IMG Stageline/Pulse passive DI box

[Biskit]

I'm looking at purchasing some passive DI boxes for general use on stage in a live environment.  They could see use for anything from guitar/bass, to keyboards, synths, or computers.  I've previously used EMO single channel boxes, but these are getting pretty expensive (justifiably so, to be fair) and also there seems to be a supply issue with them at the moment.  The toggle switch for ground-lift also seems to be a slightly irritating weak-point on these (though easy to repair, of course).

Does anyone have experience with the IMG Stageline single passive DI boxes?  I believe the same product is also sold as 'Pulse' and probably other brands too.  They claim to be transformer matched (like the EMO ones), have switchable 0, -20 and -40 dB pad, and switchable ground lift. 1/4" jack in and XLR out - nice and simple, and I imagine they're pretty robust too.  However are they ok sound-wise?  Am I better just biting the bullet and waiting for stock of EMO ones and paying for a premium product?

Note - I'm not working in situations where they'd necessarily need to be 'rider friendly', but I need to be sure I have kit which can be relied upon and is of reasonable quality - I know that's quite a fine middle-line to walk!

Comments welcome!

Ben

[sandall]

Have you looked at MTR?  I have several; not expensive when I bought them, well-built & no complaints with audio quality.

[Biskit]

12 minutes ago, sandall said:

Have you looked at MTR?  I have several; not expensive when I bought them, well-built & no complaints with audio quality.

My only issue with those are they need to be powered, either battery or Phantom.  Ideally I'd prefer to go down the route of transformer based ones if possible.

[James Remo]

For simple passive di’s the Neutrik NA2 M-J-TX is pretty hard to beat. Small, no switches to get knocked, sounds pretty good, permanently ground lifted, cheap.

[Brian]

Studiospares have been around a long while and have their own DIs.

[timsabre]

We've got a bunch of the Stageline/Pulse ones at our church. They've probably done 15 years service -  I have had a couple fail where the pad switch becomes intermittent and another couple where one of the jacks has stopped making contact. But at the price just replace it....

They are transformer coupled and work perfectly well.

[sandall]

2 hours ago, Biskit said:

My only issue with those are they need to be powered, either battery or Phantom.  Ideally I'd prefer to go down the route of transformer based ones if possible.

Mine are all the DI-1, which are passive (transformer)

[Biskit]

Thanks for the input guys, very much appreciated.

[Hilary Watts]

I've had 3 of the stageline boxes for about 5 or 6 years.  They are transformer coupled and have the switchable pad and ground lift as you describe.  They haven't had a lot of wear and tear but seem fairly rugged and the sound quality is perfectly ok. 

[ojc123]

Before I retired we had quite a few (10+) of these Pulse DIs on our school stage.  They were reasonably looked after and we only had one failure over about five years.

[richardash1981]

2003-2007 when I was at University we were using IMG Stageline DIB-100 on a weekly basis - they had been around before I started, and we didn't break any.
Sound quality wise we were perfectly happy with them, I don't think the pad was ever used but they covered Guitar/Bass/Keys happily on the Christian Union's rotating worship band.