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Should I get a compressor?
- Thread starter insomniac2295
- Start date
Right. It's a pretty moronic statement to make that compressors kill your dynamics when there is so much evidence to the contrary, and so many totally excellent bassists using them.
This is a very eloquent way of making the point I was trying to make. Go give a few compressors a shot. If it works for you... right on! Keep in mind, like all effects, all compressors are different. Try a bunch and be prepared to spend some $. You might not have to but IMHO the good ones usually cost a little bit.
I had to invest in a compressor back when I was playing all originals. But it was not for tapping, it was for harmonics. I played alot of harmonic melodies while fretting the base note and the volume would drop significantly. I used a compressor only for this purpose though (along with a little chorus effect), I didnt much like the tones of the compressor with it on all the time.
Never knew a paragraph could be called "eloquent" when it includes the word "moronic," but thanks.
First off if you are tapping why are you using a pick? Of course they will be off. Now if you were using your fingers the difference would only be in technique. Your fingers are soft and a pick is hard plastic. You should not see that much dramatic drop off in volume. Maybe presence? I would find an EQ pedal and have settings for your tapping. A compressor may help but not the way I use one.
PUT THE PICK DOWN!!!!
Great post :scowl:
This is a perfect example of what I keep talking about how bassists think everyone should like what they like. It's a huge trend with bassists to be busybodies and wanting to shove their likes and dislikes down everyone else's throats. Don't worry what everyone else does. If the guy wants to play with a pick, that's his business. You may think it's wrong, but nobody cares.
Putting the pick down probably isnt the solution but playing more softly while using the pick would probably go a long way to evening out the volume between picking and tapping.
I would have to say try a good compressor.
I used to always play with out an amp and would play some interesting things. But when I would plug into an amp I couldn't pull that stuff off (yes yes yes technique problem blah blah blah). Than my girlfriend bought me a Billy Sheehan DVD and he talked about the same problem he had when he first started playing bass. How he would play without an amp or a low volumes and when he would plug in or turn up, all the dynimics in his playing were not there. Than he explained how his compressor solved this problem. So I thought maybe that is what I needed, went out and picked one up (Ashly CLX-52 same one he uses $300 CDN) and I found that i helped allot with my sound.
Billy put like this: Compression to a bass player is distortion to a guitar player.
Sure everyone has their own opion and this is just mine.
Just try one out.
I used to always play with out an amp and would play some interesting things. But when I would plug into an amp I couldn't pull that stuff off (yes yes yes technique problem blah blah blah). Than my girlfriend bought me a Billy Sheehan DVD and he talked about the same problem he had when he first started playing bass. How he would play without an amp or a low volumes and when he would plug in or turn up, all the dynimics in his playing were not there. Than he explained how his compressor solved this problem. So I thought maybe that is what I needed, went out and picked one up (Ashly CLX-52 same one he uses $300 CDN) and I found that i helped allot with my sound.
Billy put like this: Compression to a bass player is distortion to a guitar player.
Sure everyone has their own opion and this is just mine.
Just try one out.
bongomania
Commercial User
that´s the point - i use the ebs multicomp and it works fine for me and my taste, but i had to try a few units to find it out
I think Billy's overstating the need for a compressor, personally. I ditched mine a few months ago and don't miss it in the least. And nobody else I work with misses it. However, our guitarist doesn't show up without a distortion and we freak out.
I played without one for years and I could live with out it, but I find it helps me get the sound I want, so I will continue to use one. Again it comes down to ones opinon.
You'll never know if you don't try one. I had never used one in 20+ years of playing and when I did, I was a little disappointed. They DO limit your dynamics-that is what they do, by definition. But a good one will allow you to control exactly how much of that it does. Very little, a lot, whatever. Took awhile for me to get used to. And I'm still not really happy with it when playing fingerstyle, but I'm getting there.
I have come to like it though, it helps me with my less-than-stellar flatpicking, which I am trying to develop, because I like how it sounds.
I have come to like it though, it helps me with my less-than-stellar flatpicking, which I am trying to develop, because I like how it sounds.
Yeah, I'd agree it's not as vital as distortion is to a guitarist. When I don't have to play the gig where I go from fingers to slap to tap all the time I just leave the compressor at home. I will say though, that it's pretty vital in the studio. But that's a whole other can of worms.
Billy could have ment by that statement that it is vital to his sound like distortion to a guitar player. But he put it the way I posted earlier.
I personally like using compression since I play fingerstyle, tap, slap, and sometimes with a pick in a death metal band and the way I set up the compression it keeps all my notes nice and even. I know you don't need compression to do that if you use a proper technique, but sometimes you just play as hard as you can (when you are performing in front of 500 people in a small club) and your technique turns to crap while your working more on enternaining the crowd.
Just my opinon and it may not be for everyone but it works for me, so I will continue to use one and if someone asks if they should look at getting I will give my opion only if I have experiance with what they are asking.
