STAGE BUG SB-1 ACOUSTIC [Electronics]

I loved instantly the sound and the format of this direct box. the only weakness to me is that I would ha liked an optional DC input to use when we don't have access to phantom power, but it's no big deal. I recommend it!

I'm a bass player and have been for decades. I own two Radial passive DIs: a JDI and a ProDI. They're both fantastic. But it's frustrating to have to explain (over and over) to younger people running sound boards how to set channel gain to compensate for the 12-15 dB transformer loss, especially when a passive bass is used. Or have to explain why it's perfectly okay to do it. I don't know why they get nervous about it -- it's how we did it back before we even had active DIs and basses with line-level preamps in them. We never, ever had a problem. So, there's the signal-level issue. Second issue: The input impedance of passive DIs tends toward the low side. This is out of necessity, of course, to get a transformer turns ratio that will let the transformer secondary properly match a low-impedance mic input. A somewhat low input impedance is not a problem with basses that have preamps in them, because those preamps' output stages typically run no more than a few hundred ohms; a 140-150 Kohm passive DI load is a piece of cake for preamps like that. However, for a passive bass with, say, a 10-12 Kohm pickup that's already loaded down by a 250 Kohm volume pot, an additional 147 Kohm load in parallel can slightly affect the instrument's tone. Can it be compensated for at the board? Absolutely. It's how we did it for years. The problem is, some sound people I work with have no clue how to do this, and (worse) some don't even know what I'm talking about, or (even worse) don't even care to learn. To get around these two (non-)problems, I'll typically use a tube preamp I designed and built myself ahead of the Radial passive DI. In other words, passive bass to tube preamp to passive DI. That gives me the higher input impedance for tone preservation, and it gives me the level boost for signal-level preservation at the balanced output up to the board. All's well until I have to do a gig on a stage that the client wants to look 100% clean. By that I mean nothing visible on the floor. No rackmount gear, no funky boxes. My tube preamp is way less than a foot tall, but it does look homemade, and there's no way to hide it from view. How to make life easier for everyone so we can preserve the clean stage and get the show done? An active DI. To the first problem: No transformer loss, and therefore no signal-level loss. To the second problem: The input impedance is way more than high enough not to affect the tone of any passive bass guitar. To the third problem, the SB-1 is tiny. It can be dropped into a stage floor box and the box's cover can still be closed. The SB-1 is called an "acoustic direct box." As soon as I hear something like that, I assume "lean bottom end, favors mids and treble." Heh... not hardly. This thing is fantastic on bass guitar. The bottom end is extended, full, and extremely strong. Radial really needs to rename this unit to reflect everything it's capable of. I ran this thing at a recent worship experience for opening morning at a large multi-site church's new property. The sound system was professionally installed, configured, and run by Events United. Board: Allen & Heath GLD-80. Power amps: all QSC. Speakers: D&B Audiotechnik, all flown. The sound man was from EU, and this guy definitely knew his stuff. In short: Fantastic. The sound was deep and full. I could hear it filling the room, even with my IEMs in. After the event, when I walked up to the control area to ask the sound man to disable phantom so I could disconnect the SB-1, I happened to spy the EQ curve he was using on my BG channel. He hadn't boosted my bottom end at all. He'd just applied a mild, wide boost in the low mids. I'm guessing the Q was about 0.3. That alone testifies to the bottom end the SB-1 is capable of. And by the way, I'm a very clean player. I pride myself on accuracy and definition. So, that mid boost wasn't there to compensate for sloppy playing. That's about it. If you're a bass player, get one of these. This thing won't affect the tone of your instrument, it'll preserve your instrument's level in the process of doing the impedance conversion, it's quiet, it's well-built, it's solid steel and tough, and it's unobtrusive. For clean-stage work, if you don't have a stage box to drop it into, or a floor light bar to hide it behind, just shoot a coat of black on one side. At $70, this thing's a no-brainer.

La caja brinda una potencia increible, además de que ya no se tiene que gastar en baterías. La uso con mi guitarra electroacústica conectada a un snake, la mixer envía los 48v y no hay más problema! Tras casi un mes de tenerla, y usarla 3 a 4 veces a la semana, solo puedo decir que vale totalmente la pena.

Item arrived quickly and as described.

Works great and gives the passive pickups on BASS GUITAR the signal boost it needs for excellent gain staging at the mixer level. We plug into the stage bug and then XLR out to the mixer which feeds to our front of house and monitors. Works great! I like that it is powered by Phantom Power from the mixer, so no batteries to remember or worry about dying. Good product!