F.O.H. compressor and limiter

[smopo24]

what would you reccomend for a good F.O.H. compressor and limiter? about how much should someone spend?

[Nubus]

I'd say the DBX 160 for a good one. You should also have a couple channels of gates/expanders for your tom toms. I know DBX makes some that do both compression and gating, but you'll thank me later if you go with the 160 and some seperate gates.

If you can't afford DBX... Behringer. Seriously. They're better than a 3630, unless you get a Black Lion mod.

[jamalot]

How do you want to run the comp usually they're for the inserts of each channel of the mixer i.e. vocals, kick, toms, you wouldn't want to compress your FOH depending on your amp model most have a limiter built in. Like Peavey has a DDT and also if your using a GEQ most have a low cut filter at 40hz because it stresses the crap out of amp and drivers(woofers) below 40hz. And yes DBX is pretty good comp/gate but theirs better depending on how your gonna use it and BTW DBX don't make the 160's anymore and most sound folks with larger systems use a quad comp/gate.