simon1964 Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 [quote name='peteb' timestamp='1328822223' post='1533380'] I've just got an EBS Multicomp myself Can I ask which mode you use and the settings? I've tried the 'tube' mode on a gig but have had to go back to the drawing board as it was changing the sound more than I intended [/quote] The tube setting does change the tone noticeably. It seems to warm up/muddy up the tone depending on your take. If you're looking for a transparent compression I find the multiband setting with compression at about 12 o'clock ideal - really good for smoothing out peaks and tightening the bottom end without changing the basic tone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteb Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 [quote name='simon1964' timestamp='1328828532' post='1533546'] The tube setting does change the tone noticeably. It seems to warm up/muddy up the tone depending on your take. If you're looking for a transparent compression I find the multiband setting with compression at about 12 o'clock ideal - really good for smoothing out peaks and tightening the bottom end without changing the basic tone. [/quote] Cheers for that Simon - certainly agree about the tube setting, thru harmonics do sound great! Will try the multiband mode at 12 o'clock on Sunday's gig...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted February 11, 2012 Share Posted February 11, 2012 [quote name='peteb' timestamp='1328822223' post='1533380'] I've just got an EBS Multicomp myself Can I ask which mode you use and the settings? I've tried the 'tube' mode on a gig but have had to go back to the drawing board as it was changing the sound more than I intended [/quote] I had it on the tube mode, with both gain and compression on the 9 o`clock mark. Barely noticeable difference to the sound, apart from preventing some unwanted boom on the lower strings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteb Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 [quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1328998432' post='1535975'] I had it on the tube mode, with both gain and compression on the 9 o`clock mark. Barely noticeable difference to the sound, apart from preventing some unwanted boom on the lower strings. [/quote] To be honest I did notice a difference - not a bad sound by any means and great for harmonics but didn't really work with the sound from the amp that I was using [quote name='simon1964' timestamp='1328828532' post='1533546'] The tube setting does change the tone noticeably. It seems to warm up/muddy up the tone depending on your take. If you're looking for a transparent compression I find the multiband setting with compression at about 12 o'clock ideal - really good for smoothing out peaks and tightening the bottom end without changing the basic tone. [/quote] That worked great - nice transparent compression, just what I wanted May just tweak it for my set up and try using slightly less compression but on the right track now - cheers..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51m0n Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 (edited) [quote name='leftyhook' timestamp='1328822925' post='1533401'] Does one require a degree to understand the working of compressors? whenever I have tried one live, the sound just disappears when the band kicks in! Not a clue have I. [/quote] You need to understand the functions of the device, how they interelate, and have a rough idea of what you want to do and how to go about it. Kind of like driving a car. You dont need a degree. I've said it before, and I stand by it, anyone wanting to try and figure out how to get the best out of a compressor needs to get one with good metering, so a meter for gain reduction, input and output would be best (5 LEDS each would be super duper), a clip light and limiter engage light are also useful. That amount of metering pretty much rules out pedal compressors. Dont get me wrong there are some great pedal comps about (MB Compressore, Joe Meek FloorQ, and a few others) one or two even make a stab at emulating the fantastic LA-2A kind of circuit, but if they dont have metering you cant tell what they are doing without a huge amount of experience, you certainly cant hear it until its too late and doing too much. DBX160A, Focusrite compounder, Mindprint T-comp, Rane DC24, Aphex 661 all offer all the controls, decent metering and decent signal to noise at reasonable prices. If you get the chance to pick one up cheap on ebay take it, you prabably wint be disappointed. If you want less controls and are serious (really serious) then UREI 1176 or a Teletronix La-2a are the end of the argument, full stop, done and dusted, they are [i]the[/i] best, if you ask 25 top studio engineers what two compressors they couldnt live without 25 of them would say an 1176 and an La-2a. You better have very very deep pockets though. The two complement each other, the 1176 is a FET design and incredibly fast (its attack goes as slow as 20ms, which is where most compressors start, down to a couple of hundred microseconds), so its amazing at catching the transients, and is quite bright tonally even with that ultra fast attack. The La-2a is an optical tube compressor using an electro luminescent panel rather than an LED or bulb, it is a prgram dependant design with an attack around 10 ms and a complex release around which gets to 50% in around 60ms and then takes between a half and 5 seconds to completely release. Nothing else really has the same curve. In contrast to the 1176 it really warms things up. The two together are often used on vocals for dealing with different parts of the envelope of the sound. So what the devil do the controls do and wher edo you start? I posted [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/30431-is-a-compressor-of-any-real-value-in-fast-rock-music/page__view__findpost__p__1148269"]this originally about a year ago[/url] so its probably time to dust it off:- [i]Compressor basics:- Ratio and Threshold TOGETHER determine the amount of compression. A low ratio and a very low threshold results in the same amount of compression as a higher ratio and higher threshold, but it will often be less overtly audible. Aim to get a solid 3dB of compression going on to begin with (you may not even really hear this) Make up gain, use this to bring your compression level up to unity with no compression, switch the compressor in and out whilst you adjyst. Any time you change the ratio and threshold you need to fiddle with this. Attack determines how much of the initial transient comes through by delaying the compression - start off with it pretty open (at least halfway up the dial) whilst playing with the threshold ratio combo, then close it down until you hear it choppni ght eattack of thenote down. Now we have a stylistic/taste decision - if you want to be super smooth set it really short (note that too short may bring in some nasty distortion artifacts), if you want to be super aggressive open it up, BUT if you open up the attack with a big bunch of compression the make up gain is going to send the transient through the roof, watch your output level! This is why we need a limiter to control the attack too.... Release, determines how fast the compressor disengages. In order to allow the attack of the next note through the compressor must have disengaged, if you play fast and want a big attack then you need it to disengage quickly. Watch for pumping or distortion artifact sif it si too fast. If it is too slow you wont hear the attack on the next note. Start of with a couple of hundred ms and play with it from there. Knee - a soft knee compressor comes up to the ratio you set over a couple or 3dB below the threshold level, they sound far less obvious than a hard knee compressor, which may, or may not, be what you want. Practice setting all kinds of different sounds and learn what they controls do, run music through it not just bass and set up the controls on full mixes, just to learn what it does better. Train your ears to hear the compressor and setting it up becomes trivial, and then you get heard, win the best gigs, and all the lovely ladies will want to get to know you.... Simples![/i] The other year at the SE Bass Bash URB was hitting a solid constant 6dB of compression on my rig whilst playing his bass, and couldnt even tell the comrpessor was on, he couldnt feel it 'sucking' dynamics, he could play with all his usual feel and with ease, the sound was just punchier and more consistent. In a mix 6dB of gain reduction on a bass signal is isgnificant, definitely the difference between sitting right in the mix all the time and not being heard for instance. That should be enough to get you going... Edited February 14, 2012 by 51m0n Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xgsjx Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 Cheers 51m0n. If I decide to get a compressor, I know what ones to look at (& whom to ask if I see something different). Probably the reason I've never gotten a compressor pedal is because I'm going in blind & by the time I've fiddled with the knobs on any that I've tried out, it's too late & is either noisy or over compressed (although I do use a VST compressor on recordings as you can see exactly what you're doing with it). The only one I've tried that I liked was the EHX White Finger, but that was on it's own (No other fx involved) & the sound engineer set it up for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichF Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 (edited) [quote name='51m0n' timestamp='1329261946' post='1539908'] You need to understand the functions of the device, how they interelate, and have a rough idea of what you want to do and how to go about it. Kind of like driving a car. You dont need a degree. [. . .] That should be enough to get you going...[/quote] there speaks the voice of a real expert. Edited February 15, 2012 by RichF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shizznit Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 [quote name='Higgie' timestamp='1328451424' post='1527151'] No love for the Aguilar TLC? I love mine. [/quote] +1 Love mine too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OmeDunk Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 (edited) Nice post on compression, 51m0n. Again. Does anybody have experience with the new Alesis 3632? Seems to be a big improvement from the 3630 for a nice price. Edited February 15, 2012 by OmeDunk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51m0n Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 (edited) I've not used a 3632, I would expect it to be on the noisey side for a studio device, although probably ok for live. If its anything like a 3630 though it will be a perfectly good way to learn how to set up a compressor, it will have all the important controls, reasonalby good metering (ie way better than a pedal!) and a limiter to catch those mega spikes when you open the attack up and whack the knackers out of it. As a cheap device to really learn with I think you could do a lot worse. And thanks for the props chaps! Edited February 15, 2012 by 51m0n Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteb Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 (edited) Hey Simon - I know that you're not too keen on compressor pedals, but for those of us that need to use one live for practical reasons, which pedal would you say is best?? Edited February 15, 2012 by peteb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51m0n Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 If I had to buy a pedal I would be struggling to decide between several. The MB Compressore, its a 'real' tube compressor, in that it actually is a vari-mu circuit, rather than say an optical comp with a tube preamp. It isnt overly noisy and has enough controls to fine tune the action to match your playing well. And it sounds great. The Joe Meek FloorQ, I love Joe Meek compressors, they are fat juicy optical compressors that just sound fantastic to me, I've used this compressor in rack form (in the TwinQ) enough in the studio to know it would be fine for me if a pedal was the way I had to go. I would certainly put the FEA labs optiFET on this list of well worth a try too. All of these offer bags of controls and nearly nothing in the way of metering, so you are going to struggle to figure out what they are doing, and how much they are doing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EskimoBassist Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Any thoughts on the new MXR compressor? The LED set up seems pretty good and it seems pretty controllable too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51m0n Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 I've not heard it, so any comments are based upon blurb and reviews. The metering is clearly above standard for a pedal, big tick there! The lowest ratio is 4:1 though, and that is way too high for me, I spend alot of time using very gentle comrpession ratios with a very low threshold to helpo disparate techniques sit well together and for maximum transaparency, so big cross from me there... Unless its a true FET design any claims that its based upon the UREI 1176 should be taken with a healthy pinch of salt, although the attack times are really fast (possibly too fast for my liking) too, making it very much a compressor on the limiter side of things (which is consistent with an 1176), and the demos I have heard sound very dark which would align with the fast attack, but not with the UREI comparison. This may suit you down to the ground, the metering seems a cut above etc, but the attack and ratio controls dont offer much in the way of possibilites for extremely transparent compression I think.... All without having had a play on one so I could be talking total do do.... I think Bongomanias[url="http://www.ovnilab.com/reviews/mxrbass.shtml"] review is well worth a read[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StraightSix Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Hmmm - I'm in this 'which compressor is for me' place at the moment. I've spent ages reading Ovnilabs and other review sites and it just seems to get more complicated the more I read...! Yesterday, I had pretty much decided on the EBS multicomp, then I read about the Joe Meek FloorQ and the Aguilar TLC... I currently have a modded Boss CS3, a Joyo Dyna compressor (Dynacomp clone), a DOD Milkbox and a Boss LMB3 limiter in transit...lots of playing to do methinks. I reckon, if you have a few bob to throw around, you could do worse than buying two or three to try and move on the ones you don't like probably at no loss in money - that's the way I'm playing this game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Higgie Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 [quote name='StraightSix' timestamp='1329423403' post='1542383'] Hmmm - I'm in this 'which compressor is for me' place at the moment. I've spent ages reading Ovnilabs and other review sites and it just seems to get more complicated the more I read...! Yesterday, I had pretty much decided on the EBS multicomp, then I read about the Joe Meek FloorQ and the Aguilar TLC... I currently have a modded Boss CS3, a Joyo Dyna compressor (Dynacomp clone), a DOD Milkbox and a Boss LMB3 limiter in transit...lots of playing to do methinks. I reckon, if you have a few bob to throw around, you could do worse than buying two or three to try and move on the ones you don't like probably at no loss in money - that's the way I'm playing this game. [/quote] I used to have a DOD Milkbox. Wasn't that bad from what I remember. Got rid of it for a Demeter Compulator though, which was a significant improvement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ikay Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 I tried various pedal compressors (Digitech, Aphex, Trace-Elliot, EBS) but they all either coloured or dulled my sound to some degree. I now use a DBX160A rack unit which I'm very happy with. It does the job with no fuss and is almost completely transparent. Very easy to set up, and very easy to see what it's doing (LED meters show input signal and compression levels etc). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Heeley Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Been looking at that little white MXR compressor with the 5 knobs on it, cos it looks really cool, but I'm currently playing thru a slightly noisy home-made dynacomp clone. To be honest I feel there's a pressure to be using one since I see most of the advanced players make use of them but my ears are struggling to appreciate the benefits. Maybe its the raucous punk and Green Day stuff we bash out in pub gigs that isn't really conducive to the more subtle effects like compression. I'm guessing if the benefitsd are not really that apparent to me then thats a sign I don't really need one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charic Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 [quote name='basstech' timestamp='1328302354' post='1525337'] I've got a tc bh500 amp with built in compressor but it cuts far too much frequency even at a very low operation. Who does the best compressor where u can control all parameters pl guys? Ta J [/quote] Compressors don't cut frequencies, are you sure it's not just a characteristic of the amp? (The RH450 has a low pass filter) As for the best compressor... This would probably do quite a good job [url="http://www.dv247.com/studio-equipment/tube-tech-smc-2bm-multiband-mastering-opto-compressor--65892"]http://www.dv247.com/studio-equipment/tube-tech-smc-2bm-multiband-mastering-opto-compressor--65892[/url] Only half joking tbh, I've recently started to wonder, why don't people use studio compressors instead of pedal based ones? Rackmount and away! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 [quote name='Al Heeley' timestamp='1329731910' post='1546366'] Been looking at that little white MXR compressor with the 5 knobs on it, cos it looks really cool, but I'm currently playing thru a slightly noisy home-made dynacomp clone. To be honest I feel there's a pressure to be using one since I see most of the advanced players make use of them but my ears are struggling to appreciate the benefits. Maybe its the raucous punk and Green Day stuff we bash out in pub gigs that isn't really conducive to the more subtle effects like compression. I'm guessing if the benefitsd are not really that apparent to me then thats a sign I don't really need one. [/quote] Having played Green Day material, both with, and without a compressor, I much prefer it with. Mike Dirnts little runs and flourishes, especially on the higher notes, stand out much better with a bit of compression - or at least, they do for me when I use one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51m0n Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 (edited) [quote name='charic' timestamp='1329736239' post='1546429'] Compressors don't cut frequencies, are you sure it's not just a characteristic of the amp? (The RH450 has a low pass filter) As for the best compressor... This would probably do quite a good job [url="http://www.dv247.com/studio-equipment/tube-tech-smc-2bm-multiband-mastering-opto-compressor--65892"]http://www.dv247.com...mpressor--65892[/url] Only half joking tbh, I've recently started to wonder, why don't people use studio compressors instead of pedal based ones? Rackmount and away! [/quote] If the compressor's attack is too fast it will appear to be dark, since the transient will nolonger be as loud and therefore the perception is that the treble is turned down. Effectively this is the compressor dramatically changing the frequency response of the signal. And if you're ever looking for the most ridiculously expensive compressor of all time its usually considered to be the Fairchild 670 - it goes for upwards of $25k, and every year of use you'll need to swap out the 8 matched 6386 tubes with a matched NOS set, which on their own will set you back a couple of grand. Not one for live then Edited February 20, 2012 by 51m0n Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Heeley Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Not wishing to hijack this thread, but what is the best compressor for under £50? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StraightSix Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 There's no 'best' compressor - they all do different things depending on your input/sound/pick attack/finger attack etc etc... What are you wanting from a compressor...neutral sound, phatness, control of peaks...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Heeley Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 (edited) its the knobs and the lights really, especially the lights. But really, how can you say they all do different things? Surely they are sold as compressors so they all compress. If I spend good money on a compressor then when i took it home it sounded like a flanger or a whammy pedal I'd be most perturbed. Edited February 21, 2012 by Al Heeley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StraightSix Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 (edited) Different compressors act completely differently depending on the input signal so my favourite compressor may not be yours. Good luck. Edited February 21, 2012 by StraightSix Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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