Most of what you said I won't touch because I'm not sure where it is coming from, but needless to say, I wasn't the only one who found your wording to be a little odd. Nothing personal against you - unlike how oddly personal your retort is - I just thought it best to clarify for others reading through the threads that it isn't like there are two separate devices in there. Some do make that mistake. It doesn't mean anyone is dumb, but it also helps to have clear information out there for people to make decisions with. Most people appreciate that.
Bongo's list of compressors that are quality across all different price ranges is still a very good one, IMO. As for me being a gear snob, I'll defend myself with my Squier Jazz in one hand and my $40 boost pedal in the other.
Geez, dooood, you quote me and misrepresent what I said with a face palm (a sign derived from real life where a person is reacting in frustration that someone just said something so dumb that they can't believe it), then you throw in your 2¢ that "the CS-3 generally stinks on bass" as a seemingly one-size-fits-all truth. Although I'll give you that you left a smidge of room for exceptions with "generally".
I'll concede that what I wrote could be misinterpreted the way you did, but my reply back clarified what I meant.
Face it, you had a knee-jerk reaction to something you interpreted wrongly. So I had a knee-jerk reaction back. What do you expect?
As for my reply being "personal" - I gave you a "Dooood" in response to your "Dude", a "NO KIDDING" in response to your
and a "D'oh" in response to what came across to me as your general overreaction to something you misinterpreted and in turn, misrepresented.
Then I wrote to clarify what I meant in consideration of your error, "Different compressors seem to be geared differently in how their make up gain stage is tweaked so they can affect sustain either more so or less so. Not all comps are designed IME to act the same way.
I like all kinds of compressors as they all have their own vibe soundwise and in how they interact with the source material. I don't see them as "Stinks" or not, I choose them like different colors to do different jobs....".
No doubt not clear enough for you, but this thread isn't a technical discussion. If it was I'd be learning not posting. It's "What effects do you use for an indie band?"
Then you say "Most of what you said I won't touch because I'm not sure where it is coming from". What I just quoted of my reply IS most of what I said. What's the difficulty?
Of the 10 compressors I have, plus an assortment of comps that I've used in context of live audio, plus in session work, from Drawmer, to Avalon, Aphex, dbx, ART... from tube to solid state, digital to analog - sure they're all compressors, but they all have their own flavor, different features, different methods of operation, some with fewer knobs and options, some address certain functions with preset ratios, knees and recovery times - stomp box to rack mount to software - some are intrinsically brutal, others very delicate. They all have their own characteristics. The so-marketed compressor/sustainers just seem to be designed to make it simple to dial in more sustain in the release/make-up gain. I don't know how they spec them, it just seems aimed at getting to that easily with less twiddling. Can they sound like junk? Yes. As can any piece of gear if you don't try to meet it where it is. They're compressors, but the manufactures call them compressor sustainers or something similar to market that tweak in how they're designed. You should take them to task for their labeling.
I just posted my experience and opinion - am I allowed that?
The OP wrote "I'd like it to basically stretch the note out without sounding
super squished." Some people find the CS, and myself with the cheap Behringer clone, one way to do that. Any comp can sound "super squished" if you constantly play above the threshold, but even these boxes can still leave dynamic range if you finesse them while increasing the sustain a bit. Maybe not to your taste. They're basic and somewhat brutal, not pristine, but for the live indie bass I play, I get what I want. It was just one shared idea to consider among many.
BTW - I didn't call you a "gear snob", as you again misrepresent, what I said was "quick to judge snob that you seem to be imposing yourself as here". "Quick to judge" was referring to your leap to "correct" me and save the forum from my assumed misinformation, and the "snob" part of it was regarding the your "CS-3 generally stinks on bass" as seeming to come across like (dictionary) "a person who believes that their tastes in a particular area are superior to those of other people". That meaning of "snob" has nothing to do with money spent on expensive gear.
Ok, we're both reacting to shades of intended meaning here. But if you really are just innocently and impersonally wanting to clarify for others reading and provide clearer information, why not spare those you're quoting the underlying attitude and just post polite information? How hard would it be to write: ""I feel the need to clarify that Compressor/Sustainers don't exist as independent of each other, but are both functions of what compression does and not 2 separate distinct effects in one box." You could have just done that in the first place. I'd have even "Liked" the addition.
But your follow up, despite playing benevolent and not deserving of my in-kind reply, is even more in-my-face. So you illustrate that these things escalate with each step by your own 2nd reaction. So gimme a break! You're not innocent. And the only person that found my wording odd, as you say, and said anything, was the OP
after the fact of your statement. What are you psychic? I didn't see anyone else with your reaction before hand.
And before you posted, he had already said that he read through some of Bongo's info on the CS and others and made his own conclusion without a need to
anything. Kudos to him for thinking it out for himself further without your input in my direction.
So "LIGHTEN UP. Francis." yourself. Honestly, it's a discussion about using effects with an indie band. IME using my CS clone works fine for live play. I was just passing on the idea, trusting the OP to research and experiment for himself. And he did, thank goodness.
We're all here because we're inquisitive and want to share knowledge and experience. Next to none of us are naive, though we all have our weak areas. Sorry I didn't measure up to your way of thinking.
The forum is regularly full of things posted with varying degrees of clarity that may or not be necessary for the topic. This thread didn't strike me as highly technical, just a guy asking what other people use. You could've ignored me and put in your own comment. Nothing I wrote was glaringly wrong.
From an indie point of view, people experiment with gear and approach music in all sorts of atypical ways. In that spirit, I take what I have and find ways to make it do what my creativity envisions. I'm not always on the hunt, constantly buying and selling gear in search of that magic bullet. I work with the gear, junk or not, to see what it brings out in me from its weaknesses and strengths. I'm "art over tech", for the most part. I often explore gear
because other people dislike it. The CS series has bassists that
do like it, as well. I've met some. And for whatever reason, some prefer the CS-2 over the 3. So what. It's about what makes an artist happy, not pleasing people who disagree.
From your profile's list of previously owned gear, you're fortunate that you have the means to swap gear in and out in the search for what you're after. No worries on that, naturally. But your experience doesn't entirely make anything that you've found "lesser" as useless to someone else. In that, your taste is not superior, which seems to have been part of your initial reaction. So I reacted in turn. Then you react with even more grandiosity as your reply is very in-my-face. What you write is calculated since you're obviously not a dumb guy. From your first
you aimed at personal. Either that or you're just careless, which doesn't fit with your being as "correct" as you seem to want things to be.
If you feel the need to get in little jokey digs while acting the benevolent specialist on behalf of saving people, fine. But it's not necessary and is in bad form.
