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Radial JDI Passive Direct Box

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This box sits at the very front of my signal chain, just before the ST-300 tuner. It splits my signal such that I route the Output to my audio interface (Steinberg UR44) as a DI signal, and the Thru to my pedal board / amp. The signal I get into my DAW is super quiet, and it does NOT suck any tone from my signal chain.

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By recording both the output of my amp (through the Torpedo Live) and the DI signal from my guitar, I have lots of options when it comes to the signal chain I select for the final tracks. Obviously, the signal from the output of my amp is defined - there's very little flexibility there. But the DI signal lets me do any of the following:

  • Reamp the signal using whatever external signal path I wish at that time

  • Use virtual fx, amp and cabinet in the box. If you're anything like me, you've accumulated a number of these over time. Your choices now are only limited by the software you've acquired.

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Radial_JDI.jpg

The downside of this is that, at least in Cubase, it complicates my audio editing process - I have to edit multiple tracks in the exact same manner - but IMHO it's well worth the trade off! I should add that I also record the Direct Out from the Hughes & Kettner direct to my UR44 as well, so editing is even more tedious... but I'm always trying to capture the best tone I can on every take so that when I DO get that one take right, I maximize my bang for the buck.

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I highly recommend this box. I drive it using my Strat that uses EMG-SA pickups, and I drive it using my Charvel Model 6 which uses active Jackson pickups. The JDI gives me a great DI signal for both.

© 2020 by Howie Sound Productions.

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