Sansamp RBI and Dbx 166 XL Settings Needed

[steve66]

Hi All,

I just got a Birthday gift from the old lady. A new Dbx 166 XL Compressor/Limiter/Gate. I hooked it up to the effects loop of the RBI per Bongo's FAQ's and DBx manual.

Does anyone else run this setup?

How do you have the RBI set up? do you run it with the effects 50/50 switch engaged or not? Mine is engaged

Also, do you run the rear +4/-10 switch engaged or disengaged ? Right now I am using a passive jazz bass with the switch engaged.

I haven't started playing with the gate or limiter settings. The compressor settings are

Threshold = -10
Overeasy = Engaged
Ratio = 4:1
Attack = 12:00 (between fast and slow)
Release = 3:00
Output Gain = +4

I have absolutely no idea what i am doing. But those setting seem ok to me.

I am curious to see what settings you are running with this combination and hopefully get some other ideas and learn something.

[bongomania]

The effects 50/50 dealio runs your clean signal in parallel with the effected signal to equal proportions. That's a tricky maneuver with a compressor, because if you know what you're doing (or hit it lucky) you can get some useful and worthy tones that way; but if you don't have the skill or the luck, you'll end up with weird signal dropouts and peaks, dull-sounding tones and wolf notes. You may end up having a reduced signal level, which means turning up the gain on the pre, which means more noise in your rig. And you may find that it's not preventing clipping the way you might have expected.

IOW I would switch the 50/50 off until a later date, unless you happened to hit upon a setup that sounds good to you. Again though it can be done with good results.

Is the +4/-10 switch next to the fx loop or next to the main output? Either way the purpose of it is to set the right level for interfacing with your specific other gear. There is no "right setting" except that which gets you the highest level of clean undistorted signal using the specific gear at hand. The dbx can handle either setting with no trouble, but the +4 setting will be a little cleaner and less noisy. +4 is a higher signal level than -10.

[steve66]

Thanks Bongo,

I wasn't sure about how the 50/50 switch would act with the compressor. I will turn it off

The -4/+10 switch is on the rear of the dbx. Each channel has its own switch. I am using Channel 1 only (right now) till I figure this thing out.