Sorting out a live rig: compression

[riadsala]

Hello,

I'm hoping to be using my warr guitar more and more in the near future - so I reckon its time to sort out a live rig. First thing I need (I think) is a decent compressor for the bass side right?

I was thinking about getting an EBS Multicomp,

http://www.creativetools.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=503

anybody had any experiance with comp pedals? Offer any advice?

Once I've got that, I think I won't need anything else for the bass side of things, I'm not a big fan off sfx on bass. On the guitar side though... I think I'll buy myself a nice little suite of pedals over the next year... tempted to get the Line6 delay modeller, and I guess a nice reverb and distortion/gain pedal are important too.

I've been trying to weight up individual pedals v a POD or something like that... I'm leaning for individual ones as I reckon I'll be more likely to come up with a sound of my own. No preset patches to fall back on!

What does everybody else use?

[AlanKroeger]

Well if I had to live with only a few pedals I would definitely have a Compressor/Limiter. I am fond of having a subtle amount of limiting on and at the beginning of the effects chain as it adds a very subtle swelling quality if you play some louder notes. If you set it right it barely is there till you start playing hard.
After that I could live with a preamp that is capable of some overdrive and a decent delay pedal. Never seem to like any reverb effects and generally substitute delay for reverb.
Right now I still have a Multi FX (Boss VF-1) with a lot of different effects in in it but the items I mention are most of what I use as part of my base patch.

[lactose]

I use compression a lot. At home, mostly the built in software compressor on my Line 6 Vetta amp. But pedals vary a lot.

I have an old Ibanez that compresses nicely, but takes away a bit of the bass frequencies. I have a Maxon that is very transparent (better for bass) but the attack time is not adjustable and is a hair slow for me, so sometimes I notice the pop on the beginning of the note. I also have a Digitech pedal that I haven't gotten used to because of the envelope of the compression.

To sum it up:
-make sure the pedal lets the bass frequencies thru (perhaps stick (oops) with bass compression pedals)
-you may want to be able to adjust attack / release time to get the compression to feel right
-compressors often add noise so you may want a pedal with a built in gate, like the Line 6 compressor pedal.

You may want to consider a multi-effects pedal, they are so cheap now. I currently play bass in a band and live I use a Yamaha magic stomp which lets you have a crazy amount of control over compression and tone parameters. I love the Magic Stomp.

[Hypnologist]

I used to use the blue boss one, but now I dislike it due to tone sucking. I have a hard time dialing in a setting when there are alot of parameters, so rackmount is too much for me. I actually like the korg pandora's compressor. It can't be tweaked much but it works well somehow. It doesnt have the overcompressed type thing going on, its just smooth. And I don't switch comp on and off so the smallness factor is nice. I still don't understand why I like compressors but I do, kinda funny to me. Good luck.

[lactose]

A compressor makes the soft sounds louder, and the loud sounds softer.

But how does it know.... ?

[qbensis]

Originally posted by lactose
A compressor makes the soft sounds louder, and the loud sounds softer.

But how does it know.... ?

LOL!!!!


I use the EBS Multicomp with my stick and I'm very happy with it. I also tested an aphex-stomp, two boss-stomps and an MXR; and the EBS was imho superior.

And: The "real nice compressor" FMR-Audio (Trey Gunn used to use one), is a great unit if you are into rack stuff.

[riadsala]

My EBS arrived last week, and so far I'm very happy with it. I recommend anybody who's learning warr/stick to get a decent compressor. You don't want to get into the habit of relying on one exclusively, but they can help balance your tone a lot...

It's also allowed me to notice other areas of my technique that i need to work on... mainly an over reliance of hammer-ons. I need to practise lifting each finger before playing the next note to get a full tone.


Now that I have it, I'll post some recordings some time soon :D

[dtapper]

i read about the rane, is it ?, stick preamp & they were saying compression was good for both side & to have it in the front of 1s signal, or something like that, which i could be off on what they said, but it was something like that. have you thought of a rackmount unit? i've been looking into carvin"s rack compressor. its a dual channel jobby & at a value price. any exp with it or something of the like, anyone?

[lwclaypool]

Check out the live rig description in the gear section over at www.billburke.net (http://www.billburke.net). Bill describes his use of compression there. If you haven't heard Bill, be sure to check out his stuff, he's one of my favorite touch guitarists and a heckuva nice guy.