Compressor and slide?

[Cheesehead]

Yeh or nay? What does it do for you exactly?

[vjf1968]

I was under the impression it was essential. I read somewhere that Lowell George of Little Feat recorded his slide solos really hot onto tape to get tape compression but after frying a recording head decided that the best way was to record them on the outer tracks of multi-track tape instead of side by side.
I know Bonnie Raitt uses compression also. You can try it and see how it sounds to you.

[Cheesehead]

Recommendations? MXR Dyna Comp?

[woodman]

makes for a really smooth, consistent sound, but ya gotta use clean technique, or all the slop will show up ... wonder how a compressor/gate situation would work?

[Cheesehead]

Originally Posted by woodman

but ya gotta use clean technique, or all the slop will show up

That could be a problem. Actually anything that helps me focus on clean technique is probably a good thing...

I play a Tele and Strat by the way. Does it affect single coils and humbuckers differently?

[vjf1968]

I would assume you would have to set the gate at a very low threshold because you want the sustain to hang around for a bit before the gate closes. I have only used compression for slide and never a gate because for me it is a constant sound so a gate would be useless.

[vjf1968]

Originally Posted by Cheesehead

That could be a problem. Actually anything that helps me focus on clean technique is probably a good thing...

I play a Tele and Strat by the way. Does it affect single coils and humbuckers differently?

You should really take your favorite guitar, head to you nearest music store, and try out a few compressors. I use the Barber Tone Press and I believe woodman also uses one. The cool thing about the Barber is it has a blend knob in the middle so you can adjust how much of the "dry" signal you want.

The MXR Dynacomp is straightforward and requires no learning curve since it only has two knobs and is relatively cheap and on the other side of the monetary equation, there is always the Keeley 2 and 4-knob compressor.

[harry the filter]

Compression is essential for slide for the sustain and smoothing out the bumps like Woodman said. I also use a Tone Press-- great value. Also, lose the pick and play with your fingers. (I usually tuck my pick between my index and bird fingers when I go sliding.) The reason, like Duane Allman said, is that if you play slide with a pick, you lose bodily contact with the strings. That, and it's easier to keep the other strings quiet.

[hockey_head]

I use a dynacomp with my tele /slide setup. I also installed one of tim wallis' string drops on the treble e string so i can drop right down to d. with the comp i get a convincing lap steel sound when clean, i dont use the comp with the distortion sound tho.

[teleman65]

I've never used compression with slide(other than the natural compression of a tube amp). I do most of my slide playing on acoustic these days so it's a moot point but now I'm intrigued with the possibility of using compression with electric slide.

[emu!]

Playing with a metal or brass slide on an electic guitar seems to be OK without a compressor IMO. But those glass slides, they seem to need a little help on metal strings.

[bradpdx]

I play slide with and without compression, but the compressor certainly gives you a great "singing" slide sound with ease. I play pick and fingers style most all the time.

On electric I use a heavy chrome slide, and on acoustic an old glass slide.

First choice compressor: Boss CS-3. I don't care what anyone says about these, they work great for me with all my instruments.
Second choice compressor: MXR Dynacomp. A bit mushy sounding but sweet.

Urban legends that may be true:

• Bonnie Raitt has a Dynacomp circuitboard built right into her Strat for her slide work.
• Lowell George ran 2 Dynacomps in series to get his unbelievable sustain on slide with a Strat
• David Lindley always uses a Dynacomp with his lap steels

On acoustic gigs I sometimes bring the CS-3 for slide. Oddly enough, a Martin HD-28 through that setup works amazingly well!

[Del Pickup]

I was never a fan of compressors until recently when I've been playing more slide than in the past and I can vouch for the benefits of using a compressor when playing slide. I use the Tone Press and it really adds a 'bloom' to each note that just isn't there without the compressor.

Also using fingers helps you to mute unwanted strings from ringing out - pretty essential when using a slide.

[cloink50]

Originally Posted by bradpdx

I play slide with and without compression, but the compressor certainly gives you a great "singing" slide sound with ease. I play pick and fingers style most all the time.

On electric I use a heavy chrome slide, and on acoustic an old glass slide.

First choice compressor: Boss CS-3. I don't care what anyone says about these, they work great for me with all my instruments.
Second choice compressor: MXR Dynacomp. A bit mushy sounding but sweet.

Urban legends that may be true:

• Bonnie Raitt has a Dynacomp circuitboard built right into her Strat for her slide work.
• Lowell George ran 2 Dynacomps in series to get his unbelievable sustain on slide with a Strat
• David Lindley always uses a Dynacomp with his lap steels

On acoustic gigs I sometimes bring the CS-3 for slide. Oddly enough, a Martin HD-28 through that setup works amazingly well!

bradpx

Thanks for chiming in on the Boss CE-3. I just got one. I'm a compressor noob so I'm still feeling around for settings I like. Would be willing to share your settings so I have a place to start.

[octatonic]

I don't use a compressor pedal- but I use more gain than a lot of slide players.

You can nail something like Joe Bonnamassa's slide tone (on, say, Dirt in My Pocket) with moderate tube distortion, clean playing and no compressor.

[BellyBoy]

listen to Bonnie Raitt and Lowel George of Little Feat... that is the slide with compressor sound... they sure make it work for them... I prefer an amp dimed out myself.

[Unseen]

Okay, as a guy who plays in his living room and isn't a gigging musician, I have used a compression pedal in the past and my Digitech effects pedal has compression built into it, and it's obviously used in a lot of the presets, but how about some definitions and clarifications to bring folks like me up to speed on what you are talking about?

[Tele295]

What's the best compressor to use with a full beer bottle as slide?

Serious question: Does anybody use a Janglebox compressor for slide?

[vjf1968]

For slide I would say you pronbably want to lean more towards an optical compressor as opposed to an FET (Dynacomp, Ross, etc.) because of the slow release.

[Big Mike Simpson]

I do not like a compressor for slide... It brings up the low volume and squashes the high volume and much of the dynamics of the players touch is lost in exchange for sustain... if you have a sustain problem your strings are too light or your slide is too thin or the action too low or the pickups too low or something is missing in the tone equasion.

[JimiBryant]

Lowell George also had an Alembic Stratoblaster (preamp) in that white Strat of his that contributed greatly to his sound..

me, I dig a comp with slide but different amp and guitar combinations will give varied results so ya gotta play around with settings and so forth..

I have a couple of different BOSS comps, an old Dynacomp, a VisualSound Route 66, and an Ibanez comp from the TS series - and I like 'em all for different reasons.