Rack compression

[projectMalamute]

No, the 266 gate is inherently bad. I have owned dozens of gates, for comparison.

For real. I'll mix a band on whatever combination of beat up gear held together with duct tape you have. The closest thing to a 'specialty' I have doing live sound is making a no budget punk rock or avant jazz show work with whatever can be scraped up. I've got a pretty nice little rig put together now but in the past I've used every cheap Sonic/Mackie/Pyle/Phonic/Tapco/whatever POS you can name and the show has sounded just fine.

100 out of 100 times I'll take nothing at all over a 266.

 

[Medford Bassman]

i do see a dbx 166xs for $239. Better compressor?

It's all very confusing to me. Sorry.

 

[projectMalamute]

Sorry all I'm confused. So is the DBX 266xs worth the $149 or not?

I'd really like to kepp it as low as possible.

No.

The 166 is fine.

The 266 is junk.

At least the 166 used to be fine, I don't know about this latest series. The old, old school 166(no suffix) is actually kinda great at what it does. The 166A and 166XL are serviceable utility comp/gates.

 

[gnjpowell]

If you are patient you should be able to find a used dbx 166 under $100 and they don't really wear out.

 

[jmlee]

I've had really good and very musical results with a DBX163 series half-width rack "Over Easy" compressor. I see on eBay that they can easily be had for $50 or so these days. It says something that I've been using this in my rack for more than 15 years and it's still there after my trying a number of other products that were far less musical.

 

[bongomania]

Yes, the 166(suffix) is noticeably better than the 266(suffix). dbx model names and numbers

I do think the 166XS is going to be the best choice for brand new, rack format, under $300. I can suggest less expensive options in pedal format. And my strongest recommendation for value is to buy used.

 

[pasta4lnch]

dig my dbx 160a on bass - used it once or twice on a kick, but not enough to form an opinion.

 

[WayneP]

Sorry all I'm confused. So is the DBX 266xs worth the $149 or not?

You should be able to ebay a dbx 160X for that price...

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt