Radial Engineering Announces the 4-Play Direct Box

Radial Engineering 4-Play Direct BoxRadial Engineering has announced the 4-Play Direct Box. Aimed at multi-instrumentalists, the DI works well for bass, acoustic guitar, mandolin, fiddle, and more. It has a 1/4-inch input for your instrument with four selectable XLR outputs. You can switch instruments by hitting the mute footswitch, plugging in the right instrument, and then using the second footswitch to toggle to the correct line out.

“When you are on a busy stage, switching instruments can pose several challenges,” says Radial’s Mike Bauer. “When sharing the same direct box, switching between an acoustic guitar and mandolin requires both the FOH engineer and monitor engineer to mute the active mixer channel in order to avoid damaging plug-in transients and painful pops for the audience. You then need to alter the EQ and adjust the level to adapt it for each instrument. Alternatively, when using separate DI boxes, you end up with a bunch of wires connected to each instrument which often get tangled. Ask any stage tech and they will tell you that the preferred approach is to use a single cable and manually switch between instruments. Then, because the artist can mute the instrument on stage, you avoid having to flag down the FOH and monitor engineers between each changeover. Since each instrument is now connected to a dedicated channel, the signal level, EQ and effects can be predetermined and optimized without having to make radical changes every time an instrument is changed.”

Each of the 4-Play’s balanced outputs are complete with a ground lift switch. There’s also a dedicated tuner output that can be assigned to be always on or work in tandem with the mute footswitch.

The Radial Engineering 4-Play Direct Box will be available soon for $279.99.

Radial Engineering 4-Play Direct Box Back

Radial Engineering 4-Play Direct Box Features:

Four Separate Balanced XLR Outputs
Mute and Output Footswitches
Tuner out Can Be Assigned to Always on or in Tandem With Mute
Glass-filled Nylone Connectors
14-Gauge Steel Chassis
Boss-style 9V Power Supply (not included)

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