DI Box $130 or less- Your pick?

[PEImatrix]

Originally Posted by in a blue field

i encourage you and all JDI users to contact radial and ask the same question i did! who knows, maybe mr collins smoka da rox (i'm joking of course). the quote i pulled was straight from my email tho; it is perhaps possible that for a while they were out of the MK3 silkscreen, and so there are some MK3s which were released with the old artwork? <--- please note the question mark
if you or anyone else makes contact with radial about this, plz post your findings here (tho i'm not looking forward to the headache i'll have if we get multiple people from Radial telling us two different things )

I'm happy with mine, so no email needed. "Don't worry, be happy..."

[No-Doz]

I have the Radial ProDI (passive) and it works incredibly well. Its my preferred bass DI, the other being the line in on my API 512c. It has never let me down, and the signal captured works incredibly well for reamping. I also have the Radial X-Amp, and I have used it extensively with both guitar/bass reamping, pedals, fender spring reverbs, everything and anything that has a guitar input. Completely worth it, and very affordable. The X-Amp has two outputs, which are transformer isolated from each other, which allows you to do some cool phase things between a couple of amps. Super quiet, too.

[dkelley]

Originally Posted by silent-sam

I had a Behringer ULTRA-DI DI100 Direct Box (it's active) and went to a music store hoping to pick up a radial j48...... they had none but they did have the Radial Pro DI Passive direct box (the dark green one)

I picked it up thinking it would be a step up.... As much as I hate Berhinger, In my opinion the Behringer ULTRA-DI DI100 Direct Box sounds better....a noticeable amount better. It's only $35. You can get a Radial Pro RMP re-amp box for $99.

So for $134 you can have an active DI and a Passive Re-amp box.

If you can't afford a JDI or a J48 I wouldn't bother spending the extra cash on the Radial "Pro" DI passive DI Box..... It's not that great.

those are totally different boxes. they aren't absolute crap for sure - I'm happy you liked the 100, although it's the xDI-21 series I'm recommending here. by the way, the model 120 active di is TERRIBLE. it's hissy and sucks the life out of everything. so avoid that (I own all of the above by the way - I can't bear to sell the 120 to anyone though LoL). the 120 is built great, but sound sucks, so it's garbage. the 21 series are their best sounding di boxes, but are built the worst... go figure.

I'm talking about the model 21 series from behringer. I think I mentioned that in my post - they're exceptional. the built in eq and amp sim stuff is honestly professional quality.

[in a blue field]

Originally Posted by dkelley

those are totally different boxes. they aren't absolute crap for sure - I'm happy you liked the 100, although it's the xDI-21 series I'm recommending here. by the way, the model 120 active di is TERRIBLE. it's hissy and sucks the life out of everything. so avoid that (I own all of the above by the way - I can't bear to sell the 120 to anyone though LoL). the 120 is built great, but sound sucks, so it's garbage. the 21 series are their best sounding di boxes, but are built the worst... go figure.

I'm talking about the model 21 series from behringer. I think I mentioned that in my post - they're exceptional. the built in eq and amp sim stuff is honestly professional quality.

This makes me wonder something:
i am not much of a tech, but if neck-down (i.e. if i'm told what to do) i can wield a soldering iron with the best of them. are the trannies literally the only difference between Radial's Pro-series and J-series? if anyone has a photo of the insides of any of these boxes, plz post em - surely if the only difference is indeed the Jensen, it is both very easy and very inexpensive to switch out the Pro's trafo for a better one? if this is true, then even I could guide someone thru doing it, even worst-case scenario if you also have to go to home depot and buy an iron and some solder as well as the trafo, it'll still be much less than the approx-$100 price difference. hell, you could probably even find a home depot employee or guitar center employee to do it for you under the table for $20 if you bring them the part.

[Migs]

Would anybody know what is the model of the Jensen tranny used in the J48 Radial DI?
I openned a Pro48 and there was only CS 25340847 written on the top of the tranny, no logo no brand???
And the PCB board is impossible to get out of the case as the ground lift and pad plastic caps seemed to be glued to the push button switches.
But what is that tranny inside the J48???

[chribble]

if you have an SCA rack the di module is like $80 and you get 2 channels.

they have impedance switches too.

no gain on these, need to feed a pre or amp. but useful.

[James Lehmann]

My $0.02 would be:

If you want a top draw DI box that does re-amping properly spend the extra $$ and get a LittleLabs Redeye.

Otherwise I'd be plumping for a bunch of Avenson Small DIs.

[Jimbo]

Originally Posted by in a blue field

i encourage you and all JDI users to contact radial and ask the same question i did! who knows, maybe mr collins smoka da rox (i'm joking of course). the quote i pulled was straight from my email tho; it is perhaps possible that for a while they were out of the MK3 silkscreen, and so there are some MK3s which were released with the old artwork? <--- please note the question mark
if you or anyone else makes contact with radial about this, plz post your findings here (tho i'm not looking forward to the headache i'll have if we get multiple people from Radial telling us two different things )

I hold, in my grubby hands, a JDI that has the merge, pad, and other features, but does not say "mk3" anywhere on the box...and I care not.

Originally Posted by Migs

Would anybody know what is the model of the Jensen tranny used in the J48 Radial DI?
I openned a Pro48 and there was only CS 25340847 written on the top of the tranny, no logo no brand???
And the PCB board is impossible to get out of the case as the ground lift and pad plastic caps seemed to be glued to the push button switches.
But what is that tranny inside the J48???

The J48 is active, and, therefore doesn't need a tranny. I'm not sure what you are seeing inside the Pro48 unit, but the J48 shouldn't have a transformer in the signal path.

[skiltrip]

The Radial ProRMP worked great for me. Simple, cheap, no power supply to worry about. Gets my vote everytime. My re-amping needs are minimal though.