DBX Compressors

I lucked out and bought some old gear from a buddy of mine that included a DBX 160x mfg date of 1978. It gives a unique sound to vocals that I really like. I wonder how much better it would sound if I had the caps replaced? Oh, got it for about $12 in the deal. :)

Damn shame the 160x is only one channel. :(
 
As I have never found a RNC to be soft and puffy, I can't answer that.

The supper nice button makes the RNC sound more like a soft-knee compressor and very easy to get a sound out of. When the super nice button is not on, the rnc is a beast and much more aggressive sounding, more care is needed with the set up.

Quote manual: Super-Nice Operation — This proprietary mode layers three compressors together to minimize compression artifacts while still providing control over the signal. This is not an “auto” mode...all parameter knobs still work to give YOU con- trol over the signal. The intended purpose of this mode is gentle compression of an entire mix (i.e., program compression) and compression of sound sources that must be very gently compressed, yet controlled.

If you are finding it soft and puffy you should look at how you are setting up the attack and release times.

Alan.
 
witzendoz said:
If you are finding it soft and puffy you should look at how you are setting up the attack and release times.

Alan.
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I've used compressors before. I would have tried many different settings. The puffy sound was a general trait of the unit. Though it did sound really nice on some things it wasn't better across the board. An early 166 sounded better on rock bass.
 
bouldersoundguy said:
I've used compressors before. I would have tried many different settings. The puffy sound was a general trait of the unit. Though it did sound really nice on some things it wasn't better across the board. An early 166 sounded better on rock bass.
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Bass is probabbly the one achilles heel the rnc has, but on most other things I think it's really transparant.
 
boulder, I think we are talking the same thing, an rnc would not be my 1st choice on bass, I use a DBX 163A usually in parallel. The rnc does sound good as a drum buss compressor, and it works good on guitars and vocals, but it's not always my 1st choice. I think it depends on the actual genre of the music to me.

However if the rnc was the only compressor I had I could make it work on anything.

Alan
 
I have a DBX 166, I don't know which model its from the 80s. Here in Cleveland DBX was industry standard back then, I still use it for bass. On mixes I prefer my RNC, its virtually invisible in super nice mode. I compress about 3 to 1 and mix to half track analog and my results are soooooooooth.
 
I have a couple dozen Dbx 903 compressors, one for each channel of the tape machine. They sound like the 160 but take up a lot less studio space.
 
903's look very cool if only i had a rack for em. I might just stick with mixing in the box for now as my studio travels with me and I may be mixing my bands next album from my college dorm room.
 
JG96 said:
903's look very cool if only i had a rack for em. I might just stick with mixing in the box for now as my studio travels with me and I may be mixing my bands next album from my college dorm room.
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The racks are out there, and for a portable rig might be what you are looking for, a couple comps, a couple gates a couple of EQs and there you go!

But a note about the racks: there is a 900 and a 900A. Both have slots for nine units, but the 900 only has hookups on the back for 8 of them (go figure). The 900A on the other hand has connections on the back for all nine modules.
 
That might be a good way to go. I might try and start mixing commercially once I finish my bands new album. Gotta have something to prove I can get a decent mix. But yeah if I start bringing in some money mixing some nice outboard gear would be a good investment.
 
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