Need recommendation on a Compressor Type for Taylor Acoustic

scottp

Fractal Fanatic
So I'm building a simple preset for my Taylor Acoustic 614CE, has the Expression System in it.
Looking for a nice pure tone with gentle compression.
Playing live this weekend, I will be strumming some big chords balanced with picking notes all while using a pick.

I would also appreciate any settings you could recommend.
Thanks!
 
M Fanton and Worship Tutorials both have great acoustic presets that will work with your guitar. Since your are pretty short on time, that’s what I would recommend. Then you are tweaking and practicing instead of building presets.
 
Also, to answer your question directly - sorry about that - I would recommend the Studio 1 FF as well or the JFET. If you don’t like either one of those, then try the Optical. I find with the compressors that the settings are more important than the type, but maybe that is just me.
 
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In general, I like optical compressors for acoustic guitar. They are very natural sounding and usually require less tweaking than other types, but I haven’t used the one on the Axe FX.
 
@solo-act This is right in his wheelhouse.
I just looked at my presets. I have 2 opticals in my chain. They say two compressors set to lighter compression can be more musical than one set to aggressive compression.

Both of mine are in-line, not parallel. I think they're mostly at default except for compression level.
First compressor:
Auto on; lookahead 0.00; level 1; mix 100%; bypass mode thru; input level Line;
comp 3.24; attack 2ms; release 100ms; filter 10hz; emphasis 0;
Second compressor:
same except comp is 2.30

Set the comp levels to how hard you strike your strings and how "squashed" you want your sound to be.
Mine are set to my playing and allow fingerpicking to come out without squashing the hardest playing too much.
 
I just looked at my presets. I have 2 opticals in my chain. They say two compressors set to lighter compression can be more musical than one set to aggressive compression.

Both of mine are in-line, not parallel. I think they're mostly at default except for compression level.
First compressor:
Auto on; lookahead 0.00; level 1; mix 100%; bypass mode thru; input level Line;
comp 3.24; attack 2ms; release 100ms; filter 10hz; emphasis 0;
Second compressor:
same except comp is 2.30

Set the comp levels to how hard you strike your strings and how "squashed" you want your sound to be.
Mine are set to my playing and allow fingerpicking to come out without squashing the hardest playing too much.


This was exactly the information I was looking for. Thanks so much!
Going to try these tonight! :)
 
When you’re in the mood to fiddle about you may also wish to try using another approach: set the first compressor with a high threshold and a high ratio to act as a limiter to catch just the very highest signal peaks BEFORE they get to the second compressor set with a low threshold and ratio. This keeps the errant peaks from slamming the 2nd comp. (causing it to over-react, which is def. audible) and allows you to smooth things out considerably w/o losing the “life” in your playing.
 
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