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Best overall 1U component

#43
agedhorse said:
No, on bass!

I built up several rigs for touring players years back that used either 160's, 166's and iirc 163X's. these were rigs with no real budget limitations.
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Ah, touring&years back, that's a different story of course. When you said used on #1 hits I kinda assumed you meant recording. And for recording the dbx 160 series do have a reputation for being "extra" utility comps for whatever tracks remained when the most critical tracks had gotten the good stuff. Hence my joke about rack toms. But that was pre-digital of course. These days every studio engineer I know would normally prefer a good plugin to any of the most commonly seen dbx 160 series.

If you actually meant that the entire dbx 160 series (and not just the 160a that I was referring to) are the most used compressors for playing #1 hits LIVE over the years I'm sure you're right. It still doesn't mean they're the best compressors out there for bass. I mean, the 160a is a rock solid, easy to use compressor if you only need to protect the speakers and don't need any control over attack/release to shape the envelope. It's a good quality professional piece of PA equipment for sure. But using it on stage in a bass rig these days? I'm sure people do it and are happy with it but I would personally leave the dbx 160 series to the FOH rack. There are far better options available for on stage bass compression these days IMO.

Just my personal opinion of course. I just think the OP could spend his money more wisely than buying a 160a to fill an empty space in his rack.
 
#44
Deleted member 271037 said:
Speaking as an engineer I would personally avoid any kind of sonic maximizers like the plague. It's the fastest way to ruin the tone IMO. The same goes for enhancers.

Do you need something that runs at unbalanced instrument level or is line level balanced an option?

If instrument level only I probably wouldn't bother unless you have a very specific piece of gear in mind that will give you the exact tone you are looking for.

If line level is fine there's so much great studio gear out there that sounds AWESOME with bass that I wouldn't know where to start. What do you need? Compressor/limiter? Saturation/distortion? Eq?

Budget?
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Just looking for that next great, new something that someone found and works for them. Thanks for the advice on the sonic maximizers... pretty much decided I don't need one anyway.
 
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#46
Deleted member 271037 said:
Ah, touring&years back, that's a different story of course. When you said used on #1 hits I kinda assumed you meant recording. And for recording the dbx 160 series do have a reputation for being "extra" utility comps for whatever tracks remained when the most critical tracks had gotten the good stuff. Hence my joke about rack toms. But that was pre-digital of course. These days every studio engineer I know would normally prefer a good plugin to any of the most commonly seen dbx 160 series.

If you actually meant that the entire dbx 160 series (and not just the 160a that I was referring to) are the most used compressors for playing #1 hits LIVE over the years I'm sure you're right. It still doesn't mean they're the best compressors out there for bass. I mean, the 160a is a rock solid, easy to use compressor if you only need to protect the speakers and don't need any control over attack/release to shape the envelope. It's a good quality professional piece of PA equipment for sure. But using it on stage in a bass rig these days? I'm sure people do it and are happy with it but I would personally leave the dbx 160 series to the FOH rack. There are far better options available for on stage bass compression these days IMO.

Just my personal opinion of course. I just think the OP could spend his money more wisely than buying a 160a to fill an empty space in his rack.
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In the pre-digital days, the 160 series was by far the most popular comp used on bass. In bass player's rigs, live console inserts and for recording.

Today there are better/different comp options, but that shouldn't take away any respect or elitism attitude for what that product line represented to the industry.
 
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#47
Deleted member 271037 said:
Ah, touring&years back, that's a different story of course. When you said used on #1 hits I kinda assumed you meant recording. And for recording the dbx 160 series do have a reputation for being "extra" utility comps for whatever tracks remained when the most critical tracks had gotten the good stuff. Hence my joke about rack toms. But that was pre-digital of course. These days every studio engineer I know would normally prefer a good plugin to any of the most commonly seen dbx 160 series...
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I recently sold a racked pair of 160VU (in about a #6 cosmetic condition) to a recording studio in Florida for $1,700. Representative current pricing for those not up to speed with every studio engineer you know Here.
 
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#49
Humbled said:
I recently sold a racked pair of 160VU (in about a #6 cosmetic condition) to a recording studio in Florida for $1,700. Representative current pricing for those not up to speed with every studio engineer you know Here.
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The 160VU is highly regarded by recording engineers. The x/xt/a not so much these days. To be honest I don't see how the 160VU is relevant here? It's a completely different design than the 160a I was referring to. The fact that the 160VU sells for $1700 has no relevance whatsoever to the 160a. I don't get the logic? We might as well say that the 160a is poor because the dbx 266 is widely regarded as one of the worst compressors ever made. I mean, they're both dbx right?

Anyway, the OP specified 1u and I somehow doubt a 160VU is within budget. And I stand by my view: I can think better ways to spend money than buying a 160a just to fill an empty rack space. Unless you specifically NEED a rack compressor of course but that doesn't seem to be the case here. And even if it was I would probably recommend something other than a 160a.

For what it's worth I still have a 160a in my studio. It's on my talkback mic. It slightly dulled everything I ran through it so I stopped using it for recording. I'm not saying it's junk but I've got more suitable compressors for recording. And to be honest I would rather record without dynamics processing and use plugins during the mixing stage than use a 160a for tracking these days. If that's elitist then ok, I'm elitist.

Don't get me wrong, of course the 160a/x/xt is a classic and still widely used in PA rigs across the world. It's a rock solid compressor for a PA rig. But there are better options for on-stage bass compression these days IMO.

Plus, the OP isn't even asking specifically about compressors. If the idea is just to fill an empty rack space I would personally look for something more fun... maybe some kind of saturation/distortion tool. Something like the EL Fatso would be SWEEET (and even has a rudimentary compressor section on board). But probably too expensive just to fill an empty space... All the other saturation/distortion rack units I can think of right now are also expensive or 2u. But I'm sure there must be SOME kind of fun cheap(ish) 1u dirt box out there? That's what I would look for!
 
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#51
Actually, here's an interesting, fun, 1u unit that can often be found cheap(ish):

The SPL Charisma.

I think a lot of people totally misunderstand the concept of this unit, are massively disappointed and sell it cheap. Meaning good deals can be found all the time.

I know I said in a previous post that I would look for a "dirt box" and that's what got me thinking about the Charisma, because that's NOT what it's all about. I get the impression that people THINK it's a dirt box and are disappointed.

So what is it then? Well, it's a kind of tube clipper/peak limiter that WILL distort when pushed, but not necessarily in a nice way. It gets very buzzy when pushed hard, rather than fat/warm classic tube overdrive.

When set right it does however have an uncanny ability to bring the bass (and practially anything else) ever so slightly forward in the mix. It's more or less my "go-to" secret sauce for bass in the studio. When set for a bit of saturation, just at the edge of distortion it can give the bass a bit of "hair" too. But when set for just a touch of peak limiting it can be completely transparent. None of the artifacts that so often come with peak limiting. I absolutely love it!

It's hard bypass so if anything bad happens on stage it's a quick push of a button to get the signal back. It does generate a bit of heat but not too bad compared to most tube gear. Two channels means you could in theory patch them into each other and set one for slight peak limiting and the other for a more saturated, dirtier sound.

I do however have a feeling that this might be a very much love/hate piece of gear so as always: If possible, try before buying.

I should probably add that the only time I tried an 8-channel Charisma it sounded completely different to the 2-channel version. I couldn't get a usable sound out of the 8-channel version. It might have had an issue but it somehow felt like it had a completely different thing going than the 2-channel version. So just to be sure: All of the above is from my expreience with the 2-channel version ONLY.

I have absolutely no experience with actually using it live though. Only in the studio. For me personally it would be totally overkill to bring something like this in my live rig. But if I had an empty 1u rack space that I desperately wanted to fill, yeah I think it might just be a Charisma.
 
#52
Deleted member 271037 said:
The 160VU is highly regarded by recording engineers. The x/xt/a not so much these days. To be honest I don't see how the 160VU is relevant here? It's a completely different design than the 160a I was referring to. The fact that the 160VU sells for $1700 has no relevance whatsoever to the 160a. I don't get the logic? We might as well say that the 160a is poor because the dbx 266 is widely regarded as one of the worst compressors ever made. I mean, they're both dbx right?

Anyway, the OP specified 1u and I somehow doubt a 160VU is within budget. And I stand by my view: I can think better ways to spend money than buying a 160a just to fill an empty rack space. Unless you specifically NEED a rack compressor of course but that doesn't seem to be the case here. And even if it was I would probably recommend something other than a 160a.

For what it's worth I still have a 160a in my studio. It's on my talkback mic. It slightly dulled everything I ran through it so I stopped using it for recording. I'm not saying it's junk but I've got more suitable compressors for recording. And to be honest I would rather record without dynamics processing and use plugins during the mixing stage than use a 160a for tracking these days. If that's elitist then ok, I'm elitist.

Don't get me wrong, of course the 160a/x/xt is a classic and still widely used in PA rigs across the world. It's a rock solid compressor for a PA rig. But there are better options for on-stage bass compression these days IMO.

Plus, the OP isn't even asking specifically about compressors. If the idea is just to fill an empty rack space I would personally look for something more fun... maybe some kind of saturation/distortion tool. Something like the EL Fatso would be SWEEET (and even has a rudimentary compressor section on board). But probably too expensive just to fill an empty space... All the other saturation/distortion rack units I can think of right now are also expensive or 2u. But I'm sure there must be SOME kind of fun cheap(ish) 1u dirt box out there? That's what I would look for!
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I am definitely looking for something to fatten up my sound but I kind of like the idea of a tube amp simulator. So far the Tech 21 guys have been giving me some good answers... I'm just not sure if I can make it work with my rig.
 
#53
Teacher56 said:
I am definitely looking for something to fatten up my sound but I kind of like the idea of a tube amp simulator. So far the Tech 21 guys have been giving me some good answers... I'm just not sure if I can make it work with my rig.
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The Tech 21 stuff is really nice. The only negative for me is that some of their most popular devices have such a baked in sound that I'm starting to get slightly tired of it. But then I could say the same about an SVT+810, lol.
 
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