Do you consider a compressor pedal a "must have"?

[74hc]

For me, it's not quite a "must have" but more like a "should have".

 

[Bunk McNulty]

I've been using a compressor (along with a BBE Sonic stomp and various other boxes) for decades. Then this past weekend I left my pedalboard home and just jacked into my amp. At the end of the set, my sound guy came up to me and said, "Hey, that sounds great! Lots of presence, lots of punch! What did you do?"

 

[Jakeman]

I played without pedals for 20 years, and prided myself on not needing a compressor. Then I found out that soundmen and recording engineers have been compressing my signal anyway. So I got a pedal so I could control that aspect of my tone. So I guess my answer is no you don't need one - the engineer is probably using one anyway, lol.

 

[Joebone]

I'd certainly use one if I slapped/popped a lot, or was a tapper, but I'm fingerstyle, and work on dynamics and right hand placement so I can get a broader range of expression, on the fly. Not as good as I'd like to be, but I see the path before me... OTOH, clearly a must for most recording contexts.

 

[darwin-bass]

Then either the loud notes are quieter or the quiet notes are louder

Both. Sort of.
The compression makes loud notes quieter and the make-up gain makes all notes louder. The net effect is loud notes are the same volume with or without compression while quiet notes are boosted by the make-up gain when the compressor is on.

 

[red_rhino]

Compressors certainly do 'even out volume variance', but they do so much more than that. Consider this, almost every bass track you heard has some compression on it. Almost every song you heard is compressed. This it not done to fix the tracks. It is there to enhance it. It makes the song more cohesive, fatter, punchier, more mellow, whatever. Compression, when done correctly, changes the feel of the music.

I often read posts where people think that compressors are there to cover-up your poor technique. I feel the opposite. You cannot truly enjoy the benefits of compression until you have a good control over you picking attack and fretting technique.

Can I Like that twice?

I did not use compression for a very, very long time. But technique alone (and mine is pretty good) will not do many of the things that compression will do for your sound or define how your bass sounds in a band mix. Once I invested the effort to understand how to use compression, and spent some time (and $$) finding which ones I like, I do consider this to be a "must have" for me.

 

[sawzalot]

I use one on pretty much every gig. But is it a "must have"? Certainly not. I can play a gig with nothing but a bass, a DI, and a PA with enough juice for my bass. Or a bass and an amp. But I do really like having in particular a multi- or dual-band compressor tweaked just the way I like it to give just a touch of smoothing.

Tom

 

[Basvarken]

I've been playing bass for 38 years now. Never owned a compressor. Never needed one.

 

[Rib 13]

no pedal is a must have.....for a comp, your playing consistency dictates that.......so Ill say a compressor is 'highly recommended', even if you have great consistency, if just to use as a limiter to reign in transients and to keep slap bass "popping" from ripping off ears. I use one 100% of the time for that reason

 

[LaklandLaksNADA]

Anytime the question is an additional pedal, the answer is yes.

 

[morgan138]

Nope. Only really use them on bass when I'm playing dead clean (or running one Rick pickup clean), which isn't very often.

 

[Killens84]

Not a must-have. But they can definitely add a little niceness to your tone, when you find one that suits you. If I turn mine off, I immediately miss it.

 

[Tom Baker]

no

 

[Obese Chess]

I like mine to even out the signal going into my distortion pedal(s) as I find those make any dynamic inconsistencies more noticeable and just sound a little fuller with some compression. I'm also a very aggressive player and switch techniques a lot over the course of a set (pick, finger, slap, etc). If and when I'm playing a simpler set I don't find it to be necessary.

 

[lowfreqgeek]

In my 30+ years of public performance, no. A compressor pedal (otherwise) is not a must have for live performance.

 

[zubrycky]

No.

 

[fishdreams]

Depends on what you use it for, for example:

1. Even out the level of your playing
2. Thickening of tone; beefing up synthy tone
3. boosting &/or leveling pedal chain levels
4. raising attack level ('punch')
5. lengthening sustain (and decreasing attack aka punch in the process)
6. Color your tone with a certain signature sound
7. Subtly raise the level of your low-dynamics playing, without changing your tone
8. Substitute for a preamp, for example when plugging directly into a board in time-stressed live situations

As far as I am concerned, it is about knowing what you want to do with it, find a compressor that is capable of doing that, and learn to use it.

 

[mambo4]

for gigging, compressors are not a must have for me.
I used them in the past, but then
I got a decent amp , started plucking lightly and turning up.
Now I don't want the dynamic control taken away.

 

[JGbassman]

With my 4 string precision through my svt, not so much.

My active five string basses with a low B? It’s essential. I set the comp to tighten up the B, and it makes all the difference for me

 

[ComeHomeShane]

@ArcadeNate

It depends on the gig/band. I have an MXR compressor on my board, but I typically only use it when I play with my cover band. That is because we switch styles very frequently and have a lot of low/high peaks. In my experience the compressor before the preamp helps the sound guy level me out more than it helps myself. Since the band varies styles and intensity so much it keeps the spikes under control and keeps me from getting lost on softer mellow songs.