I am new to this forum, so thank you for letting me in. I have spent some time researching this topic and it had not occurred to me to tap into this brain trust until 2 days ago. Based on the postings I have read so far, it is obvious that there is an abundance of wisdom and passion here. I am merely a weekend warrior in pursuit of one of my passions and trying to improve my live sound.
I am trying to figure out what type of compressor/limiter I need to help with my amplified acoustic guitar sound. I have a 655ce and an 816ce LTD, both with the ES system (with the magnetic pickups). I mainly play live solo and with a looper, so I am not looking to “stand out in the mix”. My main purpose is to reduce the harsh edge off my 12 string strumming and soften up the attach on aggressive picking. The maple sides and back combined with the 12 sting octaves produces an over-abundance of mid-frequency twang and 3k hz presence when amplified. I’ve been able apply some very aggressive mid-range and presence EQ using the LR Baggs Venue and this helps a great deal, but I have lost some of the natural overtone sound by doing so.
I was thinking if I could gently compress the raw signal first, and then EQ it, I may not need to use so much EQ to knock down the harsh mid frequency and pick attach and perhaps smooth out the overall sound without losing too much dynamic overtones. Or perhaps if I EQed it first followed by gentle compression, I could then back off on some of the EQ (presences in particular) and restore some of the dynamics.
Although the 655ce is the primary customer, the 816ce could use a little help as well. I think I am looking for a compressor with a light touch that is tailored specially for acoustic and is best to use with magnetic PUPs (example-I have read that Fishman may not be the better alterative because of their bias toward peizio circuitry). I have read a lot of things about a lot of compressors and it appears an optical design may be the way to go….but still there are so many of those to choose from. I anticipate this will be a slow iterative process and I am up for the fight. I don’t know if I need something with 5 knobs to allow for ultra tune-ability, or if there is a 2 knob alterative that will yield the same outcome based on my particular application. Any comments will be very much appreciated.
Thank you for your time
