# Compression on bass?



## noUser01 (Feb 10, 2015)

When I'm mixing metal I tend to compress/limit the bass quite a bit, usually about 3 stages of gain reduction, plus automation, to achieve that consistent, thick, fat sounding low end in the mix. Our bassist and I have been messing around with his tone a lot and I thought trying some compression might be good for our live sound.

I was thinking about a dbx 166xs because it has two compressors, two limiters and two gates, meaning I could get two stages of gain reduction happening, similar to what I would do in the studio. The gates are a nice bonus too.

Is anyone using compression for metal bass live? How much compression? What are you using?


----------



## cGoEcYk (Feb 11, 2015)

Do you have any recordings you can share? Just curious what you guys are trying to get at.

Not really a fan of compression here. I want all of the dynamics I can get and prefer using my fingers to control or unleash the tone. I use an amp with 6 x KT88 power section so I get a bit of a natural tube compression effect when the power section is opened up but I hate having an actual "squashed" tone. I am just not that kind of bassist (subwoofer vs sledge hammer). I'll let them try to compress me in the studio cuz it can be necessary for the mix but that's about it.

With all that said MXR M187 has caught my eye. Anything with attack/release functions is nice if you are going for punch.


----------



## TedEH (Feb 11, 2015)

I've been using a Sansamp RBI > 266xl in the loop > Crown XLS- and it would seem counter-intuitive to use an extra compressor along with the Sansamp, but I use a very "clean" sound. If you dialed in some dirt, or used real tubes, etc. I'm sure there'd be enough compression introduced by the amp to be suitable for a live situation, but in my case the combination of the bass I use, the pre, the solid state amp, the clean tone, etc. makes the compression appropriate. But I'm not crushing the bajeezus out of the signal, just trying to smooth things out because I sometime mash the bass strings like a crazy person. It's far too easy to get carried away with compression in that way and end up squeezing the life out of your tone. Having several layers of added compression is almost certainly going to be overkill.

It makes sense to want to squeeze the bass a lot more in a recorded mix because you're aiming to fit the bass into a very specific place, but a live situation doesn't work the same way. You need a lot less compression live, in my experience. If anything, the extra dynamics help the bass stand out against the other instruments.

That being said, none of the above is any reason not to experiment. Do whatever works for you.


----------



## TheWarAgainstTime (Feb 11, 2015)

I haven't tried it with bass, but I've got a 266xl that I used for guitar for a while and it does the job great! Extremely adjustable, and the gates don't kill your sound  

I ended up getting an Xotic SP for my rig since it fits my needs better and I never used the DBX to nearly its full potential. I've got it up for sale on here now, actually (shameless self-plug )


----------



## Bloody_Inferno (Feb 11, 2015)

For the longest time, I just relied on a little compression from my Hartke head, usually dialled at 10:00 at highest. Being a guy who likes to hit really hard or pluck softly, I had wrongfully thought that having a compressor would detrement my sound and playing. 

Though after seeing Juan Aderete giving praise of having a compressor in his massive rig, I have since changed my tune. I bought the MXR Dyna Comp 2 years ago and now I love having a comp pedal in the rig. Plus if I don't need it, I can just step on it to turn it off. 

I've since upgraded to a Free The Tone Silky Comp. It's so good I'm considering getting another one. (either that or an Xotic, we'll see...)


----------



## noUser01 (Feb 11, 2015)

cGoEcYk said:


> Do you have any recordings you can share? Just curious what you guys are trying to get at.
> 
> Not really a fan of compression here. I want all of the dynamics I can get and prefer using my fingers to control or unleash the tone. I use an amp with 6 x KT88 power section so I get a bit of a natural tube compression effect when the power section is opened up but I hate having an actual "squashed" tone. I am just not that kind of bassist (subwoofer vs sledge hammer). I'll let them try to compress me in the studio cuz it can be necessary for the mix but that's about it.
> 
> With all that said MXR M187 has caught my eye. Anything with attack/release functions is nice if you are going for punch.



Recordings of my band, or recordings that I have mixed/produced? If the former, check my signature. If the latter, PM me. The only tracks I have with a similar tone are unreleased still, so I can't post them publicly.

Thanks. Yeah I was looking at the M87 and it seems awesome, I was just looking at the 166xs for more control, added gates and limiters if I so choose.



TedEH said:


> I've been using a Sansamp RBI > 266xl in the loop > Crown XLS- and it would seem counter-intuitive to use an extra compressor along with the Sansamp, but I use a very "clean" sound. If you dialed in some dirt, or used real tubes, etc. I'm sure there'd be enough compression introduced by the amp to be suitable for a live situation, but in my case the combination of the bass I use, the pre, the solid state amp, the clean tone, etc. makes the compression appropriate. But I'm not crushing the bajeezus out of the signal, just trying to smooth things out because I sometime mash the bass strings like a crazy person. It's far too easy to get carried away with compression in that way and end up squeezing the life out of your tone. Having several layers of added compression is almost certainly going to be overkill.
> 
> It makes sense to want to squeeze the bass a lot more in a recorded mix because you're aiming to fit the bass into a very specific place, but a live situation doesn't work the same way. You need a lot less compression live, in my experience. If anything, the extra dynamics help the bass stand out against the other instruments.
> 
> That being said, none of the above is any reason not to experiment. Do whatever works for you.



See, a lot of people have told me "Oh, live is different than in the studio" for a lot of questions I've asked over the years, but as someone who has experience with studio work I've found that when I apply the same principles to my live rig everything sounds way better. Sure, it might be slightly less severe for the sake of the room always changing and never having consistent environments, and for the sake of letting the sound guy do his thing since he'll know the room better than we will, but not a big difference. 

I will definitely experiment, I just wasn't sure if it was justified dropping money on a compressor for experimenting, and wanted a bit more feedback from those who have more experience using compression on bass in a live setting. Thanks for your feedback, bud.



Bloody_Inferno said:


> For the longest time, I just relied on a little compression from my Hartke head, usually dialled at 10:00 at highest. Being a guy who likes to hit really hard or pluck softly, I had wrongfully thought that having a compressor would detrement my sound and playing.
> 
> Though after seeing Juan Aderete giving praise of having a compressor in his massive rig, I have since changed my tune. I bought the MXR Dyna Comp 2 years ago and now I love having a comp pedal in the rig. Plus if I don't need it, I can just step on it to turn it off.
> 
> I've since upgraded to a Free The Tone Silky Comp. It's so good I'm considering getting another one. (either that or an Xotic, we'll see...)



Thanks man. It definitely becomes an entirely different world when you have a versatile compressor and know how to use one. Some compression with a Dyna Comp (for example) might kill more attack and turn people off of compression, but something like a Keeley Comp Pro might deliver the squashed sound without killing the attack because you have the ability to dial it in, you know?


----------



## Bloody_Inferno (Feb 12, 2015)

ConnorGilks said:


> Thanks man. It definitely becomes an entirely different world when you have a versatile compressor and know how to use one. Some compression with a Dyna Comp (for example) might kill more attack and turn people off of compression, but something like a Keeley Comp Pro might deliver the squashed sound without killing the attack because you have the ability to dial it in, you know?


 
IME compressor pedals need careful tinkering to suit the player's needs. Definitely try out the pedals and see which suits your needs. 

For years I was against using a compressor in general. All instruments. Probably because I was still using those old multi floor effects (Boss ME8, Digitech RP6) back in the day and those compressors and what they did to my sound really gave me a bad taste. It wasn't until my singer in my prog band talked me into using one to get a more fatter low end. 

And going back to Juan Alderete:



He was totally right when it comes to harmonics, as they're quite intregal to my playing style. The right dialing and they're killer weapons on any rig. 

As for studio vs live, again this is all determined by the player. Yes there are moments when the 2 are different animals, but it's a notion you don't have to be a slave to. I almost always plug in dry when recording and just use whatever compressor onboard, but live I have a massive pedalboard. So again it all in a matter of taking control of of that notion and doing whatever it takes to getting the sound you want. 

I chose the Silky Comp, not just because I've had a Free The Tone hard-on for a while , but it pretty much won over other compressors I've tried. The Xotic SP was very very close though, which is why I'd also consider that as another pedal in my ever growing fleet.


----------



## Fretless (Feb 12, 2015)

Personally I love the texture that well compressed bass brings. I usually use an 8:1 ratio, on my compressor I have attack at 3 and release at 9, and I know every compressor is different, but I'm not at my rig to be more specific.


----------



## hairychris (Feb 12, 2015)

I use a Dynacomp clone at the start of my bass signal chain to even things up a bit. Nothing too fancy, but it definitely helps keep things consistent.


----------



## TedEH (Feb 12, 2015)

ConnorGilks said:


> See, a lot of people have told me "Oh, live is different than in the studio" for a lot of questions I've asked over the years, but as someone who has experience with studio work I've found that when I apply the same principles to my live rig everything sounds way better.



The same principals certainly apply, it's not apples to oranges, but the desired end-result might be different depending on the equipment you're using, the style you're playing, etc. For my purposes, my live and studio sounds are pretty different.


----------



## Mwoit (Feb 13, 2015)

I have a MXR M87 in front of my pedal chain and it's more or less always on. Great pedal!


----------



## TheEmptyCell (Feb 13, 2015)

Mwoit said:


> I have a MXR M87 in front of my pedal chain and it's more or less always on. Great pedal!



Me too.


----------



## noUser01 (Feb 14, 2015)

Thanks everyone. I think I'll look into getting the dbx 166xs to mess around with staging compression/limiting live.


----------



## TedintheShed (Mar 6, 2015)

ConnorGilks said:


> When I'm mixing metal I tend to compress/limit the bass quite a bit, usually about 3 stages of gain reduction, plus automation, to achieve that consistent, thick, fat sounding low end in the mix. Our bassist and I have been messing around with his tone a lot and I thought trying some compression might be good for our live sound.
> 
> I was thinking about a dbx 166xs because it has two compressors, two limiters and two gates, meaning I could get two stages of gain reduction happening, similar to what I would do in the studio. The gates are a nice bonus too.
> 
> Is anyone using compression for metal bass live? How much compression? What are you using?



I use a dBX 160x in my rack. It is the preharmon model with TRS in/outs. It is a single channel compressor, it does little to really effect the sound except add "punch". I picked it to protect my speakers, as I use a lot of effects. 

The 160X is about the best bang-for-your buck compressor that you can get. The 166 seems cheap to me and the compression seemed to sucjk the life out of my tomes (I was using a bi-amped set up= 8x10 and 2x18).

I used about a 3-4:1 ratio but I wanted little tonal effect.


----------



## Der JD (Mar 6, 2015)

I recently bought a EBS Multicomp pedal and I love that thing. It doesn't affect the tone much. I just think of it as an automatic volume adjuster. Just evens things out. Brings the things that need more volume up and the things that need less volume (for example, slap/pop and hard plucks) down. In general, it just makes everything feel easier to play. Most things seem to punch through the mix better. Makes things easier on my right hand since I don't have to dig in as hard. I find compression is a must for slap/pop style. You need something to even out the volume between the slaps and pops. 

Another thing I like is it's a no brainer. 2 knobs. 1 for how much compression you want and another for overall gain. Also has a switch to select between 3 different types of compression (regular, multiband, or tube simulated).


----------



## T-e-r-r-y (Apr 27, 2015)

^ The EBS is the bomb! I use the the Multicomp into a Darkglass B3K and it works really well. I like the optical feature on the EBS, I usually pop the strings aggressively and turn up the compression/ratio until the light blinks on the peaks. Nice subtle compression that won't mess with your quiet playing too much. The Multiband mode is my favourite!


----------



## Systolic (May 22, 2015)

I use the Rane DC24 in my rack. Complicated but a nice piece of gear. It's dual band, so I can compress my lows and highs separately. It's been an always on unit that I set quite a while ago....i'll checkout my settings after work. You can read a review of it here:

Rane DC24


----------

