Compression vs Noise Suppression

paulygonemad · #1 01-10-2010, 11:00 PM

I am currently playing an ASAT bass with the active pickups. I am a finger player, say no more

.

A compressor seems logical to control my gain fluctuations, but what about a noise suppressor?
As far as I know, which is not much, I should compress at the start of my pedal chain and suppress only if needed towards the end, before I reboost my signal (I have a long chain).

Any advice would be great. I am currently leaning towards a mid priced compressor. EBS or a humphrey modded boss cs3 perhaps. Pedals get pricey and I only want to pick up what I need. One thing is for certain, I need help calming this pony down.

bongomania · #2 01-10-2010, 11:37 PM

Check out the FAQ linked in my sig. Personally I think noise suppressors are crap, and I strongly recommend eliminating the noise in some other way, such as a full shielding job. If the pickups draw or generate noise regardless of shielding, then I'd get different pups.

tekkentool · #3 01-10-2010, 11:39 PM

Noise supressors don't really do much, I agree with bongo, find the source of the noise.
Plug the leak don't Put a bucket under it.

paulygonemad · #4 01-11-2010, 12:23 AM

Looking under the hood, I do need shielding. That should take care of that, thanks.

That compressor link is great, thanks again.

RomancintheTone · #5 01-11-2010, 12:30 AM

If the noise is unfixable (which is entirely possible if you have a long train of noisy effects), you might look into the TC Electronic Nova Dynamics. It has two kinds of compression and a noise gate on two separate compression engines in one pedal. It might just do the trick for you.

paulygonemad · #6 01-11-2010, 11:27 PM

Thanks.

My ASAT needs some love. Running my passive bass through my setup is nice and clean. Time for a trip to Mr. Lull's office for the ASAT, it could use a set up while I am at it.

Bassnut62 · #7 01-12-2010, 12:03 AM

I have an ASAT too and use up to 9 pedals in chain. My ASAT is very lively and powerful too and I found some noise problems too. I ended up playing the ASAT in passive mode, which I actually prefer anyway. I think some of the noise issue may have been to do with putting a very powerful active signal through various boutique and old-style pedals. The pedals seemed to prefer a passive signal. Hope this helps.

paulygonemad · #8 01-12-2010, 10:21 AM

I have used this bass in passive as well. I very well may end up going that route. I am going to get it all shielded and properly grounded and see how it goes. Thanks for that info, very handy.

I was leaning towards using the active set up, as I cover keys in my band as well (a 3 pc). I use a loop pedal, which is a godsend, but sometimes it is easier to just hammer root notes with my neck hand, using the other to play keys. In that instance, I need the boost from the active set up. I could also use a boost pedal I suppose, but I want to limit the amount of stomps I have to make. Between backing vox, key parts and bass I get fairly busy in the scope of a single song.

I am glad I found these forums, tons of good info here to help a fella out.
Cheers.

cheapbasslovin · #9 01-12-2010, 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by paulygonemad

I am glad I found these forums, tons of good info here to help a fella out... of his money.
Cheers.

Fixed

paulygonemad · #10 01-20-2010, 03:01 PM

And a matter of a week later you are proven very correct.
I spent some bux this month, money well spent though.
I am playing a MIM p-bass now. I like it much, much better. Call me weird.

ga_edwards · #11 01-20-2010, 04:48 PM

If your chain is particularly long, you may want to look it to line selectors/blenders type affairs that allow you to switch in and out lots of pedals at once with true bypass, so when you're not using a pedal, it's taken out of the signal path.

Something like the gigrig or octaswitch for example.

paulygonemad · #12 01-21-2010, 06:59 PM

Good advice.
I contacted loopmaster to help me out.

paulygonemad · #13 01-22-2010, 12:34 PM

I went with a loopmaster 4 loop w/master bypass.
Thanks.

Bassnut62 · #14 01-22-2010, 01:15 PM

playing bass with one hand and playing keys with the other while singing BVs is impressive - have you considered some using bass-footpedals too?!

Seriously, I imagine the p-bass won't neck-dive as much as an Asat either so that would probably help your busy duties.

I do like the growl and amazing variation of sound possibilities offered by an Asat though.

Anyway glad you've found some solutions. This truly is a great forum.

paulygonemad · #15 01-22-2010, 02:20 PM

The neck dive was a major issue, gone now.

The ASAT had some great tones for sure. In the end, I decided I could do all that with my head and pedals rather than on the bass end. A few less knobs to adjust between songs now with the P bass. I simply love that bass, it has natural growl and plays like a dream.

I think I may try to build a footpedal set up. Tons of DYI threads about those and the parts are fairly cheap. For now, I am using that Boss RC-2, which is great. A bit of a learning curve but it really is cool. I will A/B into that looper pedal, keys and bass, as needed. I am also thinking about feeding my backing vox into a sampler that my drummer can trigger live. I saw Radiohead live a few times and noticed that they were sampling vox live, reversing and whatnot. Crazy stuff.

Yes, this forum has only increased my knowledge. I found some juicy pedals that I had been salivating over as well. Glad I found this forum, I was alone in a world of guitar players before, heh.

Cheers