With the advent of home-based digital recording, the search for a decent, versatile tube direct box with gain control felt like the search for the Holy Grail. The ADL G- 100 ($599 retail), is not a new piece of gear and has been available for a while. If I had only known about the G-100, it might well have found its way into my studio much earlier. I was primarily looking for a box for my home studio that would also function as a live DI box before interfacing with other gear. The fact that I play five different instruments with five different pickups was just part of the challenge. This hand-built unit allows you to hit the tube stage or bypass it completely. It has an amp standard TS 1/4" out and a mic level XLR out. The gain stage affects both the line 1/4" out and the XLR out, really allowing you to "burn to tape". Running acoustic guitar with a Fishman Rare Earth combo magnetic/mic pickup, banjo with a Pick-Up-the-World contact filament pickup, mandolin with McIntyre passive, a 12-string with a traditional piezo and Washburn acoustic bass through it provided a nice, characteristically warm, clean tube response. The bass had noticeably more punch than I expected, as well as sounding warm without too much coloration, and also needed less post EQ than normal in a mix. The gain knob also came in handy when plugging in my Telecaster. Just terrific and totally appropriate for clean direct sounds or powering a cab. The real treat that I uncovered was when I plugged in my Porch Board (see the review this issue). The ADL actually sounded as good or better than when I've run the Porchboard through a Neve or an Avalon U-5. It had a richness I hadn't previously heard. All in all a terrific deal in a real, accurate, genuine tube DI and a gain option that really puts it over the top. (www.adl-tube.com)
Direct Boxes, Dynamics, EQs, Mic Preamps | No. 28
6Q British Channel
by John Baccigaluppi
We track a lot of bands in my studio that end up taking their rhythm tracks home and finishing overdubs and mixing in their home PC based studio. After using our mic and preamp collection, my clients...