Section 1 - Introduction
Congratulations on choosing the dbx 286s Mic Preamp/Processor. The 286s is a powerful, user-friendly unit, providing concise and intuitive controls for all your mic processing needs, whether you use a microphone to record vocals and acoustic instruments, sample acoustic sounds, or for a public address system installation. The 286s is also capable of providing effective processing for electronic instruments, individual mixer tracks, and other mono sound sources.
You can think of the 286s as two separate processors, a Mic Preamp Section and a Processing Section. These two sections can be used together, or the 286s can be used as a dedicated Mic Preamp by defeating the Processing Section via the front panel BYPASS switch. Furthermore, the Processing Section provides four specific types of processing: Compression, De-essing, Enhancement and Expansion/Gating. These four controls can be used in any combination, as appropriate to your requirements. External audio processors (e.g., equalizer, delay unit, etc.), can be placed in the signal chain directly between the Mic Preamp Section and remaining 286s processing via the rear panel INSERT jack. We recommend that you take a moment and read through the 286s manual to better understand the power of the 286s processing, and how you can use the 286s to its fullest potential.
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