Radial J48 Phantom Powered Active Direct Box Overview
The Radial J48 has been designed from the ground up to deliver the most natural tone. As a direct box manufacturer, we do not believe it is our task to alter the sound of your prized '1962 Fender Jazz Bass', but retain and transfer the true character of the instrument to the mixing console without adding distortion or introducing artifact. This design philosophy has gained a tremendous following from many of the world's most demanding musicians.Using only 48V phantom power, the Radial J48 is an active direct box that produces an exceptionally linear response that extends from 20Hz up to well above 40kHz. Low distortion of all types is achieved via a unique digital switching power supply that raises the internal operating rail voltage for added headroom and improved signal handling. The results are truly amazing. The J48 delivers an ideal even-order harmonic cascade and a sonic performance that outperforms DIs costing several hundreds more.
And like all Radial products, the J48 is both feature-rich for studio and made tough to handle the road. This includes a -15dB input pad to tame extra loud signals, 180-¦ polarity reverse for feedback control on stage and a ground lift to help reduce hum & buzz caused by ground loops. Special features include a merge function that elegantly mixes left-right signals to mono without phase cancellation. To minimize resonant feedback with acoustic instruments, the J48 is also equipped with an 80Hz high-pass filter (low-cut). When engaged, this also increases headroom by eliminating unneeded bass frequencies.
Radial's innovative book-end design protects switches and connectors from abuse while the internal I-beam construction eliminates stress on the PC board. This serves to reduce solder joints from going 'cold' and delivers trouble-free performance for years. A full-bottom no-slip pad provides mechanical and electrical isolation while providing plenty of 'stay-put' for rockin' stages!
The Radial J48 is used by artists as diverse as acoustic guitarist Tommy Emmanuel; super-star engineer Joe Chiccarelli; and one of the most successful bands of all time Fleetwood Mack. The Radial J48... the world's finest 48V phantom powered active direct box.
- Application 1 - typical J48 stage setup: The J48 is used primarily to get an instrument signal to a mixing desk or PA system without coloring the natural sound in any way.
- In this setup:
- - An acoustic with on-board preamp conects to the J48 ¼" INPUT jack
- - The J48 ¼" THRU jack is connected to the amplifier input
- - The J48 XLR output connects to one of the mixing console mic inputs
- - Polarity and ground lift switches are set as required
- Application 2 - typical J48 studio setup: Here the J48 is used to provide the recording system with a balanced unaltered clean bass signal for final EQ and effects processing.
- - Bass connects to the J48 ¼" INPUT jack
- - The J48 ¼" THRU jack is connected to the guitar amplifier input
- Application 3 - Re-amping with a J48 and an X-Amp: Re-amping means sending an already recorded track back out to the guitar amp and effects while recording the result on another track. Re-amping lets you experiment with many different sounds as many times as you like without wearing out the musician! The Radial J48 and X-Amp are two of the best tools available for prefessional studio re-amping.
- - Guitar plugs in to the J48's ¼" INPUT jack
- - J48 balanced XLR out connects to mixer to record a track dry
- - The dry track is played back and sent to the X-Amp's balanced XLR input
- - Output of the X-Amp connects to the amps and effects
- - Resulting output is sent to mixer and recorded on a new track
