I want some Good Quality and really Durable DI’s; what should I get?

Re: I want some Good Quality and really Durable DI’s; what should I get?

Jim McKeveny said:
Default Ground Lift and no Input Split makes it a nonstarter for most of us.
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No through is fine, I almost never need it, but no ground for acoustic instruments doesn't sound like it would be workable. Ironically, you often need the ground lift when you connect a through to an amplifier.
 
Re: I want some Good Quality and really Durable DI’s; what should I get?

Josh Millward said:
For a passive DI, I'm going to recommend the LBP-DI: http://lbpinc.com/DI.html

Jensen transformer
Really robust construction
Very compact
Good price
Schematic is on the website so you can actually service it if you need to

Some people don't like that it has all the connectors on one side. I like it that way because if you lay it on its back, the connectors are up in the air where I can't step on them, or you can lay it over on the side and it still takes up far less space than a lot of DI's take up.
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Those thing look really cool and nicely simple!!! I wonder if they would be open to doing one of mods?
 
Re: I want some Good Quality and really Durable DI’s; what should I get?

Countryman Type85s were a de facto standard and met riders for decades. Klark Teknik DN200s are good. I sell and install Radials as well. Never had a problem with any of them.
 
Re: I want some Good Quality and really Durable DI’s; what should I get?

Bennett Prescott said:
Hey Matt,

I agree with Brian and others - I can see having two, maybe three kinds of DIs. I would prefer mostly passive. If it were me, buying for what I am guessing your application is like, I'd get a bunch of ProDIs. They're simple and small and work great. Then I might pick up a few ProAV2 for keys and DJs, and a few Pro48 or maybe even J48 for special sources that are sensitive and you might find some advantage from the active DI on.

For problem solving and ground lifting I recently discovered this: http://www.radialeng.com/icecube.php
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Whatever has the least buttons is what I'd pick. ProDI or ProD2, plus a few Pro48. Guess what I own? About 20 ProD2 and as many Pro48.
 
Re: I want some Good Quality and really Durable DI’s; what should I get?

I have a Countryman 85 that's probably 12 years old, and the epoxy potting shrank and cracked, causing an intermittent connection. Sent it back to Countryman, they fixed it for $0. I have had no issues with my newer Radials. I also like the J48 and ProD2/ProAV2.
 
Re: I want some Good Quality and really Durable DI’s; what should I get?

David Luscombe said:
Those thing look really cool and nicely simple!!! I wonder if they would be open to doing one of mods?
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I assume you meant "...one off mods?"

Yes, I'm sure he would. Just get in touch with him and ask about it. The modification will probably require a little adjustment of the price.

http://lbpinc.com/DI.html
 
Re: I want some Good Quality and really Durable DI’s; what should I get?

Matt Vivlamore said:
I for the last few years, I have been using all EWI Active and Passive DI’s, and they have plenty of shows on them, but for the last couple months I’ve had a few fail on me and....
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You've got me curious what the failures have been on the EWI units.
 
Re: I want some Good Quality and really Durable DI’s; what should I get?

Luke Robinson said:
Out of about 10 of them I have One that did have an issue with the group lift switch, i have been meaning to call radial and see about exchanging it, I have heard that they are pretty good about that.
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I had about four out of eight units which would occasionally have the push-button switch spontaneously pop out. In other words, a lifted ground would suddenly become un-lifted, perhaps right in the middle of a show. Instead of contacting Radial, I quit the job where the boxes were, so it became someone else's problem...
 
Re: I want some Good Quality and really Durable DI’s; what should I get?

Dave Barnett said:
I had about four out of eight units which would occasionally have the push-button switch spontaneously pop out. In other words, a lifted ground would suddenly become un-lifted, perhaps right in the middle of a show. Instead of contacting Radial, I quit the job where the boxes were, so it became someone else's problem...
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Those must have just been old, beat up units. I've never had an issue with them stuck in or popping out. Push switches do have a limited lifetime, after all.
 
Re: I want some Good Quality and really Durable DI’s; what should I get?

As much as I love the JDI, out of 4 that I've had, 2 have failed on me, and one was stolen! Not great from a reliability track record for me, and desirable for thieves.... YMMV.
 
Re: I want some Good Quality and really Durable DI’s; what should I get?

Jeff Babcock said:
As much as I love the JDI, out of 4 that I've had, 2 have failed on me, and one was stolen! Not great from a reliability track record for me, and desirable for thieves.... YMMV.
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How did they fail?
I've never had a problem myself, but for the few problems I've heard about, Radial's service has been great.
 
Re: I want some Good Quality and really Durable DI’s; what should I get?

Pardon me for pulling a Behringer, but we may have a similar case with Radial DIs as we do with Behringer problems. Sure, there are many cases of issues and malfunctions, but such a large sample set. And, as with B, the issues are easily fixed through support.
 
Re: I want some Good Quality and really Durable DI’s; what should I get?

Max Warasila said:
Pardon me for pulling a Behringer, but we may have a similar case with Radial DIs as we do with Behringer problems. Sure, there are many cases of issues and malfunctions, but such a large sample set. And, as with B, the issues are easily fixed through support.
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Maybe.

But of the 16 that I purchased last year, two or three are non working and three or four have minor but annoying issues (missing plastic nuts, very bent white ground buttons, jack issues, etc)

We own prob 30 Whirlwind boxes that are almost bullet proof, as well as a dozen BSS, with a failure rate of probably one every other year.

I sent an email to support a while back looking for more plastic collars and other missing bits, and never received a reply. I guess I will send them another email...

Jason
 
Re: I want some Good Quality and really Durable DI’s; what should I get?

Jason Misterka said:
I sent an email to support a while back looking for more plastic collars and other missing bits, and never received a reply. I guess I will send them another email...

Jason
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I can't remember if I called or emailed Radial about this same issue, but either way I got in touch with them and they promptly sent me a bunch of nuts and washers of various design to fit my several models of DI.
 
Re: I want some Good Quality and really Durable DI’s; what should I get?

Josh Millward said:
I assume you meant "...one off mods?"

Yes, I'm sure he would. Just get in touch with him and ask about it. The modification will probably require a little adjustment of the price.

http://lbpinc.com/DI.html
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I doubt he would bother to modify it. He's probably a one man operation and it's a lot of time and effort to tweek for everyone. It really is the perfect design so I bought a bunch of them after seeing them here a long time ago. They have the proper Jensen transformer with the ground lift switch recessed. I also own the ever popular Radial J48 and don't like the extra bells and whistles because they can be pushed in the wrong position. The IBP model is idiot proof and a tad cheeper than the various other models with a Jensen transformer AND I'm supporting a small business so I like that.
 
Re: I want some Good Quality and really Durable DI’s; what should I get?

I own almost all that have been mentioned and many more I have acquired over the years. You can almost never have too many direct boxes. The Whirlwind are cheap and bullet proof. Everyone should have a few or something similar in the gig box just in case. They always work. Not the very best sound but very usable and they always work. The Countryman sounds stellar on most acoustic guitars but either take the battery out and run it phantom powered (my preference) or put a brand new one in each gig. No exceptions. A weak battery will turn the sound to garbage instantly. The passive Radials sound wonderful but are expensive. My favorite for keyboard. Actually they are my favorite passisve units for anything. The JDI is great on stereo keyboard and great for patching in a DJ mixer that does not have XLR outputs and some times taking the high z out if there is a problem. The best bass tone I have ever gotten direct came from an Avalon U5 but I am sure the player had alot to do with it. I don't want to spend $500 to find out if it really makes that much difference though. Other than the Avalon I always prefer a passive box on electric bass. I even have some old Peavey EDB active units I have had for over 20 years that have never failed.

I recommend a couple of good active boxes, a couple of good passive boxes, at least one good stereo passive box, and a bunch of less expensive passive boxes unless you just have money to burn on more good passive units. The only major improvement I have noticed in an actual mix with a great active box is the way some acoustic guitars and like instruments sound due to the way it loads the pickup Just my opinon.
 
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