Osiris

Recommending compression settings is difficult as there's so many variables to consider, so what works for some will almost certainly not work for others. There's also different types of compressor design that can impart different qualities on the signal. And I know I keep banging on about it but to get the best out of a compressor you really need to understand what each control does and how they interact with each another. Have a look on Ovnilab at the overview pages as they're really good at at explaining the relative complexities in understandable language. But it's still down to you to apply that knowledge to make the magic happen 😉 But from what you've said you're looking for I'd suggest a ratio of around 4:1, always a good starting point, a hard knee setting if you have control over it, and ideally a FET or VCA based circuit as they're usually inherently quicker and punchier sounding than optical compressors. But these are just guidelines rather than rules. I All good pointers. But there other options to explore that you may prefer, for example, I prefer faster attack and release times as they work better with my heavy handed playing. You can also experiment with lowering the threshold to catch every note but using a lower ratio, 2:1 for example, to give everything a gentle squeeze. There's no real absolute rules to compression but it's easier to get it wrong than to get something that works for you if you're just fiddling about without really understanding what you're doing. It's definitely worth sinking a couple of hours homework in, and if you can do that while twiddling some knobs it might help things make more sense. It's also worth trying different settings with the band at volume as compression always makes more sense in context than in isolation.

Thanks for the clarification. In that case the PC-2A might be worth a look, but as Jack tightly says...

Not trying to be difficult, just get an idea of where you're coming from... Can I ask why your want a valve driven compressor? As far as I'm aware, most valve based designs actually use the valve for the post compression gain stage and not to do the compression itself. From what I've read, the Mark Bass pedal mentioned earlier is the only unit other than some high end studio gear that actually uses to valve for compression duties and not just for make up gain. How much difference this actually makes in reality, you'd have try for yourself and see what you think - I'd guess not as much as you might expect. There's a number of different compression types, optical, FET, VCA etc, and many different designs of each type and each have their own inherent characteristics, neither better or worse than any of the others designs, just different depending on what you want. Personally I wouldn't but a compressor just because it has a valve inside unless it was doing something that I couldn't get from a different unit. If you want mellow warmth, I'd look at an optical design. Yes the PC-2A has a valve in it but I suspect some of its warmth is coming from the inherent characteristics of an optical compression circuit. It cannot be stressed enough, do your homework if you want to get compression right. Read up, learn what each parameter does and how they interact. Only then do they make sense.

Joel very kindly sent me up an IEM case free of charge. I'll be throwing some money into the charity bucket as a tank you. Top marks, cheers!

Can do, but not sure I have anything helpful to add really 🤷‍♂️ I have tried the Mk1 Lusithand Alma and it's a very good unit - and I say that as someone who doesn't really care for optical compressors but of the several I've tied this was by far my favourite. Haven't tried the Mk2 so no idea how they compare. Optical comps tend to have a slow slow attack by their inherent nature and can get a bit 'grabby' with my heavy handed playing which is something I don't care for about them generally, however, the Mk1 Alma didn't have that slow grabby thing going on which is what I really liked about it. It's a very good unit, IMO, and I liked it a lot, but not quite enough for it to displace my humble Boss LMB-3 which I've been using on and off for 20 odd years. It's not the most sophisticated or costly unit, but it works better than anything else I've tried for my playing style and I haven't found anything else that adds the sheer amount of mid-range punch that you can get from it. The Alma is one of the so call character comps that imparts its own thing on your tone, and it does to a point but it wasn't as pronounced as I'd expected from what I'd read about it. That's neither a good nor bad thing, just an observation. But as a simple, easy to use pedal it sounds very good and does what it's supposed to do. But it's not one if you want granular control over your compressor. I've not tried any of the Empress models, but they have a reputation for being very clean and transparent which is not something I want from a compressor so I've never bothered to track one down but would happily give one a go if ever the opportunity presented itself. But the Boss BC-1X is very good, I can see why fretmeister likes it, it's definitely transparent and a very clever bit of kit. If I was recording it'd probably be one I'd go for, but as I'm almost exclusively a gigging musician the simple LMB-3 works better for what I want.

Not sure how helpful this is but I tried running my LMB-3 in the fx loop to try running parallel compression and couldn't really get what I wanted from it, the LMB lost a chunk of volume and a lot of its characteristic punch you get from running it in series. So I always run the LMB into the preamp, not in the loop. I don't use much else in the way of effects as such, it's more utilitarian stuff but it's all in series with nothing in the fx look as it sounds more pleasing for my tastes. What settings were you using on the limiter when it was killing the sound of your other pedals? Without intending to be patronising, it's very easy to get compression wrong so I'm wondering if maybe the limiter was set with something extreme that was overloading the following pedals?

Shameless plug but this does the warm bluesy drive thing better than most pedals I've tried over the years.

The Warwick I had was one of their dubiously named 'Rock Bass' models which is their relatively affordable series, not that there was anything about it that made it feel, sound or play like a cheap and nasty instrument. So if you're looking at a custom shop model then I would expect it to be flawless in every regard. And as you already own the full sized version I'd expect the short scale to virtually identical, just a little more compact. Do you know if it's a standard sized body with a shorter neck? Or has the body size been proportionally reduced in relation to scale length? If it's the former it may initially look and feel a little different to what you're used to but a couple of hours playing should be help you adjust to it.

Not the 30" scale Thumb, (does such a model exist?) but I have previously owned a short scale Warwick Corvette, which I seem to think is something like 30.6". Ergonomically speaking it was very comfortable, light weight, balanced perfectly and had that more modern neck profile, i.e. slim front to back and tall~ish top to bottom, if that makes sense? No issues on that front IME other than the phallic top horn which I was somewhat ambivalent about depending on ones state of arousal. Tonally, it sounded like a Warwick with its stock MEC pickups, plenty of loss and highs but perhaps a little low mid-shy for my tastes, but a big pleasing punchy sound from the passive MEC's. There's also an active version with a 2 band EQ which will give you more options should you require them but I never felt anything was lacking from the passive version. I only moved in on as it was just slightly longer scale than my other basses, both 30", and muscle memory kept tripping me up whenever I picked it up, although that's a failing on my part and not an issue with the bass itself. Extrapolating the above to a short scale Thumb, I can't imagine there'd be anything to be concerned about.

The LPF on the Beta V is actually a mid control and not a low pass filter, no idea why they called it an LPF when it plainly isn't 🤷 Check out the bass the world review for an idea of what it can do.

Shameless plug - This fits the edge-of-breakup bill perfectly. I also have a spark booster and I'd describe this as kind of similar but 'bigger' sounding and with more control over the EQ, and possibly a little more Ampeg sounding than the more neutral voiced spark.

Have a look at the Fender Downtown Express, that's a cracking unit. Very flexible 3 band EQ section and the drive sound is excellent, IMO. More of a full, warm vintage vibe than modern scooped clank, but all the better for it, IMO. The compressor is OK, nothing special but does the job but it's still infinitely better than the one on the Battalion!

I briefly had the EHX Battalion a couple of years ago and couldn't get rid of it fast enough. As a clean preamp it's very good, the 4 band EQ is sensibly voiced and works well. But that's all that was good about it. The distortion could best be described as cheap and nasty. Imagine the cheapest, fizziest distortion pedal you could buy played through the cheapest, crappiest little starter guitar combo that were common back in the 80's, and you'd be in the right ball park sound wise. It was so bad it was actually funny - until I remembered that I'd paid good money for it. It sounded decent on the couple of YouTube videos I saw prior to buying it but there were no doubt doubt judicial amounts of post-production applied to polish the immense turd that it is in the real world. The compressor cut huge amounts of high end and definition from the signal and was unusable on the clean channel, unless you wanted your bass to sound like it was being played through the neighbours TV through the wall. It helped a little when trying to tame the over the top fizzy distortion, but not enough to make either of them viable for anything other than, well, anything really. And because you can't switch the compressor on and off with your feet, or have any control over it other than on or off, it's a pointless addition to the pedal. Having been through numerous pre-amp pedals over the years this one remains the most underwhelming unit of them all by a mile. 3 out of 10 for the clean channel but otherwise avoid at all costs - unless you really must have that cheap and nasty 80's transistor guitar amp sound.

Absolutely first class service above and beyond the call of duty from Lozz, I bought a pedal board from him which he very generously dropped off at my house, this was his own suggestion and not me being bone idle or spinning him a sob story! The unit itself is immaculate and we had an all too brief chat about all things bass. Cheers Lozz 👍

Yes, definitely turn the Enhance control down below 9 o'clock, anything above that just adds noise. No Idea why Boss think it was a good addition to the pedal but there you are 🤷 I've had a play side by side of the LMB-3 and the BC1-X and they are different in how they react to the bass, at least with my ham fisted playing! I'd describe the BC1-X as more transparent and possibly a bit 'bigger' sounding for wont of a suitably vague description. It's also virtually impossible to get a bad sound out of. The LMB-3 is a little more obvious sounding and the more punchy sounding of the two. It's fixed attack is also inherently faster than the BC1-X. My preference was for the LMB-3 but they're both great units and you can't go wrong with either depending on what you want from your compressor.

Overrated: Trace Elliot. I had an SMX amp for around 10 years and grew to hate it with a passion. Stingrays. Every tone you could want as long as it's that overbearing nasal midrange. It upsets my delicate sensibilities far more than it should. Sunburst. Whoever thought that nappy chromatography would make a great finish for an instrument was gravely mistaken. Tort scratch plates. They were drab in the 50's and haven't improved in the intervening 7 decades. That widely imitated Ampeg sound, the bloated lows and clanky high end with nothing in between. Underrated: Peavey have always churned out some cracking gear but don't always seem to be considered in the same league as some of the other big names. The humble Boss LMB-3. Of the all the compressors I've been through, of which there are many, this one is my favourite. It's cheap, simple to use and just does something that I haven't been able to coax out of any other unit.

Just received a pedal from Simon, it was well secured in bomb proof packaging! Cheers!

Dropped in to pick up a pedal board from Bernard last night, no hassle, no drama and I was made to feel very welcome. Cheers Bernard!

If you're going to start using the C word I'm afraid I'm going to have to report you to the mods... 😃

Likewise, my limiter sounds more natural before the HPF. I've tried running the HPF into the limiter but it made the sound thin, but at the same settings post limiter it was punching like a good 'un.

Jack recently bought a T shirt from me. Great comms and swift payment made for a very quick and easy sale. Cheers Jack!