Manual

Insider’s Secrets
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15
“Treating some electric guitar sounds that had been previously recorded,” Curwin added, “allowed
the opportunity of experimenting with the different ratios and the attack and release controls, and with
careful positioning it was possible to give the guitar a lot of punch and an apparent sense of urgency
in the mix.”
The 6176 can serve as a perfect complement for acoustic and electric bass as well. Reviewing the
1176LN in Sound on Sound magazine in June, 2001 Hugh Robjohns observed that “the original [1176]
was often... celebrated as a compressor for bass, and I certainly found the re-issue’s compression to
cope wonderfully with the wildest excesses of electric or acoustic string basses, without changing
the inherent sound or losing the essence of the player’s dynamics.”
Stephen Murphy said much the same thing when he reviewed the unit for Pro Audio Review in March,
2001: “My favorite use for the 1176LN is for vocals, electric and upright basses, and other ‘single
line’ [monophonic] instruments. I usually stick to the 4:1 ratio, with medium attack and reasonably
quick release—one of my pet peeve sounds is that of a compressor coming back up with a sluggish
release. This was never an issue with the 1176LN.”
Barry Rudolph, in reviewing the 6176, said that the unit’s preamp and limiter / compressor section
“proved a great combo.” He went on to report that “the 2.2 meg input impedance didn’t put a load on
[my] P-Bass, offering a thick and creamy tube coloration with loads of sustain. Recording a five-
string Fender bass with active pickups, I switched the impedance to 47 kohm. The gain setting was
different, but I used the same limiter settings, matching levels using the PRE meter switch position
to get the same amount of compression. In general, I put the bass sound somewhere between a
pristine ‘direct sound’ and a miked bass amp sound. If you crank up the gain (and cut back the Input
control for the same amount of compression), then you’ll go dirtier and crankier-sounding.”
Producer Brian Ahern frequently uses the 6176’s Hi-Z input
and equalization controls for bass overdubs. “The equalizer
is well thought out and the innovative impedance
selections create subtle tone changes that are otherwise
unavailable,” he says. “My vintage Hagstrom bass
bloomed as never before through the instrument input.”
You’ll find that you can make almost any bass sound fatter and warmer, yet still retain its definition,
by running its signal through a 6176 (either via the Hi-Z input or via a line input from your mixer or
DAW) set to little or no compression (a ratio of 1:1 or 4:1), with fairly fast attack and release times
(set both knobs to approximately 3 o’clock) and input and output at roughly unity gain (both knobs at
around “5”). To add more compression and a slight amount of distortion, select a ratio of 8:1 and
slightly increase the limiter/compressor input (or crank up the preamp Gain a notch or two). Even with
the noticeable distortion this will add, each bass note will still be clearly heard and will cut through
even the densest backing track.
“My vintage Hagstrom bass
bloomed as never before
through the instrument
input.” — Brian Ahern