EQ pedals before or after Compressor

[pvj scotland]

I have two eq pedals in my chain
Mxr 10 band for my main fretted bass sound and,
Boss 7 band for my fretless bass sound
My mxr compressor is currently before them in my chain but was thinking of swapping it after them as it may help even out the volumes better of the basses. ..anybody have any experience with this , help would be much appreciated

 

[Bass Growler]

If I use my EQ, I put it after the compressor, as one would when using EQ on an amp.

 

[bassbassbass12345]

If you want your EQ'ed tone compressed, put it before the compressor. If you want your compressed tone EQ'ed, put it after the compressor. When I had a separate eq I did it the second way, using the compressor to smooth out volume differences and add a bit of sustain while adjusting the eq downstream for whatever room I was playing in

 

[Unemploid]

i would put the compressor after the eq's

 

[TOOL460002]

Compressor last, signal trackers first, and the rest in the middle, depending on the pedal. That has always been my rule and it works for me. Plus a rack compressor makes that practical. But some like dirt after compression. I see that often. Whatever works.

 

[rmars]

EQ and preamps after the comp, everything else before....at least that's what works for me.

 

[JimmyM]

Eh...I don't know that it matters that much. But try it both ways and make up your own mind.

 

[Bass Growler]

I also put the octaver after the compressor for better tracking.

 

[kurotenshi]

Both, cut before, boost after.
If you use one think in terms of what @bassbassbass12345 said. Remember that when you cut something out of your signal after the Comp, the "power" of that frequency has already affected how much of your signal is lowered by the compressor.

 

[ProfFrink]

A few random thoughts:

• In a way, we all have some sort of EQ before our compressors, because virtually all of us have either the tone-knob or the on-board pre-amp controls on the bass itself.
• With some compressors there's actually a third option: Put the EQ in the side-chain. (If you don't know what that is, look here: )
• What @kurotenshi is saying is really interesting, because I've lately been speculating about doing the very same thing... My followup question is this though: What EQ would you recommend for this? I already have the Empress ParaEQ at the end of my chain, and I love it and could just get another one, but for my purposes, I'm pretty sure that a simple one-band parametric EQ or even something that resembles a tone-knob like a relatively simply low-pass filter would work just as well, and could potentially be cheaper, easier, and smaller, but surprisingly I couldn't find anything that would fit the bill... Any thoughts?

 

[moody]

A few random thoughts:

• In a way, we all have some sort of EQ before our compressors, because virtually all of us have either the tone-knob or the on-board pre-amp controls on the bass itself.
• With some compressors there's actually a third option: Put the EQ in the side-chain. (If you don't know what that is, look here: )
• What @kurotenshi is saying is really interesting, because I've lately been speculating about doing the very same thing... My followup question is this though: What EQ would you recommend for this? I already have the Empress ParaEQ at the end of my chain, and I love it and could just get another one, but for my purposes, I'm pretty sure that a simple one-band parametric EQ or even something that resembles a tone-knob like a relatively simply low-pass filter would work just as well, and could potentially be cheaper, easier, and smaller, but surprisingly I couldn't find anything that would fit the bill... Any thoughts?

A box, a switch, a pot and a capacitor.

 

[40Hz]

...try it both ways and make up your own mind.

This.

 

[Downunderwonder]

I have two eq pedals in my chain
Mxr 10 band for my main fretted bass sound and,
Boss 7 band for my fretless bass sound
My mxr compressor is currently before them in my chain but was thinking of swapping it after them as it may help even out the volumes better of the basses. ..anybody have any experience with this , help would be much appreciated

Levelling basses with a compressor is a poor application. The loud bass will be squished and the quiet one not. You might be able to level the basses at the outputs by digging in hard with both so setting off the comp at the same level.

 

[Fuzzbass]

In general: if you tweak your EQs during the gig, it's probably better to run them after compression, because EQ tweaks can change output level which can change the amount of compression.

That said:

Levelling basses with a compressor is a poor application.

Agreed. OP, you say you have one EQ for each bass. If both EQs have an output level control, I'd suggest using the EQs to level your basses. If you do, run them before the compressor, so that the compressor sees the leveled output and doesn't behave differently for one bass than it does for the other.



Given all of the above: the answer to your question is "it depends".