Hard to find a recording where the bass is not run through a compressor.
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Do you use a compressor - the 2018 poll
- Thread starter Al Krow
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- compressor poll
I’m in the camp of using a compressor on all the time live, switch off for practice. It evens out your playing live but practicing you probably want to hear where your technique needs a tune up
Who equates Compressor with bad technique... Who said Marcus Millar has bad technique, or Janek Gwizdala, Bootsy, Federico Malaman just to name a very few.
Sorry, slightly late to the party.
My gigging these days is on upright, jazz. My amp has a one-knob compressor built in, and I tend to leave that on ever so slightly - it could be my imagination, but I feel like it makes the amp sound a bit warmer and more natural. I don't solo much, but if I did more, I'd consider kicking on some sort of pre-amp / effects pedal and sculpt the volume / tone / dynamics a bit, which would probably include moderate compression. As has been pointed out, compression is not meant for covering up sloppy dynamics, and can actually enhance the perceived dynamics in the right situations; I think I'd find that would be the case with upright soloing.
Back when I still played in rock bands, I tended not to use compression at all unless I was slapping; then it was a must. In my current bedroom rock playing, I also like using a touch on compression when I play with a pick, as I really like how it brings out the very particular timbre of the pick attack. I don't use any compression at all with just regular fingerstyle rock playing, though.
My gigging these days is on upright, jazz. My amp has a one-knob compressor built in, and I tend to leave that on ever so slightly - it could be my imagination, but I feel like it makes the amp sound a bit warmer and more natural. I don't solo much, but if I did more, I'd consider kicking on some sort of pre-amp / effects pedal and sculpt the volume / tone / dynamics a bit, which would probably include moderate compression. As has been pointed out, compression is not meant for covering up sloppy dynamics, and can actually enhance the perceived dynamics in the right situations; I think I'd find that would be the case with upright soloing.
Back when I still played in rock bands, I tended not to use compression at all unless I was slapping; then it was a must. In my current bedroom rock playing, I also like using a touch on compression when I play with a pick, as I really like how it brings out the very particular timbre of the pick attack. I don't use any compression at all with just regular fingerstyle rock playing, though.
Guys - over 650 responses to the poll so far! A big thanks from me to everyone participating.
The 75%+ vote in favour of some form of compressor use is certainly a big encouragement to me (and I hope to others reading the thread) to put in the time and effort in getting to grips with compression and getting the most out of it.
The 75%+ vote in favour of some form of compressor use is certainly a big encouragement to me (and I hope to others reading the thread) to put in the time and effort in getting to grips with compression and getting the most out of it.
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Only if you're pushing them up to near their clean volume limits or cranking the preamps. At the volumes I play them at, which are very clean and usually not pushed, they sound to me like the least compressed sounding of any amps I've ever played, especially something with a lot of headroom like an SVT.I wonder what portion of the "I never use a compressor" crowd uses a tube amp (which usually means some form of compression)
I wonder what portion of the "I never use a compressor" crowd uses a tube amp (which usually means some form of compression)
I suspect there is likely to be a significant percentage of non compressor users who like to keep things simple and don't use ANY pedals in their signal chain.
As someone who has been a reasonably successful gigging bassist for a few years that's certainly been true for me (I'm just starting to use pedals for live work). So I do have a lot of sympathy with that "less can be more" approach!
Always on. My amp has switches for the FX loop, EQ and preshape, but not for the compressor. There's a reason for this.
With my sound engineer hat on I can say that unless you really know what all those knobs are doing to your sound, and how to use them, a player clicking on and off compression throughout the set is asking for trouble. This is true for more than just compression though, I suppose...
And yep, the only reason I won't be adding compression to the bass channel while I'm mixing, is if the player already has a great compressor in their rig that they leave on all the time.
Just my £0.02...
With my sound engineer hat on I can say that unless you really know what all those knobs are doing to your sound, and how to use them, a player clicking on and off compression throughout the set is asking for trouble. This is true for more than just compression though, I suppose...
And yep, the only reason I won't be adding compression to the bass channel while I'm mixing, is if the player already has a great compressor in their rig that they leave on all the time.
Just my £0.02...
I'm a gigging bassist. I go back and fourth, but I'm using one now and have been for all of 2018 so far.
I think the compressor on monitor or amp depends on the kind of music you play.
In electric bass, I play blues where I never use compressor, and I play comercial music where it is always on.
In acoustic bass, I play frenetic jazz manouche where the compressor is always on, and I play acousic Latin jazz trio where I never use comp.
And FYI, I always take my HxFx gigging with me. In spite of using comp or not, sometime I use octavers, reverb, dist, OD, or chorus for solos.
When I am the sound guy, I always compress bass. Mostly the low frequencies and without squashing. I usually like the natural sound of the bass, unless I am doing some post rock or techno dance style
I think each tool in their context is great!!
In electric bass, I play blues where I never use compressor, and I play comercial music where it is always on.
In acoustic bass, I play frenetic jazz manouche where the compressor is always on, and I play acousic Latin jazz trio where I never use comp.
And FYI, I always take my HxFx gigging with me. In spite of using comp or not, sometime I use octavers, reverb, dist, OD, or chorus for solos.
When I am the sound guy, I always compress bass. Mostly the low frequencies and without squashing. I usually like the natural sound of the bass, unless I am doing some post rock or techno dance style
I think each tool in their context is great!!
You're going to have to explain what "side chaining" compression means in simple terms for a non expert like me, please!
Some of you guys have started to change the way I have thought about this topic. I was fairly anti-compression in the live rig. Now I'm mulling it over.
Side chaining is when you hook up a second instrument to a comp that acts on the first instrument's volume. A lot of times bass drum will be sidechained to the bass player's comp, and when the bass drum hits, the volume of the bass gets cut on the attack then comes back right away. That way you get this big massive bass drum hit but it doesn't prevent the bass from being big in the mix, too. It's known as "ducking," too. Very popular with dance music.
Thanks for explaining that - and it sounds good! What would be a couple of good examples of tracks where obvious "ducking" or "side chaining" is being used?
