Radial StageBug SB-1 1-Channel Active Instrument Direct Box

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.

with Mogami Amphenol 1/4 - 1/4, Acoustic Guitar, its perfect.The sound gain was quite high. We needed to reduce the gain on our mixer around 9db, which was still loud enough.

Excellent piece of equipment. Easy to use, compact, works on phantom power from the board, does what it should - improved sound quality plugging my acoustic guitar directly into the board. Pad feature is nice if you have active pickups. Highly recommended. It won't make a bad guitar or pickup sound good, but it'll subtly improve your sound.

This is an excellent, easy to use direct box which can enhance the sound of your acoustic guitar when plugged in. I've used mine plugged into a TC-Helicon VoiceSolo FX monitor and a Behringer Eurolive B205D - the 48v phantom power on both speakers power the StageBug and the StageBug gives my guitar (a Fender acoustic-electric) a fuller, more realistic tone. This will not make your playing sound better, only your instrument! As a keyboard player, I've used DI boxes for years - this is the simplest, most rugged one I've used (includes pad and phase switch). I'll be buying only Radial DIs from now on!

Works great. Our worship team had these passive DI boxes that someone said were good, but I could tell they didn't allow much low end to come through. As an electronics design engineer, I knew a passive just could not do as well as an active device. I liked the specs on the Stagebug. So one day I bought this DI and just slipped it in without telling anyone. Afterwards, everyone was telling me how good my acoustic guitar sounded...mind you, these are people I play with all the time, and they noticed the difference without even knowing I had changed something. I think that pretty much says it all!

Light-weight, durable, and sturdy design. If you're looking for an active DI box and not trying to spend too much money, THIS IS YOUR GUY. I use an Epihone EJ-160E which has magnetic pickups. Without this box, it sounds unbalanced and not very clear. I just played a show using this for the first time and it sounds great! Very excited, highly recommended... I'm excited to try this in my studio as well :)

Perfect DI for the size and cost. Radial stuff is always well built and this is no exception. Feels expensive and does a great job. Not a lot of added color but not thin sounding at all. Great for the bucks.

Although the StageBug sounded good, I have to give it 2 stars. None of my microphone cables fit snug into the XLR output, and, as a result, would wiggle in place and cause really loud cracking/popping. I don't know if it was just this unit, or what. A friend of mine uses a similar StageBug to power a pickup on a cello he has, and he loves it, so don't let me entirely discourage you. Might just be a bad one. Anyway, I sent it back and got a full refund.