A true story
Mark, our EVP of Sales and real-life sound guy, opines on the value of a good DI box.
A while back I spent a nice spring afternoon adding some subs into a friend’s club PA system. I took my time and set up everything just right. It sounded beautiful. The low end was hitting hard and filling the dance floor. When the DJ arrived, I grabbed a couple of the DIs from the sound booth and connected them for the DJ and… it sounded thin.
It turned out that the house DIs (probably Amazon or Temu garbage) were cutting off the low end, even with the crossover set at 90 Hz.
So, my beautiful work now feels like I was catfished on Tinder. The DIs are crap, and they aren’t giving me any low-end at all. To test that I’m not crazy, I grabbed my phone, plugged it directly into the mixer, and it sounded great… but when plugging it into the DI it sounds thin. I swap the cable to and from the DI and still no improvement, and there were no better DIs to be found in the venue. The show suffered as a result.
So I ordered a pair of Heritage P DI Ones and went back to the club a week later, on a night the same DJ was playing. I connected them to his rig, and… mission accomplished. The low-end was back.
Which, of course, means more people dancing, more people drinking, more money spent on the bar, and more money in the DJ’s pocket.
Everyone had a better time… a couple of quality DI boxes made all the difference.
Let’s take a look at how significantly DI boxes can vary in quality.
Left: A disassembled house DI from a venue in New Orleans.
Center: A disassembled house DI from a venue in Baton Rouge.
Right: A disassembled Heritage Audio P DI One.
The left DI sounds fine, but it doesn't have consistent sound on the low end. It's not made super well, but it was cheap.
The DI in the center is about as cheap as it gets. It doesn't even have a circuit board. The transformer is glued to the chassis. It does have some low end, but it would probably die the minute it got kicked across the stage.
The Heritage P DI One (right) sounds great and has all the features I want. The custom transformer (silver cylinder in the middle) is where the magic happens. I haven’t opened any of my Heritage rack gear to compare, but I would imagine it's the same transformer used in their other gear or similar. The P DI One is hefty and robust, and has a padded underside to prevent sliding. I grabbed a pair of the stereo P DI 2s for a show this weekend, and was pleasantly surprised to find that they also have a threaded hole for a mic stand!
Why you should bring your own DI to the show
Ground noise
Venues can vary dramatically when it comes to power quality. A quality DI will have a ground lift option that removes 60 Hz hum from the signal in the event that the venue has shoddy power.Reliability
House DIs are often an afterthought and a victim of cost-cutting measures. They are gigged night after night and could be in a state of questionable repair. Bringing your own DI guarantees that you know what you’re getting.Compatibility with older PA systems
Some old or inexpensive PA systems will only have XLR inputs, and no line-level or instrument-level connections. A DI box will save you from these dinosaurs every time.Solid low-end
Inexpensive DIs, as often found in music venues, tend to cut costs by featuring low-quality transformers. This results in a tinny sound with near-zero bass. The P DI series from Heritage Audio features a high-quality custom transformer that ensures the entire frequency response of your instrument remains intact.No distortion/clipping
High-gain active guitar pickups and some synthesizers can output a level too hot for some DIs. The P DIs feature a 15 dB pad that ensures compatibility with hotter signals.Thru connection
The DI allows you to split your signal, sending it to both the front-of-house mix and your onstage amp at the same time.Stereo compatibility
Some venues won’t even have a stereo DI on hand. If you rely on a synth, MPC, or laptop, for your show, get a P DI 2.