Yeah I hear yah, that white (and I think black?) Deluxe mxr comp was the first comp I sought out. Honestly, in my head the only compressor to kick off this group, or Omni now is a cali76 G-P, but I would have to sell my entire board to afford that..
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*incoherent grumbling of agreement****Checks Stock and Crypto portfolios... Well crap! Not today!
Lowendtech
Happily trending in my own peculiar direction.
I'll post them - just want to make sure they are gig-worthy before putting them up. I'm finding that the Attack and Release controls are the key ingredients. Logical, but a little difficult for me because:
a) I simply don't understand how some compressor controls work - PARTICULARLY Attack and Release.
b) The Attack and Release controls both work opposite to the way I would expect them to work. So things became much easier when I got the hang of "more is less", or "forward is reverse", or however it is that my atrophied brain is understanding this.
Suffice it to say that almost completely by accident I have found a tone that is clean and punchy, with just that right amount of Phatness. If these work live, white out will be applied to the pedals so that the magic setting is always attainable.
Now, there are a number of kind souls out there who may try to take it upon themselves to try and explain how/what/why compressor controls work. @NKBassman's efforts in trying to explain how the side chain worked on the Apex were particularly heroic. Sadly, I never completely understood how to turn the theory into reality, so ended up using the side chain setting as a glorified tone control. This is because I am a spaz. So don't waste your breath. My only hope is that the Derek Zoolander Centre for Kids Who Can't Compress Good opens soon.
Well, this is my understanding of how the attack and release knobs work, and what they have to do with tone. Somebody please school me if I'm mistaken about this!
_More_ means the compressor is slower to react, and _less_ means quicker. A slower attack means more of the transient of the string pluck gets through before the gain reduction happens. A slower release means the gain reduction continues a bit after the level falls below the threshold.
My goal is to have the compressor restrain the dynamics (mostly in the sustain portion of the note's envelope), but still preserve the natural feel of my touch on the strings. So I set the attack to be slower, and the release to be faster.
On most compressors (I'm looking at you LA-1A, with your backwards Attack), the Attack and Release are Attack Time and Release Time. So increasing them increases the amount of time taken to engage and disengage the compressor.
Okay... it looks like the Derek Zoolander Centre for Kids Who Can't Compress Good is open for business. Here are the settings. Perhaps somebody can explain what I've done. Goodness knows I can't... 
Looks like a fairly high ratio but the blend brings back some of the dry signal to offset the higher ratio. That should be fine. Fast attack but not too fast to allow some of the transient though before compression kicks in and a fairly fast release so the compressing action won't clamp on your next notes; in other words you can play quickly and your next notes' attack won't be muted.Okay... it looks like the Derek Zoolander Centre for Kids Who Can't Compress Good is open for business. Here are the settings. Perhaps somebody can explain what I've done. Goodness knows I can't...
View attachment 4649339
For slower songs perhaps increasing the release time may be nice.
If you want a good grip on Attack and Release, set the Ratio at max with a somewhat low threshold and go through the full range of those two knobs. You should be able to hear a big difference from min to max this way.
Disclosure: I don't have an Omnicomp yet so hopefully I'm not misinforming on the settings.
[EDIT:] If you can, try making adjustments while playing 1) along to some music and 2) with a band and through a cab. When you amplify your signal some of the changes you make will be more noticeable. I am the type of person that enjoys having my sound and feel change (unless it is mud) and compressors can be great to make that happen. Some settings you wouldn't normally think of trying may inspire new ideas in your playing.
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I'm going to assume that you aren't happy with the results you are getting.Okay... it looks like the Derek Zoolander Centre for Kids Who Can't Compress Good is open for business. Here are the settings. Perhaps somebody can explain what I've done. Goodness knows I can't...
View attachment 4649339
First thing is your blend is quite low, that means you are getting mostly clean. Crank it up to 100% if you want just the compressor signal (can add some cleans if you feel you need to once you have everything else dialled in). Your Attack and Release time are low. A popular setting on bass is a slow attack (so the initial part of your note comes through well) and fast release (to allow the compressor to reset in-between notes), so try increasing the Attack past noon. Adjust threshold so that when you play hard, the Comp light goes fairly bright, and when you play soft it barely comes on (these are just suggestions, a low threshold means only loud sounds will trigger the compressor, and a higher threshold means quieter sounds will as well). Ratio adjusts the amount your signal gets compressed, so feel free to trying cranking it up to see what it feels like to play with heavy compression (might need to increase gain if it gets too quiet), but then dial it back to what feels comfortable (It can feel uncomfortable to play with less dynamics as it will seem like you are fighting the compressor).
Hopefully that helps a bit.
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Actually, quite the opposite - I'm very happy. But apart from the fact that I like the sound, I have very little idea what I've actually done here.
So I'm still grossly unfamiliar with Broughton gear, and while I haven't tried any of his pedals aside from the HPF/LPF (which has become the most important pedal on my board, aside from my tuner, which is why I'm here), I've spent quite a bit of time learning and studying home recording, especially compression.
The thing is you have to train yourself to hear what compression is. And to do that, you have to listen closely to your transient. That's the very fast, higher-pitched click that your fingers or your pick make when they very briefly make contact with your strings. Everything after that, you can consider the sustain - that's the sound of your string ringing out.
To learn how to hear what the compressor does, make your threshold really low. This knob sets the level at which your compressor will start to work - in other words, the compressor will do nothing until your levels hit the threshold. Keep in mind you're not trying to sound good right now, you're just trying to hear what the compressor is doing.
Next, set the ratio really high. The ratio controls how much volume reduction you're going to get when the compressor crosses the threshold. You want it as dramatic as possible so you can hear the pedal in action.
Then ask yourself a couple of questions. 1) How loud do I want my transient?, and 2) How long do I want my transient? If you want a fast, kind of ice-picky click right when you hit that string, you want your attack time low (i.e. fast) - this means the compressor will allow a tiny bit of that click through before clamping down and shutting it up. If you want a kind of smooth, creamy transient (that's what I prefer), you want your attack time high (i.e. slow).
Attack affects the beginning of the transient. Release affects the end - in other words, how slowly (or quickly) the compressor backs off your signal. I tend to hear the release in terms like coldness and warmth: a fast release is kind of jarring and cold, while a slow release is gradual and warm. Slow release also brings the effect of the compressor past the transient and into your sustain - a longer release time will mean that your notes will sustain longer.
It's not bass specific, but this video by Greg Scott at Kush Audio is a great intro to hearing what compression does in the context of a mix. Please disregard the clickbaity title, it's a really good video.
Does the Omnicomp have an adjustable side chain? Without getting too in the weeds, a side chain basically ignores lower frequencies, letting your low end come through at its natural loudness. But the higher end gets compressed, which is where your transient lives. So the way you're using it is pretty much on the nose.
In that case, don’t follow my directions to adjust anything
It’s a fixed side chain that is tuned to work well with most instruments.
No, it does not. Which may actually be a good thing for me - I can focus on being confused by attack and release.
That's what I figured - yeah your intuition about the importance of attack and release is correct. After you set your threshold and ratio, those controls are where the majority of the tone shaping happens.
