DBX 160XT / 903 for 500 series...

Can someone who knows how, PLEASE make this happen?
Would be great to have a few of of these around..  Single space 500 or 2 in a 1u rack would be amazing.
Classic utility comps, schematics readily available and I can't imagine they would be all that expensive.
If I am able to help, I will... but I doubt I can offer much more than the (great) idea and the first 2 orders..  :^)
Igor?  Peter?  Abe?  Anyone?

dbx903's go for around $120 used, doesn't make sense to DIY when they're that cheap.

Mark

Agreed!

That's true enough... but much more so for you guys in the US..
They rarely seem to crop up in the UK for whatever reason..
I've had them both as saved search on eBay for months..
Guess I'm just impatient...  :

thanks for the hint
just bought one (EUR 123,74 shipped from US)

will be a nice 51X project, needs all the voltages ...

If you do decide to implement a 51X version, I would suggest adding a hard knee mode ala the 160 along with the overeasy mode that's already there.

Mark

what the difference between a 903 and a 160 XT ? or is it the same thing just renumbers for the modular format?

There seem to be so many variants of the 160 what are the ones to look out for and what are the ones to steer clear of?

Is the 903 one worth getting for the good 160 type sound?

afaik the good reputation of the dbx 16* derived all from the original 160a which is still in production and has its price. though the naming is similar the xt has got nothing (or only few) to do with the original. so for any attempts in this direction i would only recommend the 160a. if it's not about this specific comp there are quite some nice comps for the 500 series on the market yet.

Thanks Sir !

sir round said:

afaik the good reputation of the dbx 16* derived all from the original 160a which is still in production and has its price. though the naming is similar the xt has got nothing (or only few) to do with the original. so for any attempts in this direction i would only recommend the 160a. if it's not about this specific comp there are quite some nice comps for the 500 series on the market yet.

Click to expand...

the a version is the latest revision and the least respected. Most folks like the 160 VU best, followed by the X/XT series and the 903. From VU to X/XT version there changed a lot. Detector, VCA, opamps, metering, pretty much everything.... dunno what happened from X/XT to A version. I´ve not yet seen the A schematic (but I´d like to...) ;D

jensenmann said:

the a version is the latest revision and the least respected. Most folks like the 160 VU best, followed by the X/XT series and the 903. From VU to X/XT version there changed a lot. Detector, VCA, opamps, metering, pretty much everything.... dunno what happened from X/XT to A version. I´ve not yet seen the A schematic (but I´d like to...) ;D

Click to expand...

hmm... sorry if i've been mistaken about the recent 160a... while searching for more dbx-information (just got a 163x for cheap ;D) i found that there is no 160 vu- people named it vu because of the meters (just in case someone's on the hunt ;-) ). followed by the 165 (still with vu meters). the first 1u with led meters was the 160x, looking very similar to the recent 160a.
the 160xt followed up the 160x, had no transformers (according to another thread around "t" is for "transformerLESS"  : ) and is therefore not as desirable for some people.
so my choice for a 500s rack version would be the 160 (which i thought to be closest to the 160a of the recent models  ???). for a 903: not that expensive and small in shape already. as a diy project i'd rather rack up a pair of those than developing a clone for the 500 format.
just my some cent..

Neither the 160X or 160XT have transformers, however they both have OPTIONAL output transformer capability, i just installed a Jensen on mine. Besides that, the difference between the 2 is in some opamps and the back connectors, the X has screw-in terminals, while the XT has XLRs, Jim Williams knows exactly which opamps are used on the output stages of each, if im not mistaken X has LM301, and XT uses NE553x

LF351 and LF353 in the audiopath, RC4558 in the sidechain

received my 903 today

looks different compared to the schematic
different ICs, different VCA (8 SIP VCAs in parallel), funny looking RMS detector (CA3083 + one Transistor + one Diode on a PCB adapted to a DIP8 footprint)