Guitar compression?

[Nefilim]

Hey guys, I've just borrowed a compressor from my friend, and I'm just toying around with it, but can't seem to get a good sound from it... I'm trying to compress my V-amp-distorted guitar by running the V-amp through a mixer and the compressor through the mixer's aux send/aux return. Does anyone have any good suggestions for Thresholds, Ratios, attack, release, and other settings? I want a heavy sound that's not too muddy... but compression is new to me, and I haven't got the faintest clue what settings are recommended... so please, let me know if you have any ideas.

 

[Skaldir]

Hey guys, I've just borrowed a compressor from my friend, and I'm just toying around with it, but can't seem to get a good sound from it... I'm trying to compress my V-amp-distorted guitar by running the V-amp through a mixer and the compressor through the mixer's aux send/aux return. Does anyone have any good suggestions for Thresholds, Ratios, attack, release, and other settings? I want a heavy sound that's not too muddy... but compression is new to me, and I haven't got the faintest clue what settings are recommended... so please, let me know if you have any ideas.

Be careful with a compressor on distorted guitars! The distortion itself compresses, the more distortion, the more the sound is compressed. If you want to use the compressor anyway, only compress little. Like -10 Threshold, 1:3 ratio. And short attack time. But it's hard to tell without hearing.
But when you look at the level your V-amp gives out to the mixer, you will see that the level is almost constant only with the distortion, and a compressor does nothing else. When you look at a Bass guitar, you will see that the level has a short peak and then falls off very fast. In that case a compressor is important.

 

[Skaldir]

About the button...

The most compression you would hear at

Threshold -60 or - eternal, and with ratio 5 or the highest number.

It's hard to describe in English for me, sorry.

 

[Nefilim]

Thanks for your tips, I'm going to try some stuff and see what I can make of it. I'm just too lazy to read a lot of guides and manuals