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Recording Studio

Which DI's To Buy

Radial JDI

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     From what I have seen, the JDI is the best pick for a reliable and good sounding DI. Getting into it a little bit, when I worked at Cherry Hills Community Church (CHCC) as their Student Ministries Technical Director, we were setting up a mobile church inside our school gymnasium every week. While this setup was still a significant production as we had proper stage distribution power, a permanent audio system integrated in the gymnasium, curtains and baffling that would drop in, professional lighting and professional video also permanently installed, we still  had to set the stage, microphones, instruments, DI’s and more every single week on Saturday and tear it all down again on Sunday. Specifically with mobile churches and mobile venues, the chances of equipment breaking skyrocket exponentially because of all the moving parts, setting up/tearing down, and potential abuse on the gear that otherwise would be stationary on a permanent install.

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     I know for a fact that the person who was the technical director at CHCC before I came on staff would unplug the cables from their JDI’s and toss them across the stage (a 32 foot wide stage, mind you) to another person who was waiting to catch them. Talking to him some years later, he said he did that every week for almost a year. When I came in to take over the student ministries technical role, I continued in this position for almost 3 years, stopped throwing the DI’s around, and never had a single issue with any of the Radial JDI’s or Radial Pro DI’s that we had. These DI’s are built to last, withstand all sorts of abuse, and sound pretty danged good in the process. They also seem to be the go-to DI of many major touring companies that I’ve worked with.

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Radial J48

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     Similar to the JDI if you are looking for a good Active DI, Radial offers the J48 DI. As stated previously, passive DI’s are very similar to condenser microphones in that they require phantom power to operate. They are oftentimes used for instruments that are “passive” instruments which do not have a power supply (some bass guitars, specifically). While not as widely used as the JDI, the J48 will give you all the reliability and tonal quality of the JDI, but is designed for passive instruments.

Countryman Type 85 Active Instrument DI

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     These DI’s are solid DI’s that will sound relatively good. I used them for many years with great success at Cherry Hills. Depending on which version you buy (active vs passive) you will need to inject phantom power. They’re great sounding, reliable boxes, that will definitely get you there. However, if you are going to spend anywhere from $150 to $200 per box, I’d just go ahead and buy a Radial DI. 

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©2021 Julian Clifton

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