FEA Labs Thoughts

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bassmeatball

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Feb 5, 2017
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#1
Hey, I own an FEA Labs Opti-Fet which I got through another TB user. While I really like the sound of this unit coming from my p-bass I think it sounds rather terrible through my Warwick. Does anyone else find that it lends itself much better to passive basses?

Other than that, what do people generally think of FEA Labs gear?

Cheers
 
#3
bassbrad said:
I will bet Frank would appreciate more specifics on what you characterize as 'rather terrible' on your Warwick.
Click to expand...

Sounds like it sucks away tone and isn't transparent. On the fender it seems to add some warmth but on the Warwick it seems to make the sound rather small. Same settings. Only difference is active electronics, and well, bass. Tried it on a few active basses and didn't dig the sound. On a passive bass, especially with flats it sounded so good
 
#6
Had a look at the internal DIP switch ?
It makes a difference (clean mode vs warm, also, make sure you are not on the 12k filter).
The Opti-Fet is a "warm" comp. Maybe you just want something more
transparent, like the Dual-Band Comp Limiter.
 
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#7
The Opti-FET has a fairly flat response from 20Hz – 20KHz, so any tone suck would most likely be from exaggerated compression from the lowest frequencies giving the aural sensation that the highs are being ‘sucked’ away. The input impedance is 1Meg ohm, so the comp should not be loading the bass in a negative way.

Opti-FET freq plot:

Opti1.jpg


For the most transparent audio from the Opti-FET set all 3 internal dip switches to ‘off’.

The comp LED’s on all FEA compressors only display the threshold and attack response, not the total compression with the release response. This is different from other comps that show the compression with single color status LED’s. Other compressors will show the LED glowing dimmer as the comp releases and go dark when the compression is no longer there. The FEA’s comp LED will go dark as soon as the attack + threshold cycle are not charging the circuit anymore, even tho there is still a compression release cycle. When I was designing a comp for my rig I played around with different types of comp LED status circuits and I found that I liked the threshold + attack comp LED for setting the comp for hitting peaks better.

So if you are driving the compression harder with your active basses, you will still see the attack + threshold on the LED, but you will not see if the depth of compression is greater by means of the LED.

It sounds like using the sidechain EQ with the bass dialed down would help with the tone suck issue. Possibly a tweak on lowering the ratio and raising the threshold a bit could also help with your actives.

Hope this helps!:thumbsup:

-Frank
 
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#14
mmon77 said:
Also a good example of what makes FEA Labs awesome, apparently.

I've not done any business with them, but support like this is something that will stick in my mind when I'm in the market for pedals/effects.
Click to expand...

Indeed. It's been a significant factor in some of my gear purchases. See: Spencer of 3Leaf Audio, Jason of GK, and @agedhorse with Mesa. All super helpful answering questions, and instilled confidence in the design and support of their gear. A+
 
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#17
Rather than starting a new thread, since we're just posting thoughts... is there any timetable for new DE-CL pedals?
 
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#20
Ever since i received my Opti-FET it replaced my mini pedalboard which contained another compressor, a booster, and an overdrive pedal with pushed tube amp emulation settings. I have the internal switches 1 and 2 on. That was the sound that appealed to me. I play an active 5 strings.
 
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