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Author Topic: EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...  (Read 12892 times)

Tommy Peel

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EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...
« on: August 01, 2014, 05:48:02 PM »

I'm about to order some gear(mostly cables and adapters) from Audiopile for my church band(I'm buying personally).

First: How good is the active DI that they sell? I'd have to spend at least twice what it costs to get a Radial or Countryman. I'm needing something better for our passive bass guitar and the passive pickup one of our acoustic guitar players uses. Currently my DI inventory consists of several very cheap Pyle DIs I bought from Amazon a few years ago; they're fine for keyboard and active pickups but sound terrible for passive pickups.

Second: Is there any reason not to get the Starline mic cables? I know they're not genuine Neutrik and not quite as nice as the premium, but from what I've seen on here they're pretty good. Right?

Also what length of mic cable is standard/best/prefered(I realize that this is one of those "It depends" questions, but what is most common)? Most of what I have now are 25ft with several shorter ones too. I'm thinking getting some 30+ft ones would be good for when we play larger stages(doesn't happen very often, but we've had problems before). We currently have enough for our normal setup so these would mainly be spares or for when we need extras.

Thanks in advance,
Tommy
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Rob Spence

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Re: EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...
« Reply #1 on: August 01, 2014, 06:28:21 PM »

I'm about to order some gear(mostly cables and adapters) from Audiopile for my church band(I'm buying personally).

First: How good is the active DI that they sell? I'd have to spend at least twice what it costs to get a Radial or Countryman. I'm needing something better for our passive bass guitar and the passive pickup one of our acoustic guitar players uses. Currently my DI inventory consists of several very cheap Pyle DIs I bought from Amazon a few years ago; they're fine for keyboard and active pickups but sound terrible for passive pickups.

Second: Is there any reason not to get the Starline mic cables? I know they're not genuine Neutrik and not quite as nice as the premium, but from what I've seen on here they're pretty good. Right?

Also what length of mic cable is standard/best/prefered(I realize that this is one of those "It depends" questions, but what is most common)? Most of what I have now are 25ft with several shorter ones too. I'm thinking getting some 30+ft ones would be good for when we play larger stages(doesn't happen very often, but we've had problems before). We currently have enough for our normal setup so these would mainly be spares or for when we need extras.

Thanks in advance,
Tommy

I found that very few different lengths was a time saver on setups. Long time ago I had 3,6,10,20,25,50. Well, I still own em but for small stages I use 20 for everything except a few drum mics where I know there is a stage box right next to the kit.
The light bulb went off one day when I watched a helper try to get just the right length for each run. I was placing 4 cables to his one. Next day all the other lengths came out of the cable bin. I still use em but usually at the shop.
On larger stages I run several stage boxes and everything is 25' for inputs again except for some drum mics where I use right angle connectors.

Get one real good DI (at least). Many years ago I got a Radial J48 for electric bass and a JDI for keys. The sound was so much better than the low end ones I was using. Why would you spend less than the cost of a pretty decent mic for the DI? Is that instrument's sound less important?

Now, except for one Type85, all I have are Radial.
Buy once, cry once.

I may have a hundred Starline cables with the EWI connectors. No failures in 7-8 years (not counting cuts). Of course, I treat my cables like gold. I have 2 cables with Switchcraft ends on them that I made in 1968.




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« Last Edit: August 02, 2014, 12:45:31 PM by Rob Spence »
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George Dougherty

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Re: EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...
« Reply #2 on: August 01, 2014, 06:47:46 PM »

The DI's are decent, but I have had 2 out of 7 develop problems. That's over several years of use but still...  Radial J48 on passive sources is my call as well.

Go with the premium cable over the Starline. The XX series ends are better all around, especially the male end with the solid shell vs the cutout window.  I also prefer the way the premium cable handles and lays. The Starline feels like a loose jacket over the internals by comparison.  Braid coverage is also better on the premium.  Skip the quad, they're decent but the heavier gauge makes for a stiffer cable that doesn't always behave well.  Most quads drop to 24/26ga, vs the Audiopile 22ga IIRC.
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David Simpson

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Re: EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...
« Reply #3 on: August 01, 2014, 08:55:07 PM »

The DI's are decent, but I have had 2 out of 7 develop problems. That's over several years of use but still...  Radial J48 on passive sources is my call as well.

Go with the premium cable over the Starline. The XX series ends are better all around, especially the male end with the solid shell vs the cutout window.  I also prefer the way the premium cable handles and lays. The Starline feels like a loose jacket over the internals by comparison.  Braid coverage is also better on the premium.  Skip the quad, they're decent but the heavier gauge makes for a stiffer cable that doesn't always behave well.  Most quads drop to 24/26ga, vs the Audiopile 22ga IIRC.

I stocked my venue with all Starline cables many years back. No issues with them yet, and we do a couple of hundred shows a year. The cables still look like new.

I have not used their DI boxes, but I agree that you should have at least a few good active DI's in your kit. The extra $50 makes a difference.

~Dave
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Tommy Peel

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Re: EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...
« Reply #4 on: August 01, 2014, 09:02:33 PM »

Thanks everyone for the great info. How does the Pro48 compare to the J48. I can't really do a $200 DI right now, but I could afford a Pro48.
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Ben Brunskill

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Re: EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...
« Reply #5 on: August 01, 2014, 10:02:36 PM »

Thanks everyone for the great info. How does the Pro48 compare to the J48. I can't really do a $200 DI right now, but I could afford a Pro48.

I’ve used both and couldn’t tell them apart. I think the J48 has a few extra features.
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David Parker

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Re: EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...
« Reply #6 on: August 01, 2014, 10:16:52 PM »

I've used all of audiopiles cables, including the cheapest, and I've never had any trouble with any of them. I've also used a lot of the audiopile no-name neutrik look-a-likes with no problems. I have had multitudes of problems with other no-name neutrik clones.
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Mark Cadwallader

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Re: EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...
« Reply #7 on: August 01, 2014, 10:37:38 PM »

FWIW, most of my cables are EWI "premium" with Neutrik XX ends. I have some EWI Starline with EWI ends in patch lengths, but I note they are 24 AWG cable. No problems to date. I personally prefer the Neutrik ends and 22 AWG "premium" cable.  I own some of the quad cables; I would not buy them again; price to value is not as good, IMO.

I have not done blind testing between EWI DIs and Radial or Countryman Type 85s. I own a small stack of the EWI boxes.

Mark C.
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Jared Koopman

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Re: EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...
« Reply #8 on: August 02, 2014, 12:35:37 AM »

We use the premium cable with ewi xlr ends and they work great. We made our own with the bulk cable in 3, 5, 10, 25 and 50 ft increments.

I have only used the passive ewi di but I have not directly compared to others.
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Geoff Doane

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Re: EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...
« Reply #9 on: August 02, 2014, 09:55:24 AM »

Thanks everyone for the great info. How does the Pro48 compare to the J48. I can't really do a $200 DI right now, but I could afford a Pro48.

I've used them both, as well as testing them on the bench.  I couldn't hear any difference, and the Pro48 (yes, cheaper one) actually tested slightly better.  The power LED also stays on all the time on the Pro48, instead of having to push a combination of buttons on the J48 to verify that phantom is making it to the box.

If you don't need the polarity, merge or HPF functions, the Pro48 seems like the clear choice.

GTD
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ProSoundWeb Community

Re: EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...
« Reply #9 on: August 02, 2014, 09:55:24 AM »


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