Specific Compressor/limiter Characteristic Search

[Rod Maine]

I really appreciate all the info everyone put in here! it helped me a lot when continuing the search. I found that while the accountant is indeed its own beautiful beast. Orange Squeezer variants were exactly what i was looking for. so i went down that rabbit hole and bought a few different variations of the circuit to figure out what exactly makes them tick, and which variants would be able to fulfil my needs. OSs I tried include: JHS pulp n peel v4, JHS Whitey Tighty, JHS Lime aid (v2 pulp n peel but for bass), Chicago Stompworks Squeezie, Greer Fish Press, and Toadworks Mr Squishy. Right off the bat, all 3 JHS pedals and the Mr. Squishy didn't have the right attack timing. no matter how I set them I wasn't getting that breathing sound I'm after. However, the Squeezie and the fish press both can get there in spades. I really love how this circuit gives a bit of beef all around and depending on how you have the bias trimmer set you can really get from mild to wild. In all honesty the Squeezie is my favorite for getting that one specific sound, however the Fishpress is going to be living on my board because of the versatility of the squish knob, giving me the ability to go from mild to SQUASH without opening up the pedal. Thanks again to everyone who gave me advice, and I hope this final comment can help someone in the future.

 

[eddododo]

ill get right to the point. I'm looking for a compressor that when heavily compressed, gives me an audible pop / attack on each note played. I don't know how to describe it other than a pop or a sharp breath where the compressor is almost overloaded at the initial transient. I think technically what I'm looking for requires high ratio, and a lowish threshold, with a very short release time in order to get the pop on each note played. Confirming these technical characteristics would be greatly appreciated by anyone who knows what I'm talking about. also is what I'm describing a "hard Knee"?

Of all the compressors i have used, the Fairfield accountant does it exactly how i like in position 2 of ratio and either 1 or 2 of the pad on pretty much all my basses (active and passive), but it is so unbelievably noisy and is very picky about where it is in the chain and how it gets on with other pedals, so the accountant is unfortunately not an option.

I have tried recreating it in the HX stomp and the closest I got was the Rochester Comp setup for low thresh, high ratio, and fast attack and release but alas no pop.

The Pigtronix Philosophers Bass does it on the initial strike but the release time is so long that i cant get a follow up pop.

Other pedals i have tried with no success:

• JHS Pulp n Peel and Whitey Tightey (Whitey got close)
• Cali76 (3 knob compact and compact bass)
• Walrus Deep six
• MXR dyna and Dyna Bass
• Pigtronix Philosophers tone Micro
• Solidgoldfx Horizon

Any help in putting the correct technical terms for what's happening here would be most appreciated! Also if you know what I'm talking about and have a recommendation that would be even better! is what I'm describing more of a general limiter function vs a style of compression?

As you said the Accountant is the king of that. The Markbass actually does a great job, as a result of good control over the ratio, attack and release. Even with other full featured comps, the markbass kinda always did ‘what the knobs should do’ better than others.

 

[greenbass5]

Question. Are you referring to allowing an initial spike through before compression? If so I have a Maxon CP9+ Pro that does that. But it’s more related to a harder note, not a setting. Bongo said the attack is fixed on this one. Honestly I don’t know a lot about compression so I’m kinda reading the forum to learn

 

[Rod Maine]

Question. Are you referring to allowing an initial spike through before compression? If so I have a Maxon CP9+ Pro that does that. But it’s more related to a harder note, not a setting. Bongo said the attack is fixed on this one. Honestly I don’t know a lot about compression so I’m kinda reading the forum to learn

Essentially yes, there is something about the way the attack of an OS clamps after the initial spike that I cant really get any other styles of comp to do easily.