Radial Di box - yes or no?

Discussion in 'Studio' started by Vincent Price, Feb 6, 2024.

  1. Hello

    I am looking at the Radial Pro 48 DI box for two reasons

    one, because when I use amplitube on some
    Amplifiers even when I am not playing guitar, there is still noise coming
    Through

    And two because I want to be able to record both the mic’d up amplifier and the direct signal into the Apollo Twin

    I have tried asking Gak and Thomann but can’t get a straight answer out of them.

    what are your thoughts?
     
  2.  
  3. mk_96

    mk_96 Audiosexual

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    What guitar do you have? That's pretty normal if you're using single coils and driving an amp, even humbuckers can get noisy with enough distortion, no DI box is going to fix that, that's why god invenetd noise gates. And like always, check the cable and guitar in case the ground connection is fucked.

    Cable shielding is important too, considering you had noise issues with the SM7 before you may have a lot of noise sources arond you, and if the cable's shielding is badly designed that could be a problem, specially on instrument cables.

    Yup, DI would be the way to go. Not sure if Radial is the way to go since the thru output is pretty much the same on every DI ever, and i doubt any DI will get rid of the noise in this case. No reason to spend that much on a DI box imo, Radials can be pricy.
     
  4. Zenarcist

    Zenarcist Audiosexual

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    Are you using preamp gain on your interface?
     
  5. I am straight into the hi-z input
     
  6. Zenarcist

    Zenarcist Audiosexual

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    Yeah, but are you adding any gain on the interface?
     
  7. On the input channel yes
     
  8. T Frog

    T Frog Noisemaker

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    Save your money, and buy a klark teknik DI. The radials specs are average at best
     
  9. dondada

    dondada Rock Star

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    I like their Stuff, if its online Thomann, just get it and do some Tests ;)
     
  10. Zenarcist

    Zenarcist Audiosexual

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    Try setting the interface gain to zero and adjust the level in the amp sim, as most software amp emulations are calibrated at 0dBu. There is no set input value for Amplitude, as it varies between amps.
     
    Last edited: Feb 6, 2024
  11. Thoughts? Found this on AliExpress
     

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  12. mk_96

    mk_96 Audiosexual

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    Never heard of lyr-pedals. They seem to have decent reviews but idk.
     
  13. Zenarcist

    Zenarcist Audiosexual

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  14. Thoughts on the Samson MD1 Passive Di Box, my intention being to put it before my pedal board so I can get the dry signal going to my Apollo twin and then the other signal going out through my pedal board to the mc'd up amplifier. Would this work?
     
  15. Arabian_jesus

    Arabian_jesus Audiosexual

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    Don't buy a fake from AliExpress. Your money is better spent on some cheapo DI box from Thomann or whatever. If it's faulty or breaks straight away you can always send it back (you can even send it back if it doesn't fit your needs for some reason), but if you buy from AliExpress there's no chance you'll get your money back if you receive a completely unusable lump of metal.

    That should work just fine. Although, if you are using passive pickups you will probably loose a lot of highs and the signal will overall get a bit colored by the DI box. The rule of thumb is: use active DI boxes for passive instruments, and passive DI boxes for active instruments.

    Radial DI boxes are primarily made for live and therefore built like tanks (you'll probably never have to replace one in your lifetime), but they are not much better sounding than many cheaper DI boxes. At least this is my experience.

    The best bang for buck DI box I've tried/owned is the Warm Audio WA-DI-A. It sounds much better than any other DI box I've had (including the Radial J48 Pro), has both active and passive modes, line through (so in your case you can send the signal to your pedalboard), adjustable pad from -3dB to -30dB (perfect for high output instruments), and can be powered by either phantom power or a 9v battery. The CineMag transformer definitely does color the signal a tiny bit, but only in a good way, and not at all as much as some expensive tube DIs do.

    Here's the Thomann link for it if it's something that might interest you: https://www.thomann.de/se/warm_audio_wa_di_a.htm

     
  16. mk_96

    mk_96 Audiosexual

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    It should work fine. Though if that's your choice, get the active version (MDA1) if you have passive pickups. the MD1 would probably work fine, the input impedance is not too low, but better not risk it i guess, they cost the same anyway.
     
  17. Guitarmaniac64

    Guitarmaniac64 Rock Star

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    Yet alot of pro's use them both in studio and live so there must be a reason for that otherwise they would have used other Di boxes.
    What i find out is that Radial SOUNDS good compare to alot of the cheaper D.I boxes i tried and gives a better signal when i record
    Howver there are cheaper ones that also sounds good and give a very good signal like Orchid Electronics and Palmer i have never tried Klark though
     
  18. deathroit

    deathroit Member

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    I have a telecaster with a set of noisless pickups from Dimarzio (Chopper T & Area T), the noise level should be low, but with a heavily overdriven amp there was always a lot of noise.

    I replaced the interface, cables, looked for grounding problems, shielded the guitar, moved the workstation to another location, and tested the DI Box.


    I choose the Behringer Ultra DI-20, for the test.

    It turned out that the use of the DI Box helped, but did not eliminate the noise completely, because the active di-box itself generates a weak noise. Definitely less when powered by a battery than from a phantom power supply, but still quite audible on overdrive.
    I don't know if it helps you but you can try. You can always refund.

    My final solution is the Brusfri VST from Klevgrand - it doesn't introduce a lot of latency (if you turn off Lookahead function, you can turn it on during rendering), and it doesn't cancel frequencies. Much better in my opinion than the de-noisers from iZotope RX packages.
     
  19. Garamondo Furbish

    Garamondo Furbish Audiosexual

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    Radial are nice, but they are expensive. you could try a noise gate
    about 35$ from amazon, probably cheaper on ebay.
    https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01I...&pd_rd_r=ea6acadd-1ce1-40fc-9e6d-8d0a9fcb9c7a

    [​IMG]
     
  20. Garamondo Furbish

    Garamondo Furbish Audiosexual

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    another issue can be ground loops, make sure everything is sharing the same power strip or isolation transformer if you have one.
    also lights and other gear can cause rf and your guitar cord acts like an antenna and picks up the noise, so a shorter guitar cord helps and dodgy wiring on guitars can cause problems, you can try using a ground strap around your wrist with the alligator clip - clipped to bare metal on the guitar like the bridge..
    https://www.amazon.com/s?k=wrist+ground+strap
    7$
    [​IMG]
     
  21. Garamondo Furbish

    Garamondo Furbish Audiosexual

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    the berhinger DI boxes work, but not hardy enough for touring with. great for recording with and pretty cheap. they make active and passive boxes. I've used them for reamping with no problems..
     
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