dbx 166XL

I'm a professional live engineer, using a couple of 166XLs in my front-of-house rack for live bands. These units have all the basic compressor functions, and a very useful gate. If you're not sure about your settings, you can set the attack/release to auto, which does a fine job on vocals or mixes.

The gate works a treat on fat kick and floor toms, preventing low end feedback and allowing me to push the subs much harder than I'd normally be able to.

If you are new to compression, the manual gives a good explanation and some useful pointers. If you're a pro, the 166XL works how you'd expect it to.

I use my 166XLs inserted on channels as needed - usually kick drum and vocals. They sound transparent when not compressing or working lightly, but lose a bit of top end when squashing hard. This is pretty normal for most compressors, sadly.

The gates are great, and are the main reason I bought these units over other compressors in that price range.

Bulletproof so far. They live in a Gator case and get thrown around by airport baggage handlers, bounced around in trucks and pickups, and deal well with live music venues.

The construction is heavy and solid. They feel great. Very hardy.

I've had no dealings with customer support so far. I've had them for about a year and have had no problems.

These compressors are perfect for the job they do - being used as versatile inserts in a range of live mixing environments. If I lost them, I'd buy the same model again.

The only downside for me is their heavy construction, which makes me worry about baggage excess fees when flying. That's not actually a negative thing when it comes to quality, however.

I would say the manual is good.
The unit's controls are flexible, powerful and responsive.
As for getting a 'good sound out of it', I would say 'you often can't' as explained below.

Oddly, it also has no 'power off' switch for reasons I don't understand. The manual advises always leaving it plugged in unless you don't plan to use it for say, more than a few days.

My main motive for doing this review is to warn about the 'clicking' during compression. Amazingly, I don't recall seeing any mention or warning about this before I bought one. It is recognised as a design fault, according to some engineers I've read and spoken to on the internet. It doesn't always appear, but when it does, for whatever technical reason, it is very un-attractive. It seems impossible to avoid it using any control settings. It happens on speech as well as music but really sounds bad on speech, especially at the start of a sentence or after a pause.

It seems robust. I have only had mine a couple of months and do not move it, so can't really comment.

No experience on this.

Overall, if you actively like 'clicking' during compression, 8/10.
If you don't like clicking (and why would anybody??), 3/10.

It does exactly what it says on the front panel. If you know one compressor you pretty much no them all. (apart from Joe Meek Comps!) Compression is a tricky thing to master and use correctly.

2 drawbacks and they are only small really. When the gate is in use the LED becomes pretty much useless to gauge the compression.

Theres no power switch so you have to switch it off at the mains.

I use it as my primary compressor for drum kits in my studio. the signals are pre-amped into it via a 8 track soundcraft desk and then routed through my 1980's soundtracs project desk and then into Cubase via an m-audio interface. It gives great definition to the kick drum and snare. I use a ratio setting of around 3:1 for kick with a thresh -20db. It can handle even the heaviest footed drummers!! I very rarely use the limiter but the gate is great and totally controlable. I have also used it on guitars it does the Job although you can't beat a valve compressor for that rich guitar tone. It's also good with vocals but can't make the bad sound good. God bless Antares!!!!

overall in my opinion its the best for the price its the best in its catagory

been using it constantly no probs as of yet.

where as the behringer piece of **** i've been using breaks constantly

DON"T BUY BEHRINGER FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!!

Never delt with them

My studio has recorded many different bands and has always stepped up to the challange. I would recommend this Comp to anyone.

In my opinion Compression is key to making a good mix and it is fundamental to get the sound right from the start.

With a bit of practice the dbx will deliver!!!

I think i've turned into Jeremy Clarkson!!!!!

OVER and OUT!

Some buttons on the front panel.. but it's stereo !! Also it has 3 functions in one box.
The manual is clear enough for me. You can use in stereo, mono and with External SideChain.
The buttons are well labeled and seem precise, and "reproductible" (coders). All the switches are "silent" when engaged, even the soft knee. The compromise of number levelDisplay LED's is OK.

- For me, very good !
- Very cleaver design, with NoiseGate(Expander release), Compressor, and Output Limiter. Handle ALL kind of levels i/o !!.
- For Piezzo & Electric guitar, you will need a DiBox, a Buffer/booster Pedal (i use an MXR MC401 pedal designed by CAE) or a "buffer" from an Acive LoopThrought Pedal, to avoid loosing HighEnd frequencies(elec) or LowEnd(Piezzo).
- It looks "universal", but i bought it for Guitar (Elec & Acc) and it perform very well: ex for ElecGuitar, ratio 2:1 to 4:1, threshold # -25dB, attack# 9 Oclock, Release# 12Oclock is perfect for me: dynamic reduction with "consistant" sound, and sustain improved with no noise added. I didn't use the Noisegate at these settings (all noise gate are always difficult to trim on Elec guitar). You can also have the classic 20:1 CompRatio of some (clean) effect Pedals, with a "pop" attack (at slow Attack setting).
- Work well on Voices (pre-amplified before)
- Many combinations possible with this device !

Just bought 2 weeks, OK for now !!

Never called.

- If it were lost, i will buy the same !
- Excellent for me, the price is very OK for the sound, mecanical, finition & smart fonctions.
- The i/o connectors are 6.35 jacks & Balanced XLRs.
- I play for 30 years (Rock Classic & Ballad), I own US1975Strat, IbanezPM120 PatMetheny, YamahaLL16 on MesaBoogie MarkIV, Marshall JCM900(w/5881) & Marshall AS100D. I have some Compressor pedals (Original MXR Dynacomp, Route66), and depending of the trims, this rack gives "a bigger" sound, or some special compressions.

it's a little bit complicated

Its Perfect, im a guitar player, and i use it for guitar, its really perfect , now my sound is pretty much better

im using it for 1 week

no dealt

well its good for the money you pay for it, its really professional

I took a recording techniques class wich explained how a compressor works and how to use one. Based on that, this compressor performs exactly like I expected it too. The hardest part about using it was getting it to sound like you know what your doing. That just takes time. Been using two of these for my PA company for 6 months and just recently bought one for my guitar rig. At first, it did more bad than good. But then I learned when to use it and how much so. Never read the manual until I bought it for my guitar most recently. Turns out, the recommended settings are near the settings I use when running sound for bands. Gets a 9 because the manual doesn't explain the "contour" switch as much as I'd hoped.

If you don't really know how to use a compressor, do some online research and see how others are using theirs. Remember that compressors actually reduce volume. That's where you have to increase the output gain to get that sound where whispers and screams are near identical.

Totally tames the screamo bands that I have to deal with. Keeps them from clipping my amps and blowing my speakers. Every now and then I'll get a "real" singer who has these things called "dynamics" and "inflections". Set the threshold to about -20 and the ratio to no more than 2:1. Then bump the ouput to about +8 and WOW, everything is crystal clear. No noise, no complaints.

I'm using one on my lead channel of my Carvin V3. I have EMGs and the gain all the way up so my lead channel used to squeal and feedback something nasty. The noise gate on this got rid of all of that. The main reason for buying this for my guitar rig. The manual release lets me dial in the right amount of decay so my guitar doesn't sound choppy. My lead channel is silent as death when I'm not playing. Turns out, my clean channel actually has more hum now. Usually, compressing guitar sacrifices plam-mute punch for added sustain, and so I never compress guitar. The contour switch reduces the compressor's sensitivity to lower frequencies which lets all punch of the palm-mutes through, and allows long tones to sustain. I might start compressing my guitar tone now.

I actually bought a 266xl which was defective. I was amazed. I felt special for owning a defective dbx product. Took it back and got this one. Made of solid steel and feels heavy. "Gear" combined with "heavy" is always a good thing unless your talking about power amps. dbx is known for their reliability. I now own one and have used three which have never failed. Don't think I'll need a backup. I felt the solid when I put it in my rack. Get's an 8 because like I said, I did have to take one back.

Never dealt.

I play rock/alternative/metal with high gain settings and have been playing for about 8 years now. I bought this because I needed something to get rid of all the unwanted feedback and squeal. The 166xl does the job flawlessly. If it were stolen, I would be pretty pissed off. And then I'd buy another one unless I found the unlucky fool who took it. Lord have mercy on his soul.

The best feature is the gate. Most people, myself included, can't tell the difference in compressors when parameters are set identically. The gate however, is better than that of the 266xl I tried (though defective, the gate worked).

My optiones were dbx, an ART, and Alesis, or a Behringer. The ART seemed flimsy, didn't like the specs of the Alesis, and everyone who's spent some serious time gigging knows that Behringer products suck. They sound good and look great on paper but they break all the time. I need my gear to work everytime, all the time. dbx.

First let me say my drummer bought this unit for our PA, mostly because I was worried about peaks damaging the mains etc. I set the unit up and I really wasn't sure how to use it but I just set all knobs at 12 oclock and the gate so it would just barely snap shut on the noise. I don't know how to use it yet but just by doing that there was a tremedous benefit. Therefore I'll give it an 8 for ease of use.

Unbelieveable. I totally recommend this unit for live sound. We're using it with a PA consisting of macikie 24.4, two crest amps, one carvin amp, two JBL 2-way mains, 1 2X18 carvin sub, 2 EV monitors and one JBL monitor. The first thing I noticed was that my amps weren't working as hard, or more importantly, they weren't clipping as much. The dbx handles the clipped signals so your amp(s) doesn't have to. That translates to being able to increase the overall level of your PA. It's as if you had purchased an upgraded louder system. Not that you have to be louder or that being louder is better, in fact during practice we noticed the sound was lower than usual but that we were better able to hear everything. Really smooth and good for playing smaller venues. We also introduced an active crossover to further reduce strain on the various amps. They only had to process signal in their frequency range. Another benefit of the dbx is that because louder sounds are squashed a little the flip side is quieter sounds sound louder. So if you scream into the mic or whisper into it, they are equally "heard". It really transformed our sound from garage band to a more pro sound. Now go and buy one (or two).

Not sure but I'll tell you what, when I unpacked the several units we purchased I immediately noticed the packaging was better and the weight of the unit was heavier. Does that mean better? I don't know. It's made by Harman International, same people who make Lexicon, Soundcraft, Crown, Digitech, JBL, DOD and AKG.

No idea. Probably many local service locations.

This is essential gear now. A must have.

Product overview: this is a dual channel compressor with limiter and expander / gate functions in a one-unit high rack configuration. The manual is brief but to the point, and definitely a worthwhile read, especially if you are new at compressors & limiters. My primary application is for use on drumset "overhead" mic tracks. I also plan to use it for electric bass guitar and possibly electric guitar and vocals as well, but for now they are mainly used as drum limiters. I own two of these units (one for left & right overhead mics, the other for bass mic on one channel, snare drum mic on the other). I take the four channels into an M-Audio Delta 44 into a PC for recording to DAW (Cakewalk).

This is going to be somewhat technical, sorry if that is a bother; I'm hoping to help fellow amateur engineers avoid my mistakes. It is critically important to plan your signal flow properly, and to make sure that any "+4 / -10 db" switches on your gear are configured properly. I own two of these, (making for 4 channels total), and only just noticed that "gee, one channel seems to work better than the others... they are practically still new, though, so that can't be..." I set out to look at how I had them wired up and "gain-staged", and realized two problems I had caused myself: (a) The "better sounding" channel was wired up After the mixer and Before the PC soundcard, while the other three channels were wired after a preamp but before the input of the board, with the board outs running to the soundcard. I re-cabled the rack so that the flow now goes: mics -> preamps -> mixing board channels -> out four separate outs each into it's own dedicated dbx channels -> out of the dbx outputs into my computer soundcard. MUCH better fidelity and control this way.

The other lesson (b) is to check all of your gear (preamp, mixer, limiter, other rack gear, and soundcard) to make sure that the "+4 / -10 db" level switches are all set right. Just try them both ways and see what works best for your particular gear. Having this switch set correctly (and having your levels set optimally) make this unit work the way it's intended to.

Now that it's wired up optimally and level-set optimally, WOW these comp / limiter units went from seeming like B- performers to being A+ performers. I realize that all along this was all a case of operator error - I should have experimented more with signal flow and gain staging earlier in my ownership - but better late than never. I really just wanted to post this so that other potential buyers or users can have a heads up on how important it is to try this thing in different positions in their chain, and check all level switches. It really made a huge difference for me. Sorry to rant on and on here, but I had spent days and days and hours and hours tweaking my overhead sounds with only marginal success and just today I make these simple level switch and wiring order changes over lunch, and boom, just about tripled the sonic quality of my drum sounds. Sure wish I had experimented more right after purchase. I hope this might help some other poor schlep who didn't think to try these ideas yet either.

No problems so far. I understand that dbx gear has a good reputation.

No experience. Good web site, though.

For drum overheads when recording to digital, it is a must. My overall average signal levels are now 2-3 times as hot, and clipping (which used to be a constant problem) is pretty much gone. Couple this with a couple good overhead mics (such as a pair of Oktava MC-12s) and you'll be rocking.