Chrismanbass Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 thinking about buying one of these for my function band does anyone have any experience with them? http://www.studiospares.com/crossovers/dbx-driverack-px/invt/379490/# i'm running into 2 mackie 18" subs and 2 mackie srm 450s doing gigs where set up time is at a premium and so it seems like it would save me some time any opinions welcome cheers Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike257 Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 I've not had to configure one myself, just seen them in house rigs that I've worked on. The consensus from what I've read is that they are useful tools, but really only as good as the person operating it - have you got any sound engineer mates that could do some initial setup and give you a schooling on it? Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 I have one I am no longer using and would love to sell it to you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VTypeV4 Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 I've used them in a number of rigs over the years and they've always been great.. The facilities they offer are very comprehensive, reasonably simple to use and most importantly they sound great. My only criticism is that the patches can't be locked (meaning people who shouldn't be messing can) unlike some of the other similar units. I did have a display fail once but it was fixed under warranty. Real good bit of kit like most dBx stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51m0n Posted November 6, 2012 Share Posted November 6, 2012 They are great. but if you dont know what you are doing they cant perform magic. They are a decent tool for a good enginneer to use to get more consistent results with. If you get the time to do the full room sweeps with them and store the results away they can make subsequent setups far faster, but nothing ever means you can stop using your ears! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whizzzy Posted November 6, 2012 Share Posted November 6, 2012 I've had one of these in my amp rack for several years now and it has been totally reliable. There is a forum for dBX products and specifically for the Drive Rack which can be found here [url="http://www.dbxpro.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=70"]http://www.dbxpro.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=70[/url] Mine is now being used as a glorified active crossover however but as there are specific roll off frequencies and soft compression needed for my system then it does exactly what I need it to. The important thing is to ensure that the DriveRack is set up correctly from the outset and is exactly matched to the technical specifications of your amps and speakers. If you're really lucky you may find that the settings for the Mackie cabs that you are running are already pre-programmed in the unit and then it will simplify the task quite a bit. If the settings are not pre-programmed then allow yourself a good few hours to sort this out - certainly it is not the sort of thing that you should be trying to do at a gig. The graphic EQ is probably one of least useful features of the system as it is quite a faff to call up the specific 'sliders' and adjust them. I still use a conventional 31 band graphic for this as I find it much quicker and straight forward to use. The real time analyser is also clever but in practice it is far simpler and quicker to set up your PA with your ears rather than using pink noise to EQ the room (the other fact is that the room eq will change significantly when you get a crowd of people in the room and then it will not be practical to start using the RTA to make further adjustments) The feedback eliminator is reasonably useful, especially if don't have a dedicated sound engineer and have to rely on one of the band members to keep things in check on the fly. Remember though that this is not a substitute for setting up a system correctly in the first place and should only be relied upon as a final line of defense. Another tip is to store two complete set-ups, one with the tops and subs and then a second with tops running full range. This way whey you end up at those venues where you don't need your subs then just run the tops as a full range system. Dial up the setting on the DriveRack and away you go. Not sure how this is going to save you set-up time though as if anything if your speakers are active then you will end up running more cabling however the noticeable gains that hear in sound quality will certainly outweigh the negatives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrismanbass Posted November 10, 2012 Author Share Posted November 10, 2012 awesome thanks guys now to convince the guy that controls the purse strings (my boss) that its worth the investment Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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