Compressor shopping

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nick6572

New member
I'm in the market for my first compressor. I've narrowed it down to the DBX 266 ($125), RNC ($175) or better yet a used unit in the same price range for less money. While the RNC has tons of good reviews it seems limited since the two channels do not operate independently. It's also at the top of the price range. I record lots of drums so I think this would be important. There are lots of used units on e-bay for 40%+ off. If the seller has excellent feedback and claims everything is working should I beware of a unit thats been sitting in a rack fo 6 to 10 years or go for it and save some $. Any comments?
 
Any particular reason why you're not thinking about one of the Behringers? With the new Pro XL models coming out now, you could get an older Autocom Pro or Composer Pro brand new for $70 or $90 respectively. You can get them even cheaper on eBay. I'm also in the same boat as you, looking for my first compressor, and I've basically got it down to RNC vs. Behringer now. The Behringer units have lots more bells and whistles that might be useful, like de-essers, "enhancers" that some people really like, particularly useful limiters/gates, etc. As a first compresser they're amazing for the price, considering the flexibility they give you!
 
Actually a Behringer was my first thought. I bought a Autocom pro mdx 1400, got it home and it proceded to drive me crazy. As this is my first compressor I figuered I must be doing something wrong even though I had researched the subject via this forum and suggested links and thought I had a pretty good understanding of compression. I finally came to the realization that channel one was toasted. So I took it back and brought home another one which works pretty good but one of the additional functions you mentioned which did work one the first one did not work at all on the second. Not to mention the owners manual was printed in every language except mine!
At this point I think that there is something to all the Behringer bashing that goes on here. While returning the first unit to GC the salesman did admit their quality control was an issue.
 
DBX 266xls

Nick6572,

If you are interested in some lightly used 266xls, I have 2 in my studio rack I dont use anymore. They work as good as the day I brought them home. One has a slightly bent ear rack.I'll make you a deal on, $150 for the pair plus $10 shipping.(in USA)

email me if interested :
tmix@bigfoot.com

Tom
 
nick6572 said:
I'm in the market for my first compressor. I've narrowed it down to the DBX 266 ($125), RNC ($175) or better yet a used unit in the same price range for less money. While the RNC has tons of good reviews it seems limited since the two channels do not operate independently. It's also at the top of the price range. I record lots of drums so I think this would be important. There are lots of used units on e-bay for 40%+ off. If the seller has excellent feedback and claims everything is working should I beware of a unit thats been sitting in a rack fo 6 to 10 years or go for it and save some $. Any comments?
Click to expand...
Considering what the RNC does (and does well) it would be a bargain at TWICE the price.

The fact that the left and right channels are tied together is actually a BENEFIT.

If you need more than one independent channel of compression... buy more than one.

:D
 
Hi,

I've been shopping for a compressor, in my price range ($200-ish) as well.(RNC, DBX, Behringer and Alesis, are all that I've found.)
I have seen way too many Alesis 3630s in the last few days, and I have yet to find one that wasn't noisy.
After doing some research on the subject, I plan on ordering the RNC, since it seems to be the best deal for the money.
It should serve me well, until I can afford a few UREI 1167Ns, or Fairchild 670s. :)

Take care,
Tony
 
Yeah, STAY AWAY FROM THE 3630! There's a reason why there are always dozens of them for sale on eBay, and elsewhere. They suck! But suckers on eBay will pay almost retail price for them every time! Crazies!!! :rolleyes:
 
BTW, the RNC is a fairly transparent compressor... many others are not. It does not color the sound the way many other do... that may or may not be important to you.

It also has the Really Nice compression setting, which is like three compressors stacked on top of each other. You can really squash the signal, while retaining good sound quality. Unless you compress really hard, you can hardly notice it's there.

Once again, worth TWICE the price, IMHO.
 
hold up, so ur saying that if i get one RNC i can't use one for the snare and one for the bass drum (and route them to a separate track on a delta 1010)?
 
Actually You can.
Just keep in mind that either channel will trigger the compressing action. So if you dont want the kick to duck the snare and vice versa, you would have to be playing where you wont be hitting the kick and snare hard at the same time hard enough to trigger the compressor.
 
This is where I see the RNC as a problem since I cannot afford two. I dont think I would want the same settings on my kick AND on my snare. I am using an old Yamaha MD8 and cannot compress after recording only during recording if I understand this thing right.

Thanks for all who are contributing to this discussion.
 
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