DBX Tube Preamp

[pablo]

Hey! I bought a DBX Tube preamp like for $100 like 3 months ago and I cannot hear clean sound when hearing through the output to my headphones... they guy in Mars Music told me it was not gonna work if I used it that way, but my little knowledge in electronics tells me it should!!
I don't even bother about trying to get the signal to my computer since my sound card is so crappy...

[theglitch]

Not the best idea.

[muzeman]

pablo,
I have the dbx and record acoustic and vocals with.
I get a clean sound from it,I think the problem is your plugging
headphones into a line level output.
Not a good idea,and could possibly damage the DBX.

I have a small setup and run my 2 track master to my computer ,which has a crappy soundblaster card,then convert to mp3.
Still sounds pretty clean.

Why don't you try running it direct into your computer,you might be suprised.

I'm in the process of setting up my web site and have a test mp3 on it if you'd like to hear it.Just and old recording I used to test the dobro out.
Everything was recorded through the dbx except the dobro.

http://home.earthlink.net/~lkathy/index.html

Good luck,
Pete

[pablo]

Yes, I did try to plug it to my LINE IN input and recorded a little, but it sounded CRAPY, If I didn't use a lot of gain it wouldn't sound crappy, but too low volume and when I tried to set the volumen up with the cool edit pro, it sounded crapy, I'm telling you, my audio card is bad, I need to try with something else, maybe I'll just go to the nearest mars music and try it there, jesus... I hope I didn't blow it up... i've been really messing with ti, turn everything up, everything down, press buttons, since I haven't use a stand alone preamp, I don't know how to use it... I'm just a dumb guitarist, but I did read the manual and there was no warning there!! So I did it with confidence!!
I'm gonna sue DBX for not warning if it's broken!

[theglitch]

Warning enough would be the fact that it's labeled "line out" not "phones". Anyway, start with the gain on the dbx at about 10'o clock. Next, run into the microphone in on your sound card (since it's mono). Use the little speaker icon in your system tray to access your volume controls. Click on advanced and set mic record level about 75% up. Now set the wav playback volume about the same. Now open cool edit, start using the dbx and make sure the cool edit meters NEVER get above 0 (make fine adjustment in cool edit, and large adjustments with Windows volume controls). Try to aim for peaks at -3 dB. Good luck, man.

[pablo]

ok, I'll try it as soon as I get home...
but when I tried hooking it up to the PC I kept an eye in the clipping LED and it almost never lighted, Jesus 10' O clock gain??
I was usingit almost to the maximun!!

[Tom Cram]

Good advice Glitch, ya beat me to it.

Pablo, if your unit got fried contact me offline and I'll get you taken care of.