BSS Audio AR-133 active DI box review and user guide 

Thanks for watching!

You're welcome, thanks for watching :)

Kostadin Roshinski Great, hope it gives you many years of service. Remember that the ultimate judge of which DI works best is always your ears!

+Raymond Smith You're welcome, thanks for watching. More videos on the way!

Thanks for watching!

Thanks for watching Pierre - this is one of my older videos 😊

You're welcome! The 133 is an older design now but is still very effective.

Thanks for watching Felix :)

Siguis benvingut, Ricard!

You're welcome Ruslan!

Thanks Tony!

This video should help you to understand the purpose of the link connector: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tNU8sgBcrLQ.html

- Balanced lines should be used any time you run a signal over a distance greater than 5 meters/15 feet. Below that distance you can used unbalanced lines. I suggest you watch my video What does a DI box do, and when do I need one? starting around 5:20 for a more detailed discussion.

Thank you Bruno.

+michael Thanks for getting in touch - may I suggest that you read this article on how to build a subkick mic: www.prosoundweb.com/article/in_the_studio_diy_subkick_microphone/ The article indicates that no DI box is necessary, just an inline pad. Let me know if this is helpful :)

You're welcome!

+mdavev At 0dB. 20dB is for line level signals and 40dB is for speaker level signals.

Thanks! appreciate it

Yes it's just the colour - when you see it in person it is actually a blue-green so it may also be the way the photo was taken.

+jasperdany You got it!

No - it's used to connect the signal to an on-stage amplifier. So XLR output goes to mixer/PA, 1/4" output goes to onstage amplifier.

Yes the type 85 is an excellent DI - relatively few features compared to the Radial designs, but sonically just as good although it uses a somewhat different design to the J48.

- It depends on whether your PA system can handle the bass frequencies. If you have small speakers, it's best to add a subwoofer or use a separate bass amp.

if it has 15 inch speakers it probably be OK ( but most of the time has 2 bass bins.... and thanks for your replay ...

Darko Velickovski With 15" mains and 2 subwoofers your system should be more than capable of handling bass guitar through a DI box for 50-80 people :)

nokiatunerr Thank for the question. Unfortunately good DI boxes are expensive, because of the quality of the components in them. How are you recording? Are you using a mixer and tape recorder, or a USB computer interface?

GLB Productions well, at the moment I am using M-Audio Fast Track Pro interface and record into sequencer on my computer, but I am planning to use a DI-box box, mixing console and a built-in audio card by RME (I have two audio interfaces at the moment, because the RME doesn't have preamps, so I record microphone to RME through DBX mic preamp, and electric guitars through M-Audio, into its instrumental input with only 250 kilo ohm impendance I think I am going to save some more money and buy this BSS direct box, since it' considered one of the best. If I buy a cheap thing, I may regret about it later :) But I found another rather interesting DI-box - not a very cheap one - BBE DI-100X. Have you ever encountered this one? Can you say anything about its quality? Thank you

nokiatunerr Thanks for the info. You should be able to get good results just with your Fast Track Pro - 250 kilohms is actually high enough to record electric guitar. For example the Radial J48 has only a 220kohm input impedance. I haven't used the BBE DI box so can't comment on how it sounds, but BBE generally make good quality gear.

GLB Productions Thank you, buy the way, do you know which is the output impendance of the Standard Amercian Stratocaster? As far as I know, it's around 6-7 kiloohm. But there are many direct boxes that have even 1 Megaohm impendance! So why so much? Maybe that's more for live performances on stage, while for studio work that would be way too much? I heard somewhere you said in this or another video that the impendance of guitars can be around 600 or 700 kiloohms, but maybe I got you wrong

nokiatunerr The exact output impedance would depend on what pickups are in the guitar, but it would typically be in the tens of kilohms. The 1-megohm 'standard' for DI boxes is a way of 'playing it safe' - some companies (such as Radial) feel that such a high input impedance makes electric guitars sound 'glassy' and somewhat unnatural, hence why they chose 220 kilohms for their top of the line J48. Guitars equipped with unbuffered piezo pickups (usually acoustic guitars) can have output impedances in the hundreds of kilohms, which is why you need very high input impedances on DI boxes designed to accept these instruments, up to 10 megohms. Of course, the best DI boxes have adjustable input impedance, which Radial calls 'drag control' :)

OneArchetype A good question - the user manual for the unit does not state that performance will differ on battery vs. phantom power, so the answer in principle is no. I'm just wondering - is there a reason why you can't plug your signal source directly into your recording interface? Does it have any 1/4" connectors or only XLR?

GLB Productions I'm using a M-Audio Delta 1010lt soundcard. It has 2 mic inputs, with adjustable pre-amp levels, and 6 RCA-type inputs (and the same outputs as well). It does not have an input suited for instrument level. I am trying to record a electric guitar with passive pickups directly into the interface and the sound is a bit muddy and lacks clarity.

OneArchetype Ah yes, in that case you need some sort of DI box. The muddy sound you are getting is the classic sign of an impedance mismatch. I have personally used this model DI on both battery as well as phantom power and could not detect a difference in the sound. It's possible that there may be slightly less headroom when using battery power, but the AR-133 can operate on phantom power as low as 20 volts so presumably this is not a major issue.

GLB Productions Great, thanks a bunch for your insights. Keep up the good work with your channel. Good luck!

No - on that unit connect directly using the INST mode, no DI box needed.

@@GLBProductions ahh OK, thank you for the Info :)

Hugo Santos It depends on what is causing the buzz - grounds lift switches will usually work if the buzz is associated with the grounding of your equipment. If the buzz is coming from your guitar pickups or the lighting dimmers in the venue ground lift will normally not help.

thanks a lot! ;)

Hugo Santos You're welcome :)

According to BSS the maximum output of the AR-133 is +9dBu so yes it can drive a line level input. Bear in mind though that the actual output level will depend on the input level.

@@GLBProductions Thanks a lot

Yes no problem, assuming the DI box can be powered by a battery.

Thank you :)

Yes you can use it for that purpose.

@@GLBProductions thanx..amazing DI infact.

Just turn on phantom power on your mixer :)

Psr s775

Yes although you will need two of them if you want to run the keyboard in stereo. Better to use a passive stereo DI such as the Radial ProD2.

+Shajith Khan The power switch must be on whether the DI is operated on battery or phantom power :)

Thanks ! but may i know why ?

+Shajith Khan The DI won't function if it's not switched on.

Just use the pad on the DI input to reduce the level.

@@GLBProductions thanks sr

Start at the 0db setting - use the 20dB setting if your mixer gain is all the way down and the input is still overloading.

Thank you

Microphones which have an XLR output do not need a DI box - the output is already balanced and low impedance :)

@@GLBProductions how about to make dynamic microphone into line level in the cheap way? :D i mean maybe under $100

I would purchase a standalone mic preamp, or even a cheap mixer - you could probably find one used for under $100. One of the old Mackie or Yamaha boards.

@@GLBProductions i never found standalone mic preamp under $100 :( maybe i will check for mixer. thanks a lot

kforthy chris If the keyboard has an unbalanced output and you need to run the signal more than 15 feet yes, otherwise not necessary. The output from modern keyboard is always low impedance so that is not an issue :)

thank you !!

There is no stereo version of this DI box.