Looking for the right compressor

[janmaat]

Hello,

I'm playing a self-made wash tub bass in a band, which has a piezo pickup and sounds overall quite weired. First of all, it does hardly have any harmonies above 330Hz. Second, it has very little attack AND very little sustain - the plastic bucket just gives a deep "whooomp" that actually reminds me of a tuba. Now it's a bit hard to keep anything going in the quieter songs of the band - more sustain would be great, but I'd also like to emphasize the attack. So I probably need a compressor. That being said, I'd use the same for the very nice fretless Godlyke Deity that I play through the same Minimark amp... Oh the band website is [url="http://lonesomecowboysfromhell.com/"]http://lonesomecowboysfromhell.com/[/url] where we've got some demo tracks up

While I have some theoretical understanding of compression, it seems most pedals come with confusing knobs. It would be really great to get one that actually has one saying "ratio" and one "threshold" and maybe another one saying "attack"... rather than "suck" or "enhance"... So when looking at compressor reviews such as [url="http://www.ovnilab.com/"]http://www.ovnilab.com/[/url] makes me feel that I can't see the tree for the wood or how you say... Hence, please give me advise from your experience. Is there anything that would come close to a pro compression, but doesn't cost the world? What do you use or recommend? Appreciated!

[danny-79]

Compression is something that you can go on about talking about forever, confuses me :s
have a read here
[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=337"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=337[/url]

[krth1985]

Marshall ED1 blurb, should explain it!

The Compressor pedal senses the level of the incoming guitar signal and, as the signal level decays, the gain of the internal circuitry is boosted to provide extra level and hence sustain. The attack control modifies the dynamic response of the guitar signal (the effect of plucking a string) and allows you to achieve a range of effects from rounded and mellow to percussive and funky. The Compressor also features an Emphasis control which allows you to assign compression and target the frequencies you want to compress. This means that you can, for example, tighten up or compress your bass notes and let your treble notes ring out.

[dan670844]

[quote name='janmaat' post='855449' date='Jun 2 2010, 09:52 PM']Hello,

I'm playing a self-made wash tub bass in a band, which has a piezo pickup and sounds overall quite weired. First of all, it does hardly have any harmonies above 330Hz. Second, it has very little attack AND very little sustain - the plastic bucket just gives a deep "whooomp" that actually reminds me of a tuba. Now it's a bit hard to keep anything going in the quieter songs of the band - more sustain would be great, but I'd also like to emphasize the attack. So I probably need a compressor. That being said, I'd use the same for the very nice fretless Godlyke Deity that I play through the same Minimark amp... Oh the band website is [url="http://lonesomecowboysfromhell.com/"]http://lonesomecowboysfromhell.com/[/url] where we've got some demo tracks up

While I have some theoretical understanding of compression, it seems most pedals come with confusing knobs. It would be really great to get one that actually has one saying "ratio" and one "threshold" and maybe another one saying "attack"... rather than "suck" or "enhance"... So when looking at compressor reviews such as [url="http://www.ovnilab.com/"]http://www.ovnilab.com/[/url] makes me feel that I can't see the tree for the wood or how you say... Hence, please give me advise from your experience. Is there anything that would come close to a pro compression, but doesn't cost the world? What do you use or recommend? Appreciated![/quote]

Compression the easy way get an EBS or even better if you can find an old Trace Elliot SMX pedal they are the dogs. The SMX pedal is a compressor and enhancer, I.e it brings up the volume of the quiet bits ( not a lot of people know that! ) Turn the lows up halfway don't compress any highs you will loose any attack you have. They are not studio quality by a long shot,but they do the job for bass exactly in the spot. It will certain help a great deal. Just pay attention to your input gain to make sure you aren't overloading the preamp. Alternatively see if you can get hold of an SMX preamp. I still have not found anything better to control my fretless sound. Well there is the SWR Marcus Miller preamp is very good, but at £1800 it F****** should be!! but its way to fiddly. SMX button press, low compress halfway, gain adjust done Mwah!!

[dan670844]

[quote name='janmaat' post='855449' date='Jun 2 2010, 09:52 PM']Hello,

I'm playing a self-made wash tub bass in a band, which has a piezo pickup and sounds overall quite weired. First of all, it does hardly have any harmonies above 330Hz. Second, it has very little attack AND very little sustain - the plastic bucket just gives a deep "whooomp" that actually reminds me of a tuba. Now it's a bit hard to keep anything going in the quieter songs of the band - more sustain would be great, but I'd also like to emphasize the attack. So I probably need a compressor. That being said, I'd use the same for the very nice fretless Godlyke Deity that I play through the same Minimark amp... Oh the band website is [url="http://lonesomecowboysfromhell.com/"]http://lonesomecowboysfromhell.com/[/url] where we've got some demo tracks up

While I have some theoretical understanding of compression, it seems most pedals come with confusing knobs. It would be really great to get one that actually has one saying "ratio" and one "threshold" and maybe another one saying "attack"... rather than "suck" or "enhance"... So when looking at compressor reviews such as [url="http://www.ovnilab.com/"]http://www.ovnilab.com/[/url] makes me feel that I can't see the tree for the wood or how you say... Hence, please give me advise from your experience. Is there anything that would come close to a pro compression, but doesn't cost the world? What do you use or recommend? Appreciated![/quote]

Compression the easy way get an EBS or even better if you can find an old Trace Elliot SMX pedal they are the dogs. The SMX pedal is a compressor and enhancer, I.e it brings up the volume of the quiet bits ( not a lot of people know that! ) Turn the lows up halfway don't compress any highs you will loose any attack you have. They are not studio quality by a long shot,but they do the job for bass exactly in the spot. It will certain help a great deal. Just pay attention to your input gain to make sure you aren't overloading the preamp. Alternatively see if you can get hold of an SMX preamp. I still have not found anything better to control my fretless sound. Well there is the SWR Marcus Miller preamp is very good, but at £1800 it F****** should be!! but its way to fiddly. SMX button press, low compress halfway, gain adjust done Mwah!!

[dan670844]

[quote name='janmaat' post='855449' date='Jun 2 2010, 09:52 PM']Hello,

I'm playing a self-made wash tub bass in a band, which has a piezo pickup and sounds overall quite weired. First of all, it does hardly have any harmonies above 330Hz. Second, it has very little attack AND very little sustain - the plastic bucket just gives a deep "whooomp" that actually reminds me of a tuba. Now it's a bit hard to keep anything going in the quieter songs of the band - more sustain would be great, but I'd also like to emphasize the attack. So I probably need a compressor. That being said, I'd use the same for the very nice fretless Godlyke Deity that I play through the same Minimark amp... Oh the band website is [url="http://lonesomecowboysfromhell.com/"]http://lonesomecowboysfromhell.com/[/url] where we've got some demo tracks up

While I have some theoretical understanding of compression, it seems most pedals come with confusing knobs. It would be really great to get one that actually has one saying "ratio" and one "threshold" and maybe another one saying "attack"... rather than "suck" or "enhance"... So when looking at compressor reviews such as [url="http://www.ovnilab.com/"]http://www.ovnilab.com/[/url] makes me feel that I can't see the tree for the wood or how you say... Hence, please give me advise from your experience. Is there anything that would come close to a pro compression, but doesn't cost the world? What do you use or recommend? Appreciated![/quote]

Compression the easy way get an EBS or even better if you can find an old Trace Elliot SMX pedal they are the dogs. The SMX pedal is a compressor and enhancer, I.e it brings up the volume of the quiet bits ( not a lot of people know that! ) Turn the lows up halfway don't compress any highs you will loose any attack you have. They are not studio quality by a long shot,but they do the job for bass exactly in the spot. It will certain help a great deal. Just pay attention to your input gain to make sure you aren't overloading the preamp. Alternatively see if you can get hold of an SMX preamp. I still have not found anything better to control my fretless sound. Well there is the SWR Marcus Miller preamp is very good, but at £1800 it F****** should be!! but its way to fiddly. SMX button press, low compress halfway, gain adjust done Mwah!!

[dan670844]

[quote name='janmaat' post='855449' date='Jun 2 2010, 09:52 PM']Hello,

I'm playing a self-made wash tub bass in a band, which has a piezo pickup and sounds overall quite weired. First of all, it does hardly have any harmonies above 330Hz. Second, it has very little attack AND very little sustain - the plastic bucket just gives a deep "whooomp" that actually reminds me of a tuba. Now it's a bit hard to keep anything going in the quieter songs of the band - more sustain would be great, but I'd also like to emphasize the attack. So I probably need a compressor. That being said, I'd use the same for the very nice fretless Godlyke Deity that I play through the same Minimark amp... Oh the band website is [url="http://lonesomecowboysfromhell.com/"]http://lonesomecowboysfromhell.com/[/url] where we've got some demo tracks up

While I have some theoretical understanding of compression, it seems most pedals come with confusing knobs. It would be really great to get one that actually has one saying "ratio" and one "threshold" and maybe another one saying "attack"... rather than "suck" or "enhance"... So when looking at compressor reviews such as [url="http://www.ovnilab.com/"]http://www.ovnilab.com/[/url] makes me feel that I can't see the tree for the wood or how you say... Hence, please give me advise from your experience. Is there anything that would come close to a pro compression, but doesn't cost the world? What do you use or recommend? Appreciated![/quote]

Compression the easy way get an EBS or even better if you can find an old Trace Elliot SMX pedal they are the dogs. The SMX pedal is a compressor and enhancer, I.e it brings up the volume of the quiet bits ( not a lot of people know that! ) Turn the lows up halfway don't compress any highs you will loose any attack you have. They are not studio quality by a long shot,but they do the job for bass exactly in the spot. It will certain help a great deal. Just pay attention to your input gain to make sure you aren't overloading the preamp. Alternatively see if you can get hold of an SMX preamp. I still have not found anything better to control my fretless sound. Well there is the SWR Marcus Miller preamp is very good, but at £1800 it F****** should be!! but its way to fiddly. SMX button press, low compress halfway, gain adjust done Mwah!!

[dan670844]

[quote name='dan670844' post='864669' date='Jun 11 2010, 08:29 PM']Compression the easy way get an EBS or even better if you can find an old Trace Elliot SMX pedal they are the dogs. The SMX pedal is a compressor and enhancer, I.e it brings up the volume of the quiet bits ( not a lot of people know that! ) Turn the lows up halfway don't compress any highs you will loose any attack you have. They are not studio quality by a long shot,but they do the job for bass exactly in the spot. It will certain help a great deal. Just pay attention to your input gain to make sure you aren't overloading the preamp. Alternatively see if you can get hold of an SMX preamp. I still have not found anything better to control my fretless sound. Well there is the SWR Marcus Miller preamp is very good, but at £1800 it F****** should be!! but its way to fiddly. SMX button press, low compress halfway, gain adjust done Mwah!![/quote]

Another thing you could consider putting one of those cheapo valve preamps in line (Art mic pre valve £35 quid) from Gak to act as a buffer and provide a bit of natural valve compression . They sound really nice if you take the cheapo valve out Chinese muck (it will die in about three months anyway)and either put in a cryoed Harma retro (classic Mullard ECC833 warm sound) or put in Harma STR cryo which is a remake of a Telefunken 7025 very warm clear as a bell sound. Both of these are low gain valves so won't break up and provide a very warm sound with some gentle musical compression / enhancement. Try them on your fretless to you will love the sound.