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NUX Sculpture Compressor


bnt
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I'm in the market for a small compressor, and I know there are good options out there such as the Keeley Bassist, but I wonder whether anyone has any experience with this pedal on bass? It's about £35, and has a blend control, an unusual feature at this price point. It also has two operating modes: Clean and Clip, where the latter reduces the headroom and allows the signal to clip, turning it in to a gain stage you could blend in. There are only a few YT videos of this pedal in action, and none of those appear to use bass at all. At that price, I might just take a punt and report back.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I actually have a SpectraComp, kind-of: it’s half of my SpectraDrive, which is OK. I’m putting together a small “affordaboard”, though, so after thinking a bit more I ordered the Sculpture and it arrived today. First impressions are that it’s a very clean “sustainer” type compression, it reminded me of a Boss CS-3. That’s in normal mode, while the clip mode adds a tiny amount of hair, becoming more noticeable if you engage more gain after it. A little grit on the attack. Not a huge difference but another flavor that I can see myself using. Very good for the price, nice and quiet. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

After a bit more time with this pedal, I'm liking it more. The description on their website doesn't mention bass and undersells the pedal a bit. Clip Mode is a misnomer: it's more of a higher compression mode which makes clipping a possibility. I had Level set quite low to match the bypassed level, and with Blend and Sustain on full, I get just a little clipping - just a slight change in tone. To get more clipping I had to crank up the output level, which is not what I want. I don't need Sustain on full anyway. The outcome of all this is that the controls offer enough scope to set up two usable tones: one clean with moderate compression, one a bit less clean with a bit more compression.

 

I saw one review on Reddit where the guy complained about some loss of bottom end with a Telecaster. On bass I'm not getting anything like that. I don't hear it adding noise either, though it will compress any noise coming in, of course. At the low price I think it's a great little musical compressor.

Edited by bnt
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