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Overdriving my compressor?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Deleted member 79588
  • Start date Start date
D

Deleted member 79588

Sep 19, 2006
1,777
9
#1
I've got the BBE MaxCom Compressor and I've been running it in the FX loop of my B2RE head, and taking the preamp out to my QSC power amp. If I turn the preamp up loud AT ALL, the input graph on the compressor gets into the red zone at the top which makes me think that I'm overdriving it... is there any way to make this unit less sensitive or any suggestions people have? I didn't think it being in the effects loop would make it do this but apparently it does...
 
#2
My first thought is there is no problem if you can't hear a problem. With that said I would connect the Maxcom to the pre-out of your head. Then I would connect the output of the Maxcom to the power amp. If this doesn't fix your input problem it most likely will be able to fix your volume issues that you mentioned in one of your other posts. You should now be able to turn up the output level of the Maxcom to provide your power amp with a strong signal.
 
#6
You can put one anywhere you want. Just depends on how you want to affect your signal. Since you have a dual channel compressor, I was just surprised you didn't have one channel running before your preamp and then the second before the power amp. Either way, I was just curious. :)

Also, aren't there two "graphs" per channel? One is the input level, the second is the amount of attenuation, right? If you look at the scale of the bar graphs and compare them to the scale of the threshold control, you'll notice that the range displayed on the bar graph is much less than the range that you can set the threshold control to. So, you can have your unit lighting up like a big red christmas tree and still not be triggering compression. Unless something sounds very wrong or you see smoke, I wouldn't worry too much :)
 
#7
No, depending on the specific amp, that is one normal place for it. I just dl'd the B2RE manual, and it looks to me like the fx loop is indeed the correct place in this case. However, the B2RE fx loop is post-EQ, so if you are totally cranking the bass or any other frequencies, you will drive the MaxCom into the red. I see three solutions: get a different amp head where the fx loop is pre-EQ; use only mild EQ settings; or use flat EQ settings on the head, and get your EQ action from an outboard EQ unit in line after the MaxCom.
 

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