DI Box Comparison

[MirrorProfiles]

Boring subject, boring riff because I had to record it so many times.



All DI's are level matched by running a sine wave in and clip gaining afterwards so the sine produces the same level. One of the clips is me playing directly in the amp (its a Marshall JMP 2204).

In no order, the DI's used were:

- UAD Apollo
- Focusrite ISA
- Neve 1073 (high quality clone)
- Avalon U5
- Axe FX III

All have a minimum of 1M Ohm impedance. Obviously only one of the clips doesn't use the reamp box, so that COULD colour 5 out of the 6 examples.

Do any of these sound better/worse/different? Does tracking DI's and reamping sound worse than plugging straight in?

 

[Deadpan]

I preferred 2, was hesitant to say this as I was listening on my phone.

I like the idea of this test. Would like to see the Kemper in there also.

 

[jellodog]

Wow. I really thought I was going to enjoy the Neve clone more than I did. But then this is on YouTube, I suppose.

UA was the sweetest to my ears, despite my not wanting to like it as much

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Wow. I really thought I was going to enjoy the Neve clone more than I did. But then this is on YouTube, I suppose.

UA was the sweetest to my ears, despite my not wanting to like it as much

Tbh, the Neve preamp is going through more circuitry, transformers and colouring the tone more than the rest so it’s kind of expected that it’ll impart a sound.

I think the UA JFET DI’s sound great, even though I just default to using the Avalon.