, although it is a might Cali Compact Bass that he's using which does have it's own magic pre-amp flavour. I think @krispn may also have some useful clips that he may be willing to share. But nobody is forcing anyone to use a compressor. I love them and to me the bass doesn't feel right without compression when I play, but as @Kev and @Jus Lukin have both said, far more eloquently than I have, what's going on is subtle, it's a feel thing, rather than an obvious, in your face change. No, the audience are unlikely to notice unless they're other bass players and even then they're only likely to notice if they use compression themselves. But that doesn't automatically make compressors pointless. If you don't like them or don't want to use them, that's great. Don't. But to me, compression helps my bass sound and feel more alive, it helps my sound sit better with other musicians so I'll carry on using it.

I don't get cross about them but as the OP says there's a lot of misconceptions about them and some widespread misunderstanding. For example, two or three years ago there was a series of threads about compression by a certain relentless individual that were at best, being kind to said individual, as pointless as they were unhelpful. Unfortunately, threads like those just continue to perpetuate misconceptions and spread further confusion about something that a lot of people don't really understand to begin with. That's not meant to be condescending in anyway, it's just that a lot off bass players by their own admission don't really get compressors or compression. I just try to offer a balanced and reasoned counterpoint to threads like those in order to try to bring balance back to The Force.

There ain't half been some clever bastards - Ian Dury and the Blockheads

The golden shore - Warrior Soul

Tie me kangaroo down sport - Uncle Rolf

The eternal - Joy Division

Local boy in the photograph - Stereophonics

Stutter - Elastica

No feelings - Sex Pistols

Institutionalised - Suicidal Tendencies

One second - Paradise Lost

Neat neat neat - The Damned

Compressor misconceptions, interesting thread title but bass compression is a widely misunderstood subject. Unfortunately, a lot of these misunderstandings and misconceptions have appeared on Basschat over the years which only serve to further confuse an already widely misunderstood subject. And unfortunately, a lot of this nonsense is still available when searching the forum and through Google so is likely to perpetuate. My take on it is that some people assume a stomp box compressor is an effect, they expect something spectacular to happen when they engage it, or for something immediately obvious as you'd get from other effect types, filters, synths etc. When this doesn't happen the questions start which is fair enough or assumptions are made that the pedal serves no purpose. This is where, IMO the misconceptions start creeping in. Regardless, while not exactly glamorous compression is a very useful tool in much the same way that EQ is a useful tool. While it can be used as an effect that's not really its point. Possibly the most sagely advice I've seen on BC regarding compression was something along the lines of "don't think like a bass player when using it, think like a sound engineer". That's when it all makes sense. Do you need one? No, not really, but if it's going to help you sit better with the other instruments, why wouldn't you? Can you control your dynamics with your fingers? Yes. To a point. But depending on where you play the same note on the neck (e.g. G at 15th fret on the E string compared to an open G string) the same note can have hugely different dynamic energy levels. While you can play one louder or harder than the other a compressor will smooth these out so both notes will work in the mix despite their different harmonic densities. Compression kills my dynamics. Yes it can if you haven't set it up correctly. In the same way that a poorly EQ'd tone can make you sound awful. But when done right you retain your dynamics and still sit better in the mix. While compression takes a while to understand it's worth doing your homework to get a good understanding of how to get the best out of it. Many of us spend a good chunk of cash on gear chasing the sounds in our heads, we buy certain basses and amps to make us sound great, so why not use compression to help make you slot in alongside the other instruments you're playing with?

Under the sky - The Answer

Just bought a pedal from Dave and it was as simple and easy as it usually is on Basschat. He was friendly throughout with good comms, he kept me updated during the transaction, the pedal itself was immaculate and very well wrapped and it arrived the day after posting. What more can you ask for?

That smell - Lynyrd Skynyrd

Dust bowl - Joe Bonamassa (however you spell it)

Down in a tube station at midnight - The Jam

Blitzkrieg Bop - The Ramones

Who knows - Therapy

I think Fender supply 34" scale strings on all their new Mustangs, at least the ones that I've seen. I have 2 Mustangs, one has through body stringing and the other has a regular BBOT style bridge. I've replaced the stings on both basses with 34" rounds (I'm not really a flats guy) and have not had any issues even when refitting the strings after taking them off to clean the fretboard. You do, however, have the thicker, non-tapered part of the E string wrapped around the machine head post so when fitting them new, so when cutting the strings allow for no more than 2 to 3 wraps around the post. I've been doing it for around 3 years without any problems.

Yet another post from me. Finally met with Frank today to hand over the bass that he paid for 3 months ago. As always, he was a gentleman from start to finish. We haven't decided what to call the third in line of our hateful spawn yet, nor yet the finer detail of inception. But we're working on it.

Cheers @Frank Blank it's always a pleasure. And thanks for not grassing me up to the feds for public indecency regarding the err, bush incident.

Welcome Home (Sanitarium) - Metallica

Just because - Jane's Addiction