Active vs Passive DI Boxes: What Difference Do They ACTUALLY Make?

A deep dive into Active, Passive, Piezo, and Specialty DI Boxes.
0:00 Intro
1:08 What Is A DI Box?
1:42 Active And Passive Introduction
2:03 Active DI Boxes
2:54 Passive DI Boxes
4:32 Piezo DI Boxes
6:35 Character DI Boxes
9:15 Summary
Video sponsored by www.radialeng.com/
Find the Yamaha Guitars Used In This video at www.rufusguitarshop.com/
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[@gabrielalmeida6199]

7:47 those are some sick right hand skills!

[@Bearseatingmandolins]

Those piezo boxes are insane sounding. Thanks for convincing me to get one for my mandolins and violins.

[@JayLeonardJ]

Yeah, makes a huge difference. I can't believe I went so long without trying it out!

[@aaronkirkland212]

Dude! Rufus Guitar Shop is a killer shop. Nice work.

[@schipbreukeling3]

Never heard of a Piezo. Not that I need one right now but it is good to know. Thank for the upload, good info.

[@Mikas_Emil]

Super clear and to the point. Thanks! .. oh and your playing is amazing ;)

[@JayLeonardJ]

Thanks!

[@J_a_k_e388]

Thanks Jay! Doing research for my church, very helpful stuff here, God bless!

[@JayLeonardJ]

Glad to help :)

[@radialengineering]

Thanks Jay! Great job!

[@richardbailey511]

My dude and my new co-producer!!!!!!!!! Yes sir I'll definitely be in touch soon. Overall this is a great tutorial!!!

[@jntwyatt]

Useful demo and great playing!!

[@Arkanoid_242]

Great video mon! Must admit I didn't have a clue what difference passive/active made, all mine are active, but now I do, and my shoppinglist now consists of passive stuff 🙂Cheers!

[@howardwong7973]

Wow,You don't need a DI box. Because you already playing these instruments so well. You are killing this 🔥Good Job Jay.

[@zenwarfare70]

good video. very instructive !

[@michaelbooz]

very helpful and informative video for a convoluted subject. Thank you!!

[@JayLeonardJ]

Glad it was helpful!

[@maikaravitu6941]

Great video! very informative. Needed this one

[@JayLeonardJ]

Glad it was helpful!

[@masterstacker2833]

Top notch DI review in and impressively succinct.

[@JayLeonardJ]

Really appreciate it!

[@ethan_vela]

This helped me a lot. Thank you 🙏

[@JayLeonardJ]

Glad it helped!

[@vywnmwli1469]

Great video! It's better to use passive or active di box when using guitar pedals?

[@zamsuanmung]

very good review

[@robertszybowski81]

Great info

[@bcalenda2609]

Great comparison of the radial line. PZdi sounds good too!

[@JayLeonardJ]

Yeah, it made a HUGE difference with those Passive Piezos!

[@jacksonmumford6237]

Thank you for the helpful video

[@JayLeonardJ]

Thanks!

[@djacidbunny]

i was not expecting my boy to pull out a banjo

[@volfgankamei5348]

Excellent!

[@benjiboy69420]

Radial DI's for life! 🙌 They make tons of great equipment aside from just DIs -- they also have the best ab/y splitter I have ever used (always on my board), and I used the Bassbone OD and V2 for years and loved them -- silky smooth high end and packed with endless utility. I switched to a Le Bass by Two Notes now though for the crispy *and* warm tube tones (I love it, killer preamp), but I still prefer tossing that preamp into a passive Radial JDI (as opposed to using the perfectly good built-in DI w/cabsim in the Le Bass) as it still sounds marginally better -- for all the reasons you stated, including the nice flat tonal response and musical semi-compressed quality the JDI imparts on a signal when pushed. But I mainly use the Radial JDI as a go-to specifically because the Jensen transformers used keep the signal as noise-free as possible (EMI, RFI, ground loops, other mysterious audio gremlins, etc.). Those audio gremlins can always be a problem when dealing with any giant floor/pedal rig (even when using a good pedal power supply & power conditioning for all my other studio gear on top of that!), but with the JDI or Stagebug SB6 for that matter (passive isolation transformers for TS/TRS inputs) you can combat a ton of weird noise issues in the studio before you ever have to resort to breaking out the ol' noisegate 😫 Tl;dr Radial is awesome! Wonderful gear, always built like a tank. Good video as always! Great tones and concise explanations. Keep grooving 👍

[@JayLeonardJ]

Thanks so much! Thanks for writing. Radial make some great bulletproof gear for any audio problem out there. Great team working over there :)

[@redsolar7]

great info 👍🏾

[@JayLeonardJ]

Thanks!

[@mrfomiatti5515]

Thanks for sharing.🐨

[@stevensrp2music985]

What do you think would be the best DI for modelers?

[@arnoldrutjens6663]

Great ....thank's

[@umbertofurlan501]

hi Jay, i have an apollo twin audio interface wich is pretty good overall. will it make any sense to buy an active radial DI to improve my bass guitar sound passing through the Instrument insert of the audio interface? i mean do you think plugging a bass on the instrument insert of the apollo is sufficient to get a good energetic sound or is it that a good DI would even improve that sound? thanks

[@stevenheinje181]

JLJ I upgraded an old Guild and the tech (who played with BTO at one point) suggested maybe not go active and get a LR Baggs or similar preamp. He thought it was better to manage the sound off the acoustic, not on the accoustic, at least for this retrofit guitar. I wonder if the piezo and passive DI isn’t maybe the best possible route to that acoustic sound we love. By the way, I tried an IR on that troublesome Guild, it worked pretty good.

[@JayLeonardJ]

Thanks for writing! Some acoustic preamps with a 1/4" IN are designed with the proper 10M input impedance to match your passive piezo. If it does, you will get perfect response as long as it is the first thing you plug into. Just make sure you check the preamp specs before you buy. If not, I would definitely grab something like a PZ-DI and you can use any kind of MIC preamp you want 👍

[@skaboosh]

I think of Di boxes as being more relevant to LIVE performances in venues.

[@jamesmaddock259]

Should I use a passive DI in conjunction with an acoustic box like the Fishman Aura or the Red Eye ?

[@johnalmaden7361]

I hope you can also make a video about the parts of the D.I box especially the ins and out of it. Also what D.I would you suggest for a board running a stereo signal?

[@JayLeonardJ]

Great idea: thanks for the suggestion!

[@brianvillage5]

Radial, Rupert Neve Designsand some others makestereo versions of these DIs. You cannot go wrong with a JDI but for a few bucks extra I’d shoot for the Neve.

[@martindimitrov807]

@@brianvillage5 Hi, I have a JDI DI box but from some reviews which I watch on KZbin, I like an RNDI(the sound is better than Radial for me). I am a keyboard player and everyone recommends a passive DI box for the keyboard. But I use styles not only sounds. In styles have bass, guitar, drums.... tracks. Do you recommend the RNDI for this reason which is an active DI box and which option is best for me? Thanks!

[@pandrumonium_handpan.artist]

I have a muling h1 magnetic handpan pickup. I've been advised to also get a DI Box but forgot to clarify whether it needs to be active or passive. I notice now there are 2 types of JDI boxes, passive direct Box and stereo so not sure which I need.

[@aaronlarsen7447]

That is why its redundant to get a d.i. for an acoustic amp, unless its through the vocal channel.

[@1234588001]

hi brill video I'm using an effects pedal what's the best to use passive or active thanks again

[@JayLeonardJ]

Either would work great if the pedals are always on. When they are bypassed and you are using a passive instrument, an Active box may be a good choice.

[@auxorion]

I heard somewhere that the PZ-DI is basically just a J48 with some additional features. Is this accurate? I have an acoustic-electric and a passive electric, should I just get the PZ-DI to use for both or is there still a reason to do a J48 for the electric guitar?

[@JayLeonardJ]

You can use the PZ-DI for both. Just set the switch on the PZ-DI to 220K and you practically have a J48. Then, you can switch to the 10M setting when you go passive piezo pickup with your acoustic. Also, if your acoustic-electric is active (it needs a battery to work) you can also use that with a J48 with no problems at all.

[@davidsarauz6016]

Hi, great video! If you have an acoustic guitar with onboard preamp like Taylor es2 , I think Active di would be better, am I right? Having an onboard preamp can I use a preamp di pedal? Or the preamp pedal is better suited for acoustic guitar without onboard preamp. Thanks for your help!

[@JayLeonardJ]

If you have an onboard preamp a passive DI would work perfectly (an active would be just as fine as well). You can use a preamp DI as well if you want the extra tone shaping options.

[@davidsarauz6016]

@@JayLeonardJ thanks for your reply! I appreciate it👍🏻

[@tebla2074]

thanks! do I even need a DI box if I'm plugging into an instrument input on my interface?

[@JayLeonardJ]

An Piezo DI will make a huge difference with passive piezo pickups over your interface DI. Otherwise, there will be a small tonal difference as Interface DIs usually have a different impedance compared to many standalone DI boxes. The built in DI is good enough for most of your needs (especially if you don't push them too hard), but a high quality DI box will just give you that little extra nudge of sound quality.

[@vyoufinder]

I've got a keyboard that I use the headphone out into my usb interface. Even with the volume maxxed out, it comes in quiet. Should I be looking for an active DI box to solve this?

[@JayLeonardJ]

yeah, plugging directly to the interface through the headphones doesn't really yeld the best results. Try using the Radial JPC DI: it has an input for your headphone jack and will fix all those issues for you.

[@nathansantos.n8]

can you review the stagebugs? or is it just better to go to the Radial J _ _ ones?

[@JayLeonardJ]

Stage bugs are very handy for it's size and portability, but I do prefer to go with the J series stuff for it's ruggedness

[@fuphanwang9134]

@JayLeonardJ you said i can use any of them for an active-piezo pick up. i have a semi-hollow baritone guitar with an active under-bridge piezo pickup (lr baggs and i use battery for it so i guess its active). to me it sounds a little bit quacky and the bass character of baritone is not really emphasised. i want to buy a radial stagebug piezo di-box. i wish it to fix those problems i ve mentioned. it is active though. i will be in a recording session and still cant figure this problem out. which di-box would you use in my situation? my answer to this is a hard yes to active piezo di-box because theres still 'quack' in my tone and i hate it. would it be problematic by any means though? struggling very hard mister. please help me.

[@JayLeonardJ]

A PZ-DI might be worth a shot in case the battery is powering something else in the internals of your guitar instead of the piezo itself. There are also 3 different impedances you can chose from there, so you will know quite quickly if there is an impedance issue with your piezo (there would be a huge difference from the 1M setting to the 10M). Piezo nevertheless can be finicky to deal with and sometimes may need some eq-ing to find their sweet spots. Double check that your battery is still good and, if all else fails, connect your piezo to something like a Fishman Aura Spectrum which has some different acoustic guitars IR tones modelled into it. Use the blend knob to blend between the different IRs in the Aura and your Piezo: you might find a sweet spot somewhere. Good luck

[@fuphanwang9134]

@@JayLeonardJ thank you very much for the reply. Cheers.

[@Ray-yt7mk]

Can I use a DI box with a DJ set with powered speakers and which one “Active or Passive “?

[@JayLeonardJ]

If you want to use the "Mic In" of a powered speaker, either Active or Passive would work great. Passive may add a very pleasing subtle texture if you are really slamming it with input.

[@BartoszXIV]

5:40 does this guitar have pasive piezo pickup or active piezo pickup? Does it take 9V battery?

[@JayLeonardJ]

It's a passive piezo pickup (no 9v)

[@musicorumph4822]

Sir can I use the DI Box to mixer with non hi-z?

[@JayLeonardJ]

Yes you can. It is really common to put line level signals into DI boxes. If you have a lo-z signal, best to plug it in directly to the mic input though.

[@sponseredskater]

What were the setting differences when you A/B the Radial DI Piezo?

[@JayLeonardJ]

i was using the 10M setting on the Piezo

[@sponseredskater]

@@JayLeonardJ thanks for the reply brother! Was there any post EQ or compression happening as well? Or was it all just straight DI box?

[@makariussulit]

can you use active bass pickup to a radial pro 48?

[@JayLeonardJ]

Definitely! If the signal ever gets too hot, you can always enable the Pad switch 👍

[@cchavez248]

Uhhh, why haven't more of us been enlightened to the piezi DI boxes? It seems there are a lot of acoustic players who had to trade up to matrix systems, microphones, or just put up with a quacky tone when there has been a solution....

[@JayLeonardJ]

I felt the exact same way first time a played through a Piezo DI box: "Why Did Know One Tell Me About This Before I Spent All This Money!!!"

[@grayaj23]

The way you played the passive DI was completely different to how you played the active and piezo.

[@JayLeonardJ]

I do 2 Piezo DI guitar samples. One is the same as the active lick one and the other is the same as the passive lick 👍

[@stevewirtes3848]

Difficult to compare when you switch from finger picking to pick on different boxes

[@JayLeonardJ]

Just a little editing error. The fingerstyle lick I did at 5:38 was replicated with the piezo DI Box at 6:20. Besides that, the comparison licks/boxes should mix together perfectly.

[@MrGreen428]

I still venture that the piezo DI sounds nowhere near as good as a mic would on that guitar.

[@codking82]

dude nothing will ever sound as good as a mic

[@kutilkol]

wow, the piezzo was real difference

[@JayLeonardJ]

Yeah! It really explains how some people really hate piezo pickups and some don't mind them at all :)

[@johnnunya5428]

7:33

[@PearHellforge]

6:35 so a preamp...

[@JayLeonardJ]

A standard preamp usually converts things to Line Level. A DI converts your signal to mic level.

[@marcusstrymon693]

DUde you were cheating! With the passive DI you did Finger Picking, while you had a pick with the active

[@JayLeonardJ]

Cheating no, weird editing yes. The fingerstyle lick I did at 5:38 was replicated with the piezo DI Box at 6:20 and, if you listen, yes there is a big difference.

[@marcusstrymon693]

@@JayLeonardJ Okay right then. I guess i need both one active and one passive... Which one do you think works good for guitar amp modelling and fx loops of vst instruments into my stereo rig?

[@EricMakingWaves]

Piezo is nothing but garbage 100% of the time. Even untrained people who don't care much about sound will ask "why does his guitar sound so horrible?" And the answer is almost always piezo. Literally any other pickup is a better option.