OK, this is my last posting about this, I swear :D.

I am looking for a live use DI for a passive Jazz bass. I have been lead to believe that an acitve direct box would serve me well and that these are the two heavy hitters. I was going to buy both today and return one, but my local GC had neither in stock, lol, and they don't usually stock the Countryman at all :eyebrow:.

Does anyone have any experience comparing the two? Which one should I get?

Thanks heaps!

Gonna bump this back up to the front page - I am hoping to buy today!

Does anyone have any experience comparing the two?

I've compared the original Radial JDV (which was a smaller, simpler unit than their current JDV Mark II, therefor probably quite comparable to a JD48) side-by-side with a Countryman Type 85. Both are excellent units, you absolutely can't go wrong with either one. The Countryman imparts a slightly lifted treble response to your signal; things will sound the slightest bit brighter, snappier, crisper. The Radial was flat as a pancake; What Goes In Comes Out, period.

There are way more Countrymans (Countrymen?) in use than Radials, so more guys know how to fix them should anything go wrong. But it won't, since they're built like a brick.

I haven't used a Radial, but I've used a Countryman in the studio, and yeah, those guys are solid. Sounds great and you could run a truck over one and it'll keep ticking. I've read nothing but good things about the Radials though, so I'll echo the sentiment that you can't go wrong with either one.

i recently switched back to my countryman after using a sansamp for last year. love it. haven't tried the radial but from what i've heard that is also a great piece of kit. can't go wrong either way. sorry, we're probably not helping you! :)

Used both (have them at my church, along with a Demeter Tube DI).
Like both.
You won't go wrong with either.

The Radial has a few more features like a pad, polarity reverse (great when an upright is plugged in to it), low pass filter and the merge function (which is pretty cool- takes the thru and turns t into another in so a stereo source, like a keyboard, can be plugged in to a single channel).

But, the Countryman is IMO, the most widely used DI by most pro touring companies becaus it's great sounding and can take a beating.

I wouldn't be surprised if you walked into a club (if the sound man was worth anything) and he took the Countryman over the Radial. Just on reputation alone.

I didn't notice a bit of extra high end off the Countryman, then again, I wasn't out front listening either.

Sweetwater has both in stock- www.sweetwater.com