About the role of a compressor

Velokki

Velokki

Inspired
This is a topic that I've got a little internal struggle with.

I've never really used compressors on any of my patches, and kinda considered them "cheating". I know - this sounds superbly idiotic, but we all have our weird paradigms :D

I've been hesitant to use them, so I wouldn't grow to rely on them. So that my skills would be "pure". Let me explain; I used to play a Line 6 Spider III before I got the Axe FX II back in 2013. When I started to use the Axe 2, my playing sounded much worse than it did through the Spider. The Spider was one of the most forgiving amps because it compressed the shit out the signal and made riffing easy. I got a real kick in my ass when I started to mess with much lower gain realistic amp models with the Axe 2, and it revealed to me just how much I sucked.

Now fast forward 10 years, I've transformed myself as a player, and can play much better. But a lot of times I might find myself fighting the amp a bit, when such struggle would not be needed if there was a compressor. I fell in love with an Andy Timmons patch, and I figured out it was because of the compressor in the chain. It just feels effortless and lovely to play!

I guess I'm not getting anywhere logical with this - I just needed some people to echo these thoughts with :D

Do you use a compressor always or just sometimes? Do you have any "rules" or recommendations on how to implement them? I've seriously almost never used them, but now starting to think it might be a good idea.
 
Velokki said:
It just feels effortless and lovely to play!
Click to expand...
I like compressors for adding this "effortlessness" to the playing, but I really hate what they do to the attack of the note because of it.
So I'd really like to use them more to "level" my playing as I use a lot of stacatto, legato and swybrid in my playing, and it is close to impossible for me to have all the notes at the same volume by pure technique, but I don't want compressors to squash the attack.

Probably I just suck at tuning them, maybe someone has a solution to preserve the scratchy attack of a clean Dumble, for example , while making the sound of every note very even in terms of loudness.
 
I don’t quite get compressors either. Good post. I have thought of asking the same question before but never did.
 
The ‘cheating’ part is an interesting concept. For me the Fractal approach of ‘blocks’ helped me conceive this process differently. It’s just a block. Reverb simulates space so in a sense that would be cheating too. ‘Fuzz’ originally simulated a saxophone. A perfectly timed echo can do wonders to your picking. I just look at all the blocks as tools, different colors to paint the picture. I do find myself following the ‘less is more’ theory. Except when using the compressor as an intentional over exaggerated effect I usually just add a touch if any.
 
I like using compressors for the fattening effect and sustain it gives to clean tones, but I don’t like loosing my dynamics. So I usually end up using compressors with a low mix. I like using the mix knob in the compressor block between 30 - 50%. This way I keep most of the dynamics, but still get some of the punch that compressors give.
 
I like it on a country telecaster sound to get that snappy attack thing. Also a bit on some clean or eob type tones to level out the volume a little across varying picking dynamics (for this I like to use the amp's handy built in input dynamics compressor). For hi-gain there's inherent compression so I'd rarely want more in addition.
 
Chromatizm said:
I like compressors for adding this "effortlessness" to the playing, but I really hate what they do to the attack of the note because of it.
So I'd really like to use them more to "level" my playing as I use a lot of stacatto, legato and swybrid in my playing, and it is close to impossible for me to have all the notes at the same volume by pure technique, but I don't want compressors to squash the attack.

Probably I just suck at tuning them, maybe someone has a solution to preserve the scratchy attack of a clean Dumble, for example , while making the sound of every note very even in terms of loudness.
Click to expand...

This is the answer:

PatrickWD said:
I like using compressors for the fattening effect and sustain it gives to clean tones, but I don’t like loosing my dynamics. So I usually end up using compressors with a low mix. I like using the mix knob in the compressor block between 30 - 50%. This way I keep most of the dynamics, but still get some of the punch that compressors give.
Click to expand...
 
It's just a different sound. Playing hard into a slammed compressor into a clean amp is a much different transient sound than using a cranked amp, rolling back your volume knob, and playing lightly, even if they both end up with a similar amount of gain/distortion. And yes I have an always on compressor up front in most presets. In my presets that have a control switch assigned to amp drive I use the same control switch to simultaneously turn down the compressor's mix since at higher drive settings the amp is compressing quite a bit anyway.
 
Last edited:
JWDubois said:
This is the answer:
Click to expand...
Yes, this is the approach I came up too also. But it is not exactly what works for my needs.. I use it for both drive and compressor blocks, always having some dry signal passing through. But it still chews a picking attack. Not dynamics - I NEED dynamics to be "squashed" to level up agressive swybrid plucking and light legato runs. But I want to gave the attack clear and edgy. That's why I'm using edge of breakup amps and passing dry signal through all distortion/compressor blocks.
Gets me close but not exactly where I need it.
 
I never use compressors because it’s hard for me to connect with the guitar in a musical sense (dynamics obviously)

I’m just used to not using it I guess?

Though there’s no rule saying “thou shall not use compressors if you “suck” per se

Hey, even the greatest guitar players use compressors

There’s already natural compression when you use a tube amp anyway, what’s a little bit more?

If it sounds and it feels good, it is good
 
If the pick attack you like sounds fine in a mix then leave it alone. If it’s a bit poky, try the optical compressor. Change the type to LED if you need more off the leading edge. Use the mix as needed. Try it before and after the amp, or try one before and one after, just doing less each.
 
PatrickWD said:
I like using compressors for the fattening effect and sustain it gives to clean tones, but I don’t like loosing my dynamics. So I usually end up using compressors with a low mix. I like using the mix knob in the compressor block between 30 - 50%. This way I keep most of the dynamics, but still get some of the punch that compressors give.
Click to expand...
Isn't that effectively the same as turning down the compression ratio?
 
I see some presets with the comp post amp/cab. What’s up with that as opposed to running it pre amp block?
 
Chromatizm said:
Yes, this is the approach I came up too also. But it is not exactly what works for my needs.. I use it for both drive and compressor blocks, always having some dry signal passing through. But it still chews a picking attack. Not dynamics - I NEED dynamics to be "squashed" to level up agressive swybrid plucking and light legato runs. But I want to gave the attack clear and edgy. That's why I'm using edge of breakup amps and passing dry signal through all distortion/compressor blocks.
Gets me close but not exactly where I need it.
Click to expand...

You can also try increasing the attack time so that the pick transient gets through before the compressor kicks in.
 
skolacki said:
I see some presets with the comp post amp/cab. What’s up with that as opposed to running it pre amp block?
Click to expand...
When it’s pre it affects how the transients hit the non linear amp. In practice, for me doing the edge of breakup thing, it controls the breakup when you dig in. I think it fattens the tone a bit more than post, also, probably because breakup adds high frequency content.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom