TRACE ELLIOT SMX DUAL COMPRESSOR
Scott Allen Miller
I got one. I've had it about a month. I have to level with you. Either this is
the best compressor made or a waste of money. I tend to think the former is true,
but I don't know. Read on.
It splits your bass signal into low and high passes, then lets you compress the
whole signal or just the lows. When the signal is split, the low end uses a slow
attack compression and you can adjust how much compression you want. The highs
use a fast attack compression and you can adjust how much of it you want too.
There are two switches, one is effect bypass and the other is a high compression
bypass. There's a blend control too so you can, when the effect is on, blend in
more of the low or high signal. It has input and output pots. It uses *2* 9V
batteries or an 18V adaptor, which has yet to come in from TE in Europe. It has
nice little LEDs.
OK, so it essentially bi-amps your signal, compresses the two signals differntly,
you blend them back together. This is a review of sorts and is only my opinion
only.
I use this thing and I honestly don't hear much of a change in my sound. It's the
kind of thing that when it's not on I notice it but I don't notice when it is on.
So sometimes I'm wondering if the damn thing is doing anything at all. But the
thing is I have - and I'm sure a lt of you have - used compressors before and
they make things a lot noisier and then they start "pumping" which is like the
sound of a netherworldly being about to spawn, if you can imagine. This pedal
doesn't do that. So while on the one hand I'm expecting some big change in my
sound when i click it on, I'm glad on the other hand that I don't get it!
Scotto
--
Scott Allen Miller
igo...@ksu.ksu.edu
George Dibos
>
> I got one. I've had it about a month. I have to level with you. Either this is
> the best compressor made or a waste of money. I tend to think the former is true,
> but I don't know. Read on
>
> I use this thing and I honestly don't hear much of a change in my sound.
>
of poor ones (or ones not designed for bass) has led lots of people to believe
that compression is a stage effect, as in "Wow! Listen to that!"
> It's the
> kind of thing that when it's not on I notice it but I don't notice when it is on.
>
>
> So sometimes I'm wondering if the damn thing is doing anything at all.
>
"meter"), it would be immediately observable. The reason you don't hear much
difference is because the 100 watts of peak signal (for example) that just
got compressed "away from" the 400 watt "potential signal" you "sent" your
amp--damn! don't you love these technical terms?--is a *big* deal to your amp,
but barely discernable in output dB by your ears, because of how power and
acoustic output are related. The sound generated by 800 watts is only 3dB
louder than 400 watts, and so on for every doubling of power. In short, a
sound difference that's no big deal to you can spell life or death to an amp.
>
> But the
> thing is I have - and I'm sure a lt of you have - used compressors before and
> they make things a lot noisier and then they start "pumping" which is like the
> sound of a netherworldly being about to spawn, if you can imagine.
>
NONE of them are "supposed" to... TE just does it right.
George
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| George Dibos | Kubicki, MusicMan, and Alembic basses / Trace Elliot |
| geo...@meaddata.com | amplification... Serious lover of Rockin' Blues, Neo |
| Dayton, Ohio | Rockabilly, Texas Boogie, Cajun Rock, and all forms |
| USA | of party & dance music with a turbocharged backbeat! |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Reid Kneeland
>In article 2...@pancho.ksu.ksu.edu, igo...@pancho.ksu.ksu.edu (Scott Allen Miller) writes:
>> So sometimes I'm wondering if the damn thing is doing anything at all.
[Good technical discussion of power vs. loudness deleted]
>In short, a
>sound difference that's no big deal to you can spell life or death to an amp.
That's great if your intention was to use the compressor as a limiter
to protect your equipment. But what if you actually *want* to have
your dynamics noticably compressed? Speaking PURELY HYPOTHETICALLY, of
course, a player who (ahem) didn't have great dynamic control in my^H^H
his hands yet might use a compressor to make his playing sound more
even, especially when slapping (I still tend to pop a lot louder than I
slap; apparently I have a cowardly thumb). A compressor should be able
to handle that, IMHO. I thought that's why most players buy them, but
that's just a guess.
Would the T.E. unit be a bad choice for that?
=====================================================================
Reid Kneeland
re...@tti.com
Transaction Technology Inc., Santa Monica, CA, USA (310) 450-9111 x2499
The opinions expressed above do not necessarily etc etc...
Never trust a man who can count to 1,023 on his fingers.
George Dibos
> In article <300mu2$9...@meaddata.meaddata.com> geo...@meaddata.com writes:
> >In article 2...@pancho.ksu.ksu.edu, igo...@pancho.ksu.ksu.edu (Scott Allen Miller) writes:
>
> >> So sometimes I'm wondering if the damn thing is doing anything at all.
>
> [Good technical discussion of power vs. loudness deleted]
>
> >In short, a
> >sound difference that's no big deal to you can spell life or death to an amp.
>
> That's great if your intention was to use the compressor as a limiter
> to protect your equipment. But what if you actually *want* to have
> your dynamics noticably compressed? Speaking PURELY HYPOTHETICALLY, of
> course, a player who (ahem) didn't have great dynamic control in my^H^H
> his hands yet might use a compressor to make his playing sound more
> even, especially when slapping (I still tend to pop a lot louder than I
> slap; apparently I have a cowardly thumb). A compressor should be able
> to handle that, IMHO. I thought that's why most players buy them, but
> that's just a guess.
>
> Would the T.E. unit be a bad choice for that?
>
>
No, it is a good choice for levelling. I didn't mention that because I
don't think of levelling as an audible "effect," as much as an electrical
control thing... If the *signal* is squashed while still in its "electrical
state" (before reaching the speakers), what comes out *has* to reflect that.
The changes in dynamics from the TE are definitely audible. What I was
referring to is that there isn't any noticable (to my ears) "pumping,"
coloration, or signal distortion introduced in the course of achieving that
levelled sound.
On the version of TE's compressor that's built into my amp (AH600SMX), I
keep the low control set on about 1/3, and leave the high control off.
This keeps the monster-sized, high-current spikes away from the power
amps, but leaves everything else alone. It levels the signal just enough
to increase punchiness a bit, but otherwise leaves all my "hand dynamics"
intact. Just for fun while practicing, I *have* maxxed out both controls
to see what would happen, and it's really wierd--like playing an organ
instead of a piano... you get the same loudness from every note, no
matter how hard you pluck it.
iba...@ac.dal.ca
Stuff about omitting stuff about stuff omitted by Jamie.
>
> That's great if your intention was to use the compressor as a limiter
> to protect your equipment. But what if you actually *want* to have
> your dynamics noticably compressed? Speaking PURELY HYPOTHETICALLY, of
> course, a player who (ahem) didn't have great dynamic control in my^H^H
> his hands yet might use a compressor to make his playing sound more
> even, especially when slapping (I still tend to pop a lot louder than I
> slap; apparently I have a cowardly thumb). A compressor should be able
> to handle that, IMHO. I thought that's why most players buy them, but
I had (have still :)) the same problem, but I don't think the cowardly
thumb is the culprit. I hit with the right amount of attack with the
thumb, but TOO much with the plucks. I've been concentrating on toning
those pops down. of course, the ultimate goal is to get pretty much the same
VOLUME when slapping or using the fingers WITHOUT using heavy compression
or even adjusting the volume. Goals are nice to have, now if only I can
achieve them.....:)
> =====================================================================
> Reid Kneeland
> re...@tti.com
> Transaction Technology Inc., Santa Monica, CA, USA (310) 450-9111 x2499
> The opinions expressed above do not necessarily etc etc...
>
> Never trust a man who can count to 1,023 on his fingers.
>
--
Jamie Lauchlan
_ ___
/ `-' ( III
|( II ||||||||||||||[***] 1979 MusicMan Stingray
\_.-.__( l Thanks Leo (R.I.P.)
"BASS IS SOME SERIOUS SHIT" - Bill Laswell