Cuzzie

@Al Krow I know we have digs at each other, but in essence there are a range of opinions here, in which some will be personal, some will be generic, but the overriding thing throughout this whole thread is listen to how things sit, really try something to see if it works, and then be how much and if it’s worth it @5im0n has been very eloquent indeed about compression and it’s uses as well as a load of other things. @discreet has his personal view that I fully respect and works for him, someone likes a spectracomp, another an MXR........ it may ir may not make a difference for you, and you can sit in the fence and debate or really jump in like you have done with other pedals which is really cool and spend time in using them and tweaking them. 2018 will be fun for you, the only thing you have wrong is your definition of world class bands!

@Al Krow you have sort of answered yours and my point. Wrapping it all together, if the use of a compressor pedal whatever it is aids in forming your bands mix, sound, levels etc. To provide a homogenous pleasing entity then yes the punters may not notice, as everything is well balanced (there is balance in the force, it is Star Wars time!) if your sound is unbalanced for whatever reason, then the punter will notice and maybe something is missing be it a compressor, EQ, etc. your point about filters is correct in that they will get noticed, because that’s what they are there for. If you play Sir Psycho Sexy or Bootsy Collins without an envelope, it will be noticed, as that stuff is based on it. Octave we will disagree partially as that again should in some ways not be noticed, as you are filling gaps where other instruments drop out, or you are after a particular effect, or in your case you want to track lower than a low F# where you told me your octaver does not go, and you are getting into rumble hearing territory and more bass notes you feel rather than hear. Look at Royal Blood, when they first came out and you just heard it on the radio, not seeing it, did you instantly think, that’s a guy with 2 octave pedals, pitch shifter, distortion, various tuners and cut off switches, and bi ampin or did you think, that’s a good rock sound, sound like a tight guitar and bass? Not noticeable until you look into it. Agent Zig Zag, your comment was on punters not knowing any difference, but now band members do so it’s a justification of equipment. Not really mate you are hanging goal posts again, but if you have a happy band with a well balanced sound be it Ibby, Yammy, Fender,Gibson, Dingwall etc. Everyone is happy and that is the point. I as well am not sure why compression divides opinion aside from assuming that if it’s not understood and not used correctly it can adversely affect sound, as can any effect! and Bas, I think you’ll find I have used these effects live, one being a Source Audio Manta (which I think you have now...) and hot hand, in a band mix, in a live pub, before you even knew what a filter pedal was, before you were starting a gozillion best of threads and whilst you were still failing to read the manual on your zoom pedal, and before you stared hailing the ‘pick’ having prevsiouly dismissed it for your smooth finger technique. BTW Bas, which of your new octave/filter/synth pedals across your growing-reducing-growing-reducing-consolidating buy/sell/flip as the wind changes boards have you used in anger in a live pub gig?

In the same vein the average pub drinker punter won’t care if it’s a decent Yammy 5er, or if it’s a markbass combo, or if you have Nordstrand pick ups, or actually if you have any pedal board at all, so we can all save money

Well I just made any sound mans job easier if I ever need one now that I have a Cali76CB to go with my Cali76G. its a beast of a pedal and tone heaven

Hello feel free to message a PM if you want, but in short, I think it’s bloody brilliant, it brings your bass out in a lovely way and I like the tone of it. So far as the B channel goes, having played with it massively I preferred it in lower gain mode and in Hot fusion, but I did tweak it extensively to the Nth degree. i also found I loved it most with my passive jazz, with slightly lower output pick ups rather than something hotter or more forceful in the mids, it allowed its delicacy to shine out, and don’t forget you can change the tube in it for preference! key is have fun and tweak and then tweak in a mix, make sure you have the correct voltage and mA’s fornit and you are away

@51m0n thank you again, you are my knight in armour. i would like your post, by The BC compression rules have stated I reached my max like quota. just to complete what you have eloquently said, one is the Cali76G compresso with a Germanium and the second is a Compact Bass, so 2 different animals....!

Simple spreadsheet equation 1 Cali - semi pro 2 Cali - pro Cali to the power of Pi - world class rock star! you can have my cast off groupies

@Al Krow best Agent zig zag quote ever, is you don’t always need another bit of Kit! i do love you Bas

I am a geek too

the really important thing about that sheet which is brilliant is how a single plucked note can go through all those Hz ranges, hence harmonics etc.

@5im0n thanks for that lovely explanation it makes complete sense to me, I sincerely hope you are ready for more of @Al Krow questions now, or rebuttals, i’m Getting some popcorn

Did I mention Kings X were the world class band ever

@Al Krow re world class bands from 90s onwards, I forgot to mention The Atomic Bitchwax and you cannot forget Monster Truck or Robot Lords of Tokyo, but I concede you may have a point. Not many people beat Kings X

Excellent, bell end doesn’t get autocorrected!

Bas You are a being a bell end luddite! not saying The Who aren’t world class by the way, but I suppose you will trot out Dexi’s midnight runners in a bit

I live in Venezuela....

Bas, To name a few from mid nineties onwards Foo Fighters, Nickleback, papa roach, avenged sevenfold, Five finger death punch, alter bridge, black stone cherry, stone broken, inglorious will that do so far.......

@Osiris can give you the lowdown on a Genzler Mag 350. great amps like their bigger brother

@Al Krow except James used ancient strings from the dawn of time and foam under his strings to limit the vibrations and therefore potential frequencies of his strings. he also went straight into the board with Altec equipment with guess what, compression drivers to get a line level sound as well as up to 5 pre amps Live he had an Ampeg B15 which would guess what......

Title says ”live bands compress bass since when” since the Dawn of time....

Bas, dirt pedals compress the signal most people using an envelope pedal will have some form of compression after it to control your quacking, can be the same for chorus type effects, but they are less particular to compression before or after. pitch shifters respond well to compression before as it’s a steadier signal to work with tune amps compress a signal DI output compresses the signal before it hits the mixer board as well as the other things people above have said. its pretty ubiquitous. i suppose you could change your question to do they have a compression pedal on their board, but the fact is still there is compression going on with a pedal or not

Yep all good big bad Bas, you know I support you all the way. one pedal I will slightly differ on and support a bit more is the AO, I think actually it’s not a bad one at all for not losing the bottom end like the other distortion circuits can. It still not for me, as the others aren’t at this point in time. i will say though that when you get going with the microtubes circuit, you may find you dial in a tiny soupson into the mix and it will cut nicely. good luck in your gig tonight bro xx

Ok loads of knowledgeable people on here, way better than me, but the question is what do you feel you are missing in your sound. Do you need to push your sound more? do you need more clarity? are you getting lost in the mix? if you are not missing anything, your bass blends well with the guitars then carry on, you don’t need anything.

@Al KrowGlad you like it Agent Zig zag. i think you read too much into the frequency of stuff selling though, there have probably been about hundreds of Fender jazz basses up, there is some mark bass gear regularly there etc. does that mean they are poo? Nah - some of them up for sale were duplicate or additional amps to existing set ups that people decided was not for them especially as they already had DG pedals in their set up so they kept pedals and moved amps. Some people rationalise consolidate and create funds for stuff. Is DG/VK the holy grail? Dunno, but you like it. its the same with all this best of stuff. Is my Hartke VXL the best pre-amp pedal out there?Probably not, but it’s best for what I like currently and it’s what’s best for each individual. So if you are a true convert, you may go back to the DG thread I created where you accuse me of bilious vitriol against their product line (even though we have established it was only against price points, not what they are) and you can write a convert statement saying, “sorry I jumped on the bandwagon, I take it all back” As for keeping it longer than I kept mine, well first i’d have to tell you how long I had it for exactly, but we all know what you are like with your sweeping statements....!