what's this dbx 118 mod?

floid · Post by **floid** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 12:50 pm

This guy has had a few of these on the Bay lately, and i'm wondering what's up - I thought the original dbx chips were what made these boxes appealing. But, "decoupling cap," now that sounds like it might be a little more interesting...

Rodgre · Post by **Rodgre** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 2:54 pm

Doesn't "renowned" imply that at the very least, gear geeks like us have heard about it?

Pretty much any device that uses standard 8-pin op-amps, dual or single, is fair game for "Burr-Browning" with newer, high-performance op-amps, so if that's what they mean by "renowned" then I might sell my old clock-radio with the "renowned Burr-Brown" mod on ebay too.

Roger

tubetapexfmr · Post by **tubetapexfmr** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 5:21 pm

As someone who sells modified gear on ebay myself this guy needs to put some more specific info on his mods on there is he wants a decent price for his work.Possibly, if he is modding it right, he is swapping out an opamp or two, upping the value and/or quality of some coupling caps and hopefully recapping the electrolytic caps. A fairly simple operation. I don't like his use of quotes as it makes his mods sound sarcastic. Excuse me, I mean make his "mods" sound "sarcastic". By the way I haven't ever messed witht hese DBX units before but I believe the "sound" they're known for comes from the VCA chip, not the opamp(s).

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Fri Oct 03, 2008 8:07 am

jessemesasavage wrote:As someone who sells modified gear on ebay myself this guy needs to put some more specific info on his mods on there is he wants a decent price for his work.Possibly, if he is modding it right, he is swapping out an opamp or two, upping the value and/or quality of some coupling caps and hopefully recapping the electrolytic caps. A fairly simple operation. I don't like his use of quotes as it makes his mods sound sarcastic. Excuse me, I mean make his "mods" sound "sarcastic". By the way I haven't ever messed witht hese DBX units before but I believe the "sound" they're known for comes from the VCA chip, not the opamp(s).

Correct.

WingedOne · Post by **WingedOne** » Fri Aug 14, 2009 2:55 am

Allot of these older units can be improved by way of some amp power supply mods (clean power works), improving OP amp performance specs and such. For one thing advances in component innovations & performance have continued since good ol Burr Brow got bought out decades ago:acknowledging their innovation achievements . The dbx's can be improved without touching the VCAs.

The [u]original [/u]"Burr Brown" mod specs etc are around on the net .. the concept isn't a secret and some overviews can be found. Note the quotes. That's what many writers do when citing a genericized name (aproprietary eponym). It can't be [u]Burr Brown [/u]anyway because they don't exist. I guess there could be stashes or old stocks of their stuff. But the performance specs have been surpassed anyway. I wonder what TI is doing with their stuff.

I know someone who bought a "Burr Brown/modded" dbx though I don't know if was from the guy you mention. In our A/B comparison against a non-modded unit it sounded noticeably better, though not a severe bench test I know. I like the dbx 118s particularly their bang for buck. Many more modern and costly units don't touch the modded dbx nor an un-modded one.

Fairs fair. If this guy on ebay is doing this (and other things) in anything resembling a business context then the price seems reasonable. Things cost" especially time and one-offs. I know I don't work for free unless I'm sitting at my bench on a Sunday just tinkering with my buddies broken radio. I had a look at his current listing and his feedback is stellar so the folks using his stuff certainly aren't complaining. Sounds like a bit of envy maybe?? Lets all start modding our clocks (good one). Now no dented egos please .... fairs, fair.

AstroDan · Post by **AstroDan** » Fri Aug 14, 2009 5:33 am

To me, the magic in these dbx units is the attack and release. The compression itself is totally usable, but the envelopes are just smooth, precise ninja tech. You can go directly from a pop snare to a drony synth pad, and these compressors just ebb and flow perfectly.

At least in the V.U. units; I had a 118 and couldn't get into that MXR Dynacomp type auto make-up gain.

WingedOne · Post by **WingedOne** » Sat Aug 22, 2009 4:06 pm

Thats one thing I love about those compressors from the 70s. That there was usually just one or two BIG knobs and when you turned it the stuff inside did its work.

This has me wondering about allot of the more modern compressors, the ones with a knob or switch for every one of their functions, in order to compress that is. That maybe many fail in the respect that yes, they are giving the user all this "control" but what they are not giving you is really clever, smart, brilliant design. Like a set of inbuilt algorithms that can tame any or most signals without requiring a break in your work flow because you are FORCED to go and tweak all those knobs and switches.
Design vs features maybe. Just a thought.

Does anyone have some other compressor recommendations??
I'd appreciate some others insight, experiences .....

Winged one flaps away.

shedshrine · Post by **shedshrine** » Sun Aug 23, 2009 9:35 am

stuff on modding dbx 117 and 118
http://www.untrue.ch/test/dbx118/DBX118.html

WingedOne · Post by **WingedOne** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 3:37 pm

Thanks for the link. The band is very Coooollllll

There's discussion about the [b]dbx 118 mods[/b] on Gearslutz as well.

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