dbx 160x problem

Baloow

Hi everyone,

I bought some years ago a DBX 160x compressor to use with my bass. Because of a very big music's break I never really use it, until the last week. But it seems to have some problems. I plug my jack in input and the output of course, everything seems to be OK. But when I play I never heard any compression. The "Overeasy" feature stay always green->below the threshold... I try to turn the screw at the back of the apparatus. I can see the "input" lights moving when I play, going from orange to red. And if I press the "display" button I can also see the output light moving. But no compression... Is it broken ? Why am I always below the threshlod, i think that i have tried all the possible configurations with all the buttons, so I am pretty sad. Could someone have an idea ?

Thanx for your help and sorry for my english

Gadget

Don't worry about the English here, if we have problems understanding we'll ask...

Ok, I have a couple too.. and they are doing the same thing..make sure:
1. That you have the Bypass off (actually make sure that it toggles the light on and off.. as if it were working)
2. That the "threshold" is in the 2:1 to 4:1 to make sure your really using compression...
3. That the "output gain" is somewhere near -0-
4 Make sure the "slave" switch is also doing something (light wise)

If you still have nothing after all this sounds like the unit needs service..

Regards
gadget

Baloow

Hi gadget ! and thank for your quick reply !

1. That you have the Bypass off (actually make sure that it toggles the light on and off.. as if it were working)

The Bypass button is off and the light turns off when I push it, so it seems to work properly.

2. That the "threshold" is in the 2:1 to 4:1 to make sure your really using compression...

Ok, I set the button in this range

3. That the "output gain" is somewhere near -0-

I put this one on 0

4 Make sure the "slave" switch is also doing something (light wise)

Like for the Bypass button, the light go on and off when i press it. But it don't seems to have any influence on the sound

At the end, the sound remain the same, and i can't heard any compression. I thought that maybe my ears were wrong so i plug my old EBS compression pedal, and i can feel the difference... I also always have that overeasy light staying below the threshold...
I think that its smell fishy for my dbx what can i do, because its a pretty old model ? Maybe open and see if some wires are not disconnected ?

Thanks for your help. I hope that you will have an idea

Baloow

Hi Everyone,
its been a while since the first post. I some kind of give up with the first issues(describe in the first post of this topic) of my dbx 160x. But, i don't really want to give up, and that's why I come back, with plenty of new informations on my problem. So if anyone has an idea it will be very helpful

I tried to understand what was going on with my compressor with a more technical point of view, so here's the deal :

At the beginning I just tried to use this rack effect the way I was using pedal effect, huge mistake, I understand now, so obviously when I was plug-in my bass directly into the dbx the impedance of my bass guitar was clearly no sufficient to provide enough signal to the dbx.

I recently bought a Scarlett 2i2 recording device. So here is a scheme of the wiring i try to use :
http://i.imgur.com/OqG7z6K.jpg


So the dbx seems to ear me know, i succeed in calibrating the signal at +4db for a 0db input as explained in the manual. I also succeed in earing compression, but to do so i have to do as the following :

For a 0db input signal :
dbx set : threshold -40db, compression 6:1, output gain 0 -> work
dbx set : threshold -30db, compression 6:1, output gain 0 -> work
dbx set : threshold -20db, compression 6:1, output gain 0 -> didn't work anymore

For a 20db input signal :
the same than above

Of course if I increase the output gain, the compression is more efficient (mostly because of the noise i guess), but the range where the threshold work seems the same...

So my question is : is the scarlett 2i2 preamp is enough to feed the beast ? If yes, the compression threshold should work even at 0db for a +20db input, right ? Maybe a hardware problem , is there some issue with this model (change some electronic component) ?

Thanks a lot for reading my bad English, hope you can help

Baloow

Nobody ?
up ? :oops:

anyway, thanks to everyone who already read or try responding my message !

Dra

OK, I'll answer, but it won't do you any good.

I don't have any ideas. :?

DRA

PS - Try the PSW forums.

[Deleted User]

The pre-amp stage of the Focusrite is more than adequate to easily trigger gain reduction at a -20dB threshold (at least on occasion) but this will also depend on the style of playing.
On the focusrite, if the switch is set to Instrument position for the bass signal, and you are driving the input gain up on the compressor, you should definitely see some gain reduction taking place.
The DISPLAY switch on the 160X to monitor the input gain stage may need to be looked at again and re-calibrated if necessary. Section 3.5 of the user manual.
You can also try working with some pre-recorded material at line level for testing purposes just so that you are dealing with consistent levels.

If all else fails, the unit may need to be looked at by one of our vintage repair facilities found at the following link. http://www.dbxpro.com/vintage_repair.php

Best Regards,

Jason Mondragon
dbx Technical Customer Service
Harman Signal Processing
8760 S. Sandy Parkway
Sandy, UT 84070
Phone: +1 801 566 8800 ext. 4627
Fax: +1 801 568 7543
Email: support@dbxpro.com

Baloow

I made a test just by generating a +4db output signal from my computer through the focusrite preamp to the dbx input, so the display input is now calibrated for sure (0db). But the compression problem is still the same, i'll take note of the vintage facilities, i guess i have a more deep problem now, for sure.

Thanks a lot everybody !