I'm sure this has been covered before but I don't see a handy thread devoted to DI's, so here goes. If it fizzles out, fine, otherwise why not have a DI's forum? If there's already such a beast I'll be happy to take it there, but I haven't seen one yet.

I thought hard about what DI to use. First of all I make a living in live sound, recording has been a hobby for me and it's about to become a business, I'm not a real studio guy. I'll be running a mobile recording service. For that, when I need DI's it's often going to be for student auditions. But in live sound, the much-improved standard of PA's these days mean we need better "heads", ie mics, DI's and all sources.

I wanted a very versatile, single-channel DI that works well with as broad a range of instrument and pickup types as possible. I've settled on the Radial PZ-DI. I also want a good stereo DI for keys primarily, at gigs, but any electronic/electric source in stereo. It's expensive but I'll probably get a Radial Duplex JDI. I was going to ONLY get this, because of all the stereo units out there that are full-featured, this one was closest to being two completely independent units in one box (actually that's exactly what it is), and it has a sum mono feature, which I wish was more common. Too many share one control across both channels, like only one pad or earth lift; I'd like the option to use it for 2 mono sources with maybe completely different requirements. For a stereo DI, now that I own a PZ-DI (not yet delivered), I am thinking something less elaborate would be fine, like a Palmer dual passive; it at least has separate pad and lift switches per channel.

A friend has owned some Little Labs DI's since the 90's, a type with separate PSU's on a short cable. Very nice, and this guy is very audiophile and selected them purely on sound quality, but was a gigging drummer/sound guy at the time and found the rigors of the road a little tough on these bespoke, lovely units. I think he's using Radial now. He used to bring his Avalon pre's to gigs for line sources; I think the risks and replacement costs finally got to him

So if I may ask, what DI's do you keep actually using, for what applications? And why... do you ever find durability and/or features winning out over pure sonic quality for your needs? Or do you not have to worry about that? Did you go for best bang-for-the-buck or did you get to choose money-no-object, pure sound quality? Would you choose something different now, and why?
PS IMO Radial got their dominance in that market by earning it; there probably are some very nice alternatives that are less well-known, so I'm keen to hear what other experienced users choose

I use a REDDI for bass guitar, rhodes and mono synths. I can’t imagine using anything else on bass, it’s a really great box. I got turned on to it when a pro bassist I hired came to the session with one. We have a pair of countrymans but I actually prefer to run electric guitars and stereo keys directly into an API 3124m. Stereo synths sound great through the DI’s of one of my Neve 1272’s.

I have a JDI and a Pro D2. They're both completely fine. I've considered upgrading to something fancy for recording bass, but I've listened to multiple DI shootouts, and the $$$ ones never sound any better than a decent Radial to me. I don't even have a sonic preference between the two that I have. As long as you're using something decent, I say forget about it.

I use radial JDI’s at the church where I do sound, whirlwind stuff the theater where I work, in both cases because that is what they have. When I bring my own, I have 2 DI’s that were whirlwind but one now has a cinemag in it and the other has a Jensen in it. I also have a Stewart active DI that I use when I want that type, and a fishman plantinum pro bass for upright bassists who don’t have a buffer preamp and are using a pickup. I do mainly live sound as well and record the shows to mix later when hired for that as well, so I understand where you are coming from.

When I record my own bass playing, I often use my genz Benz streamliner DI output because it sounds great.

Last year, on a session I recorded, one of the bassists brought a DI by Lightning Boy Audio, and it was seriously impressive. I’ve never had a passive DI absolutely wow me like that. He also had a wolf box with him that was really nice, but the lightning boy was so good. Very very deep and detailed. Only $150, I’ll get one at some point, or buy the transformer and put it in another passive DI.

Aha, Countryman! Haven't heard that name for a while but years ago these were on all the big-name production riders. There are still some around from those days. I haven't used them recently enough to make a proper comparison but they were always a class act. Funny though, over time, we get used to different standards, I'll try to get my mitts on one and see what I think now.

I wonder if DI's are really seeing as much application these days in studios; there are so many other ways to bring in a signal, and with the fashion being to get "character" into digital productions, it's either mic up a piano instead of digital keys, or use a sample library.

I'm glad to hear of a secret-weapon DI like your bass player's Lightning Boy. I'd only heard of the brand but not from anyone who'd actually used one. With passives I would think you're often really hearing the sound of the transformer; maybe this is why all the good ones sound so similar? I'm sure all the Jensen-based ones must have that factor.

I own a Focusrite Clarett+ 8Pre where the 1st two combo inputs can be set to instrument loading, effectively becoming DI's. I haven't tried that yet, I'll definitely A-B it with my PZ-DI and whatever else I get.
I did some shows years ago with 2 of the single-channel Focusrite ISA pre's, and for one of the acts we actually used the DI inputs as well; they were there to record a main stereo condenser mic pair straight to tape (actual tape). I had no reference to compare them with as DI's, but they were certainly very clean and open-sounding, I remember that. This was over a very advanced-for-the-time PA (the Apogee Sound Inc that made speakers and amps, not converters, great stuff too) at a fancy church gig.
This type of DI application, using the loading options available on some pre-amps, interests me very much. Ian Moss of Cold Chisel used an Avalon mic pre this way for his guitar; yep, gorgeous, but again without something to compare it to, how do you know the difference? I expect he tested a lot of gear then settled on that at some stage. And he (not I, for the record!) didn't gaff it down and it fell off his case onto the stage at a gig... one reason good live DI's are built like house bricks.

I have only seen the name Little Labs come up once since I saw those, and I had to search for it, but I know they're classy stuff. I'll look into those Lightning Boy units. There's plenty of talk about Lundahl transformers going on in mic threads, I wonder if there are any in DI's? I'm interested in the way some have mod'd their DI's with upgraded transformers, I'd be into that. My employer once had some Tx's wound for a splitter rack and swore they were better than Jensen, if you can find a factory like that it'd be worth exploring.

Thanks everyone, great posts, please keep it coming!

I can't find a real hardware REDDI for sale anywhere, I've looked a few times. There's a plug-in but I need hardware.

Now that I think about it, SansAmp boxes have been popular for years as bass DI's, and get used on other sources too. The first ones I came across in the 90's had some kind of speaker simulator circuit built in. Couldn't tell you if it was an accurate simulation but they became a bit of a standard in the mad, crazy days of the 90's touring scene, and I know of a few in use now. They certainly qualify as DI's in the sense we're using here, so has anyone been using one of these?

RNDI-S. Love this thing, be it tracking or reamping. It just does it for me.
Especially for DI bass, going RNDI-S > GR ME1NV > LA2A. It's the most solid DI bass I've ever heard.

You don't find going straight into the Hi-Z i/p on the ME1NV is as good? I believe what you tell me as I've never used this stuff, I'm just interested that you get that much of a difference putting it through the RNDI-S first. Must be a pretty good DI then... I'll keep that in mind, some of the clients would love to see any Neve in the chain.

Ofc the GR in itself is already great, but this gives it a bit more oomph presence wise, a slight push in the low mids and tightens the whole signal.
It's not a world of difference, but it's enough of a difference to put it in use.
Also love running soft synths thru it and into the ISA TWO.

i got turned on to radial by bass player mark egan and bought my first jdi and jdv in the late 90's - they are still in daily use here, along with some older designs by hanspeter ehrsam (who was responsible for clair bros getting a european distributor).

Radial here. JDI. Solid performer. Well made.
I've also got this thing called the Ax Max. Apparently from Mercenary Audio (is Fletcher still around?) Works, sounds great. Active.

Very cool, I think I've seen one, someone's personal piece of kit a long time ago.

So, do we want to touch the whole question of active vs passive? I've personally tried to go for passive whenever I can; less to go wrong, less kaboom if/when someone pulls the lead out with the phantom still on. But they also have performance advantages, or is it just differences, that come with the ability to run powered circuits. Ideally I'd want a choice of passive and active available depending on the application. I've only ever seen one DI that had an active boost (gain) available and that was home-made, but it could just occasionally be a helpful feature

I’ll use the DI on my outboard pre’s mostly. The ones I like the most:

RND 5017
Great River ME1NV
Daking MicPreOne

The Daking and GR have more gain on the DI, but sometimes I like the RND tone. The low cut on the Daking is handy though.

It is incredibly rare for me to open a box full of the DI du jour and say "ugh, that's all you've got?!?! I can't use those."

If I have my druthers my first choices will be
- Countryman Type 85
- Radial JDI
- Radial JDV (preferably the first generation version)
- Demeter VTDB
- retrospec juicebox
- REDDI

...but unless the venue has nothing but passive turds that aren't even ProCo or Whirlwind level, I'm good with nearly whatever is on hand.

I wasn't aware of the Radial JDV but that looks like a pretty impressive unit... I'll consider that one, if someone brings a guitar with mic and magnetic pickup, or other combination like some acoustic guitars have, that looks like just about the ideal means to get a signal from it. I really like it when you have so much control that you can get the tone you want without having to EQ, and here you can blend two inputs and each can be just about ideally controlled. Expensive, but a lot of bang-for-the-buck.

It's making me think, get one of these to be ready for anything a professional guitarist might bring, and for stereo keys something much more basic and pure. Looks like I could totally use it as two basic DI channels anyway if there are no special pickups to worry about, or 2 to blend.

For most stereo DI's what I really wish they had was a mono sum feature, that's pretty rare. Sometimes you're short of channels but you really need to get both a keyboard and synth on one "keys" channel, or they might really want you to take L and R (for some keyboards it's not just an indulgence, one side can drop to almost nothing if they play right at one end). Tthe Radial Duplex can sum both channels; maybe a Radial 2ch passive mixer box would be worth carrying too.

I tried a couple, and didn't like them. I didn't think it sounded like an amp - it just sounded cloudier to me.

I tried the RNDI too, and wasn't knocked out by that either. I prefer a simple Radial JDI on bass and keys.

Never said they were good, just popular Yeah on all those gigs where they turn up I never could see why they became such a standard, the direct out of the bass amp is usually better than that. For that matter I really prefer to just DI the actual bass but a lot of players get miffed because you're not taking all their fabulous settings

I built my own from Stancor and UTC transformers. My stancor are my favorite one's..

p.s. i forgot to mention that even though my armada of radial di's works perfectly fine, whenever i can, i rather use a preamp than a di...


...except for the usb-di which is mandatory for every av-gig!

ZOD, Little Labs, Countryman Type85 ...

Those 85's are still a classic aren't they, how many years now? Do you know the Little Labs I mentioned, with a separate PSU on a couple of feet of cable? Looked like plain al. project boxes, they might have been some of his early ones, I saw them in maybe 1993 or 93. The owner swore by them but they weren't really made for gigging.
As to pre-amps as DI's, yes I look forward to when I get some nice instrument as a test of the Hi-Z input on my Clarett+, i know it's a mid-range interface but I just want to see if they did a good job of that part of it. Even better would be to a-b it with an ISA One Inst. input.

Been looking for a stereo passive DI just for gigs, for 1 stereo or 2 mono keys mainly but any stereo source, or ideally 2 completely unrelated mono sources. Features I'd like are mono sum and separate pad and lift switches on each channel; this is hard to find on Radial et al except for just a few of their top units. But I've been put onto Palmer for decent cheap DI's, from Thomann.
Feature-wise this one looks pretty durn good, it's active but for my application I could live with that. I'll keep looking for a passive version but here 'tis:
https://www.thomann.de/intl/au/palmer_pan_04a.htm

Anyone tried their stuff? The person recommending said to me yes, Jensen tx's are better than theirs and Radial etc make nicer sounding actives, but they cost maybe 3x as much and he says only sound a fraction better. Anyone?

my Little Labs is the IBP -the dial-able Phase one, with DI and Re-amper ... and it has a big ass Line Wart !! ha .. I had one fry ... almost started on fire, just started to Stink as the Giant CAP in there burned up - bad fishy smell ... they have a NEW power supply design, mine was an early one .. Damn, that thing sounds fat as hell .. adds a lot of weight in the sound .. in a good way. I am trying to downsize and the ZOD and Little Labs DI's take up a fair amount of space .. but so much Tone there ... !! the 85, man, I have had this one for more than 25 years at least .. you can drive a car over one of those, while using it !!! haha.

I would love to try out the Geddy Lee DI !!

I have three JDIs plus a few units from Orchid Electronics, a UK a maker of transformerless DIs that sound very clean and are affordable for the quality they offer. I also have a Rupert Neve RNDI a which is good but not as great sounding as I expected it to be.
However for plugging an electric instrument straight in I often end up using the instruments in of the Metric Halo ULN-8 3D and Audient ASP-880.

My friend's units had to be before they were set up for re-amping; I hadn't even heard of it back then, maybe I'm wrong. He did say he wasn't sure of the PSU's, and I've smelt what you're describing from other gear too, phew! I really don't remember the character of those ones, but he was a pretty fussy customer. He was into old funk and classic recordings so I'd say his tastes were more about phatness than airy detail.
Funny how pre-amps as DI's and DI's as processors end up being helpful units sometimes.
I saw a guy play the bassline of a cover of "Paid In Full", Eric B and Rakeem, through an old Focusrite ISA channel strip and it was amazing, though I don't know what bass it was. FAT sound, very solid yet didn't get messy. The ratio was at least 10 if not infinite and he went straight into that thing somehow, I don't know the unit well enough to tell you how. So that's using a pre as a DI and then some, quite a result.

my DI's either hit a Tab Funkenwerk V78M then DBX160A (Jim Williams mod) or a Focusrite 215 preamp into innerTube Audio Squeezebox !! oh yeah !! Phat a tat tat

Sure, may I direct your attention to my solution: The Pueblo Audio OLLA Hybrid DI.

Passive v Active is not just about the intrinsic sound differences between circuit designs. It’s more about interfacing impedances between instrument, amp, pedal chain, and FOH or recorder. That’s the most important aspect, IMO.

Whether active/passive/amp out, Instr/+4dBu line level, piezo, balanced/unbalanced; everything is covered by OLLA with full sonic tonality and fidelity. Built like a tank without fussy power supplies or batteries. I love to hear the musician’s expressiveness come through the PA or Recording - so this is my contribution towards that goal.

I was fortunate to record him a few years ago for a live album and if I remember correctly he had 2 of the radial class A DI’s, I think that’s what the were called. Was that the JDV? As expected, his sound was awesome and he is an extremely nice person.

Another bassist I worked with had the radial firefly, that was a really nice sound.

I'll finally get my PZ-DI as soon as the courier arrives, and there's a violinist playing with a piezo pickup this week. I can't wait to hear the difference, in a live setting. Another player put hers into this little valve combo amp, it looked great sitting there but it sounded like a piglet being stepped on. There's no way I'd mic that up again. Our PA company had some actives made up and they double as isolators, and there's a 2nd input with a 10M loading for pickups like that. It'd probably do a good job too but it's not at that venue. Having the right input available when someone brings an unusual instrument can really save the day
That Firefly looks like a fantastic unit, I wouldn't mind having one of them around too