BOSS Compression Sustainer CS-3: good for bass?

[1049Gotho]

Hi everyone.
I received as a gift an old Compression Sustainer, as stated in the title.
Looking online, I noticed that it is mainly for guitar, but I play bass. I'm trying to figure it out how I can take advantage of it in terms of sound: do you have experience of using this pedal with a bass? Do you have any tips? I don't quite get the usefulness of this pedal.
Moreover, I noticed that it makes a lot of noise, is it because it's some years old or is it normal for compression pedals?

 

[furym]

I used one for bass some time ago. Keep the sustain knob nearly off, never above 9-10 o'clock position, other knobs to taste and you should be good to go.

 

[1049Gotho]

Thank you very much, I will definitely try with those settings!!

 

[Sam Evans]

I've owned three of these over the last few decades. I keep selling it for the newest greatest thing, and I keep coming back to it. The key is "less is more" -- it's best on bass in small doses, esp. the sustain knob. I have two main settings:

• For pick playing, I set sustain at 9 o'clock, attack at 10, tone at 12
• For slapping, I set sustain at 11, attack at 12, tone at 2

I set the volume wherever I need it to keep things similar to when I'm playing regular fingerstyle.

Hope that helps!

 

[loukash]

I have one since about 1985 and I was using it for guitars a lot, electric and acoustic. And back in the day even for vocals homerecording on a Tascam Porta One cassette multitrack, lacking a more sophisticated compressor.
After I switched to bass, I tried the CS-3 as well but I didn't like the sound. So for bass I got me the Boss Bass Limiter LM-2B instead. (All slightly "obsolete" by now since I use the HX Stomp…)

 

[Krisfield]

Years ago I used one for a while. Ended up putting it in a Boss LS 2.

 

[Brian Patterson]

I just bought a 1984 Boss CS-3 off eBay for $50 shipped to try this tech out - will graduate to an Empress or more state of the art unit over time, perhaps.