Bass guitar compressor circuit

[Jimmy]

Hi Everyone,

I'm a low-budget basement recording guy looking for a compressor circuit for recording bass. Looking for a schematic for a circuit with low-cost components.

I'd like to level-out the bass signal over the course of a song. I find that especially with bass guitar, the notes on the E string are louder and the notes on the G and D strings are hardly audible.

Anyone else experience this?

Thanks!
-Keith

[Enzo]

It sounds to me like you are either listening to a monitor system that is not EQed correctly or the bass you are playing needs the pickups adjusted. If teh low E resonates in the listening room, that would emphasize those notes for example. Likewise, speakers not EQed for the application could cause trouble. And certainly in any guitar, if the pickup pole pieces are not set up properly, one string can pick up much stronger than another.

I don't think compression is what you want anyway. Trying to even out levels of different notes would be dificult, plus it would likely result in breathing or other unwanted artifacts.

However, in a recording studio a compressor is a very useful thing to have. While you can build something, you can also buy used commercial gear. Something simple like a Boss pedal works in certain ways, and brand new with a warranty you can get a compressor or a multipurpose unit that includes compression for not a lot. A quick look through Musician's Friend catalog flyer found:

dbx 266XL Compressor/gate $149
Alesis 3630 Compressor/limiter/gate $99
Behringer Composer Pro-XL MDX2600 Compressor/limiter/gate $109
Behringer Multicom Pro-XL MDX4600 Compressor/limiter $129
Behringer Autocom Pro-XL MDX1600 Compressor/limiter $99
Behringer Tube COmposer T1952 Tube compressor $129

And if you can find any of those units used on ebay or somewhere, they'd be cheaper still.

[David Schwab]

You might want to try and lower the pickup under the E string side and raise them on the top strings. I have to do this on all my basses.

What kind of bass and pickup is it? With P-Bass style pickup you have the two units. The coil under the top two strings might not be functioning correctly.

Also if you are plugging in a passive pickup to a mixer you might be loading the pickup down, which would roll off a lot of top end.

A compressor will even out the sound, and should always be used when recording bass. It wont necessarily make all the strings even though, but a multi band compressor might help that.

A great DIY compressor is the optical unit in Craig Anderton's book Electronic Projects for Musicians. You can get a kit for it at PAiA Electronics.

[Jimmy]

thanks agian guys, this is the second time i've gotten sorted out on this forum. i adjusted the height of my pickups. works great now! its got active pickups...can't remember the exact model right now...
my setup is: bass into a small mixer, then into sound card.
I will check out that book too, i've made a few pedals in the past...probably wind up building that compressor too.

thanks for the help guys!