I still have a 163X but can get pretty close with the 160 emulation in my Zoom B1on pedal
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Does anyone NOT use a compressor? (... and why not?)
- Thread starter stringthrough
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I don't find weariness, apathy, ennui, unconcern, frustration, dissatisfaction, restlessness, restiveness, lethargy, lassitude, tedium, dullness, monotony, repetitiveness, flatness nor dreariness when I go to a thesaurus, quite the opposite. I quite like a good thesaurus. It helps me find the most apt, correct, fitting, befitting, appropriate, relevant, germane, ideal, model, consummate, quintessential, exemplary and splendiferous word to convey what I wish.
I've been reading and re-reading Ovnilab FAQ and reviews for a few years now, still learning. Bongomania has forgotten more about compression than I'll ever be able to learn. Amazing contribution to the bass community, he has made.
I've been reading and re-reading Ovnilab FAQ and reviews for a few years now, still learning. Bongomania has forgotten more about compression than I'll ever be able to learn. Amazing contribution to the bass community, he has made.
Once you memorize a couple dozen or so, they become boring to read. Or tedious, if you prefer.
I've only tried 'em built in the head: Eden and Ampegs. I wasn't happy with the resultant tone. Seemed to lose some "round wound sheen" so i don't use it. Maybe it's just the amps I've tried though.
There are still acoustic bass players who insist an amplified acoustic bass is sacrilegious.
"custom wound baby's hair pickups"Ik find dat look!
"But you agree that if you use a compressor to even things out and then on the recording they compress it again, you end up having a playing without any nuances, monotone, without any inflection like a humain voice, pretty much a robot always on the same note, same velocity etc"
That is the fallacy right there. Who says it has to be compressed to the point of being flat and lifeless? If that's how the compression is being used it's using compression incorrectly, full stop.
Yes, the signal gets squashed, but without it, the super soft passage wouldn't even be heard at all – that's the point. So physically, yes, the signal is "squashed", but perceptually people actually get to hear all the soft nuances of your playing AND if you've set your compression correctly the soft stuff will still be quieter in volume than the loud stuff, and the super loud stuff will be attenuated enough to stop clipping your pre-amp and still SOUND LOUD.
So, do you want to play true dynamics whereby 90% of the audience does NOT hear your beautiful symphonic like barrage of harmonics and ghost notes because you refuse to use a small amount of compression?
The whole point is to connect and communicate with people, how can you do that if your audience doesn't HEAR what you have to SAY?
Classical musician and early jazz musician think it is a sacrilege to compress the music as dynamics is a big part of the music. Saddly in our very noisy life environnement CD or whatever your music format has to be loud in order to compete. Anyway it sounds like s*** to amplify a DB with a piezo pickup, a mic sounds better and they would have to use a compressor to smooth out the sound and use an EQ and yadi-yada they hate it, they would play as loud as they can destroying their fingers before using a piezo system.
As for me who obviously doesn't understand the subtle Art of compressor I guess I'll try one but I still think that if you bring inaudible sound to hearing level, you still diminish your dynamic range
Works for me. I am the eggman. (Probably eat way too many of them as it is.) Try an omlette with a dash of Worcester sauce added to the mix, or try oeufs au beurre noir for something different that's a real treat.
I consider compression part of my sound, it's enhancement, not cover-up. I tried a few comp pedals, but finally settled on the dbx after recommendations from a couple of studio engineers.
As it is, English not my native. Now, we have english learning too, in this thread. Thank you for correction, synonym it is and nothing else. What's another word for synonym?
All comprehensive, TB!↑
Since I have a bad case of arthritis I must adhere to a soft knee. Makes huge problems when I walk through rooms and have to pass a threshold. But I do live in a gated community...
LOL! Awesome!
And I use a crutch too...
If we keep on adding the bad puns with, soft knee, threshold, compression-band aid, so on, we'll end up in crutch anyway in the end...
So maybe the saying "crutch=compressor" has some merit, after all?
Since I have a bad case of arthritis I must adhere to a soft knee. Makes huge problems when I walk through rooms and have to pass a threshold. But I do live in a gated community...
LOL! Awesome!
And I use a crutch too...
If we keep on adding the bad puns with, soft knee, threshold, compression-band aid, so on, we'll end up in crutch anyway in the end...
So maybe the saying "crutch=compressor" has some merit, after all?
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I stopped using a compressor onstage when my gigging went from 90% pop/10% jazz or experimental to 70% jazz or experimental/30% pop. The compressor not only doesn't lend itself to the less commercial gigs, it's actually working against what I'm trying to achieve in those shows. And even when I'm playing commercial pop or rock stuff nowadays I'd rather be responsible for my dynamics ...or for playing without any if that's what's required 
I never used to use one and it was good for learning how to play with dynamics.....then a few years ago I got it in my head that I needed one so I proceeded to buy a bunch and try them out. I realized that I only need one if I want to phatten my tone or sustain otherwise I'm quite happy without. And I'm tired of carrying a big pedalboard so now I'm trying to fit everything I need on a Pedaltrain Mini...which are coming back in April......
Chef
In Memoriam
I've never wanted one, or needed it, until:
I got a Mesa M6, which just had a lot of low ned that made dynamics more difficult. When Mesa released the M9, I bought one because it had a nice, built in GEQ and compressor that tamed that.
When GK released the MBFusion line, I get rid of the M( and went right back to no compressor.
I got a Mesa M6, which just had a lot of low ned that made dynamics more difficult. When Mesa released the M9, I bought one because it had a nice, built in GEQ and compressor that tamed that.
When GK released the MBFusion line, I get rid of the M( and went right back to no compressor.
Here's another well written article on about how to tame a flubby b-string 5 er, in the studio, with the help of compression. Good food for thought, added to the other ones:
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I guess you're asking me... I bought the highly-revered Smoothie (and it was awesome) but I couldn't use it to my liking with any overdrive, and as I improved my technique I found I needed it less and less anyway. I use high-mass bridges so I get sustain there. I use a DHA VT1-EQ-Bass-Drive preamp which has a tube in it, and even when I'm not driving it hard enough to get real dirt, it does provide a little limiting/compression - more than enough now that I've got the technique down. I also found I was getting massive tone suck from my pedal board for no discernible reason (each pedal seemed fine on it's own) so I've scaled back using pedals at all other than the a/n preamp.
I would suggest giving a high quality outboard compressor a whirl. Most amps' onboard compressors are worthless (though I do find the compressor on the BBE Bmax to be decent at some minor peak limiting). It would be like a guitarist trying a Boss MT-2 and then thinking that he doesn't like distortion pedals.
I hear you. I just like playing with words, so a Tyranathesaurus Rex is fun time. Give me numbers though and my eyes glaze over worse than a deer's staring into headlights... I'm a a a mathophobe... What were the chances? It's a numbers game.
Oh yeah, keep 'em coming. Try a pinch of black-truffle salt, a teensy bit goes a LONG way – Mm mm great, if you don't overdo it. Definitely going to try the oeufs au beurre noir.
I love eggs, such a versatile food. That Bubba scene in Forest Gump could've been eggs: Devilled, soufflé, boiled, fried, poached, egg wash, egg dip, omelettes, over easy, scrambled...
You can compress them, too. Hard boil 'em and stick 'em in a small (de)vice...
Compressing eggs is probably not going to be accepted by the anti-compression Egg-Fork-Mouth crowd though...
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Since I have a bad case of arthritis I must adhere to a soft knee. Makes huge problems when I walk through rooms and have to pass a threshold. But I do live in a gated community...
LOL! Awesome!
And I use a crutch too...
If we keep on adding the bad puns with, soft knee, threshold, compression-band aid, so on, we'll end up in crutch anyway in the end...
So maybe the saying "crutch=compressor" has some merit, after all?
You're really caning it with the puns, bravo!
No compression in that track, no, none whatsoever.
There's anti-compressor people in every industry it seems. Some bike shops don't have a compressor, owners with pumped up inflated egos, full of hot air – employees gotta hand pump all those tyres, very tiring. Compressor is an efficient tire-aid, just a tool that makes life easier... Sorry for the tirade.
vs
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Electric-powered compressor...
Can't imagine how the diving industry could do without some form of compression, and decompression.
THAT's WHAT I WANT! A DE-compression pedal... So when my signal gets overly squashed from my compressor I can decompress it... and then with my re-compression chamber pot re-compress the signal.
Okay all that's just silly
... clearly I need 
