My not-so-elaborate live setup in recent time has consisted of this:
Bass -> Alembic F-2B -> 200w Orange head (DI'd into PA) -> SVT cab
Recently, the band I play with (typical 60s-00s rock and r&b stuff) had one of their shows recorded. They have a nice live sound setup and sound guy as part of the group (really helps!!), and it came out decent. During mixing later on, the guy put a subtle touch of compression (using some virtual comp in the computer) on the bass and it really brought it out in the mix - sounded powerful!
Got me curious as to whether any of you folks use compression in your live setups at all for this purpose? I tend to prefer a setup that is not very "fiddly", not big on using effects in these settings, and so I just haven't experimented with it much.
My alter ego is really into electronic music, and I've been eyeballing a compressor to use whilst recording my modular synth setup - the FMR "Really Nice Compressor" (RNC) - which comes highly recommended by that crowd for its price and transparency. I notice they also offer a leveling amp that might be nice to use for this particular bass application, and a combo of the two units in a rack (I'd prefer a racked solution). I wondered if anyone here has tried their stuff?
http://www.mercenary.com/realniccom.html <- the compressor
http://www.mercenary.com/fmrrnrnileam.html <- the leveling amp
http://www.mercenary.com/1fmrrncand1f.html <- the combo of the two that I'm thinking about trying
I'd value any insight into your use of compression on the bass in live sound settings.