DI Box

[Pharaoh's Curse]

Many out there and I want to make sure I get a good quality one. What does everyone suggest?

Just need something for tracking guitar / bass.

Thanks!!

 

[Heabow]

Radial J48 all the way for me.

 

[Ericlingus]

can't go wrong with a countryman 85

 

[TiagoAlves]

Countryman Type 85

 

[Delitzsch]

I have a Little Labs Redeye 3D and really like it. It's passive and active; a DI box and re-amp box.

 

[Trevoire520]

BSS AR133 works well for me.

 

[deLuther]

All 4 major DI boxes in one topic

 

[KHE]

Lehle Sunday Driver for Hi-Z-Input, Lehle P-Splitt II for splitting&reamping

 

[Rupturemetal]

anyone tried the Rupert Neve DI ?

 

[FrancescoFiligoi]

So, I've juuuuust compared the two most common DI boxes yesterday: Countryman Type 10 (it's exactly like the 85 with some more bells and whistles) and Little Labs Redeye 3D Phantom.

Here are the results, download and tell me what you prefer: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5864881/DI BOX COMPARISON.zip

I personally think Redeye sounds a tad more open and less compressed (it's got more headroom) but at the same time the Countryman has something very upfront in the mids, and the low end is more firm/tighter. I just used TSE X50 v2 for the comparison but you also find the DI files inside.

Also I gotta mention I had to match the DI volumes before comparing, the Countryman had 10dB more!

 

[deLuther]

What pickup used in this test?
Countryman has clipping, but specifications also mentions low input level, so no surprise.

 

[FrancescoFiligoi]

What pickup used in this test?
Countryman has clipping, but specifications also mentions low input level, so no surprise.

The main problem with the Countryman is, it clips very easily. Little Labs has way more headroom. When reamped though, the clipped DI is not that much of a problem (to me at least). Pickup is a Bare Knuckle Nailbomb, kinda high output but definitely not as much as 81/85 for example. Again, Countryman clips easily, that's just the way it is

 

[deLuther]

EMGs are strong only in sense of average (RMS) output, should not be problem with countryman clipping when operating at 9 V, because internal clipping threshold (at output) is almost same as countryman input...


BTW, in Russia most popular choice is Digilab SPM-100 preamp, cheaper (especially now) than any quality DI box (I`m, at least, compared it to mentioned BSS AR-133 quality-wise), but holds much hotter signal even than Radial J48, because of power supply (+/-15 V bipolar), around 6-7 V peak with low THD. Device does not rely on quality of mic preamps in interface.

 

[Riku]

I have a BSS AR133 at work for when I need to DI a signal into a Neve. Very clean, very well made DI.
At home I have a Sansamp Bass Driver Programmable. Amazing for bass and if you want to DI a guitar then just set the Blend to Direct and all the bass and treble to noon and away you go.