Using Radial J48 or JDI Stereo->Mono Sum as Blender

[mi-fletcher]

Hi guys,

I've been playing around with signal paths today. i have one amp & basically want a distorted signal twinned with the low-end & clarity of a clean signal.

i'm also after a DI box in general... in my studies i've found the Radial J48 and JDI. these both offer a "merge" function which toggles the link/thru output to act as another input. the two "stereo" inputs are then summed to a mono (XLR) output. after digging around i've only found sales info on this.

here come the questions!

would this work for my blending needs? an XLR to jack cable is pretty mainstream & i can't see there being a problem with my amp input. is anyone using this setup? any reasons why it won't work?

i'd rather avoid specific off-the-shelf blender products as their prices seem crazy vs some paraloop soldering!

 

[bongomania]

Passive blending is crap more often than not. The only time I would mess with that is if I had two active instruments with very low output impedance, and if testing showed no problems with feedback or other interference.

If paraloop soldering is so cheap and easy, then do it. It's worth the trouble.

 

[EastCoastThump]

IIRC, the "merge" function on those DIs uses both the in and through connections as inputs, so what you're describing could work for you as long as you don't need the through as an output to your stage amp.

 

[Stereo Joe]

I have the J48 and it probably wouldn't be the best choice for your application because it needs phantom power to work. There's no battery or wall plug option.

You'd have to buy a little phantom power box to run inline which would complicate things.

 

[mi-fletcher]

i didn't know about the J48 power thing - thanks for highlighting that! and yeah i'd have to say bye bye to the thru-output

so sticking with the merge, it looks like i'd have to use the passive JDI with pretty-low input impedance in the first-place to do some substandard passive summing? impedance hell & guess extreme signal degredation... can't blame me for trying!

best crack out the breadboard...