Double Bass Compressor Recommendations for Upright Bass

[flyingwalrus]

Hello all,

A quick question for the assembled expertise on this forum; has anyone got a recommendation for a compressor pedal to use with my upright?

For specifics, I play a Shen SB-80 plywood bass with a Realist pickup through an MXR M81 bass preamp DI straight into the PA. I mostly play in a rock/bluegrass band but do occasional church stuff, backing up singer-songwriters and so on. In my other musical life, my electric bass rig uses extremely heavy compression, almost as an effect, and for the upright I'd like something to even out the amplitude a bit.

In addition I'd like something which has battery power - I use a JoeMeek Floor Q with bass guitar and it's absolutely wonderful but only runs on electric power and you don't get that with a lot of the venues I play. I did think about getting a Fishman Platinum which contains everything I need, but I've heard very bad things about Fishman build quality and it doesn't have phantom power, which is really helpful if everything's in one package.

Anyway, if anyone's got any experience with pedal compressors processing uprights I'd value some help.

Many thanks in advance,

Ian

Two Ton Twig - New Album 1st April 2015...

 

[Don Kasper]

Hi flyingwalrus,

Speaking for only myself, "compression" of my doublebass's sound is about the last thing I'd ever want. I'm always attempting, (especially when amplifying), to project the inherent "thump" of the bass, not mask, reduce or eliminate it with "compression".
Are you experiencing hot/dead spots in your amplified sound? Are those hot/dead spots present in your acoustic (non-amplified) sound?
Others may have a different view.
Thanks.

 

[Mr Ralph]

I have an ART pro channel pre amp. It has phantom power, parametric EQ and compressor. I have yet to find a situation where the compressor was needed or helped. I have only ever used it with my EB.

 

[Macch5]

I've had issues of my bass getting way too loud when I switched to arco. I always wondered if compression would help that. I've never used compression before on upright or electric so I may have the wrong idea of how it works. I also was looking at the fishman platnium pro.

 

[vin*tone]

The MXR M87 is good!

 

[jmlee]

I've used the Diamond bass compressor pedal with some success on upright. It's 10 meg ohm input impedance is great with piezo pickups too.

 

[Matthijs]

I occasionally use a bit of compression on my fishman platinum pro II. I think it works really well, but my goal is not to hear it work. So you I can't really advise on how it sounds if you'r aiming for a clearly compressed sound. It does work fine if you're in a situation where the amplification can't handle transients or transients lead to unwanted resonances.

By the way: at least the old model of the platinum pro has phantom power and I've had no complaints at all on build quality or reliability after quite a few years of regular use.

 

[brianrost]

Another player who has never found a good use for compression on DB other than when recording. Certainly if you have any issues with onstage feedback control you do not want to use a compressor.

 

[drurb]

I would not recommend compression for the DB in most live situations and especially would not recommend it when recording (except with the threshold set very high to avoid overload). The only live situations in which it might be appropriate would be for crazy-loud gigs in which the DB is being used as a vertical, overgrown, EB. An amplified DB sounds most like a DB when the temporal attack/decay profile is reproduced accurately. That's true for any instrument. Employing compression tends to destroy that aspect of the waveform, which, for the DB, is characterized by the percussive transient attack. Do a search on "attack/decay". Here are a few of my comments on the topic:
Here
Here
Here
Here

You say that you want to "even out the amplitude a bit." Do you mean across the spectrum or across time for a given note? A compressor will do the latter. My advice would be to save some money and, instead, buy the Swiss Army knife of DB amplification.

 

[Matthijs]

You guy's are right, I use the compression on the fishman like a limiter and prefer to go without.

It does have it's use though in live situations where you have to go loud with crappy, or small amplification. Especially together with the steeper hpf of that swiss army knife.

 

[Ric Vice]

You guy's are right, I use the compression on the fishman like a limiter and prefer to go without.

It does have it's use though in live situations where you have to go loud with crappy, or small amplification. Especially together with the steeper hpf of that swiss army knife.

+1 I've only owned one amplifier that had a compressor/limiter and that was the GK 200MB series. I don't recall using it much, if at all. In situations where I'm playing in loud ensembles, I take my trusty Headway EDB-2. If it's louder than that I take my Lakland 55-94

I would not recommend compression for the DB in most live situations and especially would not recommend it when recording (except with the threshold set very high to avoid overload). The only live situations in which it might be appropriate would be for crazy-loud gigs in which the DB is being used as a vertical, overgrown, EB. An amplified DB sounds most like a DB, when the temporal attack/decay profile is reproduced accurately. That's true for any instrument. Employing compression tends to destroy that aspect of the waveform, which, for the DB, is characterized by the percussive transient attack. Do a search on "attack/decay". Here are a few of my comments on the topic:
Here
Here
Here
Here

You say that you want to "even out the amplitude a bit." Do you mean across the spectrum or across time for a given note? A compressor will do the latter. My advice would be to save some money and, instead, buy the Swiss Army knife of DB amplification.

+1 I've never had an occasion, where I thought a compressor would improve the sound of a DB in a live situation. The Fdeck HPF, solves a lot of the problems I've encountered with DB live.

Ric

 

[Eric Hochberg]

I've had issues of my bass getting way too loud when I switched to arco.

Use a volume pedal.

 

[jthisdell]

Interesting topic. I use a Behringer Limiter set pretty high for minimal compression but this is all telling me to turn it off.

 

[Macch5]

Use a volume pedal.

I tried using twp different ernie ball Jr volume pedals. They both sucked out a lot if volume even when all the way up. I thought a a good preamp like the fishman might help with a few things.(even out the arco/pizz volume, a little volume boost when playing with unsympathetic drummers, feedback control at louder shows, more control over my sound when playing larger venues and festivals.) I can't afford to break the bank but I prefer a quality gear to the cheapest solution. I'd appreciate any advice on the subject. Sorry if I'm derailing the thread.

 

[Eric Hochberg]

I tried using twp different ernie ball Jr volume pedals. They both sucked out a lot if volume even when all the way up. I thought a a good preamp like the fishman might help with a few things.(even out the arco/pizz volume, a little volume boost when playing with unsympathetic drummers, feedback control at louder shows, more control over my sound when playing larger venues and festivals.) I can't afford to break the bank but I prefer a quality gear to the cheapest solution. I'd appreciate any advice on the subject. Sorry if I'm derailing the thread.

There are other pedals out there if the Balls didn't work right. A preamp isn't going to equalize arco/pizz volume unless it has a boost switch or channel switching capabilities. Or, you can just twiddle the volume knob...

 

[MR PC]

I sometimes mount my fdeck II to the tailpiece, and use the volume pot to make level adjustments. Works really well. It's lightweight.

 

[Macch5]

I imagine it would be clumsy to grab the bow and then adjust the volume if you're doing quick switches between arco and pizz.

 

[devnulljp]

I use a Cali76 on standup and it works very well.

 

[Jeff Bonny]

I imagine it would be clumsy to grab the bow and then adjust the volume if you're doing quick switches between arco and pizz.

And I'd imagine hitting most compressors hard enough to level that much overt volume discrepancy would sound like squashed ass.

This discussion is kinda like "should I wear my underwear on the outside?" If you think it's a good idea to begin with there are issues. If you do it and don't perceive any fundamental flaws there are further issues.

 

[Feral Feline]

Hey, underwear on the outside works for Superman!


@flyingwalrus, Well it's all been said, the good advice, nonetheless I'll throw in as well. Some people do use some compression live, but they are the minority. I've used an LMB-3 as a limiter, to snag slap transients, but whenever I've tried to use straight compression the bass just howls — a total feedback banshee.

If you decide you still want some mild compression on battery power, check out the Punch Factory, as it can run on either a wart, a battery OR phantom power; AND it's a cheap DI. It's not the best built pedal, the jacks are substandard, a good idea from Aphex that was poorly executed on some levels. Check out a review of it at Ovnilabs.

I've had issues of my bass getting way too loud when I switched to arco. I always wondered if compression would help that. I've never used compression before on upright or electric so I may have the wrong idea of how it works. I also was looking at the fishman platnium pro.

I used the boost (stomp-button) on my PZed-Pre for my pizz volume and then disengage the boost for arco passages. It's quick and easy to set up at sound check and quick and easy to stomp on when swapping quickly between arco and pizz.

Nonetheless, I managed to snag a volume pedal just after the Consumermas Holidays and will try that on gigs soon.