Suggestions for passive DI box

[Gunsfreddy2003]

Evening all,

 

Looking for suggestions and recommendations for a good passive DI box for use with bass - I've looked at the Radial JDI but it seems quite pricey for a simple DI box.

 

Happy to hear any other suggestions and alternatives please.

 

TIA.

[ghostwheel]

some of these maybe? https://www.palmer-germany.com/en/Products/DI-Boxes/

[LukeFRC]

Orchid DI - simple cheap and works well

[spyder]

I'm a big fan of Palmer Passive Di boxes. They are very well built and sound great. I use the Wipper.

 

https://www.gear4music.com/PA-DJ-and-Lighting/Palmer-Wipper-Passive-DI-Box/4Z7Q

 

 

[Gunsfreddy2003]

1 hour ago, spyder said:

I'm a big fan of Palmer Passive Di boxes. They are very well built and sound great. I use the Wipper.

 

https://www.gear4music.com/PA-DJ-and-Lighting/Palmer-Wipper-Passive-DI-Box/4Z7Q

 

 

Thanks for that - I had opted for one of these at lunchtime:

 

https://www.gear4music.com/PA-DJ-and-Lighting/Palmer-Pan-01-Passive-DI-Box/2PT7?_gl=1*hj71pq*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTE2NjExNjMyMS4xNzU4NjM2OTM0*_ga_0WF1R5QW3K*czE3NTg2MzY5MzQkbzEkZzEkdDE3NTg2MzY5ODckajckbDAkaDE3MjY3Mzg1NjE.

[jazzyvee]

This one is a lot cheaper than the JDI

 https://www.andertons.co.uk/radial-stagebug-sb-2-compact-passive-di/

[Supernaut]

On 23/09/2025 at 07:36, LukeFRC said:

Orchid DI - simple cheap and works well

Definitely. Either that or a Radial ProDI or JDI secondhand. 
 

I have the Pro and picked it up on clearance for £49. This was a few years ago, mind. 

[LukeFRC]

2 minutes ago, Supernaut said:

Definitely. Either that or a Radial ProDI or JDI secondhand. 
 

I have the Pro and picked it up on clearance for £49. This was a few years ago, mind. 

Though - not reading the title of the thread - orchid is not passive 

[Supernaut]

Just now, LukeFRC said:

Though - not reading the title of the thread - orchid is not passive 

It can be phantom powered. 

[BigRedX]

1 hour ago, Supernaut said:

It can be phantom powered. 

 

Still not passive and phantom isn't always available on some PAs or can't be activated on a per channel basis, which might make some setups difficult to cable.

 

Passive DI boxes are great because you don't have to worry about issues like this or batteries going flat. hey can sit in your equipment bag until they are required and you know they will be fine. I have 6 channels of passive DI I take to gigs for my band. That's one for everything we need and a spare. I wouldn't contemplate an active DI device unless I was in charge of the non-battery power for it.

[LukeFRC]

On the other hand Active Di and phantom power has been a solution for the last half century 🤣 

[BigRedX]

1 hour ago, LukeFRC said:

On the other hand Active Di and phantom power has been a solution for the last half century 🤣 

 

Active DI Boxes powered by phantom power are fine if it's for your own PA. For use with an unknown PA where phantom power may not be available or may only be activated in groups of channels where it may not be appropriate for some of the other equipment connected, it is safer to use a passive DI box.

 

All the problems I have encountered with signals from DI'd equipment not reaching the mixing desk have been down to active DI boxes. Replacing them with one of the passive DI boxes that I always carry has sorted out the problem every time.

[Matt P]

If you shop around a bit you should be able to find the radial ProDi or a stagebug SB2 secondhand, that's what I did, managed to get a pro and 2 stagebugs used for the well under price of a new JDi (i think about £50 each?)

 

the build of another pedalboard means i'm on the lookout for another SB2 as well

 

Matt

[Andy_L]

Hope you don't mind me piggybacking your thread Gunsfreddy.

 

If I have a passive p bass, but run through a Cali 76 18v comp pedal, should I look for a passive rather than active DI box? Thanks 

[BigRedX]

13 hours ago, Andy_L said:

If I have a passive p bass, but run through a Cali 76 18v comp pedal, should I look for a passive rather than active DI box? Thanks 

 

It shouldn't make any difference. The whole point of a DI box is that it takes instrument and/or line-level signals and converts them to balanced line for the mixing desk. Whether the DI box is active or passive should make no difference to the impedance it presents to the input signal.

 

IME a good passive DI is slightly more reliable since it doesn't require a power source or phantom power which may not be available, and doesn't cause problems when connected to equipment with non-standard earthing.

[Andy_L]

Thanks

[Jack]

On 01/10/2025 at 18:21, Andy_L said:

Hope you don't mind me piggybacking your thread Gunsfreddy.

 

If I have a passive p bass, but run through a Cali 76 18v comp pedal, should I look for a passive rather than active DI box? Thanks 

If you ever run your passive bass straight into a passive DI, or indeed through some true bypass pedals that are not engaged, then there is a chance that the passive di box will load the pickups on the passive bass down to a point where this can be heard. If you can hear it, then there is a chance that you do not like the tonal change. The physics is a given but whether it's audible depends on the pickups and the di, and whether it's a bad change depends on the player. In those situations an active DI alleviates the issue. If you have some pedals that are NOT true bypass, or pedals that are turned on, or anything else with a buffer like a wireless unit or an active bass then a passive DI will not experience those loading issues. Actually it will, but just so much differently that you can't hear it. 

 

In short you would be fine with either. I don't think your pedal is true bypass, and it won't matter either way if it is turned on. I did a comparison of an £8 and £150 passive DI box on here a few years back if that helps you. The superficial differences in sound were not meaningful to my ears, but worth noting that the LBP certainly feels better made etc. I still have several nice DIs including the Radial Stagebug 2 that would be my recommendation for someone to buy, but I always reach for the LBP if I want passive or my 20 year old Countryman for active. The only times I really use a separate DI now is when we're working with an external sound company and I want to protect my Quad Cortex from an unknown PA system, that's nearly always the LBP's job.

Edited October 3 by Jack

[Andy_L]

Thanks @Jack that's really helpful 

[PinkMohawk]

On 02/10/2025 at 07:48, BigRedX said:

IME a good passive DI is slightly more reliable since it doesn't require a power source or phantom power which may not be available, and doesn't cause problems when connected to equipment with non-standard earthing.

100% agreement. Just ran sound for a stage at this years Oxjam in Beeston. The only problem I ran into all day? Active DI's not giving me any signal. Phantom power on, should have been getting me plenty of output but I wasn't getting diddly except noise, and these were decent DI boxes too. What saved the set? The pair of cheap, nasty Behringer DI400P's. You know the ones, the basic black metal boxes that everyone turns their nose up at. Worked perfectly as soon as we swapped them in. 

Chucked the other DI's back in the gear box and ran with the Behringer's for the rest of the day with 0 issues. Packing out my new Peli soon, ordered 3 of the Behringer's as my emergency DI's. 

At the end of the day, I want as little to worry about as possible. Plug and play is the name of the game, I don't want to have to muck about wondering why I'm not getting signal, I just want it to work, and passive DI's just work. 

[Matt P]

for anyone looking for a Radial Stagebug, one has popped up in the Classifieds HERE, I have no affiliation to the seller but they have a good reputation on here.

 

I was tempted but I think i 3 radial di boxes is enough for now.

 

Matt

[BigRedX]

12 hours ago, PinkMohawk said:

100% agreement. Just ran sound for a stage at this years Oxjam in Beeston. The only problem I ran into all day? Active DI's not giving me any signal. Phantom power on, should have been getting me plenty of output but I wasn't getting diddly except noise, and these were decent DI boxes too. What saved the set? The pair of cheap, nasty Behringer DI400P's. You know the ones, the basic black metal boxes that everyone turns their nose up at. Worked perfectly as soon as we swapped them in. 

Chucked the other DI's back in the gear box and ran with the Behringer's for the rest of the day with 0 issues. Packing out my new Peli soon, ordered 3 of the Behringer's as my emergency DI's. 

At the end of the day, I want as little to worry about as possible. Plug and play is the name of the game, I don't want to have to muck about wondering why I'm not getting signal, I just want it to work, and passive DI's just work. 

Which venue were you doing? We played The Berliner this year. We also brought our own passive DIs.

[PinkMohawk]

14 hours ago, BigRedX said:

Which venue were you doing? We played The Berliner this year. We also brought our own passive DIs.

No kidding, I was running sound over at The Crown, my uni volunteers us students, as well as some of our equipment, to help out. We supplied The Crown and The Star (outside), and we had students all over the place. 

[Chris Hales]

Hope I'm not hijacking this thread, but I'd be really interested to hear what you guys would need from a DI box?

The reason I ask is that as well as being a mediocre bass player I'm a mediocre electronics designer and have come up with a "pedal" that gives you some degree of volume and tone control as well as being 9V/battery/phantom powered.

I have a couple of these with gigging bass players but I'd be really intrested to hear if it's something people would find generally useful.  I have nothing to sell, but I'd love feedback if it's something you potentially would find useful.  I'll attach my "user manual" in case you're interested.

Cheers!


Chris

Embarrassingly Direct.docx

Edited 8 hours ago by Chris Hales
Correction toattachment

[Chris Hales]

 

On 07/10/2025 at 20:07, PinkMohawk said:

At the end of the day, I want as little to worry about as possible. Plug and play is the name of the game, I don't want to have to muck about wondering why I'm not getting signal, I just want it to work, and passive DI's just work. 

 

Interested to know how you hook everything up?  Is your bass straight in to the passive DI or do you have a pedalboard inbetween?  I've been working on something for just this sort of situation and it woud be really helpful to understand how you link everything together and what lets you down.

Cheers


Chris

[PinkMohawk]

2 hours ago, Chris Hales said:

 

 

Interested to know how you hook everything up?  Is your bass straight in to the passive DI or do you have a pedalboard inbetween?  I've been working on something for just this sort of situation and it woud be really helpful to understand how you link everything together and what lets you down.

Cheers


Chris

That's a slick little design you've got! I just had a look over the manual you posted, I like the look of it a lot. So personally, I have two use-cases for DI's, when I'm performing, and when I'm running the desk. There's no overlap for me, I'm not in a band where I have to run out to mix the show while I'm playing it. 

When I'm performing, right now my DI boxes go at the end of the chain, kicking the parallel to any amps I might be running, with the XLR's going straight to FOH after all of my effects which are relatively simple, mainly heavy drive, amp sim, sometimes pitch effects. That'll change when I finally make the switch to an Anagram, where I'll be splitting the outputs internal to the pedal, using the XLR outs to go to FOH with amp sims, and the 1/4" outs to go to amps, before any amp sim on the pedal. 

When I'm on the desk mixing a show, DI's are right before the amps as well, and I leave it to the performer to put whatever they want in front of them. For me, the name of the game is reliability. I need to know that when I bring that fader up, I'm getting sound, and it sounds like the player. If I need to tweak things, I usually have some form of EQ on the desk, whether it's a basic analogue channel strip or a full graphic EQ on a digital desk. That said, giving the player a little control over their DI tone with that shaping knob is a great idea, letting them adjust what they're getting out of the monitors a little without trashing what I'm getting at the desk. 

If I could add my two cents to your current design? As a player who'd mount this to my board, I'd love to see all the inputs and outputs on one side of the pedal. That's just a personal preference, I like having my 'final stage' on the pedalboard to be like that. As an engineer who'd throw this in my pelican for a gig, I'd love to see the controls be turned into something low profile. Trim pots accessible through the enclosure, etc. This is an organisational thing. Engineers often carry DI's in their pelican cases (I've got three of the most basic, passive DI's I could find in mine as my emergency DI's.) and it's already tight for space in there. Having the enclosure as low-profile as possible, with as few things sticking out as possible would make it that much more tempting to have these as my go-to DI's instead. 

Hope this all helps!