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Post subject: Best compressor for a P Bass...?
Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2010 7:44 pm
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I have read reviews of just about every compressor on the market. But of course many perform better for some instruments than others. I did demo the mark bass compressore ( I like the unique fact that this pedal uses an actual tube to do the compressing!!... and it sounded great with a passive P Bass. Since I have not been able to get my hands on any others (pedal or even rack) any other opinions or experience?


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Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2010 5:11 pm
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I find as my style improves that I use my compressor less and less all the time.

If you're running a batch of stomps, then it might be good for you, but frankly my Boss LMB stays at home all the time now.

As far as compressors/limiters go, I imagine the Boss is in the same field even if it doesn't have a 'toob' in it. But like I said - as I improve my playing I don't get louder notes that just overpower the bassline any more; everything gets a level treatment.


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Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2010 4:33 pm
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I was thinking of checking out the T-Rex squeezer tube compressor. Have tried MXR compressors before


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Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2010 6:08 pm
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I did read a review for the T rex... some complaints were due to hiss noise and not a fat tone as one would expect. Anyone play a P bass through the Maxon RCP 660? The Boss LMB has always been a decent option... but looking for something superior.


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Posted: Sun Jul 11, 2010 4:43 am
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Aphex Punch Factory works well... just don't use it with an electric guitar

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Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2010 12:37 am
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eyecandy wrote:
Aphex Punch Factory works well... just don't use it with an electric guitar


+1 on the Aphex working great for bass. However it does have some issues that might not show up for a few years. I've written a full review of it here: http://www.brotherdave.com/add_aphexpunchfactoryreview.htm

I've tried several compressor pedals and the ones that work best for me with an electric bass are optical type compressors.

I've been using an Aphex Punch Factory optical pedal for nearly 4 years and I know it very well. Simple and flexible and will run off about any power source. If the power supply plug fits, it works. It will also run off XLR Phantom power from a mixer like a condenser mic. You can also use it as an XLR direct box to record or feed a microphone channel on a PA mixer. I like the smooth sound, but it isn't perfect so read my review before buying one. You will have to spend a good bit more to get an optical compressor that sounds as good as the Aphex Punch Factory, so they are a good value.

There are four drawbacks I can think of right off the top of my head to the MarkBass compressor. First, because it does have a tube it also has a 12 volt power requirement which means it won't work with the 9 volt power supply on most powered pedalboards so you'll have to power it separately from your pedalboard. Second, while you may "like" the tube in the compressor circuit, there will be a tube replacement required at some point, usually in one to three years. Third, this is one of the largest, if not the very largest compressor pedals I've ever seen. You'd think a company that can make such compact and lightweight amps could have figured out how to miniaturize their compressor pedal a tad. Fourth, it has SIX knobs. That is a whole bunch of knobs, and on a compressor pedal I don't really want that many myself, but your mileage may vary.

Some other really good compressors to consider for bass are:
BBE BMAX (rackmount)
BBE Optostomp (pedal)
EBS Multicomp
Keeley Compressor
Demeter Comp-1 Compulator

All of these sound good to me with a bass. The Keeley and Demeter pedals have a very tiny footprint which is an advantage if your pedalboard is crowded, but they don't have any truly unique features compared to the others. I honestly might buy either one of them next. They seem to be very similar, well made and they both run on 9 volts.

The point was made that as your technique improves you don't need a compressor as much, which may be true. But I would never play without one live. It sure makes the soundman's job easier and makes me sound better than I would otherwise. When using a compressor you give up a bit of dynamic range, meaning that everything is about the same level all the time. But they do smooth things out.

When using a compressor I put it FIRST in the pedal/effects chain, otherwise when I am not playing the normal function of the compressor is to pull up any hiss or noise generated by the other pedals and make the noise really obvious.


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Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2010 8:46 am
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I don't use much compressor either on live, except for cases where i slap and pop here and there, once in a while.. anyways the aphex would make your tone a bit sharper..

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Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2010 12:09 pm
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eyecandy wrote:
I don't use much compressor either on live, except for cases where i slap and pop here and there, once in a while.. anyways the aphex would make your tone a bit sharper..


Define what you mean by sharper?

It seems to make everything I do smoother. It doesn't kill bass at all or sound honky like the old Ibanez compressor pedal I had.


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Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2010 7:35 pm
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thanks for the good info Brother Dave... yea my first choice was the demeter comp 1, but the lack of knobs (attack, etc) was negative for me and the demeter Compro 1 is too pricey. I'm picky about compression so the MB was attactive with all its tweakability options. definte downside is size and 12V power supply. any experience with the EHX Black Finger comp? i want to preserve my vintage, warm tones (Ampeg SVT and Fender TV 15) but add suttle compression to smooth it all out.


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Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2010 7:45 pm
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jav wrote:
thanks for the good info Brother Dave... yea my first choice was the demeter comp 1, but the lack of knobs (attack, etc) was negative for me and the demeter Compro 1 is too pricey. I'm picky about compression so the MB was attactive with all its tweakability options. definte downside is size and 12V power supply. any experience with the EHX Black Finger comp? i want to preserve my vintage, warm tones (Ampeg SVT and Fender TV 15) but add suttle compression to smooth it all out.


Had the early EBS compressor. Liked the sound, hated all the knobs. I think it had 4.

REALLY, based on what I hear from the Punch Factory, Demeter and Keelely 2 knob compressors, they work perfectly. I set my punch factory to 6.5 to 7.0 on both knobs with a passive bass and it is PERFECT. I don't think an optical compressor really needs but two knobs.

The main thing is they sound GOOD with bass. Many compressors do not. The punch factory, Demeter and Keeley are a toss up tone wise.

Sorry, but I have no experience with the BlackFinger.


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Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 4:24 am
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brotherdave wrote:
eyecandy wrote:
I don't use much compressor either on live, except for cases where i slap and pop here and there, once in a while.. anyways the aphex would make your tone a bit sharper..


Define what you mean by sharper?

It seems to make everything I do smoother. It doesn't kill bass at all or sound honky like the old Ibanez compressor pedal I had.



what i meant was, it evens out the sound.. and adds a little punch to it..

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Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 9:26 pm
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sorry if this is out of the topic again..

Brotherdave i have another question...

Seems like you've been using both punch factory and bass xciter.. My question is that.. The bass exciter works as an active di as well? I'm just curious if the sound it produces is clear and uncolored? Or that of the sansamp which adds a little warm tube tone..

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Posted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 11:45 pm
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eyecandy wrote:
sorry if this is out of the topic again..

Brotherdave i have another question...

Seems like you've been using both punch factory and bass xciter.. My question is that.. The bass exciter works as an active di as well? I'm just curious if the sound it produces is clear and uncolored? Or that of the sansamp which adds a little warm tube tone..


The Bass Xciter and SansAmp are two different things. Both can be good and they can compliment each other. The Sansamp is an active tone control and tube emulation device which can inject varied amounts of simulated tube drive and tons of overdrive if you want. (I've been using a Sansamp Deluxe for a while now and plan a review soon.)

The deep purple colored Aphex Bass Xciter is basically a mono Aphex Aural Exciter With Big Bottom studio rack mount audio processor shrunk down to pedal size and specially voiced for electric bass. It is exactly the same size as the orange colored Aphex Punch Factory compressor pedal and has identical inputs, outputs, switch placement and powering options. Yes that includes a DI out with ground lift. In fact, you can use either Aphex bass pedal as a direct box. A good sounding direct recording combo is a Punch Factory to a Sansamp to a Bass Xciter. For years I used Punch Factory to Bass Xciter and that was all that I used to record. I did that for about three years. The two Aphex bass pedals together with nothing else can produce really clean and very recordable tone that sounds fat without any apparent distortion.

What the Bass Xciter processor actually does is two fold. It splits the audio into the highs and lows and then routes and processes each one using different chips to generate an adjustable and controllable amount of subtle and very clean harmonics to the root tone for each spectrum. The pedal then recombines and balances the two spectrums. Unlike an octave pedal, the harmonics are so clean and subtle that you can't really hear them! These harmonics are SUPPOSED to psycho-acoustically make the instrument SOUND louder without actually being any louder and certainly it can do that when set properly. The fullness and brightness it adds is not distorted at all.

The thing with the Bass Xciter that can cause a problem is that the settings which sound GREAT in the studio direct to a mixer more often than not are nowhere near the same settings that work best when piped into a bass amp!

When set properly the Bass Xciter pedal sounds lush and thick while also adding brightness both in the studio and live. While I continue to keep one to use when I've got time to fiddle with it in a recording environment, using one live which is set incorrectly is worse than not having one at all!

Recording is where an Aphex Xciter pedal works best for me. YES, if you adjust the settings correctly it can accomplish the same thing live ....but.... and this is a big but ... if you have it set incorrectly when playing live you usually won't get much of a chance to correct it and it will be a hindrance and you'll wind up turning it off.

For me the same settings that work best in recording direct actually diminish the overall volume of my live rig! I can set it so that it sounds good live but it takes time to get it adjusted properly and in the rush of setting up for a gig I find it isn't worth the hassle as my amp is plenty loud anyway.

The reason the disparity between ideal recording and ideal live settings occurs is two fold. The mic channel input on a mixer set to flat has no emphasis on lows or highs. Think of that as VANILLA. A bass amp preamp has all sorts of tone colorings which you can call the CHOCOLATE effect. That is the first problem. The second is that when running a Bass Xciter pedal into a bass amp the same settings that worked so good into a flat microphone preamp at the studio simply produce too many ultra lows and ultra highs and all of them are further boosted by the voicing of the preamp to such an extent that many of the psycho-acoustic harmonics are out of the capability of your cab to audibly reproduce! HOWEVER the amp doesn't know the cab can't pass these frequencies and the amp STILL produces them anyway! Ultra lows especially take tons of power to produce, ultra highs not as much but still they take some power. The end result is that when a Bass Xciter pedal is set incorrectly for live use your amp wastes a lot of watts generating upper and sub-bass harmonics nobody is ever going to hear at the gig. This wasted power means you have to turn the amp up louder to achieve the same apparent volume as you'd have without the pedal online. I've noticed the clip light on my gig rig will flash like crazy if I have the Bass Xciter set incorrectly for live use because the pedal is simply pushing too many ultra sub frequencies relative to the preamp's bass heavy voicing and the watts are just being wasted because the cab won't pass but some of them.

What the Bass Xciter does is truly amazing when recording because it works well for that and frankly the Aphex Aural Exciter With Big Bottom was designed precisely for recording in the first place. But in live performances if your amp is big enough, you really don't need it in the chain because what it does when set correctly is make you sound even louder than your actually are.

Usually, even without the Bass Xciter, the sound tech is telling me to turn down anyway. Sound familiar anyone?


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Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 7:52 am
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I've gigged with a behringer di back then... my amp was smaller and it was hard to compete since they mic'ed the drums.. (sheesh), i turned the amplifier off and concentrated on the di straight to the mixer... but i wasn't contented with the sound,

well I was thinking of using it as a direct box straight to the mixer into the front monitors..

I don't know why but here in our place, there are ones who provide amplifiers but they're small...

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