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Direct Box (DI / Direct Inject) Roundup

#2
Avalon U5

Pros:
Class A Solid State
Fantastic Tone / Fidelity
EQ Section
Very Low Noise

Cons:
Quite Expensive - $500+
EQ Is Preset Tone Control Only
Heavy Unit
2 Space x 1/2 Space Design Wastes Rack Space
Rack Ears Are Also Expensive

Overall:
A fantastic sounding but expensive and bulky DI.
 
#3
Don't the venue provide them? I use a Behringer BDI21 (a tech 21 bass driver clone).

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If you read reviews on harmony central, the general feeling is that it isn't quite as good as the Tech 21, but it is bloody close and 1/3 the price (if not less).

Personally I don't like the idea of taking expensive effects to gigs for someone to spill their pint over (it has happened).
 
#13
I've used:

-Demeter Tube DI...my favorite DI of all I've had. I hate that I sold it because I bought it for $175 and it was incredible. Tube DI...very clean and articulate but with that touch of brilliance from the tube. Well designed and a Nashville standard.

-Aguilar DB900...great DI...like the Demeter but I liked the sound of the Demeter better. The Aguilar tended to be a little darker with my Peavey Cirrus 5 I was primarily playing at the time...but a nice clean DI. I wouldn't worry about reliability either...AG makes great stuff as we all know. You pay for it too!

-Groove Tubes Ditto DI...truly a remarkable DI as well. Voiced just like the Demeter...just a little bulky. The great thing about the Ditto and now the Brick is that they have enough output to run into a Poweramp and act as your pre. People with the Bergantino IP's should like that...but most probably wouldn't ever think of the GT. It has the same preamp setup as their ViPre vocal preamp. You can also adjust the gain on the GT to get a little more overdrive into your signal. It also uses two tubes...12ax7 and 12au7.

-Avalon U5...already been mentioned above!

-MXR M-80 DI+...a very nice live tool! I have used my constantly since I sold all my tube DI's. It is a very good unit...i was surprised by how much the FOH guys like the pedal. Haven't used it in the studio but I hear people have gotten great results with it there as well...like the Sansamp. I bought it because I liked the distortion/overdrive it would give me in comparison to other units. Definitely a cheap buy and it acts like a bassist's swiss army knife!

-Countryman Type 85 DI...clean and built like a tank. Nothing wrong with it...just ask Adam Clayton.

-Radial JDV (original version)...much like the Countryman. So much that I couldn't justify the hike in price so I sold it to buy another Countryman a few years ago.

-GT Direct Box (cheap version...not bad!)...definitely the most inexpensive but nothing to turn your nose up to. Better than any $20 box but not quite up to par with the Countryman and Radial boxes.

That is from my experiences and IMO.
 
#14
I heard one of the best bass tones ever in a live setting from an Ibanez SR400 through a Whirlwind DI. The play is fantastic - through a decent PA, with a good sound engineer magical things can happen with economical equipment. As a matter of fact, most players - great or not so great - will sound pretty close on most PA's regardless of DI. Fancy high priced DI's are simply that, fancy and high priced.
 
#15
Here's a funny one- I just bought an extremely expensive DI, a Phoenix Audio (UK) "Stereo Nice DI", and it actually picks up too much of my signal! What I mean is, tiny finger/string noises, extraneous harmonics, and high-end noise from my onboard pre... sounds I did not hear when using other "normal" cheaper DI's. It's extremely sensitive. I'm sure it's brilliant for recording electro-acoustic instruments soloed, where every nuance is golden... but for electric bass I think I was better off with the old regular DI's. :hmm: :)
 

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