TLC Compressor

The TLC compressor can also compress harder to provide tight unified bass lines found in metal, country and heavier rock styles. This pedal hit the market in 2009 and has been seen on boards throughout the bass world since.  In part that is due to how simple to use yet also how reliable it is.

Why Do I Nees The TLC

Compressors make any bass or guitar tone instantly better by reducing transience and defining dynamics. What does this mean in normal language though!?
When we play amplified instruments, a small overpowered pluck of a string can translate into a “not very nice” louder note and likewise, under picked notes can leave the feeling of a missed beat.
With the right settings, the TLC comp will prevent any of this from occurring while maintaining the feel you’re familiar with.

Transparency

The TLC has been specially designed for the benefits of compression without the downsides. What downsides you may ask and we would answer with “Squish”. Many compressors will leave you feeling that everything has totally changed while sounding similar. This is due to too much compression like you can hear on many 80s recordings, Aguilar even references the 80s as inspiration for the TLC. With this in mind, the TLC has been designed to retain your original tone as much as possible.

Limited

The act of reducing peak transient notes is known as limiting and the TLC does this incredibly well but Aguilar has also limited the controls. Why? Simple, they did most of the hard work for you and gave you the control over the fundamentals:

Level – Output volume

Threshold – At what volume the compress begins to effect notes

Attack – how aggressively the compressor cuts the start of the notes, this can create great snappy tones too

Slope – Bring up the volume at the end of notes for a rounder experience or let the decay normally