Good Rack Mount Compressor?

[pickles]

I gotta vote Rane DC24. Dual band compression is so good for bass. The 160a is great too.

 

[niro]

What's a good choice just for speaker and tweeter protection? I am looking hard at the Rane DC24 and the dbx 166A.

I am using the dbx-copy compressor setting on my Boss GT6B pedal right now. I don't feel it's doing my rig justice, but I could be wrong.

MY RIG

Rockbass Fortress
->
Boss GT6B
->
[ SVT-4 Pro
[ Sansamp RBI (loop)

 

[JackANSI]

You can replace the opamps in a 3630 and make it sound pretty darn good. There are mod pages out there; Google will show you the way.

For what it's worth I LOVE pushing my Brice 6 string through the 3630. I have a Behringer Autocom 2100 and it doesn't even compare - the Behringer has a built in 10dB 'soft knee' so you have to set your threshold 10db lower than you want to get compression at the threshold.

+1 I followed the "black lion" modification instructions and I have never been happier. It WAS noisy, now you can't hear it at all. Plus when using it with aggresive settings it stays quiet.

Before I did the mods, just replacing the included power supply with one of about 3X the current rating got rid of some of the noise and any distortion. (It draws about 20% more than the included supply could handle at peak draw)

As is sits in my rack I'd put it against any compressor out there in the <$500 market. Only cost me $35 for the unit and $77 for the parts and power supply. (e-bay)

 

[main_sale]

The BBE MAXCOM is pretty nice and $200.

 

[JC Dillon]

What about the DBX 266XL?

 

[bongomania]

I followed the "black lion" modification instructions and I have never been happier. It WAS noisy, now you can't hear it at all. Plus when using it with aggresive settings it stays quiet.

Before I did the mods, just replacing the included power supply with one of about 3X the current rating got rid of some of the noise and any distortion. (It draws about 20% more than the included supply could handle at peak draw)

As is sits in my rack I'd put it against any compressor out there in the <$500 market. Only cost me $35 for the unit and $77 for the parts and power supply. (e-bay)

Thanks for that info! I have a 3630 incoming, for review purposes. I'll write my review based on the stock version, and then when I get some free time ( ) I'll do all of those mods and write a follow-up review. Do you happen to have a link for the Black Lion mods?

 

[Eric Perry]

I recently replaced my 3630 with a dbx 166XL. There's NO comparison, IMO. The dbx unit is quieter, and substantially more musical sounding.

As far as I'm concerned the "dirty six dirty" name fits the Alesis unit perfectly.

 

[JackANSI]

Thanks for that info! I have a 3630 incoming, for review purposes. I'll write my review based on the stock version, and then when I get some free time ( ) I'll do all of those mods and write a follow-up review. Do you happen to have a link for the Black Lion mods?

The website for black lion is http://www.blacklionaudio.com/

 

[GraffixNyc]

I ordered a new DBX 166XL today Thanks for all of your replies!