Rack Compressors

[FreestyleIntruder]

If that's the case, then why do guitards fuss about their live tone and sound men are more than accommodating to them? Some effects set up in the studio need to be completely changed for live purposes to achieve the same results. It's not difficult. It takes patience and desire. Precision can be everything in a really tight, hot band. If you think it doesn't really matter much, then why is it that I had a band come up to me after a show I played a couple weeks ago asking what my exact setup was.

Ah...

The shows I play at usually have the bass running through FOH so the only person who has to hear my despicable, wretched, contemptible 3630 is me

[ThudMaker]

Ah... The shows I play at usually have the bass running through FOH so the only person who has to hear my despicable, wretched, contemptible 3630 is me

This was POST-eq to FOH, too.

[willbill0587]

I'm a noob with compression so I haven't got a clue but what is generally better, pedal or rack?

Also, what do you do with all the knobs and buttons?

Ok, thats the dbx 166. What the hell do all the knobs do? I want a compressor and I love the tone yopu get out of 'em but all those knobs put me off a bit. Do you have to adjust them all the time or just once?

Is there a standard to start with or what? Any help with this?

[ThudMaker]

 

I'm a noob with compression so I haven't got a clue but what is generally better, pedal or rack? Also, what do you do with all the knobs and buttons? Ok, thats the dbx 166. What the hell do all the knobs do? I want a compressor and I love the tone yopu get out of 'em but all those knobs put me off a bit. Do you have to adjust them all the time or just once? Is there a standard to start with or what? Any help with this?

OK. The Threshold means at what point does that particular effect kick in. Do you have a lot of noise from a single coil? If so, set the Threshold for the gate just at the point where it cuts the noise. The ratio probably adjusts how quickly or slowly the gate opens and closes on the noise. Same thing for Threshold portion of the Compressor. With the Threshold set above zero (0) you are using the comp moreso as a limiter than a comp. Lower the Threshold beneath zero and the "compression" will begin. IOW, the farther you go into the minus, the louder your quiet passages will be and the quieter your loud parts will be. Moving further and further on that dial is part of "squashing" your signal. The next dial (ratio) suggests how much compression/limiting is applied. Anywhere between 2:1 - 6:1 is acceptable depending on how much compression you like. Again, the higher the ratio, the more you will squash. Attack means how quickly the compressor grabs a signal to compress it. Depending on the instrument/effect sought, is how you want to set it. The release time means how long the compressor holds on to the signal to compress it. Generally, a slower attack and quicker release will yield more natural results, IIRC. Output Gain is so you can makeup the signal volume that is lost during the compression process.

 

The dbx has several buttons (overeasy and auto) that act like compressors for dummies switches. The stereo link is simply that. You can process a stereo signal with channel one's control's so that both images are applied at the same rate. This is more for Stereo mixes.

 

I'll put a disclaimer on this post that I've tried to speak in layman's terms, so some of the things I've stated may not seem quite right to the professional, but it should be pretty close. There are plenty of resources avilable on the net to help you understand how compressors work for bass and where to set them for best results for the bass instrument. If I'm not mistaken, the Alesis 3630 manual has a pretty decent example of setting a comp for bass compression as well as limiting.

[chris-dax]

This thread is useless withou rack compressor pics