MXR Bass Compressor: Help Please

[lburton2]

I recently picked up the compressor and am very happy with it to a certain extent.. However..

I play a 5-string which is set-up properly (including pick-up height) with flat eq on bass and Eden rig.. However.. when I try to set the compressor to activate in a medium range (3-7 as recommended) the gain hitting the pedal is too extreme.. if i set it to compress near the E or low B, than it won't even respond to anything from A higher.. and if I set it around the a-d-g strings.. the E and low B are overly compressed and get squashed.. Please help.. I'm sure i'm not doing something right or there is a simple fix.. but I'm just not finding it.. I've tried MANY MANY settings on this thing and can't find the trick.. please help.

[bongomania]

Part of the problem is that the low notes on a BG tend to have much bigger amplitude peaks than the higher notes. It's a common situation. This is why some of us like dual-band compression.

However, it doesn't have to be that way. If the amplitude spikes from your low notes are SO much bigger than the spikes from your high notes, then I'm going to suggest that the bass is not in fact set up nearly as well as you think. Not an insult at all, just a high probability.