Dbx 160a

[rebelchile]

greetings, I had posted a problem with string buzz a few days ago, and read Joey's post on setting up an Alembic neck, all is good again in the world of low end and groove..now, I have added a DBX 160A compressor to my rack. It is a used unit that a sound tech had in his effects rack, excellent condition, and I must say that it made an outstanding impression on me the first time that I plugged in, and turned on, although it did not have an owners manual with it, I did download one from dbx. But, I have never owned one before this 160A, I was not impressed enough to add one to my rack until now. I am currentlty playing in a classic rock and roll/blues band, and it is pretty hot, all of us old guys from '60s and '70s, can any of you chime in and give me some ideas of where to start with basic settings for smooth blues and rock and roll?? I have a 4 string '99 essence with DR HI beams, a 1400I mackie power amp, an Alembic F-2B stereo preamp, an Eden 410 XLT and an Eden 118, I use the 410 cab alone for small jobs and I split the channels on the preamp with a 2 channel SF-DAB signalflex splitter box for larger jobs so that I can mix the 118 cab to get superlow and clean and, also mix the 410 cab to get my lows mids and highs. I want to end up with 2 selections, punchy rock and roll and smooth low blues and slow ballads. thanks so much, kent
 
(Message edited by rebelchile on December 12, 2008)

[jet_powers]

I'm no expert and certainly not an instructor but I found that diddling the controls and then playing and listening you'll get a feel for what everything does. It doesn't hurt to read the manual through before all the twiddling of the knobs....
 
Oh, and welcome to the club!
 
-JP

[rebelchile]

thanks for the reply, I'm just an old weezer, that has loved the rythm section groove for many years. This is the first compressor that I personally have owned in my lifetime, every rig that I had owned was older stuff, v4b ampeg, sunn concert series, acoustic heads w/15 cabs etc. I have come to the conclusion that everyones ear is different, and what sounds right to me, might not be compressed enough for others. I have discovered that if I compress just enough to tighten up my sound and work around that starting point, this thing is an amazing addition to my rig, absolutely beautiful lows, and punch in the middle, with cutting highs, or warm highs, whatever you want. I give the 160A 4 stars. ke

[willie]

I have 2 DBX 160 A'a. I use mine in my rig that is similar to yours . F1-X SF-2 DBX 160 A Crown amp Eden 4x10 and a custom made 1x15 under it . Actually the whole thing is double that but that doesn't matter. Set the threshold so that when you play normally the 3 lights for the threshold which are green yellow and red, you just start to light the red light. If you play hard such as snapping a string the red light should come on meaning it is being compressed. You dont want that red light lit all the time when you play or you will be compressing too much and loose dynamics. As far as the compression ratio, try starting with it on 4. That gives you a nice bit of compression without squashing it. But there are times when I want that real tight compressed bass sound and go as high as 10. The output you are going to have to experiment with a little based on the amount of signal you send to the DBX and how much gain your power amp has so its easier to control yor volume with volume knob on preamp. Try starting at zero and experiment from there. As far as when you do the larger set up you may want to only use the compressor on the highs going to the 4X10 and don't compress the lows at all. That way you get nice lows and the top end is smoothed out for any sudden dynamic change like popping a string. I experimented sending the bi-amp out puts from an F1-X to seperate 160 As so I could compress the lows and highs seperately. Just a little on the lows and more on the highs. Only problem with that is that you have to adjust the threshold on the compressors every time you change the volume knob to allow for the stromger or lower signal to the compressor and still having the signal start to be compressed at the right level. I believe some companies have put dual compressors in pre-amps for being able to compress the lows seperately from the highs. I think Trace Elliott did it. Having just one compressor as the last thing in my effects loop makes it alot easier. I can change volume as much as I want without having to worry about changing the threshold.
Does that help any or make things worse.
Will

[rebelchile]

Yes that does help a lot, and thanks for your advise. There is another thing that has me puzzled, a good friend of mine, who is actually the guitar player in this current project, also has a small studio behind his house, well, anyway, he told me that my bass needed to run into the compressor, and out, to the F2-B input before the signal gets to the speakers??? I was alternately advised by a different person, on a different website, to run my bass into the effects loop in the preamp 1st,..but, the F2-B doesn't have an effects loop input, it only has 2 input channels on the front, and channels A and B and M, in the back, M is for running A and B together. The logic for running to the compressor 1st, I was told was that, with the Alembic's active, and very hot pickups, the signal would be compressed before it went to the other components. Is this true?? and if not, being that there is not an effects loop in the preamp, am I wired like I should be for my setup?? and thanks again for the help..kent

[willie]

I have been told to have the compressor last so that it can smooth out any gain increases before signal goes to an amplifier. If you have effects after the compressor they can add gain and transients that will not be compressed. Once while recording in a studio the  guy doing the recording said he was going to run the signal from a mic in front of a speaker to a mic pre-amp and then to a compressor than to the board. I asked why he needed the compressor since I already had one in my effects loop. He explained that even though the signal I was sending to my power amp was compressed that once it was amplified the signal to the mic now had alot more dynamic range. It could go from no sound to hard playing quickly which is going from no signal to a very strong signal very quickly. This makes it hard to keep a good recording level that is not too low but also does not clip input to recording device. There are alot of people who will say your dynamic control should come from your hands and while this is true a good compressor can help smooth it out live or recording. Another good thing about having 2 160A'S is that I can use them when mixing stuff I recorded. They are the last thing in the signal chain before CD burner. You get a stronger signal to the burner without clippng the input stage of the recording device