Recommend me a cheap active DI box please!

Longtallronnie

As the title says, looking for a DI to use between my acoustic and mixer for live gigs.

Cheers
Ronnie

steamabacus

Orchid Electronics. Not the cheapest but certainly not expensive and very high quality.

Longtallronnie

Cheers, will give them a look.
Just a thought..
Is a DI necessary if my electro acoustic has a built in preamp? Always get confused with DI's!

Whistler

The rule of thumb is: active pickup, passive DI; passive pickup, active DI. Your built-in preamp does not make the pickup active but a passive DI would be the place to start.

kennedydream1980

https://www.gear4music.com/PA-DJ-and-Lighting/SubZero-Passive-DI-Box/1SDA?origin=product-ads&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIy4fZ7KW2_wIV0tLtCh2sjga0EAQYASABEgIm3fD_BwE

Musicwolf

Another vote of Orchid.  I have a few of their products and they've always been top notch.

shufflebeat

Whistler said:

The rule of thumb is: active pickup, passive DI; passive pickup, active DI.

Not quite:

* passive pickup - usually active DI, unless you’re using an external preamp with a high input impedance before the DI. Sometimes a passive DI sounds fine, try it and see
* active pickup - passive or active pickup shouldn’t make a significant difference.

Whistler said:

Your built-in preamp does not make the pickup active…

Er, yes it does.

One more vote from me for Orchid

roberty

What is cheap? I spent £50 on a Klerk Teknik one this week, active, it seems good

Longtallronnie

The active vs passive thing really confuses me when using an acoustic with preamp. 

Budget wise, under £50 would be nice, ideally I’d get one of each to try but don’t think I can stretch to that tbh. 

Stratavarious

I use a Radial Stagebug active.  Slighly above budget but about as good as DIs get.

I use it on loads of applications.  Passive electric bass and guitar info interfaces in the studio, bass and synth DI with pass through to amp at gigs, mandolin live, and with two preamp equipped acoustics.   It has a postive effect on tone and adds loads of clarity with all of them.

The tough metal box of the Radial has flanges which protect the sockets and switches on stage which is another plus over some cheaper designs.

Def. one of the most versatile pieces of kit.  One of my best investments.  They do a passive version too.

active
https://www.radialeng.com/product/stagebug-sb1

Passive
https://www.radialeng.com/product/stagebug-sb2

Not sure it would be massively essential for your preamped acoustic, those are pretty optimised for direct to desk impedance wise. But in my experience everything through the DI sounds clearer and cleaner and more controllable.   At festivals, the crew will always give me a DI box for on stage acoustics even those with preamps.  Juts useful to have for any long cable runs or to plug into a stagebox.

I am looking to get an Orchid switching DI for a mandolin with no on-board controls.  I use the Radial Stagebug’s pad to turn it down between numbers at the moment.

Danny1969

If your guitar has a pre amp than a passive DI will be fine and available for £25 or so as a passive DI box is just a transformer in a box. 
Behringer make a cheap one for £25 that's fine and generally what I use unless a guitarist has just a piezo pickup and no pre amp in their acoustic. Then you need an active box with a high input impedance to avoid loading the pickup and tone suck.

Acoustic guitars with pre amps are opamp based and happy to drive into a few hundred Ohms 

I wired a mute switch on mine so they can mute before unplugging. 

thomasw88

been using one of these and the prior one which was branded studio spares.

https://www.studiospares.com/adi1-active-di-box-by-lambden-audio-448290.htm?gclid=CjwKCAjwvpCkBhB4EiwAujULMkkn9gZsx1yaEqZpNbyiQhhePESSTjVBZHtjqjKmf4dR2B3Lg5HRrRoC3UUQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

JCA2550

We use Behringher ultra DIs all the time, very reliable and versatile and under £50.

https://www.behringer.com/product.html?modelCode=P0062

ICBM

The only one that’s a must is with an unpreamped passive pickup, when you must use an active DI or you will get drastic tone suck as Danny said. Anything else is largely a matter of cost, convenience and to some extent taste.

A passive transformer DI needs no battery or phantom power, and I think they sound best for electric guitar and bass. I prefer an active one with an acoustic even with a preamp, they seem to retain a bit more ‘air’ and sparkle in the sound - but a passive will work fine and if you’re on a very limited budget, it’s probably better to get a half-decent passive than a very cheap active.

Longtallronnie

Thanks for all the advice everyone.

maltingsaudio

I have Orchids Radial Stage bugs Radial Passive LA Audio Actives and PalmerStereo Swiss army box, they all do the same job whatever is thrown at them, with no audible difference between them. My go to are the Orchids when tech specs allow, second is the stage bug. The difference is down to a switchable pad which the Radial has but the Orchid doesn’t. 

The only drawback to the orchids is they are small and black and on a black stage using black leads you lose the buggers!

Ps I have 3 studio spares active di’s on the out pile for £30 the lot they are ok for occasional jobs but not up to professional work

hollywoodrox

Behringer Adi21 VTone  the guitar and bass versions are highly thought of 

shufflebeat

There is one active Behringer DI that should be avoided at all costs. Behringer ULTRA-DI DI20 2 Channel DI Box/Splitter

Avoid like the clap.