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Any difference between guitar and bass compressors

exiii

exiii

Sep 14, 2011
109
83
Salt Lake City, Utah
#1
I searched. I couldn't find jack.

I would assume that there is very little difference between compressor pedals for guitar and bass, but realize I may be completely wrong.

I'm looking at the Akai Custom Shop Analog Compressor for cheap ($62), but there is no mention anywhere of using it with a bass. Am I silly for considering it?
 
#8
Well, I suppose I could also run my bass into a wet piece of wood and either like the sound or not. So if you have some knowlwdge about how bass-specific compressors differ from studio or guitar-specific compressors that wasn't explained in Grygrx's link, i'd love to hear it. General trends is fine. Of course, if you really have no info to add, condescension is a little unwarranted.
 
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#10
These are the factors:
1) low-end loss. Some comps really do roll off the low end.
2) lack of control over the envelope. Guitars typically just need a general "squeezing", and the envelope and threshold of the compressor are not so important--largely because guitarists tend to think of these boxes as inherently "good" or "bad", rather than thinking the boxes are simply not designed well. Basses OTOH have special needs. They have much more dynamic signals, and their output peaks can be much higher, and bassists have very specific desires for how their signal is controlled.

There are a few comps for bass that are good without having a lot of controls, but that is because they are pre-set by the designer to be suitable for an average bass signal.
 
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#11
ksandvik said:
I don't know all the designs behind bass-centric compressors, but if I would design one, it would be more like a multi-band compressor. Then again I would export that multi-band design to the knobs so I could select the compression for let's say low-end, mid-range, and high-end.
Click to expand...
There are a few two-band ones that offer this degree of control, such as the pedals by FEA. The only 3-band pedal I can think of ATM is the TC Nova Dynamics, and it did not offer quite as much control per band. There are a few multi-band rack units out there if you wanted to go that route.
 
#19
I know this is an ancient thread, but I found it so someone else might find this useful: I used a guitar compressor with a bass and it worked ok. I got a new bass with hotter pickups -- still passive but it has a sidewinder and a thunderbird -- and the sound is now noticeably distorted unless I turn the volume down so low that there's no discernable compression. Summary: it might work, or it might not, but the bass will push a guitar compressor harder than a guitar will, so the odds are against a good sound.
 

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