The BEST bass compressor

[meffcio]

What is the really best compressor for bass guitar out there? I mean, which one is the most bass specific (not 'eating' that damn low-end) and most hi-fi sounding (no unwanted distortion)? I've searched through the whole hell of threads, but couldn't find anything that will suit me the most. I want to make a christmas gift for a friend bassist, but all of the compressors I found lack something.
Let's look at the Orange Squeezer. There are bass specific mods for it, but some people say it works well on bass without those mods. Well, I'm confused. Also, it distorts, yup?
Or the Fullwave version. People say it lacks hi-end. So how's that thing supposed to be named 'fullwave'?
Some of the layouts are even still not verified, and just laid out like that.
Aren't there any compressor designed specifically for the bass guitar, that are available for a DIY fx maker?

[Cardboard Tube Samurai]

For thread titles like this, could you please use a question mark? There's a big difference between asking for peoples' opinions and offering forward your own opinion. I personally don't come here to read the debates on opinions so if you're asking the question, please use a question mark so that I may avoid such threads.

[Mark Hammer]

"Best" is always contentious, particularly when context is ignored, and especially when dealing with the recommendations of folks whose preferred and acceptable pricepoint can vary so much.

However.....

It is my understanding (not experience, since I have none) that, when it comes to bass, multiband compression is preferred for producing something that still has the appropriate punch and doesn't sound spongey.  In that regard, none of the traditional recommendations for guitar tend to fit that bill.  The Trace-Elliot unit shown here seems appropriate, and the schematic is floating around, but it's a complicated build:

[rbstep]

The Eletroharmonix Black Finger from my experiences......

[petemoore]

    Skipping the important stuff that matters when it is ''limiting''..moving on to pre-amplifier or small signal portion of the signal path..
 A two band circuit.
 It splits the signal into part 1 and part 2.
 Part 1 is fed through an adjustable low frequency bandpass filter, compressed.
 Part 2 is fed through an adjustable high frequency bandpass filter, and other stuff it done to it before it is mixed back in with with the compressed lows of part 1.
 Part 2 has a loop out/in before remix. This loop can have phase, distortion, anything else including echo. It tends to be more forgiving about what offends the easily offended speaker or amplifier, because HF's require much less 'uumph' and current through the speaker / speaker excursion to reproduce.
 or...
 Something like what Mark showed, the knobs seem to explain it's functions= multiband compression [the center red knob too, but just wondering what exactly is the way it's function works/how well does that work for Fredward on bass, I would guess quite nice/just fine.
 If designing such a beast, I'd want to do a whole mess of complicated re-testing and re-designing of the circuit structure, perhaps mess with parametric filters in an effort to cover all bases in an effort to figure out...complicated little buggar.
  I would first be considering buying it or following directions as a way to get something to test, then use it for quite a while unless there was some glaring error in design I thought I could improve.
  A quality multiband compressor I tried out and liked, probably wouldn't even require 1 filtercap value tweek.
 Since LF's tend to be set at a volume the speaker can support [ie loudspeaker set to loud-near-excessive-distortion], having the option to treat the HF's to 'something' without affecting the lows would be the mod I'd consider, generally 'speaking' the 'intellect frequencies' exhibit response in human listeners, adding phase or fuzz in the 'guitar range' excites neurons, not much happens for phase in the LF's and Fuzz may tend toward the blips of speaker excursions which make 'buzzpharts' instead.
 As well, boosting lows will more easily push an already pushed speaker to ''exhibit behaviours'' [some are undesirable].
 So...you either have speaker with room to support an increase in average and peak LF excursions without excessive distortion [compression here reduces peak signal transients], or watching what is fed into the speaker in LF terms is advisable.
 or speaker distortion is desirable...really depends on what the vision is.
 One dude's best is another dude's least favorite, these two extremes tend to refer to one another when either is mentioned.
  3 examples of what I'd consider important:
  A tiny super solid enclosure with an ultra rigid super high wattage 10'' or 12'' speaker, the tiny cabinet forces the LF resonance below the bass guitar range, the massive driver produces the flat frequency response, how massive = what volume level. The amplifier is assumed as being adequate so that it doesn't contribute any form of undesirable distortion and is powerful enough that it doesn't 'matter'.
  An SVT amplifier and cabinet, tube amp can contribute to very powerful compressor.
  A folded horn design with resonance set to a bit below the lowest bass guitar note, the effeciency increases a bit as frequency drops.
  ok...a fourth:
  Bass combo amp with LPB boost causing the speaker to 'act funny', producing tones that cause me to want to exit the room.
  With any of these examples, where the volume is set in relation to what in the signal path compresses or distorts will tend to allow or disallow boosting without 'side effects'.

[mrslunk]

http://www.ovnilab.com/index.shtml
everything you ever wanted to know about compressors + bass

I've seen schematics around for the Demeter Compulator, which has been well recieved as a bass guitarists compressor.

You might consider making a limiter instead. I've found limiters much more practical for my bass.
search for 'LA-Light' (it's a pedal format la2a clone)
i think one of the guys at the other forum put togethor a schematic too.

In my experience, multiband compression on bass is overkill.
A good compressor, or a good limiter will 99.9% of the time be more than sufficient and, as far as diy goes, at least half as complicated...

[runmikeyrun]

try the forums at talkbass.com they have an effects forum that is very active.  If you describe what style of music you're playing, what sound you're looking for, and what type of bass and amp you use you'll get a lot of good (and some expensive) recommendations.

[fatfoohy]

try the flatline, i use it for bass and it is insanely transparent.  i love my to pieces and it never colors my signal plus i keep all my low end

[meffcio]

Thanks for all the responses. It seems there are many more options than I thought of.
Anyway, looking on the other forum I found a true gem - THAT Jam compressor. Obviously based on a THAT4301 chip. It seems it would suit me the most, BUT I can't find the main chip here in my country. I bet importing it from the abroad will be kinda expensive... Therefore I am stuck with a choice of other compressors, ie. Bajaman's optical limiter or Flatline compressor. They both seem to work well on bass, and they're both cheap. What do you think?
And by the way - Merry Christmas to all of you

[mrslunk]

imho, build both

[Rodgre]

I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned this, but in the studio, I've become a fan of parallel compression.

While I will most often use some kind of limiter on super-unruly bass (my favorite is the limiter on the Symetrix 501), if I need to keep the attack and keep an overall dynamic, but richer bass tone, I will use parallel compression, which is simply adding a "clean blend" knob which bypasses the compression. You can add this pretty easily with any DIY compressor. The only side-effect I would be wary of is any kind of phase issue, if the compressor does anything funny to the signal, like inverts it. For example, you cannot use digital compression in this fashion without delay compensation, as processing latency with some plug-ins will knock the signal late by a few milleseconds, making it do awful phase cancellations with the direct signal.

Roger

[meffcio]

imho, build both

Someday

While I will most often use some kind of limiter on super-unruly bass (my favorite is the limiter on the Symetrix 501), if I need to keep the attack and keep an overall dynamic, but richer bass tone, I will use parallel compression, which is simply adding a "clean blend" knob which bypasses the compression. You can add this pretty easily with any DIY compressor. The only side-effect I would be wary of is any kind of phase issue, if the compressor does anything funny to the signal, like inverts it. For example, you cannot use digital compression in this fashion without delay compensation, as processing latency with some plug-ins will knock the signal late by a few milleseconds, making it do awful phase cancellations with the direct signal.

Well, I've got to hear that in the action. Somehow I just can't imagine that easily.

Personally, I'll stick to the THAT4301-based compressor. It's versatile, still not hell expensive.

[pedalgrinder]

obviously people like spending money cause the that 4301 isn't as good as everyone goes on about. The tda7052a can seriously pull as good as sound if not better if setup right and if you want rms just average the attack out sent to it. I can buy a tda7052 for under a dollar here in australia there is no way way i would buy a that4301 when the the tda 7052a sounds just as good. Seriously people educate yourselfs and try it iam not bullshitting here.

[BubbaFet]

Cyrus J. Heiduska, the person behind the compressor reviews at http://www.ovnilab.com/index.shtml , really likes a Boss CS-3 modified for bass...www.ovnilab.com/articles/cs3modding.shtml

For a DIYStompboxes thread with CS-3 schematic and discussion see http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=63909.0 

[mnordbye]

I don't think I could find a schematic for one, but the EBS Multi-comp is great. I've used it for more than a year now, and it really doesn't color my sound much. The pedal can be used to boost the signal too, it has much make-up gain on tap. It also has three compressor modes; Normal, Tube emulation and Multiband compressing.

Magnus

[pedalgrinder]

unfortunately the ebs multi comp compressor is all smd if it wasn't i believe there would be a schematic traced for it. But if anyone knows where there is one for it i would love to know. Cause yeah that is a nice compressor.

[WhenBoredomPeaks]

Cyrus J. Heiduska, the person behind the compressor reviews at http://www.ovnilab.com/index.shtml , really likes a Boss CS-3 modified for bass...www.ovnilab.com/articles/cs3modding.shtml

That is an amazing link, thanks!

[StephenGiles]

obviously people like spending money cause the that 4301 isn't as good as everyone goes on about. The tda7052a can seriously pull as good as sound if not better if setup right and if you want rms just average the attack out sent to it. I can buy a tda7052 for under a dollar here in australia there is no way way i would buy a that4301 when the the tda 7052a sounds just as good. Seriously people educate yourselfs and try it iam not bullsh*tting here.

Everything is relative, and being a "fellow with great expectations" I never scrimp on electronic parts. With petrol in the UK fast approaching £7 per gallon, £10 on a chip is but a trifle

[12Bass]

First off, any suggestion of "best" tends to amount to a matter of personal opinion.  Also, the reviews at ovnilab are useful, but shouldn't be taken as definitive, IMO.  Lots of people, including myself, have had no problem using the FMR Audio RNC1773 on bass (which is a pretty transparent compressor).  I think that the RNLA7239 might sound a bit more "fat, squishy, and juicy".... 

BTW, some time ago I spent a couple of hours talking with Mark McQuilken from FMR.  Mark helped me swap in a pair of THAT 2181As for a slight improvement in sound.  One of the points that he mentioned during our chat was that the VCA chip is less important to the overall sound than the detection and control circuitry (which serve to determine the "character" of the compression).  So, by itself, choosing a specific VCA is no guarantee of good sounding compression; that's a product of the overall design.   From personal experience I've also found that the quality of the analog circuitry can make a noticeable difference in transparency.

[pedalgrinder]

i think you hit the nail on the head 12bass but i think it also comes down to how the side chain is triggered and what frequency range is used there also i always thought that fmr was mainly digital circuits