opinion on a DBX 266 compressor/gate

F

funkoptimus

New member
I have a Tascam 788 that I record with and I was thinking about getting a compressor to use to record with. I have an a chance to buy a DBX 266 for a very cheap price. Is this a good comprssor gate to use for recording with. Drums in particular.

Im on a budget and this is why I was interested in it.

Thanx
 
The dbx266XL is pretty much useless.

"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than living in the asshole country that made liberty a hollow word"
- Me
 
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What is a 3630?

And one person likes it a lot, and the other thinks its useless.
Yet nobody will elaborate. Details people details, help a worthless poor newbie here!! ;)
 
3630...is the Alesis 3630 compressor. The revered, nay god-like piece of equipment that should grace every home recording studio, yay even the proffesional studios, with there transparent, clean sound. I know that Blue Bear swears by the Alesis 3630, even though he trashes it regularly here on the forums.

Actually it is crap, and Blue Bear doesn't have one, (although, I bet he swears at them) but I do...I swear I bought it before I knew any better, Bruce...don't be mad...It was a long time ago, and I really only used it in my guitar rig!! Honest!!

Well now that I have aired my dirty laundry, and cracked under the intense pressure, I return you to your topic...
 
OK, so its better than crap, but whats it really like?? I

Is good for someone on a budget??

Is it worth the $70 I would have to dish out for it??

Or should I just stick with the compression on the Tascam 788??

Thanx all!
 
I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than living in the asshole country that made liberty a hollow word"
- Me
Click to expand...

At the risk of turning this into a political thread; Meshuggah, don't confuse "the asshole country" with the current administration. What Ashcroft and others are doing under the approval of Bush isn't really what the "asshole country" wants. It's what the administration wants. Pres. Bush confused a narrow victory with a "mandate from the people," and thinks that he speaks for everyone.

I'm not sure what this has to do with the 266xl, do you? :confused: :confused:

Tom Cram
dbx Senior Technical Support
(801) 568-7530
tcram@dbxpro.com

"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it."
-Thomas Jefferson-
 
The pertinent information about the 3630 I can provide is that I found it nearly impossible to produce a usable, never mind improved, signal with it in the path. It is a nuisance, even in bypass. If you want to waste $70, you would be less frustrated simply sending it to me. Let me know if you decide to pursue this option.

The 266XL OTOH is not trash, and can produce usable signal. It is not perhaps on par with dbx's hallowed compressors of yesteryear, but it sports a very modest price tag.
-kent
 
Dbx 266XL is not a good choice

This compressor will start popping and clicking on bass frequencies. Really disconcerting - it's passable on vocals and acoustic guitar, but save your money and buy something more reliable.
 
If you want a good dirt cheap compressor why not get a Behringer Composer Pro? Compressors are one of the few things Behringer ARE good at! :p

Raj
 
Ah Yes

I remember the first compressor I ever bought back in '96. It was an original dbx 266. Damn how I've NEVER been able to get what I got out of the drums with that thing! Don't have ANY idea how the hell I did what I did to get that, but I didn't know how to use that thing! I used my ears to set it... What a concept, I know...

Saddly, after I recorded and mixed (actually, that was the band) my band's first album, it quickly became apparent that I needed A LOT of compressors for drums. And I mean QUICK! So, I got rid of the 266 (don't even remember what the hell I did with it) and plopped 800 good ones for a brand new Presonus ACP-8 that was just released that year. Never was able to get results with that thing for quite a long time! Still have that bad boy though! Oddly enough, I JUST recently learned how to tame that puppy! Been going to it when all else fails on the last 2 "just for fun" songs that got laid-down. Sure won't be afraid to use it in a real mix anymore!

Anyhow, the point is, you take what ya got and MAKE it sound good to the best of your ability!

Personally, I'd hold-on to that $70 for a bit and try and add $100 to that over just a bit of extra time. That'd be nearly enough to buy you an FMR RNC; a compressor you'll keep for years to come, no matter what you buy in the future, regardless of quality or cost.

Or you just snap that 3630 right up, only to simply turn right back around and sell it because you'll probably find you like your Tascam compressor better!

Plus, who knows... Maybe it'd be worth the 70 bucks to find-out for yourself if the 3630 worth a shit or not to you. Who know...
 
RE,

I have an ACP-8 myself and would appreciate any advice on settings from your experiences.

My only real gripes with it are that the power switch was on the back, although I fixed that by installing a slimline switch on the front next to the first channel. Speaking of which.......gripe #2 is that channel 1 seems to suffer from power supply heat and isn't reliable.

While I think of it, has anyone heard of a dbx163x compressor?

:cool:
 
ACP-8

Hey ausrock, you can refer here for that:
http://www.homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?threadid=65242
Might try the "auto" attack and release" like that too

By the way, the snare for that song used the ACP-8 too. Can't remember the exact settings, but that most likely is an example of the "auto" setting. The ratio was probably 4:1 up to 6:1 or so and the threshold set to for a gain reduction of roughly 7-12 dB.

Actually, the more I think about it, I used it on the "solo" guitars too. Can't remember those settings at all though. I do seem to remember that the gain reduction was set high to -18dB or something like that.

Oh, and this was all at mixdown. I try to avoid using the ACP-8 while tracking if possible (which is usually pretty easy to do FINALLY), as I like "transparent" compression while tracking (as a general statement), and the ACP-8 does "colored" compression (which is something I strive for while mixing). Took me a good 4 years with it to realize that.

Anyhow, the key to the ACP-8 seems to be don't be afraid of over-doing the gain reduction. Same thing goes for the dbx 160x, I might add.

And yeah, the ACP-8 IS damn hot!!! But though power switch on the back is no big deal for me as I never turn anything off.
 
In the past I've used both the dBx 266 and the Presonus ACP8 for both compression and gating, and got very useable results with both of them. Would I run out now and buy either one of them? Probably not, because there are other options now (like the RNC), but they are far from useless garbage (unlike the 3630...)
 
I have a couple of these units and I actually kinda like em'! They are good as expanders IMO but the compression is kinda strange. You can find them on Ebay pretty cheap.

RF
 
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