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Author Topic: New DI purchasing advice  (Read 17919 times)

Brian Adams

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Re: New DI purchasing advice
« Reply #20 on: May 05, 2014, 12:00:46 PM »

I have a dozen Radial Pro48's. I chose them over the J48 because I think they have too many switches. I also have quite a few ProD2's, AV1's, and AV2's. They sound great, and I haven't had a single failure yet.
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Brian Adams
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Tim McCulloch

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Re: New DI purchasing advice
« Reply #21 on: May 05, 2014, 12:47:12 PM »

The performance is the same or better than the J48, but it is smaller, the power LED stays on all the time, there are fewer switches to get put in the wrong position, and at about $100, it's quite affordable.  It doesn't have the merge and polarity switches like the J48, but those are some of the switches I consider superfluous.

The merge function, polarity switch, etc are exactly the reasons I bought 8 J48.  For me they are needed features, not superfluous switches.  Your mileage (or kilometerage) seems to vary with mine... ;)
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John Halliburton

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Re: New DI purchasing advice
« Reply #22 on: May 05, 2014, 02:15:19 PM »

I have 6 FET85 of my own that I'm sending to Countryman.  They've accumulated over the last several years and some have obvious problems that I could probably fix myself, but I'd rather have the mothership inspect and repair.

FWIW, the last time my employer sent FET85s back, Carl Countryman said "don't leave dead batteries in them and quit buying cheap mic cables; there's not a damn thing wrong with any of units you sent back."

He makes a damn fine point.  The one I sent back had a crack on the molded plastic chassis that pretty much fills the interior, and probably a connection to the battery was corrupted from the damage.

Best regards,

John
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Geoff Doane

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Re: New DI purchasing advice
« Reply #23 on: May 05, 2014, 03:47:03 PM »

  Your mileage (or kilometerage) seems to vary with mine... ;)

To each his own.  :)

Perhaps I'm still bitter after fumbling around in the dark underneath some keyboard players rig, trying to get all the switches on two stereo feeds to match.  I know, I shouldn't be using active boxes for that, but it wasn't my choice.

GTD
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Bill Schnake

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Re: New DI purchasing advice
« Reply #24 on: May 05, 2014, 05:11:34 PM »

FWIW, the last time my employer sent FET85s back, Carl Countryman said "don't leave dead batteries in them and quit buying cheap mic cables; there's not a damn thing wrong with any of units you sent back."

People actually use batteries instead of phantom...we don't even have batteries for our active DIs. 

Bill  :o
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Nate Armstrong

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Re: New DI purchasing advice
« Reply #25 on: May 05, 2014, 05:21:20 PM »

Also take a look at klark technic DN200 active stereo DI box   or DN100 for mono
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Kristian Stevenson

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Re: New DI purchasing advice
« Reply #26 on: May 05, 2014, 06:35:52 PM »

Wow. What a quick response!

I'm not sure how old the Countryman's are but I know they are long before my time working at the university (2010). We've had every kind of failure out of them: plastic XLR connector breaking apart, super small ribbon cable breaking/coming un-soldered, and some that appear cosmetically OK but don't pass signal or a have a nasty buzz. I don't think we've ever used batteries in them and we use all Neutrik X series connectors on Clark MINK4 cable for XLR's. Apart from being used 3 times a week, they are not abused by any means. We take good care of our gear.

I like the idea of having a few active DI's on hand for certain applications and for the Radials, the JDI and J48 are at the same price point. I also like how the Pro48 has a phantom power indicator light (speeds up troubleshooting). Apart from the extra features on the J series Radials, are they basically the same sound as the Pro series (passive and active)?

Thank you for all the responses!
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Kristian Stevenson

Hanno Meingast

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Re: New DI purchasing advice
« Reply #27 on: May 05, 2014, 11:11:23 PM »



Are there any other DI's I should consider?

For an active DI, check out the Avenson line.  Recently did a mini shootout with a passive piezo on a travel guitar, and the Avenson clearly came out ahead.
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Tim McCulloch

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Re: New DI purchasing advice
« Reply #28 on: May 05, 2014, 11:35:02 PM »

People actually use batteries instead of phantom...we don't even have batteries for our active DIs. 

Bill  :o

I think some of them were old enough that they'd gone out with mixers that lacked phantom supply, or an expedient fix to a snake channel without a pin 1 connection was to put a battery in the DI, where it was forgotten about.
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"If you're passing on your way, from Palm Springs to L.A., Give a wave to good ol' Dave, Say hello to progress and goodbye to the Moonlight Motor Inn." - Steve Spurgin, Moonlight Motor Inn

Chris Eddison

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Re: New DI purchasing advice
« Reply #29 on: May 06, 2014, 06:06:17 AM »

I'm using LA Audio Active DI's and really quite like them. Nice and simple steel enclosures. Nothing too fancy but everything you need. Price is good compared to others and they sound absolutely fine. Not sure if they're rider friendly sadly.
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ProSoundWeb Community

Re: New DI purchasing advice
« Reply #29 on: May 06, 2014, 06:06:17 AM »


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