Redeye vs Type 85 (Clips)

[Jaymz]

I decided to do a quick shootout between these two DI boxes....and I thought i'd post it up here if anybody else was curious about how these two compare (I was)

Surprisingly unless i've hooked it up wrong...I can't hear a difference.

Two files of DI (wav) and I also put each through an amp sim and printed that off for comparison sake.

The only difference I noticed was that the Type 85 has a much hotter signal than the RE with the preamp setting exactly the same. Naturally I evened them out for tonal comparison sake.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/451140/DI Shootout RE vs T85.rar

 

[Mago]

If it wasnt the kemper try running them through the kemper.
I find that it reacts a lot more similar to an actual amp with different DIs than ampsims for some reason...I can get away with older strings at lot easier with ampsims than with the kemper for example.

I think most of the difference I hear is because of the different take...you didn't split the signal before the boxes to get the identical take, right?

 

[Jaymz]

It's two different takes, but if you can't hear anything different past the performance then there isn't really anything in it IMHO

 

[Jaymz]

Actually upon further listening the Type 85 seems to have a bit more low end, Still nowhere near as much difference as I expected...

 

[mva801]

Did you use the active or passive input on the redeye? What kind of pickups?

 

[anotherpaul]

Why were you expecting drastic difference between two nearly similarly priced DIs? I guess they're both good and that's it.

 

[deLuther]

There is significant difference in sound.

 

[Jaymz]

It's the original redeye so the passive input. Anotherpaul...what? The type 85 is almost the same price as the redeye which is also a reamper rather than a dedicated DI, it's active vs passive and the Countryman is said to be at the absolute top of the DI game. Did I expect more differences? Yes I did

 

[~BURNY~]

I'm not one to nitpick but I ear a significant difference. I actually preferred the Redeye which sounded more articulate in the amp because it retained less lows. I don't know which one is the most transparent though.

 

[Mago]

I'd still try to split the signal before the DIs if you have the possibility.

And also EMGs are a LOT more tolerant to the input in my experience compared to passives.

 

[Machinated]

my (passive) redeye sounds significantly worse than the (active transformerless) DI's on my onyx.

want to get a J48 really.

 

[Jaymz]

The Redeye with active pickups works well but they say with passives it doesn't handle them as well (I don't own passive pickups so I have no idea)

 

[Machinated]

i've not compared actives vs passives with the redeye for a while, but i preferred going straight in the onyx for that too from before.

i dont think there's ever one that's always going to be right for every job. best bet is try a few out and see what tone works best for the job at hand. id love to have a J48, neve, avalon u5, api, countryman etc just to have the options.

 

[Jaymz]

I'm going to add the Kemper to this shootout too...could be interesting!

 

[ze kink]

The Redeye with actives sounds pretty much as good as anything else, and I actually find that a passive DI can occasionally sound better with bass and/or active pickups. I've used the DI side of the Redeye on bass with good results. Maybe it's the transformer or something. With passive pickups though, the Redeye DI is so muddy that I find it pretty much unusable, and I always use the Duet 2 instrument inputs with them.

Source: I own an older passive Redeye, no 3D.

 

[Jaymz]

Updated the OP with a comparison between the boxes with a passive bass. Also added Kemper inputs too for the lulz

Man the bass DI difference is profound!

 

[Red Phoenix]

the passive bass has more 50hz low end with the redeye than with the Type85..i expected the opposite...and with the guitars i also prefer the redeye