DrBike Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 I've got a question about where to put my compressor/noise gate in the "chain" I've got an old Alesis 3630 which is basically 2 compressor/limiter/noise gates together in one rack mount unit and I decided to try using it to see if I could improve the sound. My question is should I put it between my bass and amp (bass -> effect > amp) or link it via the effect send/return in the amp (bass -> amp -> effect -> amp) At the moment I'm using the 2nd option and it's sounding pretty good but it occured to me that it may not be the "correct" way to do things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ikay Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 (edited) General wisdom is to put a compressor as the first thing in the effects signal chain. If it accepts an instrument level input then this can be before the amp (and before any other effects). If it needs a line level input then run it from the effects loop as you're already doing. I run a DBX160A from the series effects loop of my amp. That's a general guideline anyway, as with most things there are no hard and fast rules. You can probably do the exact reverse and still get a decent result! Edited April 19, 2012 by ikay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51m0n Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 First, last, in the middle, depends what you need to achieve. Compression first to fatten things up before the effects, limiting last to catch any nasty peaks exacerbated by any fx running is another option. I run mine in the fx loop of my rig (it only accepts line level signals), and all my fx are pedals go in fornt of the amp after the bass. Works perfectly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul_5 Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 My dBx 1066 runs after the FX but before the pre, seems to work for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBike Posted April 19, 2012 Author Share Posted April 19, 2012 [quote name='51m0n' timestamp='1334846381' post='1622282'] Compression first to fatten things up before the effects, limiting last to catch any nasty peaks exacerbated by any fx running is another option. [/quote] Aha - I think that I've got mine set up the other way around (limiter then compressor). I'll switch things around. In fact cos of the way the flexibility of the Alesis unit I could go bass -> compressor -> amp input -> limiter (via effect send/return) -> amp Thanks for the responses - they've been most helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51m0n Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 If you limit first you are knocking the transient peaks off before you hit any other fx. This may be exactly what you want, but it may not.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBike Posted April 19, 2012 Author Share Posted April 19, 2012 [quote name='51m0n' timestamp='1334857961' post='1622539'] If you limit first you are knocking the transient peaks off before you hit any other fx. This may be exactly what you want, but it may not.... [/quote] Some experimentation is in order I think Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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