Aphex 108 Easyrider Compressor (rack): Opinions?

JanusZarate · #1 10-09-2007, 06:07 PM

I searched, and it's only been mentioned TWICE in the history of TalkBass. Could it be a compressor underdog?

I don't know, really. I have the opportunity to buy one and find out for myself at a decent price. Not sure if I want to yet, but I do have that option. All I know is that it's discontinued, rather simple in design, stereo, and uses the same VCA as the Compellor and some of the other Aphex compressors.

All I need out of a compressor is clean, mild compression that's friendly to hot-output basses. I know Bongomania tested out two other Aphex compressors, and it took a while for him to get the Compellor to behave well with an active bass. The features of the 108's compression circuit aren't too far off.

Anybody used this with an an active and/or passive bass? How does it compare to the time-tested dbx 166, Rane DC24, and Symetrix 501?

I have the opportunity of also picking up a cheap dbx 166 soon, so I'm thinking of getting both to compare. But if someone could voice their experiences, it might save me some hassle.

bongomania · #2 10-09-2007, 08:26 PM

I'm curious about the 108 too. Keep me/us posted with your impressions. I also need to give the Aphex Dominator another chance; the one I got needed more repairs than I could do successfully, so I never reviewed it; but it's cool in theory.

I also "owe" the 166 and the 166XL a review, since people always ask me how they compare to the 166A I did review.

JanusZarate · #3 10-10-2007, 12:24 AM

I bought a 108 on eBay earlier. Hopefully, I'll have it before I leave town this weekend!

If I do, I'll be able to do more than just test it on bass.

JanusZarate · #4 10-10-2007, 09:13 PM

Okay, it should be arriving Friday. Coincidentally, it's my girlfriend's day off.

I hope she doesn't leave for lunch or something when they try to deliver it - it's a pain to try to pick up a FedEx package if you miss the delivery around here!

JanusZarate · #5 10-13-2007, 11:56 AM

Okay, it arrived...

I'm pretty angry right now - Channel 1 is a disaster. It's extremely hissy and distorted, irregardless of the settings. It keeps giving off distorted bursts and only worsens when I play a note. It's not the jacks or the knobs... something's wrong with the circuit, and I can't figure out what. I can't touch that channel at all right now... I've already contacted the seller about it, since he claimed "everything works perfectly"...

Anyhow... Channel 2 works beautifully. Well, to a degree. It's very transparent, and does a nice job of bringing up those quiet notes when I play softly. No unpleasant distortion or weird reactions or artifacts. It's not fantastic-sounding when cranked, but that's not why I bought it.

I'm still playing around with the Speed knob to adjust the attack, but it seems pretty smooth so far. I'll report back later when I toy with the extreme settings more.

The one thing that bugs me is its lack of an XLR input. Only 1/4" TS/TRS ins and outs. I was only planning on using this in amp effects loops, but having additional options for placement isn't a bad thing, and the rest of my recording setup uses XLR. Perhaps it's a good thing that one side is defective?

The only other notable issue I can see here is the noise floor. It's not bad if you don't use tweeters - pretty low, which is nice. However, if you turn up your tweeter... eek. My tweeter's already a bit noisy, but this makes it a lot worse.

It seems that it was better built for compressing at the very end of the recording chain (not in my amp's effects loop). Of course, that's the next thing I need to test...

bongomania · #6 10-13-2007, 01:38 PM

Eek. And I can tell you that Aphex has a "mixed" reputation when it comes to fixing stuff out of warranty. I tries to talk to them about fixing my Dominator, and they wanted an exorbitant amount for it and then stopped answering my emails.

JanusZarate · #7 10-13-2007, 02:08 PM

Ah... that sucks to know.

It's pretty nice otherwise - it wouldn't be a bad option for my needs. There's just no way I can keep it because of that broken channel.

I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for another used good rack compressor under $200. Maybe something with XLR ins and outs this time, in addition to the unbalanced TS ones. Maybe a dbx 166?

Anyhow... I'll still need to try it out for recording and a few other things, since it's not going anywhere yet until the seller gets back to me.

4Mal · #8 10-13-2007, 02:20 PM

Well - I have a 106, 4 channel rack rider in my PA. I use it on the channel inserts for vocals. This isn't a big squash application, just a mild smoothing and for that it works well. Clean and quiet.

That one replaces a 166a that I just took out of the rack. Mostly because of 4 comp's in 1 ru rather than 2. I don't really hear a significant difference between the two in the vocals application.