Will a compressor help alleviate this?

assboglin · #1 10-12-2007, 02:55 PM

So I'm nitpicking about some of my sounds. When I play certain notes on my low Eb string, I often get a loud slurpy clicking with the attack that is rather harsh and unpleasant (though it's not often noticeable within a mix). The best demonstration I have of it is from a Fulltone Bassdrive clip:

http://media.putfile.com/BassDrive-FM

Listen closely around 00:04-00:05 and you should hear what I'm talking about. This occurs with the clean signal as well as with some of my distortion pedals. And it's more noticeable, for example, through some distortion pedals or with the bright switch engaged on my Ampeg SVT-3 Pro head, which if I remember correctly is a 6 dB boost at 5kHz. So I've thought of applying an EQ to sort of "de-ess" the sound on songs in which I need it, but I'm curious if a compressor might be able to control that better. I've never been too curious about compressors so I've never invested in a decent one ( I have an Aphex Punch Factory, which either does nothing or completely kills your tone depending on the setting) and I admittedly don't know much about them. Can anyone shed some light on this issue for me?

Thanks.

And by the way, I'm looking at the Demeter Compulator and the EBS Multicomp.

assboglin · #2 10-12-2007, 03:18 PM

Also, I forgot to note this only happens with fingerstyle technique, around the 5th fret of the low Eb string. I realize that my proposed solutions are half measures to get around what I consider a deficiency in my bass, but I'm determined to make the bass (Fender MIA Jazz with Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounders) work, and it's not so much the by product of bad technique; the sound is consistent and doesn't completely go away when I vary my technique to try to get rid of it. Another solution that works for me is to simply play with a pick on the songs where it's a problem, but there are times when I want the fingerstyle sound, plus I don't consider myself very good at pickstyle playing.

thejohnkim · #3 10-12-2007, 05:17 PM

while some compressors might depress your highs to tame that sound, or just compress your overall sound enough to tame it, i really think that hitting the source deserves a bit more investigation for you.

are you comfortable at bass setup? is it fret buzz that you're hearing? if you know of a good guitar/bass tech in your area it might be more worth it to have them look at teh bass rather than adding a compressor just to get rid of that sound.

not that i'm against using compressors. mine is on most of the time, if not all the time.

if it was happing to me i'd check to make sure my neck was straight, the relief was good and the bridge saddles were adjusted as best can be to my taste. i might also try to crudely asses my frets with a piece of paper and a couple of capos if i thought i had a high fret.

my two cents....

Muckaluck · #4 10-12-2007, 05:23 PM

I know you said that changing technique helps but it really sounds like you're hammering on those strings. If you want to keep digging into the strings, put your fingers real close to the bridge and see how that works for you. The idea is, the strings are tighter at the bridge and you wont make contact with the neck or pickups like you're doing right now.

assboglin · #5 10-12-2007, 05:32 PM

It's definitely not fret buzz, I set my own guitar up and it does not buzz anywhere. It's not even the specific bass, though some of my basses are better for that than others. It's more of an interaction between my playing, which I don't intend to change (I like my playing, I'm only looking for a slightly different result of it from my equipment) and my amplifiers.

And playing near the bridge does help, but my strings are not coming into contact with the pickups at all. Thanks for pointing it out though, that is a good description of the sound I'm getting, but even if my strings were coming into contact with the pickups, they wouldn't touch them because the poles are recessed on Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounders. I have been experimenting with my pickup height though.

thejohnkim · #6 10-12-2007, 06:05 PM

i see, thats interesting then... now i have a better handle of your original post

the right compressor should help, bongomania's compressor review super page should be a good start for narrowing down which ones to consider, but those two are definitely top notch.

an eq comes to mind too, but eq-ing that out would also kill a lot of the high frequency info from your overdrive too, which would be no good.

wierd.

maybe its the way you pluck? if the angle youre hitting your Eb string is different than the way you hit the other strings because your thumb stays at one place, then maybe you can try seeing if that helps? a lot of guys in the Technique forum on TB like to suggest the moving thumb technique, but i personally cant get used to it and leave it on top of my neck pickups.

yeah sorry if this is not helping,...

assboglin · #7 10-12-2007, 06:15 PM

It's not specifically the way I pluck. I've tried a variety of techniques. It's odd.

What I can do and what might help is lower my pickups. However they're already really low and my strings aren't hitting them. The sound I'm getting is characteristic of strings hitting the pickups even though I'm not, again, it's odd. I'll play with my gear some more and if the problem persists, I'll try a compressor.

It really isn't a major problem, it's only noticeable on a handful of the songs my band does and even then most of the time it gets lost in the mix. Thanks for the suggestions guys, I appreciate them.

bongomania · #8 10-12-2007, 07:28 PM

One experiment you could try is raising the signal level between your bass and the bassdrive, using a booster pedal or equivalent. If doing that causes the problem to occur more consistently on all notes, then it is reasonable to suspect that reducing big spikes on the problematic notes will do the trick; and that a compressor will help. If, OTOH, you get some less predictable result, or the problem stays the same, then it may have more to do with the frequencies than the levels. If that's the case then maybe an EQ into the Bassdrive could help, or maybe you're SOL with the Bassdrive.

FWIW though, the clip sounded good to me- I didn't hear anything bad or unduly harsh. If anything, the lowest notes sounded a bit mushy, which is common with distortion.

assboglin · #9 10-12-2007, 07:44 PM

Especially because my bass is tuned to dropped C# for that tune, and I play fairly light guage strings, the clarity of the bass drive is pretty impressive.

The problem doesn't only occur with the bassdrive, it also occurs with my clean signal, the bass drive clip is all I had to demonstrate it. Some distortion pedals, like the EBS Multidrive, eliminate the problem completely however, which lead me to believe it might be in part because of the compression offered by the distortion pedal, ergo a compressor might help fix the problem. I'll experiment more.

pretaanluxis · #10 10-12-2007, 07:59 PM

Sounds like plain old clunk from digging in and really rocking out, in which case a compressor would probably make it worse. If you play very lightly and pluck across the strings rather than down, does it go away?

assboglin · #11 10-12-2007, 09:13 PM

You're right, but playing too hard is really my sound and I'm determined to make it work. I did try the Aphex compressor that I have, and it didn't seem to do the trick, but I was still curious because I don't think the Aphex does a good job. I'll try lowering my pickups even more first. If I have to, I can simply throw the EBS Multidrive and Fulltone on my board and use the EBS for songs that require me to play the problem frets, and for the songs I play clean I'll just play them with a pick. Notice how using a pick on the same frets doesn't produce the problem clunkiness:

http://media.putfile.com/BassDrive-Grind