Best cheap DI - Countryman Type 85?

I have a gig coming up where I will need a couple of extra DIs. Just looking for something inexpensive. Anything better than the Countryman Type 85 that I should consider?

What about passive? I'm not really a fan of the JDI.

I've gotten surprisingly great results from the Behringer DI100. The BBE DI-1000 is great, you can use it either active or passive and it has a Jensen transformer inside. We made a bunch of DI's with Cinemag transformers but they're more similar in sound to the JDI than the Countryman.

Matt Hepworth said:

I have a gig coming up where I will need a couple of extra DIs. Just looking for something inexpensive. Anything better than the Countryman Type 85 that I should consider?

What about passive? I'm not really a fan of the JDI.

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How inexpensive? Are you recording the gig or doing live sound? I use the ART DualZDirect in my live rig for my keyboards and it has served me well. It's pretty clean and neutral. I did some sine wave tests when I first got it and it passes through the signal pretty much unaltered.

One of our sound guys liked mine so much he bought several of them.

This is the stereo (2-channel) version, but they have single channel versions as well. They are passive.

https://www.amazon.com/ART-Dual-Zdi...ywords=art+z+direct&psc=1&smid=A2LXBKOLL3J3K6

If you are handy with a soldering iron, there are also the DIYRE DI boxes. You can choose which transformer you want (all passive) and the price goes from $60-150 between the 3 options:

https://www.diyrecordingequipment.com/products/ferrite-di

J

Sounds like you'll prefer something active if you don't like the JDI. The only real shortcoming of the JDI is the lower input impedance, which becomes more of an issue with passive instruments than anything else. Either way, and active DI (like the countryman you mentioned) will usually have sufficient input impedance to properly load pretty much any input device, so you'll essentially be hearing the source and not the DI (for all intents, nothing is really invisible).

If you want additional tone then the Avalon U5, Tonecraft 363, or other boutique DI will get you that, but at significant cost.

You can never have too many Countryman DI's and it's hard to go wrong with them. Buy them now and the next time they will be on the shelf waiting.