Free (to the engineer with the best reason) dbx 266 comp/lim

[cgarges]

I've always wanted to create music that sucked so bad it could literally damage equipment...

Keep in mind that it's a dbx 266, so there's actually a risk of the gear sucking so bad that it could literally damage the musicians.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[joelmoore]

I voted for Bush.

[palinilap]

My recording skills are "limited," so it only makes sense.

[Harry]

I voted for Bush.

I was going to add something funny to this thread...but I think we have a clear winner here:)

[lambchop]

Hey, I suffer from chronic flatuence. Anything that could limit and compress my...er passings would be of benefit to the other occupants of my humble studio.

[Spark]

Compressor I know,
Dynamic range disappear,
Bellow a threshold.

[Judas Jetski]

I've always wanted to create music that sucked so bad it could literally damage equipment...

Keep in mind that it's a dbx 266, so there's actually a risk of the gear sucking so bad that it could literally damage the musicians.

HAHAHAHA like a bad ground in a basement practice room, zapping you when you touch your strings... Only instead of zapping the life out of you, it sucks the talent from your fingers--never to return!!! I was an awesome guitar player, until I plugged in that 266! LOOK AT ME NOW!!! AAAIIIIIIGGHHHHH!!!!!

OK, no, wait! Wait! Here we go. I want to have a shootout: dbx 266 vs. Alesis 3630! Loser gets set on fire whilst being recorded processing signal. This project will be recorded to cassette (not anything cool, only sucky cassette), using the crappiest board I can find and these two compressors! My intention is to record only inanimate objects, so as not to contaminate any actual musicians. When the project is finished, the gear will be hermetically sealed in plastic, then stored in an underground storage facility in Utah (sorry, Utah. You've got stable geology ). The equipment used to bury this gear will then itself be buried on-site.

[NewAndImprov]

OK, no, wait! Wait! Here we go. I want to have a shootout: dbx 266 vs. Alesis 3630!

OK, so this is going to sound pathetic, but I have done exactly that shoot-out. And, FWIW, the 266 won. I guess the real challenge would be finding something that actually did sound worse than the 3630. The 3630 sounded completely unuseable, the 266 marginally useable.

edited to say: Please don't give it to me.

[Judas Jetski]

Yeah, but did you set it on fire?

[cgarges]

And, FWIW, the 266 won.

Not in my world, it didn't, but I've been along-time champion of the 3630 around here.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[Gentleman Jim]

Ok, so here's my pitch: If you send the 266 to me
-I won't act all too-cool-for-school about it;
-I won't use it to alter the dynamic envelope of my gastrointestinal gurglings;
-I won't crush, bend, fold, mutilate, immolate, molest, squash, destroy, dispose of, eradicate, ruin, damage, annihilate, wreck, or render it inoperable in any way.

What I will do is to bring it to the dive bar/bowling alley where I used to work. There, it will be put into a rack, displacing an ancient, grimy, broken MXR graphic eq that as far as I know was broken when it left the factory.

At the dive bar/bowling alley your 266 won't just get used, it will get used often. Hell, if my opinions about some of the other sound mixers there is even half accurate, it will get overused on a nightly basis. Since a couple of them have no idea what the Threshold and Ratio knobs actually do, I can guarantee you that your 266 will live out the rest of its days in the compressor's equivalent of a race horse stud farm: It will be pumping and breathing hard for 4 hours a night.

Mind you, the booking policy of said dive bar/bowling alley has really slipped in the past couple of years, so chances are good that your 266 won't be guilty of ruining any subtle music; they haven't had any there since the summer of 2008. Mostly it will be squashing vocals from some of the least inventive ska/punk, metal, rockabilly, and gimmick-tribute bands that the greater NY/NJ/PA area has to offer. It will prevent bass players who haven't a clue from blowing FOH speakers when they hit a distortion pedal with the volume knob turned all the way up, (because that sounded cool in their bedroom through the Gorilla 20 watt practice amp), thus ensuring that more mediocre-at-best bands can play for fewer and fewer people, thus continuing the spiral of desperation.

So who knows, some day a decent band may actually get booked there again. And some years after that they may actually amount to something. And later on in their career, after the cycle of backlash and appreciation has gone around a few times, that band might actually acknowledge the start they got from a dive bar/bowling alley near where they grew up. And, because our memories are nowhere near as accurate as we think they are, they'll do an interview with the local paper reflecting on their success. In this article, they'll mention how they used to play at the dive bar/bowling alley, and how even as a successful band, they still can't get it to sound as good onstage with all their fancy sound gear as it sounded all those years ago... when their vocals were being squashed to hell through your 266.

/book

[gabe real]

the 266 is not that bad. it has it uses, from live sound to in the studio. i used one
for a long time to get my "beats" to sound right. it made my tracks "bump" back in 1996 to 2001. dont sleep on it.
nice little pump action with a glue kind of thud thing. not too
snappy at medium to medium-fast attack/release times.

it doesn't pop/snap like a 3630. almost like a 118 but cleaner and more control.
plus a gate. the 166xl is a balanced version of the 266.

plus it has a over easy/rms button to change the flavor too.

if thats all you have, it will work. not the best, but far from the worst.
everything has its place.

now a 3630 will make your bass kick sound like a pencil fight.

[BostonBassist]

My short simple pitch:

I help to run a non-profit local community arts center. Completely run by volunteers, all of the money raised helps to heat & keep the lights on. We exist entirely on donations. We run a monthly coffeehouse to showcase original music. The only thing the space has is a board and a set of house speakers. I have to lug my own monitor speakers when I do sound there. I am sure the performers would love even the smallest amount of enhancement to the sound, drummers and percussionists that come in go through the board with no compression, taming those signals in a 100 year old hall would be helpful!!!!

[antoniosolo]

Elvis (who IS alive) said he would do a comeback album with me if you gave it to us for the project....he is also willing to throw in a banana/pb, sammich, autographed...Don't screw this up for me bro!

[rty5150]

here is my reason:

i got laid off right before christmas and have had a hard time finding a new job and am helping a friend record an ep for his band. my family had to deal with a crappy christmas and i would like the 266 to possibly use it on their mix someway.


rich