Great compressor while it lasts! I've had two of these units so far and the first lasted 4-5 years before dying and this second one is on the way out after about four years. I'm tired of dropping a few hundred each time this happens so I'll be looking for a different option. That said, when it is working it sounds great. Being able to dial in exactly what I want with threshold, ratio, attack, and release knobs + OverEasy for soft knee comp has been nice.

It does everything I need it to do. I ditched my old Alesis dual compressor and I am very happy with the performance of the Dbx.

I've been using dbx compressors since the 70s and they've always sounded great. From home theater systems to arena touring systems, I've never been disappointed. With this processor, the 266XS, you get signature compression and gating for a fraction of the price you'd pay for another company's box with the same sound quality. I highly recommend it.

My current application is in my drum space... very dead room no overtones, echos, etc... AUDIX D2 top, AUDIX D3 bottom, running through BLACK LION AUTEUR MK II (2 channel pre) directly into the 266...Really tames the sound, adds punch/definition if set properly. Like most compressors you need to find the sweet spot, use your ears and find out what works..I run it in the stereo couple mode that works for what I am doing... Excellent results at the DAW and mix/master level... Great choice if you don't want to spend 5 times more..

This is the main part that needed to help with the streaming channels. The sound is perfect.

I'm using this for my guitar. Running it through my effects loop. I'm able to eliminate a few pedals from my board, plus it doesn't affect my tone. I'm going to use the second channel for a microphone. Since I build racks, my intentions are to integrate a lot of the mess I've been carrying around for years, into something more manageable.

I use this to punch up the volume for our priest. He whispers, then talks, then shouts. This unit is capable of giving us a nice solid track to put through the speakers. I tried another compressor. This one actually does the right thing for us.

Thanks to Zack for the suggestion.

Was initially looking for a vintage unit for a specific feel, but was discouraged by the hyping and subsequent overpricing of second-hand units. I got this with the intention of just trying it out first and expecting to return it when I was disappointed with it. The price led me to believe it wouldn't meet my expectations. But alas, I was wrong! It can be pretty snappy, which is fine if that's what you're after. But set to lighter parameters, and with the overeasy function turned on, it sounds transparent and crisp. That's all I really need for the few applications I'll be using it for. It sounds great on clean electric guitar and bombastic synthesizers. Can't comment on percussion and other instruments, but I'm loving it for guitar at the moment. A fine product by DBX.

I use this to record acoustic guitar tracks and vocal tracks. For the price, this thing does a great job.
And don't forget, it has a noise gate as well.

I have a couple DBX 286s channel strips and they work fine, but with the least amount of trouble I can get great sound for simple voice over work from this DBX 266XS.. just ordered another one. It's night and day the sound difference with it for voice audio. Brenton is my sales engineer.. top notch professional and super human being to work with..

I saw this unit and I honestly wasn't sure what to think. Depending on where you look, reviews on this unit are 50/50.
It's a very affordable unit which usually mean quality is mediocre. I needed something for recording and this fit the budget so I took a chance and I'm very happy I did. There is a small learning curve with this but the instructions are very easily laid out. There is a considerable, noticeable change in the compression mix and the noise gate works really well.If you have tons of money to spend I'm sure there are more high end compressors out there but If you do some home recording or live work this unit is great. Thanks again Sweetwater!!

works great. should've bought it a long time ago.

I use a Black Lion Eighteen mic preamp and the dbx 266xs works perfect with it for sweetening up and taming vocals before going into my audio interface. I like using the 2 compressors in the 266xs in series for a serial compression technique....very smooth and no pumping!

I bought one of these on a whim from a guitar store a couple years ago, and quickly realized that it was the most flexible compressor in my rack. I have since bought 1 additional one, and will continue adding more to my rig. They have the cleanest fast attack setting that I have seen from any budget compressor. I can really push it with drums without getting any crazy issues or bugs that come with some cheaper compressors. At the same time, the overeasy setting actually works quite nicely on soft bass guitar takes or backing vocals to really smooth out some sources.

Keep in mind that it is less than $200 and you get your money's worth, but for the versatility there is nothing like it on the market.

This is a great addition to a modern editing and recording system. arrived quickly and easy to install!

I purchased this unit to use for live solo gigs. You just cant go wrong with dbx. The vocals are present and articulate and sit up front in the mix. The bypass button gives you instant reference. The unit is also very intuitive when you turn a knob you can hear a change. great unit, great price, great results.

Bought this on a recommendation from a friend. I use it for solo acoustic gigs (both vocals and guitar) and 6 piece band gigs (usually vocals only). It adds warmth, punch, presence and clarity. Love that there's a bypass switch so you can instantly tell the difference back and forth when dialing in your sound live. Haven't used in the studio yet... I use the LA-2A plugin there so I can't speak to that. But live, it's awesome. Adam Chesi is always helpful at sweetwater.

Once I got familiar with the controls and some of my own custom settings according to my style of playing , the 266xs has become one of my most important additions to my bass rack. Thanks to your technicians and their patience with me and the product!

Awesome!!!

Works well, really no need to spend thousands of dollars when this will do the job.

For the price......it's superb. I have a few of the older XL models that they don't work as smooth as the XS models. On this unit, I have to turn the ratio way lower than the XL units. I don't use the noise gate or side-chain inserts so I can't comment on them.

I bought this unit to put between our TV line output and an audio amplifier we use for sound reinforcement. The sound levels were hard to control before we got this unit, but it does a great job controlling levels once I got it tweaked, took one evening of listening and the second of trimming to suit our situation. The inherent noise level is very low, and the sound from it is transparent, as far as my old ears can tell.

Part of my background is Radio-TV-Film and working at college and commercial stations for many years.

Nice unit overall, clean design, easy to setup with a little time spent learning the unit. No hesitation recommending it. And, Sweetwater has been EASY to deal with.

I bought this to add some compression to my18" subs and 3-way Loudspeakers (Mains) while also gating out any noise. I just got it and have only experimented with it in the studio but it seems to work great so far. Can't wait to try it out with the new band!

Exactly what I needed to help control the sound at our karaoke show. It has all the necessary tweaks need to make the show sound far better than before.

Installation was quick, Setup was effortless. And I never thought I'd say this about dbx hardware, but it's versatile enough that it can do some quite subtle control of vocals. Virtually inaudible, but excellent control. And the gate/expander is adjustable for smooth reduction in mic levels without the hard cutoff that most gates are despised for. Seriously eases my work load during a live performance, and adds that extra level of production value to a mix.

Very good value. If you're hesitating, don't.

This had the best instruction manual I have ever read. It was precise, clear, and understandable. The best part was that it included definitions of terms. Most instructions manuals are translations from other languages and the meanings of the terms get lost in the translation or are left to your imagination. I did not have to guess as to what that word meant.
Great job.

We use these as ALC's on our streaming audio feeds. One of our streams has a number of phone feeds with very inconsistent levels. This takes care of that problem.

That's all we had to do in our band...now my brother doesn't get a stiff back from swiveling around to turn the vocals up and down with each song.

For the price? It's a great compressor.

I'm a DJ and I'm using it to help even out a few mp3 tracks that have some outlandish levels. The compression sounds great without anything getting squashed. A really solid purchase.

Almost right out of the box this gear did exactly what we needed. Very easy set up and just some tweaking and we haven't touched since. Couldn't be more pleased with price & performance.