dbx 160, 160A, 160X, 160XT, 160VU, 160S: Which One Are You Actually Looking At?

A dbx 160 VU compressor, the original half-rack model with wooden cheeks and a single VU meter

Nine compressors have carried the number 160 on the front panel, and the two ends of the family do not share a single gain-control element. The 1976 original runs a discrete Blackmer gain cell potted in a metal can. The 160A most people picture when they hear "dbx 160" runs a monolithic chip in an eight-pin package. Same name, same feed-forward topology, different silicon, and a gap of roughly four to one in used price.

Which is why the question of which dbx 160 version to buy keeps getting asked badly. Buyers compare a 160X to a 160XT and hear nothing, compare a 160A to a 160 VU and hear everything, and conclude the difference must be magic. It is two VCA generations, one soft-knee circuit that arrived around 1980, and drifting trim pots.

dbx 160: which version to buy, in one table

Model Years VCA Knee Metering Channels Good at Band, 2026
160 (the "160 VU") 1975 or 1976 Discrete Blackmer cell, metal can Hard only Moving-coil VU Mono, no strapping jack Kick, snare, bass USD 700 to 1,400
162 1976 210 VCA, daughter card Hard, predates OverEasy Two moving-coil meters Stereo, rear coupling Stereo percussion, bus Too few sales to call
165 1978 or 1980 Discrete, 202 generation First dbx with OverEasy Moving-coil Mono, couplable Vocals USD 900 to 1,400
165A 1982 Discrete, 202 generation OverEasy, PeakStopLimiter 30dB moving-coil Mono, front-panel coupling Drums, with real attack control USD 900 to 1,400
160X 1982 IC, 8-pin SIP (146732 / 146742) Switchable 19-segment LED, 12-segment GR Mono, strapping jack Cheap and useful on everything USD 250 to 400
160XT Mid to late 1980s Same IC VCA as 160X Switchable Same LED ladders Mono, strapping jack As 160X, real balanced output USD 300 to 450
160A 1995, now discontinued Same IC VCA family Switchable 19-segment LED, 12-segment GR Mono, couplable The safe default USD 250 to 400
160S Blue Series, reviewed 1998 Discrete V8, 127dB range Switchable, PeakStopPlus Moving-coil Two channels, linkable Bus, stereo drums USD 1,000 to 1,400
160SL After the 160S Dual discrete V8 Switchable, AutoVelocity Moving-coil Two channels, linkable Tighter, more SSL-like No reliable band

Two things that table settles. There is no current hardware 160: dbx lists the 160A as discontinued and its present dynamics range is the 166xs, 266xs, 560A and 520, so the "dbx 160" you can buy new in 2026 is a plug-in. And those are international asking prices, not clearing prices, and not South African ones, for which see importing vintage studio gear into Africa.

dbx 160 vs 160A vs 160X: the three things that actually differ

Everything else is packaging. First, the gain cell. Blackmer founded dbx in 1971 and patented his gain cell in 1973, and early units carried it as a discrete module in a can. Owners who open a 160 VU report 200 cans, though one knowledgeable poster describes a 202. Either way it is discrete. From 1981 dbx had a monolithic chip, the 2150 family, in an eight-pin single-in-line package, and the 160X, 160XT and 160A all use an IC VCA of that lineage, dbx part numbers 146732 and 146742. The proof is practical: techs drop a THAT 2180A or 2181A into a 160X socket, which you cannot do to a potted can.

Second, knee, and the sources disagree about what it means. The original 160 has no OverEasy switch because OverEasy did not exist yet; it arrived with the 165. Mix calls the 160 hard knee. Vintage King's listing for a serviced pair calls it "soft knee/smooth compression sound". Both are defensible: the knee circuit is hard, but a true-RMS detector with a program-dependent release does not behave like a hard-knee peak limiter, which is why the 160 feels forgiving when the spec sheet says it should not.

Third, metering, the one listings get wrong. The 160, 161, 162, 165 and 165A have moving-coil meters. The 160X, 160XT and 160A have LED ladders: 19 segments for input or output, 12 for gain reduction, up to 40dB. If a listing tells you a 160XT has a VU meter, the seller has copied a spec page rather than looked at the unit. At least one large gear database currently says exactly that.

"I have a 160A and a 160X, sorry never heard of a 160 VU. What is the diff?"

A real question from a real forum thread, and the most common one.

The 160, and its cheaper twin the 161

Half-rack, wooden cheeks, one VU meter, two knobs that matter. Threshold is marked in millivolts and volts rather than dB, which tells you how 1975 it is. Ratio runs from 1:1 up to a figure dbx quoted as 120:1, so it limits at the top of the dial. No attack control, no release control, no strapping jack. The 161 is the same board, fewer parts fitted, unbalanced RCA, USD 250 against the 160's USD 300.

The 162

A stereo 160 in spirit, not in circuit: it uses the 210 VCA on a daughter card and sums two RMS detectors into one control voltage, so the channels track. Owners report more upper midrange, less of the 160's hardness.

The 165 and 165A

The forgotten ones, and arguably the best-featured vintage dbx. The 165 introduced OverEasy. The 165A added the PeakStopLimiter, a voltage-controlled clipper that rounds peaks rather than shearing them, plus manual attack and release. If you have ever wished a 160 VU had an attack knob, that is this box.

The 160X, 160XT and 160A

Full 19in rack, LED metering, OverEasy switch, and a ratio control that runs past infinity into negative territory. dbx labelled it INFINITY+, and yes, it inverts dynamics if you push it there. All three strap to another unit for stereo. Strap two and you are using two full rack widths where the 160 VU took half, which is how a rack of compressors quietly grows; the cheapest housing for the result is a second-hand server cabinet with the doors taken off. The 160A arrived in 1995 with the board redrawn for machine assembly; a dbx employee on Gearspace put it as "The 160a was redesigned from the 160x/xt to allow for auto insertion manufacture." Buy it if you want a working compressor, not a project.

The 160S and 160SL

The odd ones out, because dbx went back to discrete. The V8 VCA is a modern implementation of Blackmer's cell, potted in an aluminium heatsink to hold an even internal temperature, and dbx quotes 127dB of dynamic range. Two channels, Jensen transformers, PeakStopPlus limiting, moving-coil meters. The 160SL adds AutoVelocity, a program-dependent attack and release circuit; owners with both call the SL tighter and the 160S closer to the old 160 character.

Is the dbx 160VU worth the money?

For one thing, yes. What it does that nothing else in the family does is dent a transient and hand back a thick, dense, slightly wrong version of what you fed it. What it does not do is subtlety, attack shaping, stereo or quiet, and a serviced pair at USD 2,495 is not a general-purpose purchase. If you want one compressor for everything, buy a Distressor. If you want that dent on two drum channels that track together, the 160 VU matched pair is the thing, and there is no cheaper honest route to it.

dbx 160XT vs 160A: the difference nobody agrees on

Here the sources conflict, and naming that is more useful than picking a side. A dbx employee stated on Gearspace that "The X and XT are identical. Not 'nearly' identical, but IDENTICAL", the only difference being Boston versus California assembly. dbx's own 160X/XT service manual, copyright 1993 by AKG Acoustics, says otherwise: the XT has a balanced output as standard, driving 600 ohms to +24dBu, while the 160X is single-ended with balancing available as a modification. Trust the service manual; up to the output they are the same box.

Against the 160A the reported changes are 5532 opamps, smaller output transistors, passive filtering and surface-mount construction. Some call the older ones deeper and richer. Others, dbx's own people included, say you are hearing thirty-year-old capacitors and a unit nobody recalibrated. Both are probably true at once.

Which one for what

The best dbx 160 for drums

Kick and snare: 160 VU first, 160X or 160A second, and the gap narrows once the source is good. Overheads and room: 160S, or a strapped pair of 160X, because you want the channels tracking and OverEasy available. Drum machines and samplers: the 160 VU. Run a TR-808 or a LinnDrum through one and the samples stop sounding like samples.

dbx 160 on bass: the settings that work

Any of them will do it, and this is where the cheap models are not a compromise: the RMS detector suits sustained low-frequency material, and a 160X at USD 300 holds a bass part in place as well as the expensive ones do. For synth bass, put a Model 100 Boom Box before the compressor, not after, or the 160 spends its evening chasing the sub you just added.

Vocals and bus

Not the 160 VU on voice. It is grabby, it pumps, and it dulls the top when pushed; seasoned dbx users reach for the 165 or for OverEasy on a 160X. Better still, an LA-2A or an 1176LN, or a WA76 if the 1176 price is the problem. For the bus, the 160S is the only 160 we would put across a mix without apologising; a Neve 33609 is the other answer, slower and rounder.

Starting settings that actually work

  • Kick, 160 VU: ratio around 4:1, threshold so the meter shows 3 to 6dB on the hits and nothing between them. If the needle rests anywhere but zero between hits, you have gone too far.
  • Snare: ratio 6:1 to 10:1, 6 to 10dB of reduction, output up to taste. This is where the dent lives.
  • Bass DI: ratio 4:1, 4 to 8dB. On a 160X, OverEasy for fingerstyle, hard knee for pick.
  • Drum bus, 160S or a strapped pair: OverEasy, ratio 2:1 to 3:1, 2 to 4dB maximum, PeakStopPlus a couple of dB above your loudest peak so it catches only accidents.
  • Vocal, 165 or OverEasy on a 160X: ratio 3:1 or 4:1, 4 to 6dB, and put the dbx after an optical compressor if the singer is genuinely wild.

One caveat on all of them: the gain reduction meter is a suggestion, not a measurement, especially on an uncalibrated unit.

What fails, and what to check when you buy used

  • Calibration drift. The biggest reason two identical units sound different. A 160 VU has seven to nine internal trim pots depending on revision, named by designator on a board layout that is hard to find. Studio Electronics, who have serviced these for years, say unserviced units are almost always way out of their original specs.
  • Electrolytics. Nobody recaps these until they fail. On a 160X the power supply capacitors are the usual suspects; techs report +24V rails measuring anywhere from 25.4V to 27.8V across units of the same model.
  • The VCA, and the input stage. Worth separating. David Kulka of Studio Electronics, diagnosing a 160 VU in public, noted that failed FETs "can cause level to be low and distorted, but they can't cause level to be too high", and pointed at the input amp stage as a common problem area. On the IC-VCA models a dead VCA is a socketed part; on a 160 VU it is a potted can, a different bill.
  • Thermal faults. Test the unit warm. One documented 160 VU fault behaved acceptably from cold and returned as the chassis heated up.
  • Switches, pots and lamps. Threshold and ratio pots go scratchy, meter-select switches go intermittent, VU lamps die. All cheap, all worth pricing before you agree a number.
  • Attack and release. Not adjustable on the 160, 160X, 160XT or 160A, so you cannot dial around a fault. If the release sounds wrong, something is.

Ask the seller one question: when was it last calibrated. If the answer is a shrug, budget for a service, and note that on a 160X that can cost more than the compressor. What it costs is the subject of our piece on recapping and servicing.

What we could not verify

  • Introduction years. Mix dates the original 160 to 1976, Vintage Digital to 1975. Mix puts the 162 and the 165 both in 1978; Vintage Digital puts the 162 in 1976 and the 165 in 1980. We give both.
  • Which can is in which 160. Mix says the 200, owners opening units report 200s, one knowledgeable poster reports a 202. We found no serial cut-off.
  • The 160XT and 160SL launch years. No source gives either directly. The joint 160X/XT service manual carries a 1993 AKG copyright, a printing date. One catalogue dates the 160SL to 2011, but forum threads about 160S to 160SL upgrades predate that by years.
  • Two details we left attributed. The V8's 32-transistor count comes from Sound On Sound alone; dbx quotes the 127dB figure but no count. And no strapping jack is documented on the original 160, with one source saying the 160X added coupling the original lacked, but no dbx document confirms it.

What is on the shelf

We have a dbx 160 VU matched pair and a dbx 160S. The pair is for the kick and snare job above and very little else; buy it knowing that and it will outlast you. The 160S is the one for two channels, a limiter you can trust and a discrete gain cell. If neither is the right answer, the honest recommendation is a 160X for USD 300 and the difference spent elsewhere.

Sources

Tags: Buying Guide Compressors dbx Maintenance Outboard
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