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Availability:
Only 1 left in stock, order soon!
Arrives
Thursday, Jun 19
Size: Mono 4-way
Style: with Mic XLR connectors
Features
- Studio quality mic preamp/channel strip processor
- Classic dbx compression puts great sound within easy reach
- Frequency tuneable de-esser reduces sibilance and high frequency distortion
- Enhancer increases the detail and definition of the high and low frequencies
- Program adaptive expander/Gate. Frequency response: 20Hz to 20kHz
- Input: 1/4" TRS (x2) and XLR (x1); output: 1/4" TRS (x1)
- Operating voltage: 120VAC 60Hz, 100VAC 50/60Hz
- Purchase includes: dbx286s, power cord, operation manual, and rack mount screws and washers (x4)
Description
dbx 286s Microphone Preamp & Channel Strip Processor From the Manufacturer The cost and hassle of patching together multiple processors for use on one track can be frustrating. The dbx 286s provides you with all the mic processing you need in one box, with the shortest, cleanest signal path to keep your music sounding its best! The floating balanced XLR mic input Accepts balanced or unbalanced inputs to easily connect to professional and home studio microphones. The additional 1/4" TRS line input can accept balanced/unbalanced signals to process live electronic instruments or pre- recorded tracks at mix down. Use the insert jack to interface between the mic preamp and the signal processing sections to "Loop out" to external processors (such as EQ or delay unit) or to mix the mic preamp's signal out to an external destination.
Item Weight: 5.1 pounds
Product Dimensions: 19 x 5.75 x 1.75 inches
Item model number: 286s
Is Discontinued By Manufacturer: No
Date First Available: February 11, 2011
Size: Mono 4-way
Frequently asked questions
If you place your order now, the estimated arrival date for this product is:
Thursday, Jun 19
Yes, absolutely! You may return this product for a full refund within 30 days of receiving it.
To initiate a return, please visit our Returns Center.
View our full returns policy here.
To initiate a return, please visit our Returns Center.
View our full returns policy here.
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Similar Products
Top Amazon Reviews
Size: Mono 4-way
Style: with Mic XLR connectors
Its kinda crazy that there isn't much competition for channel processors. At this lower price point you have DBX - which is well known for their quality products at decent pricing and then you have Behringer which is mostly cheap junk that's waiting to fail at the most inconvenient time. If you want to try and find something better than this - well that's nearly impossible unless you are willing to spend more than 10 times the amount, about $3k-$4k, on something like a Rupert Neve Shelford Channel. It's hard to beat what DBX is offering and maybe that's why there is no middle ground. Price point wise, this might be difficult for someone starting out to justify but its the piece of gear that will truly help take your vocal track to the next level. Pair it with a great LDC like a Lewitt 440 Pure and you won't need to do much post processing. Julian Krause has a great tutorial on how to get started with this and Darren O'Neill gives a little longer explanation that may help you more with the de esser and enhancer. The before and after is an astounding night and day transformation.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2023 by MrDIY
Size: Mono 4-way
Style: with Mic XLR connectors
Simply put -- there's no better deal in terms of value for the dollar when it comes to mic preamps. You get compression, a gate/expander, phantom power, and high/low tone controls. I ran a signal through a spectrum analyzer and discovered those tone controls work very much like you would expect them to. There's nothing tricky about them, it's just a gentle high shelf and gentle low shelf which is exactly what you want. The compressor and expander/gate have limited controls, but they're setup so that pretty much anyone could operate them by ear and the default settings "just work." I don't find myself needing additional attack or release for vocals or voiceover. I measured the gain stage and the dbx 286s offers very clean preamplification. You have to turn it up all the way into the red to get any harmonic distortion, but don't hesitate to do that if you like the sound... While the red light looks scary, it's just the kind of saturation you might get from a plugin except this has no foldback distortion since it's analog. Sometimes you hear negativity about this device in audio production forums --- after my analysis I'm convinced some people resent it because you get so much bang for the buck. It could make someone who spent a lot more feel like they wasted their money. I've used the dbx286s for years and I love it.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2023 by M. Cox
Size: Mono 4-way
Style: with Mic XLR connectors
Game changer! 1) Read the manual, understand the settings. 2) Do not, DO NOT set your microphone to close to the device, standard electronic feedback (how the famous lightsaber buzz was created) will mislead you to think unit is defective, it is certainly not! I recommend 3 ft. away minimum, one mogami in the chain at least. 3) Start with suggested settings from a trained engineer in a good tutorial video. Once this is set right it will blow your mind! Win!
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Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2023 by M. James
Size: Mono 4-way
Style: with Mic XLR connectors
Easily one of the best pieces of hardware i have purchased for my recordings. The gate, oh the gate! i record for VO. If you record too and your recording area is less than ideal, i cannot recommend this piece of equipment enough. They should rename this piece the "room attenuator". Worth every penny. You will recoup your investment in less than a week if you spend any time at all cleaning up audio files for submission. This has cut at least half of my editing time away. Easy to setup, and put into use. i installed this unit in under 30 minutes including dialing in the best input sound i have ever had to work with EVER. Buy it today and you can thank me tomorrow. You want a more professional sound...DBX286S
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Reviewed in the United States on January 20, 2023 by Bearden. Atlanta Georgia
Size: Mono 4-way
Style: with Mic XLR connectors
Review as a user that only uses for voiceover recording. Does not apply to those that are using for instruments. My primary use is home office, videos, and web conference calls. I have no need to compress voiceover/narration/conference calls, etc.. I have no need for a de-esser. I have no need for a crappy 2 band EQ booster. None of that matters for recording speaking levels. However, I have found that using a bit of the LF boost helps to hide reverb caused by an acoustically untreated room. There is an output gain that I don't understand, it seems like it would be a make-up gain from another processor, but has no clear relation. All of those things aside, I like it because I couldn't find a prosumer noise gate to accompany my USB audio interface outside of this. Why the audio interface makers don't just add a noise gate is beyond me. It is not desired by people who plan to post produce their audio, but for live audio in a home office, it's a great feature. There are a lot of youtube videos on this thing. Most of them seem to be wrong or misguided advice. If you're recording speech for youtube or just web conferencing, turn the preamp gain to drive your mic to one green LED on the preamp in meter, then turn it down a few clicks. Turn your audio interface gain until you are averaging -15 to -12 db on a software meter (you can use a DAW, I just use OBS or Audacity). Turn everything but the noise gate off. For the noise gate, it could really shine if it had an attack and release adjustment. Every youtube guide I've found for setting it up is wrong in my opinion. It has two controls, labeled threshold and ratio. The hardcoded attack and release are not adjustable. Every video I've seen says to turn threshold at room noise level until it closes then turn 4 more clicks. Then set ratio to 2:1. This does not work for me. It leaves the door too far open and causes the attack and release (to slow and fast respectively in my opinion) to trip on each other. Threshold simply says what level of noise to open the gate. Ratio is how much the door is open when the gate is closed. Ratio knob all the way to the left equals door nearly completely open (i.e. gate is doing nothing when active). All the way to the right is door nearly completely closed when gate is active. First, with nothing but ambient noise (try to keep computer fans, etc. as far from your mic as possible), watch your DAW noise meter, start with the threshold and ratio completely to the left. With nothing but your normal ambient room noise, turn the threshold until the light goes red, don't turn any further. Now adjust your ratio until you see your DAW noise meter stay at zero, don't go any further. That's the best you'll get it with this.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 24, 2020 by NR