Compressors with bass, is it really that necessary?

[Jus Lukin]

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Edited February 28, 2022 by Jus Lukin

[RustInPeace90]

Aye a lot of any bass players' sound comes from how the engineer mixes it live but it's still important to have the sound you want and like coming from the speakers behind you.

Alas, last night kinda settled my "to compress or not...?" question and the answer is... No! I tweaked my Sansamp a little bit last night in sound check and ran that directly in to my amp and in all honesty, it was the best bass tone I've ever had. We were damn loud last night but every thing sat so well together both on and off stage. I noticed there was more low end in the tone as well which was VERY useful

I got complimented many times by different people after our set for the way my bass sounded too which is an even bigger plus.

[Bass Pedal Geek]

I guess it's not 'necessary' in the sense that you couldn't possible play a gig without one. I have played plenty without comp without any problems. That said, it's nice to have and I sometimes use it as a subtle even-out-the peaks and sometimes as a squash-it-to-the-max tool. Most of the time as the first and always on, though, but wouldn't at all panic if I forgot to bring a compressor or if it failed me mid-gig.

[cheddatom]

just on this "I want to control my own dynamics thankyou very much" point...

If you pluck the string harder, you get a more middly, aggressive sound. You might get some "clank" from the fretboard as well. This makes the note sound louder, even if it isn't technically louder. A compressor won't change that.

So, you can actually vary the "dynamic feel" of your playing, without giving the sound engineer a headache.