DBX 560A Mods

Hey guys, first poster here...  ;D!
Bought a pair of 560as during sweetwater's sale a couple months back and have been really curious about what kind of mods can be performed.
I've seen ebay listings for these units with burr browns swapped in for the opamps and am most curious about this but the SMT nature of the stock components has me a little spooked. Beside the fact that SMT being more difficult to mod for its size, I think it may also be the case that a burr brown swap might require a modification to the op amp footprint.
Just wondering if anyone might know anything about these mods and might be able to offer some hints in right direction.

Thanks!
e

why do you want to mod them in the first place?

Is there something they do not do that you wish they did?  Is there something in the sound you do not like?

That ebay seller sticks Burr-Brown chips in everything, changes a few caps, and makes claims of significant audio improvements.  While the actual work they do is legit, it does not mean the products were flawed to begin with.

epresalex said:

I've seen ebay listings for these units with burr browns swapped in for the opamps

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it would be nice if the people who were talking about which op-amps are better than others would have realized that Texas Instruments bought Burr-Brown 15 years ago, and the old B-B facility here in Tucson has been dormant for quite some time.

There is no more "Burr-Brown."

-a

If you take a look at the schematic for a DBX 160A and follow the actual signal path, you'll see that there's an opamp debalancing/buffer stage, that feeds a VCA, and then the VCA feeds an output/balancing stage.

Everything else is related to compression action, and the meters.

There's really not much to "improve" on in this circuit.  Swapping out the input/output opamps might make it sound slightly different, but the opamps aren't really doing any heavy lifting so their impact is subtle.

I would suggest leaving the 560A as it is.

Wow, ok, thanks for the responses guys. Wasn't saying there were flaws with the units or that there was anything particularly poor about the sound, frankly, I just like to tinker and experiment with modifications, learn and get my hands in things and enjoy the act almost as much as any positive end results. Just figured it was worth searching around for some knowledge.
These Revive Audio guys have clips on their site (http://www.reviveaudio.com/index.php?route=information/information&information_id=7/#s) that when I a/b sounded like pretty decent, albeit subtle sonic improvements, so i figured it was worth trying to get some info about.

BB's or not I usually just assume that when units come around that are as affordably priced as the 560a that there are probably places to improve signal where the manufacturer had to cut costs, weather it's for BB's, THATs, TI etc

Thanks for the good words tho, if anyone has anymore insight let me know!

-e

polystyrene coupling caps and transformers might make it 160sl-ish.

hard to tell from internet pictures if there is room inside

Thanx for the reply Doc.
Unfortunately I really doubt I'd be able to squeeze a decent xfmr in there and being that it's all SMT, not too sure I can go throwing thru hole polystys on there either.. Could be doable just for coupling but my limited experience w SMT makes me weary about fucking around in there without certainty. I guess I just need to do more of my own research.

I bought 8 when the sale was on.  $160 a compressor is hard to beat, can't even build for that.  They rock as is, I'd leave 'em!

Siegfried Meier said:

I bought 8 when the sale was on.  $160 a compressor is hard to beat, can't even build for that.  They rock as is, I'd leave 'em!

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yea I would most likely do that any ways especially if there is no difference between them and my 160A.
If you want to play with the character, try some transformers at different impedances before and after inline on your cable connections. That a way if you don't like it, you can always go back to a normal patch cable.