Compression obsession

[silvertone]

I recently obtained a Carl Martin Compressor and am fairly amazed at how much it beefed up the tone of my J Bass.

I run a Dlx American J into an Eden WTX260 & XLT 210 cab.

The difference is subtle but clear in that the mids seem punchier and my bass sounds more potent and at the same time woodier....

Not sure if my words can adequately describe what I mean but I'm glad I went for this cause it seems to have made a good thing even better.

It's pretty much a set it and forget it device as well.

One other interesting thing I've found, in terms of effects interface, I have put the compressor 2nd to last in my chain.

I've found that pushing a compressed tone into an envelope filter sounds way better than compressing the signal after it has been filtered.

I use the effects loop on my amp with the chain set up as follows:
Digitech Whammy Pedal > TC Electronics Chorus > Carl Martin Compressor > Mutron III...

I guess your mileage may vary - but I'd be interested in knowing if others have had the same results as far as their effects chain order goes?

TS
www.WorldWideTed.com

[Swift713]

I think this was discussed in a thread just yesterday. I use a multi effect which is set up with the compressor before the envelope filter and I like it that way. I use a fair bit of squish and I think it would kind of sterilize a filter or od if it was after. I think most people tend to use their comp after their filter to tame the spikes. The filter on my multi doesn't spike too bad and I have it set on the more subtle side. I also like that I can set up patches with the filter before or after the drive as this makes a pretty big difference as well.

[RickenBoogie]

It was discussed yesterday, and I still put my comp first in a long chain.

[bongomania]

I like to put the comp at the end of the chain generally, with the exception that many compressors can "deaden" overdrive and distortion IMO, so I put the comp before the dirt when possible.

Re: before/after envelope filters, the reason a filter may sound better to some users with the comp before it would be because they are having a hard time getting consistent signal levels out of their bass just using finger technique. One thing a lot of people don't realize about envelope-based fx is that you have to learn how to play them, you can't just switch them on and get the good-sounding effect. It takes a lot of practice and careful listening and adjustment of a player's existing technique in order to play an envelope filter well.

A nice side effect of actually doing all that is that you simultaneously develop a more consistent output level from note to note even without the filter, which is a very professional quality of technique.

[silvertone]

Thanks for the feedback and thanks to Bongomaniac for the interesting and informative Compressor Reviews....

TS

[Swift713]

Bongo, I can see your point about consistent triggering but I actually like my filter fine without compression. I run the filter into an overdriven Ampeg model w/no comp, or comp into filter with no od. One gives me a fuzz-wah kind of sound, the other a more modern funky kind of vibe. The od probably does compress the signal a bit but not as much as the comp does.