Bass Compression

[Bolo]

On 27/08/2025 at 17:24, Papabull said:

I suppose though that if one owns a compressor one could use it discreetly depending on the style of music being played. 

This is exactly correct.

 

envelope following effects before the comp, the rest after. My signal chain is bass>gate>comp>tuner>dirt/pre>amp as I don't use reverb/chorus/delay effects.

[Linus27]

I played for about 30 years without a compressor. I then switched to fretless permanently about 7 years ago and decided to give a compressor a go as some of the things I'd read said it was a benefit and because Pino uses one 😆 After a really good chat with @itu he suggested an optical compressor for fretless and recommend the Ampeg Opto as a starting point which had great reviews. I can honestly say it is incredible and has transformed my fretless playing and tone. I'm not sure exactly what it's doing but it just adds magic dust over my tone and makes it tighter and a lot more musical. Like I say, I've no idea what it's doing and I have it set quite subtle but I definitely know when it's not on and I couldn't live without out it.

 

My chain is Bass > Tuner > Octave > Overdrive > Chorus > Reverb 1 > Reverb 2 > Compressor > DI

 

 

 

[paul_5]

1 hour ago, Linus27 said:

I played for about 30 years without a compressor. I then switched to fretless permanently about 7 years ago and decided to give a compressor a go as some of the things I'd read said it was a benefit and because Pino uses one 😆 After a really good chat with @itu he suggested an optical compressor for fretless and recommend the Ampeg Opto as a starting point which had great reviews. I can honestly say it is incredible and has transformed my fretless playing and tone. I'm not sure exactly what it's doing but it just adds magic dust over my tone and makes it tighter and a lot more musical. Like I say, I've no idea what it's doing and I have it set quite subtle but I definitely know when it's not on and I couldn't live without out it.

Me too! I/ve tried about a dozen different compressors over the years and have finally settled on the Briggs Diamante optical compressor. I too play fretless almost exclusively and it's great for tightening up the tone.

[Downunderwonder]

On 28/08/2025 at 03:09, cheddatom said:

if you're using it as a limiter (smoothing out peaks) and you place it between your bass and your distortion, then the distortion will not react to your playing dynamics as much. It won't get dirtier when you dig in harder, because the limiter will tame that. For that reason, I would like a limiting compressor to be after distortion in the chain.

There is that.

 

But also, depending on how you like to attack your envelope filter, potential for tre compressor to even out its trippiness.

 

So you may like to have two compressors!