NEW COMPRESSOR

Okay lets cover some basic ground here.

One... DONT TYPE IN CAPS.
Two... This is setup about bass guitars. Didnt you read the thread at the top of this forum that says "For first time posters or newbies... general setup rules and FAQ"? Obviously not.
Three.. You have no replies because of the above stated reasons, this just adds to why Bruce and many others (including me) are fed up non compliance.

Merls

Moved to Amps.

 

Bass Setting for the Behringer Stereo Compressor.

Well you could use one channel between your preamp and amp and the other for
a DI to the mixer. Or you could share an extra channel with the lead vocalist,
kick drum, or even a guitarist.

Most of us want to make available the maximum apparent volume possible from our
Solid State Power Amps, and proper use of a compressor can contribute extra db.

Normally, for maximum level you’d just set the output gain as high as possible,
short of incurring audible distortion.
But I recommend optimizing in two passes. For example, instead of increasing the
loudness by 6dB, do one pass with a 3dB increase, and a second with an additional
3dB increase. This does the best job at combining natural sound and high level
while providing two additional gain stages to the power amp.

Daisy Chain both halves of the Stereo Compressor by patching channel one output into channel two input.
Bass>Preamp>Channel 1 Input>Channel 1 Output>Channel 2 Input>Channel 2 Output>Amp

Turn off gating.
Compressor gating is better designed for vocals and drums.
It really cuts into your stringed instruments sustain.
Another Noise Suppressor/Gate designed for guitar/bass will cut the noise and keep the sustain.
Recommendation: Rocktron Hush, Boss Pro NS-50, or other high quailty noise suppression.

You can place noise control & line level effects after the preamp and before the compressor,
or if everything works better with a hotter signal... between channel one and channel two of the compressor.

Use Enhancer's, Sonic Maximizer's, and Line Level EQ's, after the compression, last in the signal chain before the power amp.

switch both level buttons on rear of unit to -10 db

Channel 1:

Threshold: -10db,
Ratio 4:1
Soft Knee Compression (Interactive ON)
Attack: 30 ms
Release: @ 0.25
Output: Boost +3db

Set Peak Limiter (+18db) or to where it barely flashes on your strongest open low string slap.
Setting depends on your preamp output.

O.K., these seem like reasonable compressor settings.
The magic is in the second channel that maintains dynamics and raises the headroom thus making the amp louder.
The trick is just "re-compressing" the peaks only.

Therefore the noise floor does not go up and the remaining high energy peaks are tamed,
not limited, for more headroom without over compressing the dynamic signal.

Channel 2:

Threshold: set at 0db

Ratio: 6:1 and up to infinity for limiting.

Interactive ON

Attack (Fast Setting): 1 - 10 ms

Release: A touch above 0.5 ms.
Output: +3 to +5db, this gives an additional gain stage, don't push to distortion.

Peak Limiter: to taste...
Or the slightest flash with the the hardest slap on open E/B {suggestion @ set at +16-18 db.}

Output - 0 to +4

**Tip: you can tap the Channel 2 XLR Out as a DI out;
while using the Behringer Compressor in your Heads FX loop as described above.

 

Finger Blaster:

I (respectfully) disagree with the statement about gating...I have no trouble with sustain using the dbx 266XL Compressor/Gate...I'm not familiar with the Behringer model however, is that an issue with them?

 

With the Behringer Compressor's when the noise gate closes,
it does so abruptly that the very end of the taper.
A weak spot for stringed instruments.
Still very useful for a multitude of applications.

Behringer's Low Pass feature more then makes up
for that... especially for Kick Drum and Bass.

Behringers Expander/Gate fine for most people.
But I use the compressor for extended sustain.

I've fiddled for days over the threshold/ratio &
hard/soft settings and find it impossible to
aquire the same performance found in units that
are 'made' for stringed instruments.

Perhaps I'm being overly sensitive.
I suppose most people wouldn't notice.

Maybe after 12 years, I've become accustom to my Boss Pro NS 50
half rack Noise Suppressor, which has much longer sustain and the gate is much smoother.
'Tis very sweet to the ear.

The Rocktron HUSH C units are also 'made' for stringed instruments.

They just have a certain sweetness about them.

One might not be able to tell unless there was a
side-by-side comparison between a Compressor's
feature and a specialized Noise Supressor.

Of course, like always YMMV
and I might be nuts.

 

Actually Finger Blister, I'm going to try your idea of daisy chaining the two channels with the dbx unit, never thought of that before...thanks!

 

I do something similar to the straight daisy chain idea. I run channel 1 of my DBX 266XL through the effect loop of my rack preamp, my preamp runs into my GK 1001RB, and then I run channel 2 of the DBX through the effect loop of the GK, running as a limiter before the power amp stage, as a last defense for my cabs.

 

Studio Trick I learned in the 70's.

That'll work great too.

There are many different ways to use it.
Experimentation!!

 

Tried it out an outdoor church service yesterday...not bad, not bad...only when I was resetting up my rig in the home studio, I realised I didn't cut the levels to both channels (-10db) as suggested...I'll try that out over the next couple of weeks...actually, I don't think I'm playing out again for a couple of weeks unless I get a call to sub for someone...

 

Still in the process of trials...a co-worker who's an engineer as well as a bass player suggested switching the settings for channel 1 and channel two, in order to compress the peaks first...I'll report back later on my findings...