is the DBX 166a utter shite?

justinhedrick · 26th July 2005, 05:28 PM

I have been offered a 166A for $75, this would be my first compressor. Should I buy it, use if for now, and save for an RNC, or should i wait, not have a compressor for awhile (expect for software compressors) and buy the RNC? Thanks for you help.

justin

tINY · 26th July 2005, 06:24 PM

Go ahead and get it. It's not that great fro vocals, but it does well on drums and is decent on things like bass, sax, and horns.

You can always get your $75 back latter - you won't wear it out and live sound guys use them a lot.

-tINY

justinhedrick · 26th July 2005, 07:34 PM

yeah, i'm thinking that is what i will do...i mean, compressor's are always good for something........right???

justin

Micgiver · 26th July 2005, 08:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by justinhedrick

yeah, i'm thinking that is what i will do...i mean, compressor's are always good for something........right???

justin

You should get it, I still use mine for Snare and I have plenty of others to choose from. good luck

justinhedrick · 26th July 2005, 10:51 PM

i'm just wondering if i could get an ok vocal sound out of it?

shangoe · 26th July 2005, 11:13 PM

its a peace of junk. a few years ago i made the mistake and paid the full price in a musicstore. just sold it 2 weeks ago for 150 euritos. every plugin will outperform this poor thing. better get a dbx 160x or 160a

shangoe · 26th July 2005, 11:16 PM

75 is not much. but for what? better safe your money for a RNC...

justinhedrick · 26th July 2005, 11:23 PM

ok.....i really better re-think this through

Beezoboy · 27th July 2005, 02:31 AM

Yeah I got a couple of these because I wanted a comp with built in gate. Well to make a long story short, the compression was lame and so was the gate. I have tried a number of budget compressors, like the RNC, Ashly SC-50, Art Pro VLA, and DBX 163x, and I have to say they all smoked the 166a.

If I were you I would look for a single DBX 163X or an Art Levelar. Both will give you better and usable compression for $75

Beez

Micgiver · 27th July 2005, 07:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shangoe

75 is not much. but for what? better safe your money for a RNC...

Shangoe- this guy doesn't have a great buget plus for 75 bucks its decent. If you want to get something for the Vox try a ART tube pac. I had to do tests for some clients with some cheaper channel strip

s and I bought one for the hell of it, turns out this little box kicks ass and you can get it at Sweetwater for about $115. you should still buy the 166 for $75. and upgrade it with a few new parts check the web you can jack up on of those to replicate a 160 for less than 10-$15. Good luck

roly · 27th July 2005, 08:41 AM

Hi
I have used them for live stuff and don't really care for them much. I find channel 2 to be noisier.....(closer to the power supply....just a guess). After about 4 db of gain reduction the high end folds.
That's my opinion.
I have been buying Aphex 651s for about 150 US a channel (ebay)and find them to be much better.
Hope this helps.
cheers
Roly

aussie_techie · 27th July 2005, 04:04 PM

is the DBX 166a utter shite? No. as with most dbx stuff its is cheeper live gear, not so much for studio use. for $75 i would get it, you can always find a use for dbx gear and it holds its resale value. bottom line with any gear purchase is you need to decide what you need, not just if its a good price

justinhedrick · 28th July 2005, 11:14 PM

thanks everyone. i think i might get it. but i am getting a chance to try it out this weekend.....

justin

Bones · 29th July 2005, 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tINY

You can always get your $75 back latter - you won't wear it out and live sound guys use them a lot.

-tINY

Have to say that although there may be other "options", I second the above.

jeronimo · 30th July 2005, 04:02 AM

Where can we find info on mods for the 166?

De chromium cob · 30th July 2005, 04:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeronimo

Where can we find info on mods for the 166?

http://www.audioupgrades.com/pl1.html

jeronimo · 30th July 2005, 04:38 PM

Well, $200 bucks on this upgrade is kinda expensive... if I can find schematics for the 166 I think, I can try to do some mods myself... I THINK

Peyton · 31st July 2005, 04:31 AM

what do you guys mean when you reffer to the "RNC"

mojoman · 31st July 2005, 07:46 AM

The RNC is an acronym for the "Really Nice Compressor" made by FMR audio

http://www.fmraudio.com

-Mojo

trident fan · 2nd August 2005, 10:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mojoman

The RNC is an acronym for the "Really Nice Compressor" made by FMR audio

http://www.fmraudio.com

-Mojo

does anyone use the rnc? i checked the website and it has a wall wart and trs jacks

. i seems like when you abandon the xlr's the quality goes away.

aussie_techie · 4th August 2005, 01:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by trident fan

does anyone use the rnc? i checked the website and it has a wall wart and trs jacks

. i seems like when you abandon the xlr's the quality goes away.

its a great little compressor
wall wart is annoying but keeps it cheep
all unbalanced i/o :( TRS input jacks for running inserts from a single cable, TS output jacks
the conectors its self has little to nothing to do with quality, the fact that its unbalanced is a drawback but a) most inserts are unbalanced anyway b) in a studio with short cables unbalanced is fine

cfjis · 5th August 2005, 09:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aussie_techie

its a great little compressor
wall wart is annoying but keeps it cheep
all unbalanced i/o :( TRS input jacks for running inserts from a single cable, TS output jacks
the conectors its self has little to nothing to do with quality, the fact that its unbalanced is a drawback but a) most inserts are unbalanced anyway b) in a studio with short cables unbalanced is fine

Actually, the output on an RNC is TRS balanced. The input is also TRS, but it is wired to act as an insert... meaning that the input is unbalanced. So, you'll probably want to wire up some balanced-unbalanced cables (connect pins 1&3).
Great compressor for the $$... just grabbed it and the RNLA today.

If you spend the extra $100 for the RNC, you won't regret it.

Good luck,
CJ

aussie_techie · 5th August 2005, 10:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cfjis

the output on an RNC is TRS balanced.

no only the new RNLA has non-differentially balanced outputs
the RNC is all unbalanced, praps you better read the specs

how are you finding the RNLA?

cfjis · 6th August 2005, 09:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aussie_techie

no only the new RNLA has non-differentially balanced outputs
the RNC is all unbalanced, praps you better read the specs

how are you finding the RNLA?

Oops... my bad... I was reading the RNLA stuff, and assumed it was the same.

I'm digging the RNLA. Very useable on vocals (all I've really tried it on thus far). Definitely hard to beat for the $$.

Cheers,
CJ

mdbeh · 7th August 2005, 01:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by trident fan

does anyone use the rnc? i checked the website and it has a wall wart and trs jacks

. i seems like when you abandon the xlr's the quality goes away.

That's not at all the case with the RNC. From the FMR FAQ:

Quote:

Why is the RNC unbalanced instead of balanced?
You'd think the answer to this one would be a simple "to keep costs down". Although that's one of the reasons, there's another reason that's less obvious and the primary one: we designed the RNC to be used in home studios (like ours) made up primarily of unbalanced pieces. So, we designed it to easily interface to equipment usually found in the intended environment. For example, many home studios use mixing boards that have single Tip-Ring-Sleeve insert points on their input channels. We thought that it'd be neat, convenient and show unambiguous support for this studio type by allowing the RNC to be hooked directly to these inserts with single TRS cables. If the I/Os were balanced, we wouldn't be able to do that.

(I assume that's what you meant by the 'XLR' comment. The connector type in itself doesn't affect the sound, though it's nice how XLR's are less likely to pull out accidently than a 1/4" TRS jack.)

An unbalanced line might pick up more noise, particularly if it's a long run, but there's no reason it should inherently sound worse.

In my case, the fact that it's unbalanced is a bit of a hassle, so I tend to put it on the insert point of my Great River pre. You can use FMR's RNP for that, as well.

At any rate... it really is a nice compressor. I've got some much more expensive options, and I'm still a fan--just added a pair to my setup today.

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26th July 2005, 05:28 PM	#1
justinhedrick Gear Head Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 35	is the DBX 166a utter shite? I have been offered a 166A for $75, this would be my first compressor. Should I buy it, use if for now, and save for an RNC, or should i wait, not have a compressor for awhile (expect for software compressors) and buy the RNC? Thanks for you help. justin

30th July 2005, 04:02 AM	#15
jeronimo Lives for gear Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Salvador, BA - Brazil Posts: 2,535	Where can we find info on mods for the 166? __________________ Think Diferente! www.verticeestudio.com http://www.myspace.com/jelmet

30th July 2005, 04:38 PM	#17
jeronimo Lives for gear Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Salvador, BA - Brazil Posts: 2,535	Well, $200 bucks on this upgrade is kinda expensive... if I can find schematics for the 166 I think, I can try to do some mods myself... I THINK __________________ Think Diferente! www.verticeestudio.com http://www.myspace.com/jelmet

31st July 2005, 07:46 AM	#19
mojoman Gear interested Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 15	The RNC The RNC is an acronym for the "Really Nice Compressor" made by FMR audio http://www.fmraudio.com -Mojo

26th July 2005, 06:24 PM	#2
tINY Lives for gear Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Orygun Posts: 6,052	Go ahead and get it. It's not that great fro vocals, but it does well on drums and is decent on things like bass, sax, and horns. You can always get your $75 back latter - you won't wear it out and live sound guys use them a lot. -tINY

26th July 2005, 07:34 PM	#3
justinhedrick Gear Head Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 35	yeah, i'm thinking that is what i will do...i mean, compressor's are always good for something........right??? justin

26th July 2005, 10:51 PM	#5
justinhedrick Gear Head Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 35	i'm just wondering if i could get an ok vocal sound out of it?

26th July 2005, 11:13 PM	#6
shangoe Gear addict Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: berlin Posts: 467	its a peace of junk. a few years ago i made the mistake and paid the full price in a musicstore. just sold it 2 weeks ago for 150 euritos. every plugin will outperform this poor thing. better get a dbx 160x or 160a

26th July 2005, 11:16 PM	#7
shangoe Gear addict Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: berlin Posts: 467	75 is not much. but for what? better safe your money for a RNC...

26th July 2005, 11:23 PM	#8
justinhedrick Gear Head Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 35	ok.....i really better re-think this through

27th July 2005, 02:31 AM	#9
Beezoboy Gear addict Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 490	Yeah I got a couple of these because I wanted a comp with built in gate. Well to make a long story short, the compression was lame and so was the gate. I have tried a number of budget compressors, like the RNC, Ashly SC-50, Art Pro VLA, and DBX 163x, and I have to say they all smoked the 166a. If I were you I would look for a single DBX 163X or an Art Levelar. Both will give you better and usable compression for $75 Beez

27th July 2005, 08:41 AM	#11
roly Gear Head Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 38	Hi I have used them for live stuff and don't really care for them much. I find channel 2 to be noisier.....(closer to the power supply....just a guess). After about 4 db of gain reduction the high end folds. That's my opinion. I have been buying Aphex 651s for about 150 US a channel (ebay)and find them to be much better. Hope this helps. cheers Roly

27th July 2005, 04:04 PM	#12
aussie_techie Lives for gear Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Perth, Australia Posts: 2,039	is the DBX 166a utter shite? No. as with most dbx stuff its is cheeper live gear, not so much for studio use. for $75 i would get it, you can always find a use for dbx gear and it holds its resale value. bottom line with any gear purchase is you need to decide what you need, not just if its a good price

28th July 2005, 11:14 PM	#13
justinhedrick Gear Head Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 35	thanks everyone. i think i might get it. but i am getting a chance to try it out this weekend..... justin

31st July 2005, 04:31 AM	#18
Peyton Gear nut Join Date: May 2005 Location: Virginia Beach Posts: 134	what do you guys mean when you reffer to the "RNC"

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