Countryman Type 85 or Radial J48???

[TwilightFire]

Hi guys!

Ok, I read almost all the various threads about this topic, but I'm still a bit confused!

So, I have a Jackson DX10D with an EMG 81 (bridge position)... which DI box would you suggest me between the Type 85 and the J48? =)

Thank you in advance!

 

[XnaySaturo]

I don't know about the Type 85, but I can vouch for the J48! Fantastic DI.

 

[MarcusGHedwig]

Definitely Countryman, in my shootout I found it sounded superior to the slightly thinner/noisier J48 (slightly being the operative word of course, the J48 is still capable of producing great results, but in comparison the Countryman bested it in terms of transparency

 

[deLuther]

Marcus, can you reupload DIs from mentioned shootout?

 

[TwilightFire]

Definitely Countryman, in my shootout I found it sounded superior to the slightly thinner/noisier J48 (slightly being the operative word of course, the J48 is still capable of producing great results, but in comparison the Countryman bested it in terms of transparency

Yes, I checked out your shootout, but what confuses me is something i read in this thread -> Preparing your tracks for reamping: A Guide. This part:

ULTERIOR MOTIVE ALERT!!

Countryman Type 85 LINK
The only caveat with this box might be if you're running actives like an EMG... It might not be able to handle the loudest passages of your playing.... I.E. it might 'splat out' on the strongest transients.

Uhmmm...???

 

[UtopianCrux]

^
Wow, really. I'm about to dive into a D.I. myself and use the EMG 81. So is it back to the Radial then?

 

[SimonTaddio_Qc]

I'm not an expert, but the Countryman, as well as the JDI (wich I own and is great) are passive DIs that can handle very well your EMG.
I wouldn't think either one or the other would make a HUGE difference, but the JDI has some more cool features, like polarity switch, and MERGE, with wich you can use the regular input + trhu output as 2 inputs summed to mono to the output (/w -15db pad).
This features kills the shit out of the Countryman if you plan on DI-ing keyboards

 

[MarcusGHedwig]

There are tons of Countryman owners who use EMG's, and I have yet to hear a single complaint from them (and I had no problem), so I'd say Glenn's worries were unfounded - and yeah, I'll see if I can dig up those DI's, though they may have been lost in a HDD crash

 

[ahjteam]

I'm not an expert, but the Countryman, as well as the J48 (wich I own and is great) are passive DIs

No they are not. they are both active and need phantom power to work.

 

[MarcusGHedwig]

No they are not. they are both active and need phantom power to work.

Yarp

 

[XnaySaturo]

J48 is active and takes phantom power from your interface, and not an adapter. Pretty sure that's standard.

 

[SimonTaddio_Qc]

Yeah, I meant JDI, the one that's green, the actual one that I got and the one that my post is about!

 

[AntonioPetrole]

countryman+EMG 81-85 user here, no problems at all. See if you can pick up a used one cause these things are virtually indestructible

 

[Kazrog]

Marcus - can you repost the DI shootout files somewhere? I missed them the first time around due to being busy. Happy J48 user here but I am curious to try the Countryman.

 

[Matthias King]

If memory serves, the shootout was between the Countryman 85, J48, and LittleLabs Redeye, and honestly to my ears, the DI's were virtually indistinguishable.

 

[TwilightFire]

Guys, I bought a Type 85 on ebay in the end... Now I'm looking forward to try it! =)