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Any post on the dbx 160SL "Blue Max" Compressor

Submitted by dabmeister music on Fri, 02/06/2004 - 12:53

Is there a post on the dbx 160SL compressor/limiter? I saw one advertised and was surprised on the specs that were given. Is this a dud or workhorse? And does it shine in any particular area such as "great on vocals" or it "handles that kick drum" & etc. Any opinions?

Comments

I believe the SL has a slightly revised circuit. There was a re-occuring problem with the 160S so once this was discovered, the company made the SL version with the corrected circuitry. Any S can be repaired and upgraded to SL with a little work. There was some talk of this over at Techtalk. You should check it out for more details.

Sat, 02/07/2004 - 07:36 Permalink

Originally posted by Tommytones:
I believe the SL has a slightly revised circuit. There was a re-occuring problem with the 160S so once this was discovered, the company made the SL version with the corrected circuitry. Any S can be repaired and upgraded to SL with a little work. There was some talk of this over at Techtalk. You should check it out for more details.

Thanks for the info Tom. Did a search for any mention of it over at TT but it must have scrolled off as I didn't find anything. No matter, I'd probably be getting the SL version anyway.

Sat, 02/07/2004 - 09:05 Permalink

The 160S is obsolete. There was a few issues with 160S. One was a heat realted problem, one was that the VCA's would go bad. The big difference in the 160S to the 160SL is in the way it affects the manual mode Attack/Release timing circuit. When auto mode it on, it makes no difference. The advantage of the upgrade to SL is that it prevents distortion at short release settings in the manual mode.

Sat, 02/07/2004 - 14:09 Permalink