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Searching for compressor for tone

Yorin

Yorin

Apr 29, 2015
27
6
33
#1
Dear talkbass,

Yes i've read Ovnilab.

I'm currently looking for a compressor to fatten up my sound a bit. I currently play on a Glockenklang Heartrock 2, fingerstyle only, and sometimes feel like i need a bit more oomph and body from my jazz.
I only tested a few compressors in a store and haven't had the chance to test them in a band situation. I don't know that much about compressors either.

I have the option to buy a Diamond bass compressor second hand for a good price. According to Ovnilab it has a great tone but it has a fixed ratio. In theory it looks like the best option.

My other options IMO are:

Aguilar TLC
Popular and loved by many for a reason. Very solid aguilar with a great useable sound. Can't help but feel like it might be too clean for my needs while still being an excellent compressor.

Darkglass Supersymmetry
No experience yet with this pedal. Can't help but feel like jumping on the darkglass hypetrain. Apperently it has excellent lows al be it a bit warmer/darker sounding than other compressors. Ovnilab describes it as somewhat vintage tone. Which could sound like what i want. Excellent metering and it looks sexy.

Cali76 CB
I can't help but love the idea of replicating a studio compressor. Ovnilab also commented on it's excellent lows/highs and overal feel of this unit. Maybe a bit too clean but can make my tone more full right?

The cali is a lot harder to find though. (The Netherlands)


So talkbass, i'm looking for a compressor to fatten up my tone. Am i looking in the right places to begin with? What do you guys recommend?
 
#2
Personally I always feel that compressors make my sound less fat when playing live but I heard good things about the Cali76cb. The main goal of a compressor is to even out the dynamic meaning the difference between notes hit hard and the notes hit soft. It is not per se to fatten your sound.
 
#4
I've never used a compressor before last night. I used the Super Symmetry and I noticed 2 things. 1. It made my basses sound better by tightening everything up and delivering a nice punch. And 2. I play both finger style and with a pick (depends on the riff I'm playing) and I noticed that while playing finger style, the Super Symmetry really made me pay more attention to how I was attacking the strings. Now I don't know if that's just the nature of compressors but I liked it. As for playing with a pick, my basses sounded more solid and tight.

ok, I have a 3rd thing I noticed, my tone blended into the mix with my drummer and guitar player a lot better.
 
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#5
The Diamond will do what you want it to - warm delicious fat tones come out of that thing. If after a while you find that you are wanting more control over the parameters of your compression, then you could choose to look at something else, but I think based upon what you are saying that the Diamond is a great place to start, and may even be the place that you end at. I've had my Diamond for 2-3 years or so now, and it is probably my most important pedal in terms of tone. I'm starting to look around a bit because I might want to get a little bit more squish and/or a bit more control over the parameters, but the tone of the Diamond is fantastic - if it came down to it, I'd take the Diamond's tone over the control over parameters etc.

So again, seeing as how you are just starting out with compressors, the Diamond with its simplicity and amazing tone is hard to beat. Should be easy enough to acquire and to sell if you end up wanting "more".
 
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#9
So it seems i did my research correctly for going for the Diamond. Thanks for your input guys!

The Empress/Diamond/Darkglass are all ~300 euro's new here. All of them hard to find second hand i'm afraid.
The smoothie on the other hand is ~200 euro's with shipping (from ovnifx.com). For 100 euro's less i still get lot of pedal.

Does anyone know a good shooutout vid/demo that demonstrates any of these side to side?
 
#11
Demo's of compressor's, Imo, aren't very helpful. The videos on YouTube are heavily compressed to begin with so it isn't a reliable way to determine anything unfortunately.

The Smoothie will do what you want too. I've had the Diamond and the Smoothie. I sold the Smoothie but it is a very good compressor that can really phatten up your tone and add some sonic magic. For $100 less I would try it first if I was you.

The great thing about really good compressors, generally, are that they hold their value decently. It's to bad you can't find any of these pedals used. You could potentially try them without losing much if you decide to sell.
 
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#12
I have the Diamond, the EBS, the Okko Coca, and the Smoothie. Cannot comment on the Aguilar, Darkglass or Cali pedals.

The EBS and the Okko Coca, while good comp pedals, do not really make your tone fatter. The Coca even adds noticebly highs to my tone. Sounds very good and very punchy, but not good if you're looking for fat.
To fatten up your tone, the Diamond and the Smoothie would be my choices. Both have a tilt-EQ that allows you to dial in a more "lowish" or more "highish" tone.
Both are really great at what they do.
You can get a new Diamond from Thomann for 250,- or so, the Empress costs 289,-
I bought my Smoothie from Bongo, he's a great guy to deal with.

I for one absolutely love a good comp pedal. It usually tightens up my sound and adds a tad of definition and punch. It just makes my tone sit better in the mix and allows me to play at moderate volumes. I intend to be able to hear properly when I'm older.
 
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#13
+1 on Diamond, its the only pedal I use does what all the previous post's mention. However, in some rooms that tend to be muddy, I sometimes disable the eq. The simple tilt eq does seem to have a wide range of tonal impact, I would be curious to see what eq setting other Diamond users utilize. Using a Nitro P bass with LaBella's, I set the EQ switch to 900 and the dial to about 9 o'clock-ish. Anyone else?
 
#14
I've got a good deal on a second hand diamond pedal. Seemed like a good opportunity to give compressor pedals a try. If not i can always resell it.
For now, i don't have the patience to wait for the next smoothie batch, or deal with overseas complications. Seems like a really good pedal though..

The diamond doesn't come with an adapter though... Does anyone have any recommendations on what to get? It seems it accepts 9, 18 or even 24v. Manual stating that more volts mean more headroom.
An 18v adapter seems like the most obvious and cheapest choice though.

Searching the forums someone suggested the Dunlop ECB-004.
Invalid Link Removed

18V, and already negative polarity.
 
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#15
Yorin said:
I've got a good deal on a second hand diamond pedal. Seemed like a good opportunity to give compressor pedals a try. If not i can always resell it.
For now, i don't have the patience to wait for the next smoothie batch, or deal with overseas complications. Seems like a really good pedal though..

The diamond doesn't come with an adapter though... Does anyone have any recommendations on what to get? It seems it accepts 9, 18 or even 24v. Manual stating that more volts mean more headroom.
An 18v adapter seems like the most obvious and cheapest choice though.

Searching the forums someone suggested the Dunlop ECB-004.
Invalid Link Removed

18V, and already negative polarity.
Click to expand...
I bought mine in a package deal that came with a PWR supply, its 18v center positive.
 
#17
Yorin said:
I'm confused. I know it comes with an adapter to make it negative right? So a center positive adapter -> negative polarity adapter or negative polarity adapter, right?

OR, 2 9v batteries? :D
Click to expand...
The converter in a center - to +, and is included for convenience as most adapters are center negative. However, you can simply purchase an 18v center positive adapter, you wont need the included converter but keep it around for emergencies.
 
#20
DavC said:
check out the Seymour Duncan Studio Bass ... a blend knob helps keep tone ... plus there is a filter 3-way switch for the blend-back-in part of the signal .. ! mid/flat/low

it's not as pricey as the other models ... thus far , a couple months in , it's working fine ...
Click to expand...
Ditto!
It is the best compressor for my needs.
No pumping effect, the limiting is just smooth as silk. Loooooove mine.
 

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