Compressors are great tools for guitarists, but they’re not right for everyone. So if you’re wondering whether you should add a compressor to your rig, we’ve got you covered.
I Only Play at Home
If you’ve ever had the luxury of being able to play through a loud valve amp that’s really cooking, there’s a unique feel you get from the amp. As a valve amp is pushed close to its limit it will naturally compress, making the guitar feel easier under the fingers. It’s not necessarily a huge audible effect, but it’s like the amp is encouraging you to play — as you dig in, the amp squashes and rounds off the top-end, and each note sustains longer.
If you’re just playing at home, you’ll never get your amp loud enough to experience this, but with a compressor you can simulate that exact same feeling. When you need to be conscious of your volume, you can get into the habit of being afraid to dig in. But with a compressor on, you won’t get a huge volume spike — you’ll just get a thicker, warmer attack. So, if you have to play at low volumes, you should definitely try out a compressor pedal!
I Mostly Play Clean
If you predominantly play with a clean tone, then a compressor is a life-saver! When you play with overdrive, your signal is already compressing, which is how the distortion is created. But if you’re playing completely clean there is almost no compression at all, meaning that it’s very difficult to control the dynamic range.
Without any compression you also won’t get much sustain, so you will get a big transient peak that will die out very quickly. Adding a compressor will control those peaks, allowing you to still play dynamically, but helping fill your sound with more sustain between each note — allowing for tight rhythm playing and seamless solos.
I Mostly Play with Overdrive
If you generally play with overdrive then you will already be compressing your signal, but adding a compressor to your signal chain can add more texture to your sound. Certain famous guitar tones such as overdriven Fender or Dumble amps are sometimes described as “chewy” — this comes from a thick, compressed mid-range. This can be replicated with a compressor. They’re also great to use for solos to boost your signal and add sustain for big bends, or to even out your dynamics when playing fast legato passages.
There are multiple ways you can stack compression with overdrive. It is most common to place a compressor in front of your overdrive, which acts as an overall tone fattener, as the added sustain will also overdrive. It is also a practical solution because, by their nature, compressors raise the noise floor — so going after your overdrives could amplify the noise floor.
Another option is to place your compressor after your overdrive, that way you retain the dynamics and attack of your guitar going into the overdrive, but it just adds some sustain and level control. Having it this way round gives the compressor a subtler effect that retains more dynamic range.
I Play Slide
Compression is very common in slide playing, and it’s often not a subtle effect. Slide guitar can be challenging and unforgiving, but compression helps alleviate that. By softening your attack and adding sustain, it’s easier to slide smoothly up and down the fretboard without sharp dynamic spikes.
A common trick among slide players is to use 2 compressors, that way the effect is even more exaggerated as the second compressor will grab the transients that the first one misses. In fact, the Origin Effects SlideRig uses this exact trick — with a knob that allows you to blend in a second layer of compression to the first. An alternative for slide guitar is to use a fuzz, which does a similar job of limiting your attack and adding sustain. Why not try a combination of compressor and fuzz to see what suits you best?
I’m a Bassist
For a bass player, compression is your most important effect and is a must-have! A bassist’s main role in most musical contexts is to lay the foundation of the groove, and for that you need to keep a steady volume. A compressor will ensure that each note has a similar volume, so when you adjust your playing dynamics, you affect the timbre of your attack without completely jumping out of the mix. A compressor will also round out the attack of the notes, ensuring a thick and rich bass sound with that classic “thump” that stays present in the mix.
Can I use a Guitar Compressor for Bass?
In short, yes. In long — a guitar compressor will work, but a bass compressor will probably work better. Compression works the same on basses and guitars, but bass compressors focus on a different frequency spectrum. Bass and electric guitars fill different areas of the frequency spectrum, and that’s partly why they sound so damn good together. A bass compressor will focus more on compressing bass and lower mid-range, much like a dedicated bass amp. While a guitar compressor is optimised for a wider spectrum, with more upper mids and treble.