Actually, if you own it you can poop on it. It's yours and you can do as you please with it. Just be sure to wash your hands when all is said and done. Germs, y'know?
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Rupert Neve Class A Fet DI introduced at NAMM
- Thread starter maisbass
- Start date
BassHappy
Supporting Member
Hey Mark, cool....
I appreciate the phantom power difference and your comment for sure. I also love that all input level detection on the Neve is auto pilot with no gain adjustment needed - and it will take any level you can throw at it, including speaker cabinet levels - brilliant!
I have a hunch that if he priced it just above the Reddi, many might initially assume it would be superior. But pricing it at around 1/2 the price of the Reddi will make some assume it is not nearly as good. Just human nature there.
Of course, this is just talk, it's really all about the ears in the final analysis....
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So I have not had a chance to give it the true all around test but here are my first initial impressions. Fyi, I did not test the speaker D.I. Signal yet...
It is super uber clean, quiet, and definitely captures the whole tonal spectrum. It has some added punch and volume, and also adds a certain roundness to the notes. It is built like a tank and has some nice rubber feet that grips to the top of your amp.
As for comparisons it really depends on what you're looking for.
-Avalon D.I. - I used the Avalon D.I. Because it added a certain punch and color to my tone; basically I used it as a preamp. So I like the Avalon D.I. Better due to this. But if I were using the Avalon just as a D.I., I would be more than fine with the Neve.
Monique D.I. - prob not a fair comparison but Monique wins here hands down. Tube d.i. Just does it for me. When you thump on the strings, the Monique D.I. Pushes air out of your speaker cones. Absolutely incredible.
Reddi- I don't have one but I assume I would reach the same conclusion as I did with Monique.
Here is where it gets interesting and fair.
Radial D.I, whirlwind D.I. - Neve wins here. It just sounds better to me period. There seems to be more going on sonically with the Neve as compared to the Radial and whirlwind.
So I guess for its price range, the Neve will be a top contender.
Hopefully I will get a chance to test the speaker D.I. This weekend.
It is super uber clean, quiet, and definitely captures the whole tonal spectrum. It has some added punch and volume, and also adds a certain roundness to the notes. It is built like a tank and has some nice rubber feet that grips to the top of your amp.
As for comparisons it really depends on what you're looking for.
-Avalon D.I. - I used the Avalon D.I. Because it added a certain punch and color to my tone; basically I used it as a preamp. So I like the Avalon D.I. Better due to this. But if I were using the Avalon just as a D.I., I would be more than fine with the Neve.
Monique D.I. - prob not a fair comparison but Monique wins here hands down. Tube d.i. Just does it for me. When you thump on the strings, the Monique D.I. Pushes air out of your speaker cones. Absolutely incredible.
Reddi- I don't have one but I assume I would reach the same conclusion as I did with Monique.
Here is where it gets interesting and fair.
Radial D.I, whirlwind D.I. - Neve wins here. It just sounds better to me period. There seems to be more going on sonically with the Neve as compared to the Radial and whirlwind.
So I guess for its price range, the Neve will be a top contender.
Hopefully I will get a chance to test the speaker D.I. This weekend.
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So would something like this solve the problem of the people who like the Mesa Walkabout tone but wish they had more power? They say that the power amp of the walkabout contributes to its sound, so could those people feed the speaker level signal to this di, then to a power amp? That should capture all the nuances of the entire amp, but let people go louder if they needed?
The speaker level D.I. Will still vary depending upon where you set the master volume.
Probably it would be best to use the fx loop for this. Fx send of walkabout to D.I., then the thru of the D.I. to the fx return. This way you can make master volume changes all day without changing the D.I. Signal.....
Although I don't know if there is any "special sauce" with how Mesa wired their D.I. Since it is changed by the master.
Mesa says something about this in the manual. Don't remember exactly what, but my understanding/recollection of it is this: D.I. as is takes advantage of V2. This is responsible for some of the mojo and for its being affected by Master volume. It is possible to wire up the DI so that it's not affected by Master vol -- skipping v2? -- and I think they'll do this if you ask -- but you lose some of the mojo.
EDIT: I should avoid technical guesses. Master-volume issue might have nothing to do with using V2 to drive the DI (which again is an assumption on my part). They do say that they can set it up so that DI level isn't affected by Master, but that you'll lose some tone.
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I was noodling around on my bass so I decided to geek out. I made a few signal chain placement DI comparisons if anyone is interested, just because I'm a geek. IMO I would be happy with any one of them but they do have slightly different flavors. The file names below are misleading so read the descriptions associated with the track to see the actual signal chain used for the recording. Here ya go.
Signal Chain is as follows:
Fodera > Monique Preamp > Minnie Power amp > Speaker out of Minnie > Neve RNDI Speaker Input > Apogee One > Twisted wave iPad
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
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Signal Chain is as follows:
Fodera > Neve RNDI Instrument Input > Apogee One > Twisted wave iPad
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
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Signal Chain is as follows:
Signal Chain is as follows:
Fodera > Monique Preamp > Juleamp M700 power amp > Speaker out of M700> Neve RNDI Speaker Input > Apogee One > Twisted wave iPad
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
-------------------------------
Signal Chain is as follows:
Fodera > Monique Preamp > Monique Line Out > Neve RNDI Instrument Input > Apogee One > Twisted wave iPad
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
--------------------------------
Signal Chain is as follows:
Fodera > Monique Preamp > Monique DI out > Apogee One > Twisted wave iPad
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Signal Chain is as follows:
Fodera > Monique Preamp > Minnie Power amp > Speaker out of Minnie > Neve RNDI Speaker Input > Apogee One > Twisted wave iPad
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
--------------------------------------
---------------------------------------
Signal Chain is as follows:
Fodera > Neve RNDI Instrument Input > Apogee One > Twisted wave iPad
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
----------------------------------------
Signal Chain is as follows:
Signal Chain is as follows:
Fodera > Monique Preamp > Juleamp M700 power amp > Speaker out of M700> Neve RNDI Speaker Input > Apogee One > Twisted wave iPad
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
-------------------------------
Signal Chain is as follows:
Fodera > Monique Preamp > Monique Line Out > Neve RNDI Instrument Input > Apogee One > Twisted wave iPad
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
--------------------------------
Signal Chain is as follows:
Fodera > Monique Preamp > Monique DI out > Apogee One > Twisted wave iPad
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
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Nice. It does sound very good. Would be interesting to hear it with a bit of dirt added. But, really, it sounds really good in instrument or speaker mode. With no pad-like muffling in speaker mode, never really.
Yeah it really is a great sounding DI. I don't use dirt otherwise I would post a recording with it.
I really love using the speaker out to feed the RNDI. I used it the other night and my sound engineer loved the tone. I was using the 3leaf enabler as my pre, into the Juleamp M700 power amp. Fed the M700 speaker out to the RNDI and sent that to FOH. There is a certain midrange girth in the tone when I take the DI from the speaker out of the M700. It seems to a loose a little on the low end (which is good for FOH anyway) when used this way, but the mids, punch, and clarity sound great when using the DI'd speaker out of the M700. Pretty nice.
As I stated earlier, I would be happy with any of the combinations I tried, but there seems to be a little more sauce in the mids DI'ing the M700 out, where as the others vary and seem a bit more relaxed in the mids, but the others have more bottom (with the exception of the Fodera directly into the Neve RNDI). I know that I am certifiable and really splitting hairs here. LOL!
Well, I am glad it lives up to the whole "lights out, just select input type and connect" thing. Even with a transformer, you are always worried that you will need a heavy pad or get some sort of crappy distortion. Especially at the price point. I know there are like DIs and Line Splitters out there with like 300+$ Lundhal transformers that will do this, but, the Neve looks like such a simple, relatively cheap, device.
Very cool!
Yeah it really is a nice no nonsense piece of gear.
However the only problem I foresee due to its simplicity, is people overlooking the manual. There is one important note when using this DI. When using it in speaker mode, you must make sure the Neve DI is switched to speaker input BEFORE connecting it to the speaker jack of your amp/speaker. If you do not do this, you could fry the unit. Luckily I read the manual first!
Yeah it really is a nice no nonsense piece of gear.
However the only problem I foresee due to its simplicity, is people overlooking the manual. There is one important note when using this DI. When using it in speaker mode, you must make sure the Neve DI is switched to speaker input BEFORE connecting it to the speaker jack of your amp/speaker. If you do not do this, you could fry the unit. Luckily I read the manual first!
Yeah, well, I think that it should be the same with every dual use DI. Personally, I always quadruple check when the speaker jack is involved in any connection
So many other things could go wrong. Wong cable, load issue, blown tubes, blown SS power section, output transformers, dead cabs, etc. Just too easy to make a mistake there, always better to be on the extra extra extra safe side 
i read on these very pages that there was a real danger in using speaker DIs on class D amps, that some had a different way of referencing ground in the circuit that could send power amp level voltage up the XLR cable into the mixing board!
i thought the only point in a speaker-level DI was after a tube power amp anyway, a good ss power amp shouldn't be imparting anything to the tone.
That's all I know, Spankles. Well that and it's black with red lettering. But it hasn't been released yet, so I can't speak for Peter but I'm guessing he's not 100% happy with it yet.
Hmm. Is Peter around to speak for Peter? I had the thought to run the REDDI into the XLR input of the Jonas Hellborg preamp, but I might just be getting rid of the Hellborg if I can get a good enough tube pre. The main considerations are the Nobles amp pre and the Monique. But there are so many options right now. Finally a REDDI preamp!
Oh look! Spanky's back!
Peter hasn't been on in recent memory. Every now and then he comes on but as far as I know it's been a few months. You can always reach him through A-Designs, though.
