I just bought a Neve, and I have no regrets. It's been a couple months now. Recording ITB sounds excellent through headphones. I used to go DI through a Presonus USB interface with guitar inputs. There is a night and day difference between them. The noise floor is what I noticed right away. I also recorded guitar through the Neve power amp out with a live band into a USB mixer, with good results. I still treat my DI tracks with plugins to sound their best. I actually look forward to plugging straight into the instrument jack and putting my CAD headphones on to practice. It's a little awkward, but sounds so good. Now if only Tom Schulz could add his Rockman circuit!
The thing is a difference in each part is always very subtle during mixing. But those subtleties add up and make one big difference. And I definitely can hear differences in your comparison. Pretty sure in blind test as well
wicked review, pro playing & top quality video dude.I think you should be pulling wayyy more views man! Maybe you need to get reviewing some gear for Ian & Scott at SBL cause you're right on that level for content quality man. Shit ton of hard work go into these man and we bassist appreciate it massively. thank you !!!
My ears, on this listen, barely preferred the Neve over all the others, Telefunken was second. I'd be happy with any of them in a live situation. (my main use at this point in time)
They all sounded similar BUT the intangible is the confidence you gain knowing you don't have a weak link in your chain. With the cheaper units it will always be in the back of your mind that the cheaper unit is made with cheaper components. Once u know, u can't unknow lol
I’m polish , I design my own di box the Tatamovich 4500DI using the skin of polish sausage for winding on the transformer, it sound much better than any of these TOYS. I am fully qualified electronics engineer, I have degree in nuclear engineering and physics, but here in United Kingdom I work in sausage packing factory. I’m best designer in world, like Betman.
Do you like Radial ?....lol.... I'll stick to my Melvin Lee Davis bass multi DI box...can be used as a pure DI, pre-amp DI, inline pre amp, cab ir's & bass amp ir's or for best tonal quality you can switch everthing off with an internal dip switch,i prefer the tone to the Noble & that is a good DI box but the MLD really is the Swiss Army Knife of bass DI box's...can re-amp with it, built in drum machine for practise...many many uses but great ran with everything switched of, pure DI...i would take the Neve out of these....their very similar but i agree the Neve sounds slighly better....the Telefunken reminds me of Frank Zappa's 'Joe's Garage'...lol...👍
@@fabricator.cap.hill.seattle When you play a big sound system and with a powerful active bass, maybe also with a board full of effects, you need lots of headroom to get a clean representation of your sound. The better DI has generally a higher headroom and better frequency response. I think they are also more reliable in the long term.
I went with the LR Baggs align series for my acoustic rig because it has a mute switch on it. Most others do not. The mute switch for me was the deciding factor. With the overall "sound" being pretty much equal in a mix with a band, the other factor I would consider would be build quality and components used in regard to reliability and longevity of the D.I. or any other piece of equipment I might purchase. When one is performing solo though, it is always nice to have the best sounding gear possible; however subtle it may be. Lots of work went into this one...Thanks.
An excellent no-bullshit review. I even found myself agreeing on the Neve and the Telefunken sounding best, so of course you must be right. 😉 I've always wondered what the 'correct' sound of a DI box should be. What does 'perfectly neutral' sound like? Without such a reference, you can only compare these boxes to each other. Assuming that none of them are perfectly neutral - because these are real devices, not theoretically perfect devices - you are really learning only what type and degree of coloration is acceptable to you. It would be a little embarrassing if it turned out that your favourite DI box was also the least neutral: but as Jamie has shown, there's so little real difference that it disappears in a real mix.
Well.. if you want a neutral sound, use an RME audio interface (or any other professional interface) and its Hi-Z input. Unless you use a "DI" for its potential coloring, then just go for a pre amp that really can change the sound of your instrument before going into the interface. I see no point in using a DI in this recording scenario when you could just use a 3 m jack into the interface. Most people recording at home will realistically not need a DI anyway unless they use very long jack cables (that potentially "collect" noise) to connect e.g. a synthesizer.
I agree. Differences are "slight and subtle" and it does not matter. Blindfold, almost nobody will be able to consistently pick out the most expensive ones any better than guessing. It's great to know that even at the lowest budgets there is no real meaningful degradation to the sound of the instrument. What would be really useful though, would be a ranking by signal to noise ratio.
Absolutely no difference..just buy the cheapest and save your money for gear that makes a difference cos DI boxes don't...no one would hear the slightest difference 😃
I think the lack of distinction is going to be especially notable when it comes to live environments. Those finite details go away when you start figuring room acoustics, PA limitations, etc. That's where, exactly as you said, build quality comes in. Should I get a $300 Neve and watch it get flooded when someone knocks over a beer or get two Radials and have a second one ready to go?
