nottswarwick Posted August 10, 2013 Share Posted August 10, 2013 As it says really. I am intrigued by this baby and it seems to have some favourable press and threads on it. Can anyone tell me if the compressors are decent? It looks ideal, as I generally only need this plus sometimes a but of chorus and or dirt? Cheers all Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted August 11, 2013 Share Posted August 11, 2013 I use both the M-Comp which is supposed to give a more natural sound, and the D-Comp which is modelled on the MXR Dyna Comp. Both work well, the D-Comp adds a mid-bias to the tone, which for some songs is ideal when I want a more audible bass presence in the song, hence me using the two. I`m not however a mucho-squashy compressor type person, I just add a touch to even things out between strings as I`m a fairly heavy-handed player. But having played around with them in home use, I`ve found that you can get some great compressed slap-sounds from them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nottswarwick Posted August 11, 2013 Author Share Posted August 11, 2013 Cool, thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted August 12, 2013 Share Posted August 12, 2013 I have only just started to use it, and I am liking the M-Comp model a lot. It's not the pedal to kill all pedals... but it is pretty decent, and the compression effects are definitely useable, something I was not expecting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted August 12, 2013 Share Posted August 12, 2013 The B3 is great, you will find many uses for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dood Posted August 14, 2013 Share Posted August 14, 2013 I love the B3. The compressors are really nice. I've been using the DBX type comp but what I love to do is use the global wet dry mix to stir in a bit of original bass tone as well. Works a treat for fat sounding bass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted August 14, 2013 Share Posted August 14, 2013 [quote name='dood' timestamp='1376504738' post='2175165'] ...what I love to do is use the global wet dry mix to stir in a bit of original bass tone as well. [/quote] You don't mean... parallel compression?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete.young Posted August 14, 2013 Share Posted August 14, 2013 Bear in mind though that these are modelling effects, not actual compressors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 [quote name='dood' timestamp='1376504738' post='2175165'] I love the B3. The compressors are really nice. I've been using the DBX type comp but what I love to do is use the global wet dry mix to stir in a bit of original bass tone as well. Works a treat for fat sounding bass. [/quote] Your youtube video on the MS-60B is fantastic, thank you! It helped me a lot to decide to buy one and how to use it afterwards (who wants to read a manual? ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 [quote name='pete.young' timestamp='1376515256' post='2175444'] Bear in mind though that these are modelling effects, not actual compressors. [/quote] ? A signal processor that compresses the signal is... what? what would you call that? The compressors in the B3 and the MS-60B are modelled in other well known compressor units and attempt to reproduce their characteristics... This they may do more or less successfuly. But they are compressors! what on earth are they if not? is the distortion effect of a digital modelling distortion unit not a distortion? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dood Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 [quote name='pete.young' timestamp='1376515256' post='2175444'] Bear in mind though that these are modelling effects, not actual compressors. [/quote] Eh? lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dood Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 [quote name='discreet' timestamp='1376505087' post='2175172'] You don't mean... parallel compression?? [/quote] Ha ha! Rumbled [quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1376564254' post='2175987'] Your youtube video on the MS-60B is fantastic, thank you! It helped me a lot to decide to buy one and how to use it afterwards (who wants to read a manual? ) [/quote] Thank you! There's a few other things I wanted to add, but I figure the review went on long enough! - The MS is great and it's still on my pedal board! [quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1376564442' post='2175993'] ? A signal processor that compresses the signal is... what? what would you call that? The compressors in the B3 and the MS-60B are modelled in other well known compressor units and attempt to reproduce their characteristics... This they may do more or less successfuly. But they are compressors! what on earth are they if not? is the distortion effect of a digital modelling distortion unit not a distortion? [/quote] ^^^ Yup. The compressors on the pedal are actually very good too. I'm not biased here either - both the B3 and MS are great units. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete.young Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 [quote name='dood' timestamp='1376571495' post='2176213'] Eh? lol [/quote] Sorry, wasn't trying to be funny. I don't know enough about how digital modelling effects work to know whether they actually apply a compression algorithm to the signal, or whether they model the compression effect some other way. I do know that one of the models is an optical compressor. The DBX166 effect has no monitoring. So while the compression effects sound OK, they're not quite the same as having a real compressor. In that respect I think they're different from the distortion or flanging or other signal modification effects. I'm not having a go at your favourite pedal. I've got one and it is a useful swiss army knife, although only having 3 effects per patch is a bit disappointing if you need one of them to be amp modelling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nottswarwick Posted August 15, 2013 Author Share Posted August 15, 2013 So, are they actual compressors or not then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dood Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 [quote name='pete.young' timestamp='1376585517' post='2176527'] Sorry, wasn't trying to be funny. I don't know enough about how digital modelling effects work to know whether they actually apply a compression algorithm to the signal, or whether they model the compression effect some other way. I do know that one of the models is an optical compressor. The DBX166 effect has no monitoring. So while the compression effects sound OK, they're not quite the same as having a real compressor. In that respect I think they're different from the distortion or flanging or other signal modification effects. I'm not having a go at your favourite pedal. I've got one and it is a useful swiss army knife, although only having 3 effects per patch is a bit disappointing if you need one of them to be amp modelling. [/quote] It's ok! I wasn't taking any offence or what-not but yup, the compressor effects in this pedal are real compressors in that the resultant signal has been treated in the same way that analogue compressors do. They do, as you say do it via a modelling algorithm though rather than discreet analogue components. The result can be the same though. (disclaimer: Not all modellers are made equal, but this is one of the better) No, I don't expect that a £99 pedal will kick the ass of every piece of gear out there, but I'd say that the compressor models alone on this pedal make a mockery of a great deal of stand alone compressors on the market. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D.I. Joe Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 In a word - Fabulous All of the effects on the B3 (save for some of the distortions, as you might expect) sound fantastic, and some sound just as good as the real thing - all in one box, for less than £150! I swear by mine. Even if a gig doesn't require any effects at all, I'll take the B3 for tuning and compression. (Opto Comp is my fav ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ratman Posted August 16, 2013 Share Posted August 16, 2013 [quote name='discreet' timestamp='1376505087' post='2175172'] You don't mean... parallel compression?? [/quote] I guess he does mean parallel compression. The only downside here is that by using the global wet/dry mix, every pedal/amp model is affected because the global mix is applied to every patch in the B3. A lot of the models do have a wet/dry option but not the compressors, unfortunately. I use the 160Comp for a touch of subtle compression if I'm using my B3 as a stand alone pedal on small gigs but when it's in my board I stick to my trusted BBE Opto Stomp. I haven't used a digital multi effects for years, but the B3 is fantastic value for money and sounds great too. All for less than the price of a couple of separate pedals, it'll be staying in my set up for a long time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leftyhook Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 But of course beware of something sound great in the house and pre-band sound check as once it all fires up you can get lost with too much compression. It happened to me last week! Experimentation needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrismuzz Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 [quote name='leftyhook' timestamp='1387443869' post='2311919'] But of course beware of something sound great in the house and pre-band sound check as once it all fires up you can get lost with too much compression. It happened to me last week! Experimentation needed. [/quote] Yep that works with everything though! I've set myself a personal rule that I'm only ever allowed to tweak my tone at sound checks or gigs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badboy1984 Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 I'm thinking about buying one purely for tuner, decent compression, amp modelling and the DI for live use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrismuzz Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 [quote name='badboy1984' timestamp='1387454185' post='2312091'] I'm thinking about buying one purely for tuner, decent compression, amp modelling and the DI for live use. [/quote] Even though that's only a fraction of its capability it's STILL a bargain price for all that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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