dbx 386 mic pre?

[antispatula]

Is this thing any good? Someones offering it to me for 300, and I don't know if I should get it or not.

 

[Big Kenny]

Its not much of a microphone but it will work out okay for a preamp, two channels digi out new for $500 or so

 

[cominginsecond]

I've never used it, but I've never heard anyone say anything positive about this pre ever.

 

[nkjanssen]

I've never heard anyone say anything positive about this pre ever.

Let me be the first, then:

"If you are tracking vocals, and need more cloudy, undefined mud than your usual pre can give you, give the dbx 386 a try. It excels at that application!"

Does that qualify?

 

[BigRay]

the DBX 786 is the heat but leave the 386 alone...Ive heard it..eh....

 

[xstatic]

Personally I wouldn't touch any of the DBX x86 preamps or compressors, not even the 786. The 160SL compressor though is still a sweetheart, just a little pricy is all.

 

[BigRay]

Opinions are a beautiful thing. The dbx786 is one of my favorites at any price and one of the few solid state preamps I would buy. Jensen Transformers......two words...jensen transformers.........
i wouldnt use their compressors either, but the 786 is a beautiful piece of work.

 

[qbert1]

I owned one and it served my needs at the time, but I quickly out grew it. I found it necessary to keep the input gain low and make up the gain on the output knob. That's the cleanest option this pre can offer, though it's not saying much.

I did keep it around for a AD for a while for a couple of Rane MS1b's (better option for a pre, but no AD). You can bypass the tube circuit by using the insert as the input.

BTW think $300 is too much. I think I bought mine for $250 on ebay a few years ago.

 

[Richard Monroe]

If you are in the U.S., the price sucks. It's brand new at Guitar Center for $300, and frequently on sale for $250. It is fairly clean, if the drive knob is never used, but will only produce about 42db of gain without using drive. It produces an audible hum that can be picked up by mics if they are in the same room. A-D conversion is surprisingly good. The tewb drive feature is nasty and mostly unusable. Oddly enough, for certain acoustics with a piezo pickup, it's not a real bad DI. It, does, however, suck on bass. I had one and ditched it because of the hum. Being po' and having no contol room, units that make any room noise at all are gone. Look ma, no fans. BTW, the 386 is also very susceptible to transformer hum, so don't put it next to other pres in a rack, or power cords, and it works somewhat better.- Richie

 

[Track Rat]

I've never used it, but I've never heard anyone say anything positive about this pre ever.

I guess you've never read me post about it. The conversion is decent enough. Not really much color even though it's touted as tube gear. I use mine on every session in some capacity. I like sending keys through it to round off the edge.

 

[xstatic]

I had both a 376 and a 576 for a while. I found it to be one of the most colored preamps I have ever heard, especially if you start using any of the "drive". What I didn't like was that the color also translated to major frequency loss, and extremely grainy sound. The EQ on the 376 was ok, as was the compressor, but the preamp just killed any signal coming through it. I just didn't like that color for anything.