JDI or J48

[pjh2112]

I am about to get a direct box. I trying to decide between the Radial J48 and JDI. There's not really anywhere to try out DI's so I thought I'd see what kind of Feedback I could get from TB. I have played through a J48 and I loved it. I have never played through the JDI. I play mostly a Passive Squire Jazz bass, and Occasionally a active 5. What are your thoughts on these.

 

[pjh2112]

no replies?

 

[Eublet]

EASY answer here. Get the J48, only because you play a passive jazz. The J48 is made for such instruments as it prevents excessive loading on passive pickups caused by passive DI's like the JDI. Of course, the JDI can work beautifully with passive basses also, but the results will be greatly affected by the length of your instrument cable combined with the length of the XLR/Snake behind the DI. Even the mighty JDI can be trouble with passive basses with long cable runs to the mixer. Besides, any active bass will work fine with J48.

The J48 does require phantom power to operate, which should never be an issue. If you really want the best of both worlds and want to spend a lot of money, the JDV is excellent as it lets you mimic the loading effect created by a passive DI via a drag control. They're a bit pricey though, and require an external power source. For the price of a JDV, you could pickup a JDI and J48.

I play a Lakland DJ which is a passive jazz bass. I've spent a good amount of time comparing the tone between the J48, JDI and a Radial Bassbone, all of which I own and use. Honestly, the J48 wins every time when I do a direct comparison. While the JDI and J48 are both flat, the JDI is a bit more tame up high with a passive bass due to the pickup loading. Some like that, but again the sound will get more and more muffled until it's muddy and distorted as you push longer cables. With the J48 and your passive jazz, you can roll the tone control back a bit to get some warmth and mimic the tone of the JDI. There really is no better gigging DI than the J48 IMHO.

 

[bikeplate]

HI

A good friend of mine who is a pro and tours with a well known act, did a shootout with about a half dozens Di's. Jdi, J48, avalon, bassbone, etc. He felt the JDI was the best for the buck, not to mention it sounded great regardless of price.

Rob

 

[Eublet]

HI

A good friend of mine who is a pro and tours with a well known act, did a shootout with about a half dozens Di's. Jdi, J48, avalon, bassbone, etc. He felt the JDI was the best for the buck, not to mention it sounded great regardless of price.

Rob

+1 IMO the JDI and J48 sound as good as the Avalon. Both sound better than the Bassbone even when the Bassbone is set to "Flat". If all you play is active basses or keyboards, the JDI is a no-brainer since it doesn't require any kind of power source, and the Jenson loaded transformer will never allow any kind of ground loop. The J48 sounds just like the JDI to me when used with active basses, but the difference is that it ALWAYS sounds the same with passive basses. That's not the case with the JDI. It'll sound different on a 50 foot snake than it does on a 100 foot snake, and you might not be able to use it all on a 200 or 300 foot snake with a passive instrument.

 

[fokof]

.

 

[KJung]

EASY answer here. Get the J48, only because you play a passive jazz. The J48 is made for such instruments as it prevents excessive loading on passive pickups caused by passive DI's like the JDI. Of course, the JDI can work beautifully with passive basses also, but the results will be greatly affected by the length of your instrument cable combined with the length of the XLR/Snake behind the DI. Even the mighty JDI can be trouble with passive basses with long cable runs to the mixer. Besides, any active bass will work fine with J48.

The J48 does require phantom power to operate, which should never be an issue. If you really want the best of both worlds and want to spend a lot of money, the JDV is excellent as it lets you mimic the loading effect created by a passive DI via a drag control. They're a bit pricey though, and require an external power source. For the price of a JDV, you could pickup a JDI and J48.

I play a Lakland DJ which is a passive jazz bass. I've spent a good amount of time comparing the tone between the J48, JDI and a Radial Bassbone, all of which I own and use. Honestly, the J48 wins every time when I do a direct comparison. While the JDI and J48 are both flat, the JDI is a bit more tame up high with a passive bass due to the pickup loading. Some like that, but again the sound will get more and more muffled until it's muddy and distorted as you push longer cables. With the J48 and your passive jazz, you can roll the tone control back a bit to get some warmth and mimic the tone of the JDI. There really is no better gigging DI than the J48 IMHO.

+1 If the phantom power requirement makes the OP nervous, he should consider the Countryman DI, which has a battery backup and is an 'industry standard' active DI for use with passive basses (or active, for that matter).

 

[KJung]

HI

A good friend of mine who is a pro and tours with a well known act, did a shootout with about a half dozens Di's. Jdi, J48, avalon, bassbone, etc. He felt the JDI was the best for the buck, not to mention it sounded great regardless of price.

Rob

I would agree with this, again, as long as you have an active bass. Passive... not so much.

 

[Eublet]

Ken is right. The Countryman DI is fantastic, although not quite as flat sounding as the J48. It's a bit warmer because of a slight high treble attenuation. It takes Phantom power when available, but operates off of a 9v when you don't have it. It doesn't have the headroom of the J48, especially on paper, but I've never seen this be a problem even with some hotter active basses. It's also a bit cheaper than the J48 or JDI, making it an excellent choice. Any engineer "in the know" will never mind you using any of these 3 boxes. They're all super-high quality and built like tanks.

There is a published mod for the J48 that allows you to convert it to 9V. The drawback is that you have to have a battery in it since the mod disables the phantom power option. Not something I'd do, but some have.

 

[JoshB]

Ken is right. The Countryman DI is fantastic, although not quite as flat sounding as the J48. It's a bit warmer because of a slight high treble attenuation. It takes Phantom power when available, but operates off of a 9v when you don't have it. It doesn't have the headroom of the J48, especially on paper, but I've never seen this be a problem even with some hotter active basses. It's also a bit cheaper than the J48 or JDI, making it an excellent choice. Any engineer "in the know" will never mind you using any of these 3 boxes. They're all super-high quality and built like tanks.

There is a published mod for the J48 that allows you to convert it to 9V. The drawback is that you have to have a battery in it since the mod disables the phantom power option. Not something I'd do, but some have.

Also something to note with the countryman is that you can use it as a speaker DI, if you have say, a tube head and want that sound going to FOH, rather than the sterile bass signal. You can't do that with the JDI or the J48 AFAIK, but Radial does make another DI for that application.

I personally own both the countryman and the J48, and have no qualms about bringing either to a gig or the studio.

 

[()smoke()]

Also something to note with the countryman is that you can use it as a speaker DI, if you have say, a tube head and want that sound going to FOH, rather than the sterile bass signal. You can't do that with the JDI or the J48 AFAIK, but Radial does make another DI for that application.

I personally own both the countryman and the J48, and have no qualms about bringing either to a gig or the studio.

you can use the JDI as a speaker DI

 

[TimmyP]

Active DI for use with passive pickups.

Don't forget the oft overlooked Pro48.

 

[MNAirHead]

I'd be considering a countryman as a blanket statement..

I've owned about 15 DIs.. this one is the standard.