Radial J48 1-Channel Active 48v Direct Box

The Radial J48 is a high performance active direct box for live concert touring and professional recording studio applications, with the ability to handle extreme transients without distortion while delivering the natural sound of your instrument.

It has been optimized to handle extreme transients using only the 5 milliamps of available current from typical 48-Volt phantom-power. The J48 features a unique digital switch-mode power supply that steps up the internal rail voltage to an amazing 9-Volts.

Most battery-powered guitars and basses are active and will produce as much as 7-Volts when played at maximum volume. Since typical direct boxes are only able to handle about 3 volts, they choke. The trouble is caused when the input signal is greater than the internal rail voltage. This creates all types of distortion: bass sounds thin and lacks punch, guitars sound scratchy and tend to have sporadic peaks, and they lose their natural body resonance.

Because the J48 has more ‘horse-power” (current to work with), it is able to handle these transients without choking. This extra headroom significantly reduces harmonic, phase and inter-modulation distortion. And when you fix all of the problems, a funny thing occurs... you get great sound!

FEATURES

• Provides extra ‘reach’ and ‘air’ in your sound!
• Superior dynamic headroom
• High input impedance reduces loading
• Merge switch sums stereo instruments to mono
• Low-cut filter, -15 dB PAD, and polarity reverse
• Huge 9-Volt internal rail voltage for extra headroom
• Handles loud transients without choking or clipping
• No batteries required, works with phantom-power

COOL STUFF

• -15dB PAD - allows super-hot inputs such as from a CD player to be connected and balanced for long runs
• Momentary LED - will flash once to tell you phantom-power is present. This saves power for the audio circuit
• Merger Function - turns the input and thru jacks into a passive mixer to sum stereo signals to mono. This saves valuable inputs on the mixer!
• INPUT connects from instrument, the THRU to the amplifier. High input impedance reduces loading
• XLR Ouput - 600Ω balanced, mic-level outputt will drive 1000 feet without appreciable noise
• Polarity - flips the polarity from the AES standard pin-2 to pin-3 on the XLR
• Ground Lift - disconnects the internal ground path between the input and the output
• High Cycle - heavy-duty switches are rated at 10,000 cycles.
• Digital Switching PSU - steps up the internal rail voltage to 9-Volts. The J48 will not choke like other DI’s when hit with loud transients.
• MU-Metal shield - for protection against radio frequency and electromagnet interference
• Book end design - creates a protective zone around the jacks and switches
• 14-Gauge steel - welded I-beam enclosure makes it impossible to torque the PC board. Eliminates cold solder joints.

APPLICATIONS

• Ideal for active acoustic guitars and basses
• Great for keyboards and drum modules
• 48 for Live Touring - A direct box is primarily used to get an instrument signal from the stage to the mixing desk and PA system. The Radial J48 delivers the natural tone exceptionally long distances without adding distortion or coloring the sound in any way
• J48 in the Studio - When recording direct, the quality of the direct box interface assures the purest signal going to the track. The Radial J48 is particularly well suited for recording bass or capturing a direct track from a guitar
• Reamping with the J48 - Reamping means sending a dry track from the recorder back out to pedals and amps. This tricks has been used for years by top professionals. The Radial J48 is ideally suited to capture the sound of the instrument for later Reamping.