that was my experience as well. i had to practically jump up and down on the fretboard to get it to do anything.
4 Likes
Any compressor (or other pedal for that matter) that you have to spend this much time fighting aint worth it).
5 Likes
I received the Keely Bassist pedal today.
It took me all of 5 minutes to fully understand it and set it up for pick playing.
I really love its simplicity.
That doesn’t mean that the Hyperluminal is going anywhere though.
Having the Keeley addresses a few immediate needs I was having while doing some pick practice and cover work.
The Hyperluminal I look at as my ‘advanced degree’ to continue to sort out and dial in compression even more to my liking (once I learn what exactly my liking is).
What I will say is that if anyone is looking for a straightforward, easy compressor, the Keeley is IT!
I believe many others here have sung its praises in the past too (@T_dub I think, and others). Sometimes things take a while to click or sink in.
8 Likes
AFAIK it’s their modification of the MXR Dynacomp circuit for bass. The Dynacomp is the best selling and most copied compressor in the world, for a good reason. So it’s almost guaranteed to be a solid compressor.
Josh has one too, IIRC.
edit: it’s their other one that is based on the MXR, this one is based on the dbx 160A, which is even better:
4 Likes
Exchanged the M87 for a Hyper Luminal. The results I am getting with this one make so much more sense, and sound better… Even in FET mode, which is based on the same 1176 that the M87 is also based on.
Definitely happier so far.
6 Likes
I returned the Keeley Bassist.
It worked well and was simple however, once I fiddled with it and my DAW for a bit I was able to transfer that knowledge over to the Hyperluminal and now do understand operation of it as well. I also like the options the Hyperluminal gives.
What I guess I still doubt is if it is ‘set up right’ - meaning…ya, it’s doing what it should, do I have it optimized, etc? I would still love some compression expert guy to just come over and give me an hour and tell my WHY he/she sets it a specific way, why one would change something to another setting, etc. This is the video I would love to see.
5 Likes
yeah, i was really pleasantly surprised by it. nice pedal.
edit: except for the gimmicky touch sensitive buttons which i still contend are a stupid pain in the ass.
4 Likes
Yeah those are definitely not love at first sight for me either, but maybe I’ll grow used to them
4 Likes
Luckily it’s not a pedal that requires frequent adjustments while playing. For me, anyhow.
2 Likes
this might help, a real deep dive though. grab some popcorn.
3 Likes
That is the one thing that’s keeping me away from that and the newer Darkglass electronics. I have this fear they are going to eventually freak out and be unreplaceable. I don’t really know enough about the technology.
4 Likes
Thanks @itsratso!
The last hour long class (C4) took me 4 hours with note taking and playing.
One more thing on the pile for vacation time…
2 Likes
Watched this, was helpful quiet helpful, but…
Going by “this sounds good” on his bass for what he likes doesn’t help me with "ok what you sound like is x, or y and could be better if you adjusted z.
It did give me some basic places to start and what I THINK I like for let’s say pick playing on a particular bass, but I still have no idea if I got it right or could be better.
Did a lot of fiddling tonight and think I will record something compressed with a pick and see how it goes.
I still would like a ‘this is a bass sound wave umcompressed, this is what’s wrong with it, this is how to make it better if you are going for this or that or the other’
3 Likes
I’m probably the last person you should listen to when it comes to compressors, but my takeaway so far is that once you get the grasp of the basics and can dial in a reasonable starting point (unity gain, reasonable number of leds lighting up, etc), it becomes a matter of personal taste and experimentation. Whatever sounds better to you is going to be the right setting.
3 Likes
Haha. That’s about exactly where I’m at.
Unity gain, couple few lights lighting up. And checking that a little bite is still at the very beginning of the attack.
I guess I’m doing it right after all.
So apparently we don’t have to know what we are doing. Hahahaha
3 Likes
I have been watching dozens of bass compression videos.
My takeaway - most of them are subjective and style/genre dependent along with personal taste.
But, here is a very simple video that most of us noobs can understand about actually adjusting and hearing the simple overall benefit of a compressor on our bass, whether in a DAW or out of your amp. Past this, it really is personal preference/style, etc. Heck, I watched some videos where people use a compressor at extremes to get a desired ‘effect’ vs. cleaning/evening the bass tone.
And another good one but more specific to getting the intial ‘clank’ to sound good is from the Great White North…
And I really like this one below from our friends across the pond. I have noticed in some covers that by bass ‘disappears’ sometimes, and some folks have commented on it. The first video above helps to fix this, this goes into more detail that I really like.
The bigger takeaway for me is that no one setting just ‘works’ and you may need to fiddle to sort it all out. My other big takeaway is that for recording, I would much rather do it in the DAW then a pedal into the DAW. For playing through amps, all the same applies but each pedal handles it a bit differently so you will have to fiddle a bit, but not use it for recording.
@howard - king of plugins - what are some excellent bass compressor plugins that are simple yet effective?
As a side thing of interest, seems a lot of people think you need to stack compressors for bass. I guess this has a place, but for my level - meh, I can deal without doing that.
3 Likes
Sweet, the slippery slope begins 
This is true for all effects for me now.
I use a ton but I mostly use a really simple one from Kilohearts:
However, I didn’t buy that separately, I own it as part of all their snapins. I wouldn’t necessarily buy it on its own. But often I will have multiple instances of it on a track. It’s simple, easy to understand and use, and works well.
I also use the one in Neutron on all my tracks.
A real safe bet would be MTurboComp, both it and its multiband version:
The LE version is not too expensive and is what I own; the full version looks awesome and is required for the multiband. It’s got a bunch of classic compressors modeled in it. I rarely use it but it is good. All of Melda’s stuff is great.
Pretty sure you already have a few in Live, btw. You should check but I am sure it comes with some, all DAWs do.
Here’s a free limiter I like:
I used this as a track limiter and master limiter before getting Ozone and Neutron. It’s cool, has a nice tone to it.
I always have at least two - one very early in the chain and one as a track compressor at the end.
2 Likes
I am going to try the Waves CLA76 and the CLA-3A (the two the UK lady above mentions) as fairly standard for rock etc in studios and play with them as I have a nice reference video on them (and maybe even stack them!).
ya @howard - plugins of some sort are a given I guess, I fold, hahaha, but not giving up my beautiful beautiful pedalboard, nope nope nope
2 Likes
The 1176 is a classic, good choice. Waves makes outstanding plugins.
Wait until the convenience really sinks in
3 Likes
The 3A is a newer version of the 2A, which she said works faster than the 2A.
They were both only $29 at Sweetwater, and $59 everywhere else, so I figured what the heck, I spend more than that on a strap which sounds like nothing.
3 Likes