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Posted 20 hours ago

DBX 286S Mic Preamp/Compressor

£90£180.00Clearance
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ZTS2023
Joined in 2023
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I've had it a couple months, and it's all good. I'm entirely satisfied with its performance. The preamp is really clean and transparent until you push it really hard, at which point it just rounds things off a smidge and gives you a tiny bit of attitude. I use every one of the processors as intended. No complaints....except G.A.S. (Gear Acquisition Syndrome). The compressor makes a real difference to your voice. It adds a punch to what you're saying, it crunches and compresses your voice so it's at 1 level. the de-easer doesn't work. I couldn't get it to work unless I turned it all the way up. After opening up the unit I can see there are calibration screws on the board. Maybe this would be useful if it was properly calibrated at the factory… but it isn't. The DBX 286s Mic Preamp Processor is a full featured Channel Strip Processor that delivers a studio quality microphone/instrument preamplifier and four processors that can be used independently or in any combination. Enhancer HF Detail Characteristic: Program-controlled shelving equalizer, approximately 15dB maximum HF boost

My chain is the following: RE20 > dbx 286s > cloudlifter > SSL2 > PC. While the cloudlifter is overkill, I don't like pushing gain on the 286s or SSL2. The cloudlifter has let me keep my gain settings at +30 on the 286s and 4/10 on the SSL2. This helps avoid concerns with noise in the chain around the 286s, by adjusting gain settings to ideal configurations.Next up, is the +48-volt phantom power, as well as the high-pass filter that gets rid of the lowest part of the spectrum—everything below 80 Hz. This comes in handy for those great condenser microphones that don’t have an additional high-pass filter on them. HF Detail: Characteristic Program-controlled shelving equalizer, approximately 15dB maximum HF boost Collection and delivery costs are included for the first 2 years in the event of an item becoming faulty The mic preamp gain is the overall volume and application of your microphone. When the level is set correctly when you speak you're not going to clip the red light, but the 2 green lights should be on when talking.

For customers in outlying areas of the country, the price of the Extended Warranty may be marginally higher, due to the potential for higher collection and redelivery transport costs. We recommend adjusting the Drive to around 3 and Density to around 3 as well. Tweak these settings to develop a sound that's really good for your station and your style of voice. De-EsserThat's why I wanted to share what each of the knobs, buttons, and LEDs all meant so you could tweak the device to your own needs. Personally I'd recommend just saving your money and using plugins for musical processes. If you need a hardware vocal chain… save your money. Treat/dampen your room for reflections. Buy a high quality mic, preamp, compressor etc. Microphone processors give your voice clarity and a crisper feel. Radio presenters use processors to add warmth to their voice and to sound more present when broadcasting, which is key if you're going up against other stations. Enhancer LF Detail Characteristic: Bell-shaped boost @ 80Hz, bell-shaped cut @250Hz, ratio is approximately 2:1 For the gain knob, talk into your microphone or play other input device like an guitar and watch the lights while you turn up the knob until you are consistently hitting the -10 level. You don't want to hit 0 and you definitely don't want to hit clip. For the Shure SM7B I have my gain set to 55.

I would never recommend gating on the way in. Why would you? Just delete extraneous noise in the DAW.If the green lights aren't being hit then you're talking too quietly, so try and find that perfect balance. Phantom Power The compressor section is rather simple. To be frank, we would prefer to have more versatility in a compressor. Still, it gets the job done and has drive and intensity (which is essentially compression ratio) controls. There’s also an LED strip indicator that gives some rough info on how much compression is being applied at any given moment. Years ago I decided I wanted this pre, but through unforeseen circumstances I never got to buy it. Since then, I have upgraded my signal chain from a 1st gen Scarlett 2i2 to a Clarett. As I am starting a new production I thought: what the hell, just buy it. At this price you really can't go wrong. The DBX 286s offers a full compliment of metering and status LEDs to visually guide you to achieving the right sound. The floating balanced XLR Mic Input accepts balanced or unbalanced inputs to easily connect to professional and home studio microphones. The high frequency enhancer works to add definition and crispness to vocals, guitars and other instruments. It's basically magic. Expander/Gate

If you're using a bunch of plugins to improve your mic for live situations, such as live streaming and meetings, it's time to ditch plugins that emulate De-esser, noise gate, compression, light EQ. It's adding latency/delay in your vocals, and you're having to account for that. This is where the 286s comes in, by offloading audio processing to hardware. You'll account for the core portion of your audio processing through the 286s, and will pretty much ditch all plugins for live use cases. Please note that this extended warranty is currently only available on products sold within the UK, EU or EEA, and is subject to the terms and conditions as detailed on the extended warranty certificate provided. When I'm done, I put the end covers on the Gator case, and put it away, out of sight until I need it again.I have this thing paired up with a shure sm7b mic going staright into the dbx286s and then finally ending with my UA apollo twin. After. The DBX 286S has a 48v phantom power switch which is used to power most condenser microphones like the Behringer B-1, Blue Spark, and Neumann TLM 103 as mentioned in How to Get a Radio Voice post and a few others in Best Microphones for Online Radio post. High-Pass That said, this is not the model you’d want if you’re building a state-of-the-art fully professional studio. It just won’t bring out the full potential of your other gear, and you might want to go with something more advanced in this case, like Avalon’s VT-737SP. I bought this unit because I had a specific need for this exact feature set. I hesitated initially, however, because its extremely low price point made me second-guess its quality, both build and sound. I leave this off because it gives you less dynamic range, but if you're in a room with a hum below that frequency, experiment with turning it on.

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