BehringerUltra-DI DI100 1-channel Active Microphone/Instrument Direct Box

This box is solid, simple, and effective. I play several clubs that have electrical systems dating back to the early 1900s, and this little box killed all of the buzz the grounding problems were causing. My main reason for making the purchase is because the smaller bass amp I take to unplugged style gigs does not have an output for the PA. The Behringer solved that problem beautifully. I get a good, solid signal from the bass to the board. In the process of using it in this capacity, I realized the annoying buzz was eliminated at this particular club, and now I use it everywhere. You won't be disappointed, especially at the price.

Probably the most underrated powered DI for live work. No need for a battery if you have functional phantom power on your mix console. Dual attenuators help keep Blaster the bass player tamed and over-compensated volume programming on keyboards under control. RUGGED housing.Despite what interwebz "gurus" say these Behringer DIs are workhorses. They do the job, do it well, remain functional ALL night and over many years. No. They are NOT Countryman/Radial/BSS. SO?!? They work. They're very affordable and relatively durable as long as you aren't stacking them to hold up your car while you change your flat tire or using them for batting practice they should last and function well for a long time.

Very impressed with this little box. The price is ridiculously low for the quality of sound you get. I use it to keep the full range of sound for a passive-pickup bass into a JoeMeek VC1 preamp. It noticeably improves the sound mainly by keeping the high-end intact in the signal. Build quality is solid but with some minor rough edges--literally, one edge is fairly sharp, as if it wasn't smoothed down at the factory like the others. No big deal. I read a comparison review where this box compared favorably with much higher-priced units but a fluorescent bulb could create a hum if too near. I did a torture test by placing my cell phone right on top of it but couldn't hear a thing, so maybe they improved the shielding. Your mileage may vary. The only real downside to this unit is that it's basically a clone of a higher-priced DI box. If you can afford the original I think you should buy it, but I'm just way too broke at the moment, so this thing really fills the bill.

I was outputting audio for direct monitoring from my digital piano with a 1/4 unbalanced cable as it doesn't have balanced output, but picked up a lot of noise from power/monitor cables since I run this all at a desk. I could barely crank volume without picking up noise and the keyboard would still be awfully quiet.Turns out, my mixer has balanced input... so I bought this box. I put it right next to the keyboard to minimize the chance of noise pickup between the two, hooked up to the mixer with an XLR cable. Turned on phantom power. Boom. Barely a hum from my speakers even at max volume.I thought to try out the ground lift feature... pressed it, and again... Night and day: Max volume, almost zero noise.This worked far better than I imagined, and might even be the best $40 I've ever spent on musical gear.

Does what it says it does. I bought this in an attempt to fix another audio issue, but it turned out this wasn't the problem. Either way, its nice to have the xlr output, and -20db pads.Only con is the directions realllly suck, and me being a musical dimwit had no idea what a "ground lift" was, or an "attenuation pad". Just wish behringer had provided some documentation to describe what those were, and some of the cabling pathes that go in and out of this unit should look like. That's the only reason I docked a star. (I'm sure someone will grumble that any normal musician should know about those things before purchasing...oh well).

All excellent

Behringer gets a lot of criticism for making "cheap" products, but while the DI100 may be low-cost, it certainly delivers the goods as an active DI.I was originally using an ART DualZDirect passive DI, but all recordings I made through that thing had a very noticeable electromagnetic hum. After some research I picked up two DI100s to replace the ART box, and these things have completely eliminated the hum. (This is largely due to the DI100's heavy shielding, partly why it's such a hefty little device.)The battery back-up is pretty handy. During one of my recordings, I was using a Roland Duo-Capture EX audio interface. When I enabled phantom power on the Roland to power the DI100s, the interface was drawing too much current for my computer's USB bus to deliver, resulting in an unusable sound. I popped a couple 9-volts into the DI100s and disabled phantom on the Roland, and everything turned out great. (This was Roland's shortcoming, not Behringer's. I've successfully used the phantom power on several other interfaces to power the DI100s.)I've also used the attenuation switches a few times, which are useful if you're trying to bump a line-level signal down to mic-level volumes. Great feature.For what it's worth, the DI100 design is closely based on the popular BSS AR-133 DI box, which retails at nearly four times the DI100's price. Various people have done shoot-outs between the devices, and most folks seem unable to tell the difference between the two. I sure can't.

I’ve used this sturdy di box for 12 yrs now and it continues to deliver reliable clean signals to the sound system from the acoustic guitar, keyboards, and electric guitar. This latest box runs the bass through the sound system simply and cleanly. It delivers as promised without breaking the bank!