COMPRESSOR NIGHTMARE

[KCCAP1]

Played a gig last week with my usual set-up: Amercian Deluxe Jazz; SVT Classic Head; Avatar Neo 4-10 cab. Just for the hell of it, I bought a compressor....the EBS Multicomp. I thought it might smooth things out. Even at moderate levels, it took my E string (especially if I played an A note) and turned my bass into a resonating mess. It was as if the extra sustain caused a feedback loop. I switched it off for the 2nd set and all was well.

Anybody have this experience? From now on, it's straight into the amp for me. Running a $199 pedal in between a $1,000 bass and a $1,200 tube amp just doesn't seem to make sense.

[TrevorOfDoom]

methinks you were using it wrong. that's just straight up not what a compressor should do. spend some time playing with it, BEFORE THE GIG INSTEAD OF AT THE GIG, and see what it does. the EBS are great things.

of course, you may do this and still not like what it does to your sound. if so, then it's just not for you. but one bad experience, especially with a product that is so loved by many many players, doesn't say a whole lot. IMHO

[bongomania]

Well, there may be middle ground there. Broadly speaking, compression raises the average level of your signal. The acoustics of the room (including speaker placement, where you were standing, PA setup, mic placement, everything) may have contributed to a resonant peak at the A, one which didn't get out of control until the signal level was increased by the compression. Yes, one answer is to remove the compression. But since (in the situation I described) the problem was not the compressor per se but a wolf note in the room, another solution would be to EQ down the wolf note or the excessively resonant range.

[KCCAP1]

The "wolf note" theory is an excellent one. It was a cramped stage and I am the lead singer as well as bass player, so my amp, a hot condenser vocal mic and my monitors were all in close proximity. Either way, I'm going to subscribe to the K.I.S.S. theory and go right into the amp from now on. It worked for my bass heroes, it will work for me. Rock and roll existed long before the advent of bi-amping and giant rack systems...

[bongomania]

However note that compression (in the form of tube amplification being driven hard) has been an integral part of rock from the very beginning. So has feedback and wolf notes.

[dannybuoy]

Also on the EBS, the gain knob must be turned all the way down to give unity gain when on and off. If you have it set halfway or something that will give you a huge volume boost.

[Luke73]

Originally Posted by bongomania

..........Broadly speaking, compression raises the average level of your signal. ..............one which didn't get out of control until the signal level was increased by the compression.

Forgive me if I'm wrong, as I don't know a great deal about compression in practice, but I didn't think that compression raised the level of your signal.

Surely your gain or volume control raises the level of your signal.

Doesn't the compression only give you the ability to limit peaks, meaning that your playing has less dynamics, allowing you to then raise the volume of the bass to get a higher average level?

[nemo]

Try to set compression knob to 11:00 - 12:00 and gain knob to 9:00 (and switch set to tubesim). That settings works for me.

Also I agree with the tone resonance theory for that particular gig.
On the other stage or in rehearsal you will hear it differently.

However, be prepared that if you level out the signal before coming to a tube head, the head will react differently.
The incoming signal will have less dynamic range, it means less variability in altering the
grunt by digging in or playing more softly.

[KCCAP1]

Nemo....interesting theory as well.

Tubes naturally add compression, so I may have been playing harder to compensate for the additional compression added by the EBS....thus causing things to get out of hand. All I know is this: once I went straight into the SVT all was well.

[Toffa]

I noticed that the EBS MultiComp works better in a tube Amp (espacelly if you use a bit of distortion) when you put it in the FX loop.
In my opinion the quality of a light distortion depends on the dynamics of the input signal.

I use the MultiComp in the FX loop of my Mesa Walkabout with the multiband setting and the compression at 12:00.

[markblasco]

Originally Posted by Luke73

Forgive me if I'm wrong, as I don't know a great deal about compression in practice, but I didn't think that compression raised the level of your signal.

Surely your gain or volume control raises the level of your signal.

Doesn't the compression only give you the ability to limit peaks, meaning that your playing has less dynamics, allowing you to then raise the volume of the bass to get a higher average level?

Most compressors include a gain boost as the last stage of the compressor to compensate for the volume drops, so a compressor used correctly does in fact raise the average volume. Depending on how much compression was used, there can be a substantial gain increase.

Another way to think of it is this: When you use a compressor, you turn the volume up, and then turn it back down very quickly only on the loud parts. Therefor, if you were on the verge of feeding back before the compressor, you would have feedback after the compressor.

[Pilgrim]

It doesn't sound like you need compression at all. Why add the pedal if you don't know there is a need for it? And I agree, that's a tool that requires some experimentation and setup before the gig, not during.

I've tried using a compressor and it did nothing for me - I manage the dynamics with my fingers, and that's comfortable for me.

[bongomania]

Originally Posted by markblasco

Most compressors include a gain boost as the last stage of the compressor to compensate for the volume drops, so a compressor used correctly does in fact raise the average volume. Depending on how much compression was used, there can be a substantial gain increase.

Another way to think of it is this: When you use a compressor, you turn the volume up, and then turn it back down very quickly only on the loud parts. Therefor, if you were on the verge of feeding back before the compressor, you would have feedback after the compressor.

Correct! Compression itself doesn't raise the gain level, but in practice that's how it works.

[Luke73]

That's what I was saying. Compression itself doesn't raise the overall volume.

After compression, if you add gain, that's what raises your levels. Gain or volume...not compression.