BigYinUK Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 Looking through the posts on DI boxes, it would seem I'm not the only one who is not impressed with the Behringer DI20. I tried to use one on Saturday night but it was so noisy (hiss) that I ended up running 2 very long jack leads over to the mixer instead. Any recommendations for a 2 channel DI box, preferably one not costing the earth ? Also, passive v. active - why ? Regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Alcock Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 Big Yin, Yes it's a pity the DI20 is such a hissy box of horrors - it offers a lot of flexibility otherwise. My recommendation would be to go with a pair of Behringer DI100's as they're absolutely fine - totally robust and as quiet as a DI needs to be. Active means it has a battery or phantom powered preamplifier in there in place of, or (in the case of the good ones like the DI100) in addition to an isolating transformer. The gain from the preamplifier allows the unit to present a higher impedance to the instrument than a transformer-only, passive DI. This is only important if you're plugging guitars or basses into it as any loading on the pickups affects the tone. (It's why guitar amps have high impedance imputs, typically > 1megohm.) PA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mi-ul Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 I tend to use the DI100s when I need to use the link out and if I've got quick changeovers and can leave a line of them with the vocal mics. When I'm out with my band and for single act gigs then I often use micro DIs. I found them on ebay they look like a jack socket to XLR adapter but are phantom powered with a nice green LED inside the jack socket. They come in 2 varieties - accoustice guitar (0db) and line level (-20db) Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johndenim Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 . I tried to use one on Saturday night but it was so noisy (hiss) that I ended up running 2 very long jack leads over to the mixer instead. I have just bought one and found it OK Bigyin.Did you try the ground lift feature? John Denim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alec Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 Yes it's a pity the DI20 is such a hissy box of horrors - it offers a lot of flexibility otherwise. My recommendation would be to go with a pair of Behringer DI100's as they're absolutely fine - totally robust and as quiet as a DI needs to be. Yes, I too would go for a pair of singles, rather than a double, as you can split them if you need. Always assumed that the DI20 would be like having 2 DI100s in a small box, but how wrong I was. The fact that the DI20 costs less than a single DI100 should have alerted me. Has anyone complained to Behringer (makes me realise I should!)? As this is the kind of product that their bad name comes from, as it is truly awful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigYinUK Posted July 21, 2008 Author Share Posted July 21, 2008 . I tried to use one on Saturday night but it was so noisy (hiss) that I ended up running 2 very long jack leads over to the mixer instead. I have just bought one and found it OK Bigyin.Did you try the ground lift feature? John Denim. I was using it phantom powered, stereo, no link, earth lift caused mega-hum so put it back. It hissed like a swine, a sort of gated hiss that got worse when the signal was there and faded a bit (not enough) when no signal. I tried all the attenuation possibilities and it was best at 0db but still bloody awful. I took it back to the shop and the guy said "they are pretty terrible I'm afraid" and I got my money back. I'll get a couple of DI100's from SS probably. Hopefully will have better luck with them. Rgds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Lewis Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 I've not used it in anger yet, but the Samson S.direct and S.direct plus (2 channel) is compact, active, quite well featured and reasonably priced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PoppaDom Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 Second vote for the Samson offerings....used them in anger including on a Fischman BP100 Pickup without preamp and was suprised with the level of detail and bottom end present from such a reasonably priced item. Dom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattwire Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 Unfortunately the DI20 does seem to pick up even the slightest bit of interference on stage and generate enough noise to make it almost unusable. Found this out to my cost at a gig. I have a couple of DI100's which are great, plus one of the Samson S-Direct plus stereo DI's as a replacement for the DI20. It survives the drop and kick across stage test, sounds on a par with the DI100 and keeps things tidy when you've got stereo sources on stage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berry120 Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 Well, with the DI20 it's really a case of you get what you pay for. With about £10 per channel on an active DI, you're really not going to get much in the way of quality... The fact they're cheaper than the single channel DI100 says it all in my mind! In fairness I've found it perfectly usable for just linking a cd player / ipod / whatever to a desk on it's own (in fact that's their sole purpose as far as I'm concerned), but for use on stage when there's interference about it really doesn't cut it. They also seem to break after they've been dropped... in a hissy fit... The DI100's however seem to do the job alright. No, they're not the best things in the world but they cope well enough with the usual on stage interference and as said above they survive the odd drop or kick across stage. In fact, one that came under my care got kicked fairly hard into a wall and was still fine. They're obviously not going to be indestructible (what is?!) but you don't need to wrap them up in cotton wool. I've used an S-Direct a couple of times and it's seemed fine to me. Cheap, cheerful and does the job without throwing a hissy fit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Gruner Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 Save up your pennies and get a good quality, industry-standard unit, such as the BSS AR133 or Klark-Teknik DN100. Yes, they are considerably more money, but it will last you years, sound better than the cheaper stuff and you can sell them on for a good price later if you need to! Remember a little quality goes a long way! If you cannot or do not want to stretch to the above suggestions, then check out the Studiospares rip-off of the AR133 - its not a lot of money and certainly better than the behringer equivalent. Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob_Beech Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 I disagree that it'll last you years. I stick with the DI100's now. A few years ago I bought a couple of 133's and within about 2 months they'd been stolen. Never bothered again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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