Radial Engineering J48 is a great sounding active direct box that has been optimized to produce maximum headroom while working within the limited current available from standard 48V phantom power. By employing a unique switching power supply, the J48 is capable of peak transients to 9 volts without choking. The result is lower harmonic distortion, half the inter-modulation distortion and significantly improved dynamics over other DIs.
Features include a -15dB pad, 180º polarity reverse, a unique merge function to mix two signals to mono, an 80Hz high-pass rumble filter, and ground lift. Like all Radial products, the J48 is built to handle the abuse on the road and features a unique welded I-beam construction for years of trouble free performance.
The Radial J48 is a great sounding active direct box that is specifically designed to work with today’s powerful active instruments. It is unique in that it provides a real-world solution to the limited headroom caused by inadequate current from 48V phantom powering. The expanded headroom has the direct advantage of increased dynamic range and the bi-product of reduced harmonic, phase and inter-modulation distortions. Plug and play easy to use, the Radial J48 is ideally suited for studio, broadcast and stage use where high quality sound is required.
Using the J48
The Radial J48 is a pleasure to use. It is ‘plug & play’ easy and is perfectly adept for studio as well as live concert sound. Connect the instrument to the ¼” input, the instrument amplifier to the ¼” output and the mixer to the XLR. Lift the ground if you encounter hum or buzz in the system.
The polarity reverse can sometimes help when looking for a ‘sweet spot’ and is always worth trying. In the studio, when combining a mic’ed signal with a direct feed, reversing the polarity can be huge!
Using the 80Hz roll-off filter is generally recommended for acoustic guitars as this will reduce the boxy sound that is often associated. It will also lessen run-away resonant feedback that can creep-up, especially as systems are being run loud. Depressing the filter switch will momentarily provide ‘48V power status’ which of course is a good idea before turning up sound system volume levels.
Another innovative function on the J48 is the merge switch. This resistive mixer allows a stereo source such as a stereo keyboard to me merged or mixed mono at the XLR output. This handy feature makes life easy for the engineer when confronted with more instruments than available channels. For the keyboard player, reprogramming stereo-panned outputs is not required. Just plug the stereo source in, hit the merge and you are ready to go.
As an added bonus, the Radial J48 and the Radial JDI can be mounted into a 19” rack device called the J-rack. This ‘inventory management device’ allows the same DI inventory to be allocated to individual instruments or be rack-mounted for keyboard set-ups as needs arise. There’s nothing more frustrating than having to waste a rack-mount DI when a single unit is required and nothing more irritating and unprofessional than a pile of DIs messing up a stage.
Summary
The Radial J48 is a great sounding active direct box that is specifically designed to work with today’s powerful active instruments. It is unique in that it provides a real-world solution to the limited headroom caused by inadequate current from 48V phantom powering. The expanded headroom has the direct advantage of increased dynamic range and the bi-product of reduced harmonic, phase and inter-modulation distortions. Plug and play easy to use, the Radial J48 is ideally suited for studio, broadcast and stage use where high quality sound is required.
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• Musiclab’s M-Audio site
• Musiclab’s ProTools Mbox site