Does this require a compressor or limiter?

[savinggrace]

Help! I have little (to no!) knowledge in this department.

I have some songs where I use delay and add in other modulation effects over it at different intervals through the passage. Some of these effects get too loud when I engage them and they do not have volume knobs. Would a limiter control how loud the signal can get?

What exact pedal might help with this situation?

Thanks!

[walker rosewood]

a limiter could possibly work, but a better choice would be a volume pedal, or a looper with a blend/level, such as a Boss LS-2.

[Essen]

I think it depends on how much boost you're getting. Adding a volume control really isn't all that much work.

[savinggrace]

Originally Posted by walker rosewood

a limiter could possibly work, but a better choice would be a volume pedal, or a looper with a blend/level, such as a Boss LS-2.

I have a volume pedal. I don't want to lower the main signal, just the spikes from other pedals that you hear over the signal.

[savinggrace]

Originally Posted by Essen

I think it depends on how much boost you're getting. Adding a volume control really isn't all that much work.

Yeah, I might just have to have this added. Damn.

[bongomania]

In your position I would get a blender pedal, one with a volume control post-loop. Stick all those hot-output effects in the loop. That way you have complete control over the level of the effects, without reducing the clean signal. If the loudness of the effects changes a lot while you play, then a limiter is actually a really good idea. That way you don't lose any volume of the effects while they are not so loud, but during the loud parts their volume gets turned down automatically. Again though, you might just want the limiter at the end of the blend loop, so it doesn't impact your regular bass signal--unless that's something you'd like anyway.

[savinggrace]

Bongo- Thank you. Some good suggestions there. yeah I think a limiter is what I need. So this should just control volume spikes right? Any suggestions of a good, neutral sounding limiter with a good bypass?

[MooseLumps]

What, the holy grail?
I'm interested as well... Either it chatters or costs 1.21 million

[bongomania]

Limiters are the toughest thing to get right, especially in pedal form. There's a list of recommendations on my "top picks" page. The Maxon CP9Pro+ is my go-to suggestion for a limiter pedal.

[Mo'Phat]

Maybe I missed it...but what pedals are you using and in what order?

[bongomania]

I change and rearrange my pedals constantly, since my musical process has more to do with testing and comparing than it does with performing in any consistent way. Sometimes I have like eight pedals in a chain, sometimes one, or none. My most recent pedalboard photo is on pg 1 of the current post-your-board thread, and the comps I use are listed on my top picks page.

[savinggrace]

Originally Posted by Mo'Phat

Maybe I missed it...but what pedals are you using and in what order?

Here is my order. I might change things around and put all of the other pedals except for the volume in two loops instead of three and just have the Korg Pitch Black in its own loop

CHAIN ORDER:

Read Custom Passive Bass
Effector 13 Feedback Loop Oscillator
Loopmaster 3 Loop Bypass

1st Loop
Electro Harmonix POG
z-Cat Hold
Blackstar HT Dual
WMD Geiger Counter
Wounded Paw Battering Ram

2nd Loop
Moogerfooger MF 102 Ring Mod (attached are two Alesis exp. pedals)
Markbass Supersynth
Digitech BSW
Plathegiraffe Barf Bag
Maxon CS9Pro

3rd Loop
Line 6 Liquaflange
Line 6 Verbzilla
VFE Echo Ohce
TC Electronic Nova Delay

(out of Loopmaster pedal) to:

Boost pedal (still need to get)
GigFX Chopper
Headrush 2
Boss FV300L Volume pedal

Markbass F1 Amp


I also plan on still getting a good, clean octave up which would go right before the POG

[Mo'Phat]

Since your chain is already cluttered (in a good way) a good compressor that only kicks in during the peaks would be ideal at the end of your chain, right before the volume probably.

I've never been a huge fan of limiters, as they're too limited in their tweakability. Fixed ratios...normally. If you can find a compressor with a sweepable ratio, switch between hard and soft knee, and makeup gain, then I think you've found the ideal one that would be 'musical' enough for your setup.

I would set the threshold so that the vast majority of your signal goes through, but only the spikes are squashed. Using a dedicated limiter might squash it too hard or too fast, so it sounds unnatural.

[Mo'Phat]

The T-rex Squeezer, Carl Martin Compressor/Limiter, Joemeek FloorQ, and Emma Transmorgrifier all look to have sweepable ratios and attacks.

[bongomania]

Mo'P, no offense but it's best not to recommend devices that you haven't used.

[Mo'Phat]

You're right...my bad. The only variation of one of those is the Joemeek Optical that I used in my rack for a while. I was just googling and searched PedalGeek for the ones that had knobs that had adjustable ratios/attacks.

Moreso, I suppose, to give savinggrace somewhere to start...but you've already done plenty of legwork on that front.