DI comparison / poll Which do you like the best?

[scotch]

I've been monkeying around in the studio this week - been pulling out some old gear, critically listening to it, etc... to see if I need to keep stuff around.

Anyways, I was comparing my old Aguilar DB900 tube DI to my Groove Tubes The Brick preamp. I set up a test in ProTools (detailed below) and was amazed at how nearly identical they sounded!

I pulled out a couple other di's & definitely heard some differences, however! In this poll, I'm comparing the following 3 di's:

ART TubeMP 12ax7 tube di/preamp
Aguilar DB900 12ax7 tube di with Jensen JT-DB transformer
Radial JDI solid state di with Jensen JT-DB

Methodology:

Fender '57 Am RI Precision bass > Visual Sound Volume pedal (used as a 3-way splitter) > each di > MBox2pro convertor > ProTools

I played through and recorded each DI simultaneously using the excellent & transparent sounding buffered Visual Volume as a splitter. No eq or compression was used. I did my best to equalize the volumes of each di using the MBox2pro's preamps. All 3 clips were individually normalized to -3db using Audacity software. Again, no eq or compression. Each track lines up identically in time for phase or analysis purposes.

Aguilar DB900


Art TubeMP


Radial JDI


Let me know what you think sounds best to you, or how they sound different or not different in your opinion. There's no right or wrong answers for a change!

Thanks!

 

[scotch]

To me, the Aguilar sounds compressed and has a bit more bright character, whereas the Art and JDI have a beefier overall tone.

I was surprised at how different the JDI and Aguilar sound given they have the same transformer! I'm also surprised at how well the cheap ART preamp holds up!

I think I'm digging the Aguilar overall. It just has a more 'agressive' overall character and the natural compression works great in a mix. I kinda like the ART over the Radial though! Surprising.

 

[mattpnolan]

I like the Aguilar best. I think it's beefy enough while being less boomy than the other two. The Art would be second in my book, especially if you could cut the bass and up the mids a bit.

 

[oerk]

+1 to the Aguilar. Best overall.

The ART sounds very fat, not something I'd want in a DI, but for character, pretty nice.

The JDI has the cleanest sound to me.

Keep in mind they all could sound very different if driven directly with a passive bass.

 

[stingraysvt]

Aguilar for sure, it has a flatter response and way more character that the art or the JDI

I actually just won a JDV off eBay so I'm curious to get it in for a test spin

I'll tell you from experience live the J48 is an absolute KILLER sound live.

Had a bass player in a Michael Jackson Tribute band show up with this DI and a Sadowsky and his tone was just impeccable all night long!!

 

[JimmyM]

Agge for me too but just barely. Surprised how well they all did...they were all very close and I'd cut a track with any of them, but the Aggie ever so slightly sounds better to me.

 

[scotch]

+1 to the Aguilar. Best overall.

The ART sounds very fat, not something I'd want in a DI, but for character, pretty nice.

The JDI has the cleanest sound to me.

Keep in mind they all could sound very different if driven directly with a passive bass.

I've a/b'ed the Visual Volume against plugging straight in in the past. It's buffer is pretty much dead-on! No discernible eq or volume change & it even "plays nice" with germanium fuzz pedals/etc despite being active.

I guess it's possible that the di's could behave different, but I cant detect it. You definitely have a point to keep in mind, though!

I agree on the ART - it really does seem to "fatten up" the tone appreciably. It's surprising as well how quiet it is.

The JDI is probably the closest to "what goes in is what comes out" that I've used. The Aggie just has a great aggressiveness that it imparts though! Hard to beat, in my opinion. (One of these days I'll spring for a REDDI- I've used it and really liked it, but never a/b'ed it against anything.)

For the record, my GT Brick di/preamp sounds exactly like the Aguilar DB900. Shockingly so! They have pretty different circuits, but the result is too close too call!

 

[scotch]

Agge for me too but just barely. Surprised how well they all did...they were all very close and I'd cut a track with any of them, but the Aggie ever so slightly sounds better to me.

Yeah. They all sound great and are very quiet.

That Aggie just has that right bit of color that makes it sit great in a track! I really think it is compressing just a hair as well.


You have to give that cheap ART props, though! Quiet & big sounding for less than $50 brand new. Compare that with the JDI at at least 3-4 times that price and the Aguilar (out of production) that sold for almost $400 new.

 

[CapnSev]

In order:

1) Aguilar
2) ART
3) Radial

The Aguilar certainly has the clearest sound while still being plenty fat, and the highs sound great.

That ART sounds really good too actually. I like the dirty grunt it has on the low notes.

The high frequencies in the Radial drop off a cliff somewhere, and it sounds like its underwater.

 

[prd004]

E) None of the above

 

[scotch]

E) None of the above

There's options for that!

 

[tonybassman]

Aguilar. I have a Radial J48 Active DI, it has a better sound than the passive JDI.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

 

[Hellbastard]

I also like the aguilar the best. The definiton is very good and the tube gives it a nice characther, very quiet.
The Art MP is a very good option for what it is and what it costs, but It lacks definition on the high end and is the noisiest of the three.

The Radial JDI is great and very beefy. it is almost noiseless,definitely the quiestest of the three, but to me it lacks the character the tube gives to the other two.

 

[theory028]

I like the Tube MP quite a bit. The low end is cracking up on all of the samples with my headphones (and I'm having a hard time telling them apart, anyway) but the ART sounds pretty darn good; and that's without even factoring in the low cost!

I'm looking to score a couple of Tube MPs for my recording rig. My Scarlett 18i6 has two preamps but I'd like to get at least four channels of useable input. These just may do the trick!

Thanks for the samples!

 

[bassboysam]

too similar for me, i doubt anyone can tell the difference in a mix.

 

[scotch]

Thanks for all the input folks! Keep it coming!

 

[dponbass]

I used to own an Aggie and currently own a brick. I would never have assumed they would have been anywhere near similar, of course I didn't have the ability to a/b them. From memory, I would have thought the Brick to be more mid happy with the ability to adjust the gain for some clipping. That's very interesting, can you throw a brick clip up there? I am really interested.

 

[scotch]

I used to own an Aggie and currently own a brick. I would never have assumed they would have been anywhere near similar, of course I didn't have the ability to a/b them. From memory, I would have thought the Brick to be more mid happy with the ability to adjust the gain for some clipping. That's very interesting, can you throw a brick clip up there? I am really interested.

Well, I cant add The Brick to the current comparison, but I could do another pass with the Aguilar and Brick in parallel.


I was amazed at how similar they were! The Brick, of course has 2 tube stages when using the 1/4" in (it adds a third tube stage when you use the XLR in). The Brick also uses a proprietary transformer for the audio signal. I was shocked at how close the two very different units were!

The "Gain" control on The Brick isn't a makeup gain, as I understand the circuit. It's actually an output level trim! Turning up the knob doesn't saturate the input stages and introduce any more clipping than the source signal provides. Of course, the huge amount of output level available with The Brick could certainly cause anything downstream to clip!

I've got some time this weekend, I'll try to record parallel clips of the Aguilar and Groove Tubes independent of the poll...

 

[Sorado71]

The Aguilar is a good unit, and I like it best of the three you have here.

That said, a few years ago I came across an Ampeg SVT-DI and use that now (sold the DB900). The Ampeg unit has similar clarity but a deeper tone, which is what I like to get through an amplifier.

 

[scotch]

The Aguilar is a good unit, and I like it best of the three you have here.

That said, a few years ago I came across an Ampeg SVT-DI and use that now (sold the DB900). The Ampeg unit has similar clarity but a deeper tone, which is what I like to get through an amplifier.

Dude, I was totally going to buy one of those Ampeg DI's! They really sound great. I got spooked during a Grand Ol' Opry television taping when their house SVTDI totally failed mid-song on me. Aaaargggh! (It being a country format- no mic was on the amp, so there's was no bass at all in the tv broadcast for 1/2 a song. )

Anyways, they are great sounding!