I need a front end compressor pedal for BASS

  • Thread starter Thread starter Kapo_Polenton
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Kapo_Polenton

Kapo_Polenton

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I moonlight on bass when playing my own tunes and now while recording a few basslines for a friend's songs. I have rack comps like the trusty old DBX 560, an 1176 blue stripe clone, an SSL bus style comp but I am wondering if I am better off hitting it with a pedal before it hits my DAW? Don't have much experience with compressors that way.. usually going the direct route and into a bass sim and applying compression after. Am I missing anything with it on the floor before the daw? I'm ultimately looking for a nice even volume as we all know how inconsistent bass can be between the lows and the thinner strings. What is a tried tested and true compression pedal for bass? The MXR dynacomp?
 
Sorry I can't help. I've been a bass player my whole life, 40 something years of it anyway, I never liked compression pedals on bass and never used them.
 
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If you can find one. I've owned mine for a few decades, when TE was making great bass gear. Peavey owns the name now and they have a new version which I never tried.

Trace Elliot Dual Compressor — Guitar Bar




Trace Elliot® Dual Band Compressor™ Pedal



That said, my main bass rig is a Peavey era Trace Elliot TransitB pedal.
 
Sorry I can't help. I've been a bass player my whole life, 40 something years of it anyway, I never liked compression pedals on bass and never used them.

You must have chops! How do you keep your lows from overpowering the higher strings ?
 
I like the MXR Bass Compressor. I used it as a crutch for so many years, that gigging without it is weird. The band I'm doing now is straight forward sludge metal, so I'm not using it. My last band, Something Involving A Monkey, was so dynamic that I was fucked without it. It was pop slap one minute, tapping, the next, and then jazz parts after that. The MXR did a great job at leveling out the extremes.
 
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