Compression questions

[AlstottMVP2]

1. What does it do to the sound of my live bass tone?

2. Estimate what % of bassists use it

3. What pedal would you recommend?

4. Thanks!

[BigBassBob]

Someone else will post a more useful reply, but:

1. Even out the sound and some will describe it as almost adding more punch. I find this to be true and I use a EBS Multicomp with fairly subtle settings.

2. Not everyone uses one, but I'd say a fairly high percentage of funk and pop players. I'd also say that nearly all modern studio recordings of bass have compression added on at somepoint.

3. EBS Multicomp and the Demeter Compulator are highly recommended on TB.

4. You're welcome

[bongomania]

Hi, check out the FAQ in my sig line for a full explanation of how compression works. Then check out my reviews page. As far as a percentage, I'd say 100% of recorded bass is compressed by the recording engineer and the mastering engineer. In a live gigging context, it's more complicated- the large majority of bassists are run through a compressor by the FOH soundman whether they like it or not. This applies from the smallest bar band to the biggest stadium act. Also overdrive effects and certain types of amplifier -notably tube amps- provide compression without necessarily having the word "compressor" written anywhere on them. So you have probably 90% of the bass sound through the PA compressed, and then (very loose guess) 50% of rigs compressing the signal by their nature. Then you have amps which have a limiter function built in, or a single-knob compressor, and people do tend to use those when they have them, so maybe that's 30%? of gigging bassists. Don't take that number too seriously, I'm just speculating. Then you have bassists who use an additional pedal or rack compressor in their live rig. That's probably a smaller number, as most bassists don't quite understand compressors, they think it's just a source of noise that kills their tone and dynamics. but there are plenty out there that do know what they're doing and get functional ad/or tonal value from an added compressor. I'd have to guess that's maybe closer to 10%, but again thats kind of a wild guess.

[Swift713]

I would have guessed more than 10% of bassists use a compressor in their live rig. But maybe that's just based on what I've read here. I'd guess more than 10% of talkbass members use a compressor.