Do you suggest using a compressor?

[RockerDuck]

It must be noted the people are discussing two types of compression. The Wampler Ego is a Ross type with a blend knob this controls the amount of squish with your clean signal. The Diamond compressor is the Optical type that raises the noise level even and has little squish, so that means transparency, whereas, the Ross type colors your sound.

[Monk of Funk]

Originally Posted by pieterh

Why not invest in a clean boost pedal instead (or as well)? Switch it on for the finger style pieces and off for the heavy strumming? Or use the guitar's volume knob.

I guess you are after an always-on solution but if your playing is that dynamic don't you and your audience deserve a little manual on-the-fly tweaking?

Because it's not just for a whole piece, but for a part of a piece as well, which is probably unplanned, and I don't want an extra thing to have to worry about. I want to be focused on the music, that's it. Like I said, there's a lot of improvisation in the way I play. I might all of a sudden go real loud and funky strummy, and then immediately go quick and light, or something like that, on a whim. It's very difficult to play very quickly and to do intricate things at loud volume, because there's more of a sort of delay as your finger plucks the string harder. So, for more intricate passage, it can be a lot easier and cleaner, and nicer sounding, to play with a nice light touch. But if the guitar is not loud enough, I'll play louder to hear it, and then the music suffers, because I will still just play whatever it is my mind decides to play.

I think me and my audience deserve me playing at my best. The tone is secondary to me. If you don't like my show because the more energetic parts of my performance have a compressed sounding tone on the guitar, then so be it. For me what's important is the music. If that's good enough, I can hire someone else to worry about tone. It's really not a big deal to me. Vibrato and general playing with feel goes a long way to making the instrument sound good anyway. I'm really not concerned with tone for live performance. Not at the cost of the music, anyway. But I'll take it as nice as I can without negatively affecting the performance. I like it when my guitar sounds nice too. But honestly, it's not that big of a deal to me either. I care more about the playability of my guitar than the tone, but still, a nice tone, is a definitely a beautiful thing nonetheless.

I'd still pick a 300$ laminate with a good setup, a comfortable neck, and action that suits me, over a 10, 000$ super special guitar with a neck profile and action that doesn't suit me. And if that's my options before a show, then that would be my choice, and that's what you're gonna get, because that's what will let me make better music, and I would hope that that's why you're at my show. Not for how nice the tone of my guitar is.

[pieterh]

Well in that case a subtle compressor may be what you need. Give it a try - less is more to begin with, harder settings may give you a result that affects your playing as much as not being able to hear yourself during quieter passages.

You got a bit defensive about sound and tone etc, which I wasn't criticising or attacking. I would if I was in your audience naturally be listening to your music and playing. I guess being a professional sound tech makes me more likely to be aware of potential technical issues when I'm at a gig.

[martingitdave]

If this is your first foray into amps (LB Mini), and you're getting acquainted with playing amplified, don't waste money on a compressor. Get used to amplified dynamics first. You'll be a better player for it. When you're playing gigs 3 nights a week through a large PA, a compressor might help. I'll use one for my vocal mic, but not the guitar.


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[Bluezguy]

No! Or maybe I should say "maybe"? Depending on the kind of music you play and your own personal delivery should determine whether you need one or not.

I personally hate them. Music is expression and dynamics and that is what compressors take away from your performance.
UNLESS it is a high quality unit operated by an experienced and skilled individual who knows exactly how to set it for your own personal needs, save your money.

The need for toys may overtake your logic but, I promise you it'll be one of the first gadgets you'll fleabay as time goes on.

[Monk of Funk]

Originally Posted by Bluezguy

No! Or maybe I should say "maybe"? Depending on the kind of music you play and your own personal delivery should determine whether you need one or not.

I personally hate them. Music is expression and dynamics and that is what compressors take away from your performance.
UNLESS it is a high quality unit operated by an experienced and skilled individual who knows exactly how to set it for your own personal needs, save your money.

The need for toys may overtake your logic but, I promise you it'll be one of the first gadgets you'll fleabay as time goes on.

Dynamics are good, and when I'm playing unplugged in front of you, that's really cool, but when you have to amplify the quiet parts to be loud in a venue, and then you go and strum hard, that change in dynamics is not necessarily appreciated by the people that would like to be able to continue hearing after they leave.

Compressors remove some of the dynamics, but it's all about how it's done. If you completely remove all dynamics, that's probably not ideal. All I want to do, is reduce the loud strumming parts, as compared to the light touch parts, so that your ears don't explode when I go into a funky strum, since I have the volume turned up, so that I can hear it well on the light touch parts. Otherwise the light touch parts won't be light touch parts.

As in most things, it depends on the person and what they do, and how they use what.

You can keep an adequate dynamic range below a threshold and just attenuate what peaks above that desirable range, and what gets squished is the less melodically interesting and more rhythmic parts, which is fine, imo. Anyway, that's what I do, I'm just saying. Other people can do whatever works for them, I'm fine with that.

[Monk of Funk]

Originally Posted by pieterh

Well in that case a subtle compressor may be what you need. Give it a try - less is more to begin with, harder settings may give you a result that affects your playing as much as not being able to hear yourself during quieter passages.

You got a bit defensive about sound and tone etc, which I wasn't criticising or attacking. I would if I was in your audience naturally be listening to your music and playing. I guess being a professional sound tech makes me more likely to be aware of potential technical issues when I'm at a gig.

I already have a parallel compressor. I'm not OP. OP asked whether he should get one, and I stated that I liked to use one for those reasons. I produced the track in my signature. I'm obviously not a world class quality producer, but I know my way around compressors etcetera well enough. I know what you mean about noticing sound quality more if you're in the know, but most people aren't in the know anyway.

Sorry, I think I may have been a little over defensive because I had basically already explained a lot of that in my previous post.

[davidguevara80]

I use a Session D.I it's a great pedal!!

[pieterh]

Originally Posted by Monk of Funk

I already have a parallel compressor. I'm not OP. OP asked whether he should get one, and I stated that I liked to use one for those reasons. I produced the track in my signature. I'm obviously not a world class quality producer, but I know my way around compressors etcetera well enough. I know what you mean about noticing sound quality more if you're in the know, but most people aren't in the know anyway.

Sorry, I think I may have been a little over defensive because I had basically already explained a lot of that in my previous post.

My bad. Sorry - sometimes it's easy to miss important details like who actually said what when browsing on a smart phone!

[BluesJammer]

Heyyy WoodBlues,
the good news is that as far as I know (I own one LB Mini, too), this amp already has the compression in it!

I LOVE this small amp for many reasons, and especially - for its versatility. I can play acoustic, electric lapsteel, and even the bass!