greentext Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 For the first time in a long time, i've gone back to a 19' head and space in the rack for some additions. I'm in the market for a new compressor, and i've always wanted to explore building a rack compressor into the rig so just looking for some general information from people that have done it. What brands are good? What models are good? Is it worth exploring or should I just stick to pedals? Also from my limited research you can pick up these compressors/limiters for as little £70 on FB marketplace at the min. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johannes Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 For stage use I think any common brand like Drawmer or Dbx will do. Anyway many pedal bass compressors are very good these days and are often much cheaper. Either You choose, be sure to connect it to a point in the signal chain where it does NOT affect the signal sent to the house mixer. As a FOH engineer I’ve had some terrible experiences with overcompressed basses, there is nothing You can do about it behind the mixer. It just sounds continuous mush or roar. As a bass player myself I have done lot of work to perform without one, I feel it sounds clearer and punchier that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greentext Posted January 19 Author Share Posted January 19 Thanks for getting back. Yes I have a few pedal compressors myself, and do really enjoy them just exploring some options as its something i've always wanted to give a go. I would prefer not to use one either and any time I don't need to, I don't. I play in an extremely fast and heavy death metal band so in that setting a compressor is a must and helps me punch through the mix more consistently against the blast beats and low tuned guitars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WinterMute Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 dbx160x if you can find one, still one of the best compressors for bass on the market, or if you're very flush an Empirical Labs Distressor... The secret with any in-rig compressor is where you put it in the signal chain and how you use it, too much compression is never a good idea. The beauty of the 160x is it's soft knee and the auto attack release, which works very well in this unit, not so well in others, it's a very easy unit to get a good result out of. If I had a choice I'd put a Distressor in the rack. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete.young Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 Dunno if @51m0n still frequents this forum but I remember the workshop he did on compression at one of the bass bashes. He had a Focusrite unit in a rack, wired into the amp effects loop which was set to Serial in order to compress the entire signal. Sorry but I don't recall which one. Not sure which part of Essex you're in, if it's the Colchester end I have an old Phonic PCL3200 which you are welcome to borrow to see if you can make it do anything useful. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverfoxnik Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 1 hour ago, pete.young said: Dunno if @51m0n still frequents this forum but I remember the workshop he did on compression at one of the bass bashes. He had a Focusrite unit in a rack, wired into the amp effects loop which was set to Serial in order to compress the entire signal. Sorry but I don't recall which one. Not sure which part of Essex you're in, if it's the Colchester end I have an old Phonic PCL3200 which you are welcome to borrow to see if you can make it do anything useful. Ah, that was possibly the most famous South East Bass Bash workshop of all time @pete.young.. 😁 Happy days... 👍😊 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverfoxnik Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 2 hours ago, WinterMute said: dbx160x if you can find one, still one of the best compressors for bass on the market, or if you're very flush an Empirical Labs Distressor... The secret with any in-rig compressor is where you put it in the signal chain and how you use it, too much compression is never a good idea. The beauty of the 160x is it's soft knee and the auto attack release, which works very well in this unit, not so well in others, it's a very easy unit to get a good result out of. If I had a choice I'd put a Distressor in the rack. +1 for the DBX 160x.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greentext Posted January 19 Author Share Posted January 19 2 hours ago, WinterMute said: dbx160x if you can find one, still one of the best compressors for bass on the market, or if you're very flush an Empirical Labs Distressor... The secret with any in-rig compressor is where you put it in the signal chain and how you use it, too much compression is never a good idea. The beauty of the 160x is it's soft knee and the auto attack release, which works very well in this unit, not so well in others, it's a very easy unit to get a good result out of. If I had a choice I'd put a Distressor in the rack. From my limited research the 160x is the one that popped up a lot and seems to be a fair number of them about. Thanks for weighing in, sounds like exactly what im after 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greentext Posted January 19 Author Share Posted January 19 1 hour ago, pete.young said: Not sure which part of Essex you're in, if it's the Colchester end I have an old Phonic PCL3200 which you are welcome to borrow to see if you can make it do anything useful. Appreciate the kind offer, I frequent Colchester regularly, i'll do some research and if its something i'd like to try, i'll PM you. Cheers again! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itu Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 tc electronic Triple C, a 3 band comp, available as single channel model. I tried it, but as a rack unit is bulky, moved to HyperGravity. Presonus Blue Max, a half rack unit with presets, and fully manual unit. Comp16 is even smaller model, similar to Alesis nano comp (9 VAC in!). Somewhere around here is a Canadian guy, who miniatyrized dbx's Over Easy comp. It is slightly larger than a pot. You can install it to your bass. Very interesting unit. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51m0n Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 Focusrite Compounder was what I used to use in my rack Dbx160 Drawmer Joe Meek 1176 La2a Whatever you can find thats decent project to pro studio will work. Less is more for on stage always on compression, the devil is in the detail of the attack and release times. Keep the ratio low and take the threshold down till you get at absolute most 3dB of compression. 30 to 50ms attack 60 to 100ms release You shouldn't really hear or feel it much until you play in a mix and at that point it just adds a bit of punch and clarity to everything IME 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51m0n Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 1176 and La2a are very expensive specialist comps that realistically you won't be using live in rack form. The new UAD modelling pedals are superb though.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WinterMute Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 (edited) On 20/01/2024 at 10:28, 51m0n said: 1176 and La2a are very expensive specialist comps that realistically you won't be using live in rack form. The new UAD modelling pedals are superb though.... Had a play with the 1176 pedal, it's very good indeed, given that you probably wouldn't want to take a real 1176 out gigging, it's the next best thing. Edited January 24 by WinterMute typo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boodang Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 Drawmer 1973 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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