Sonic Maximizer equipped!

The BBE DI-100X Active Direct Box offers "no compromise" transparency not found in any other direct injection device. While giving wonderful results with acoustic, semi-acoustic, electric and electric bass guitars, it is also the perfect solution for "re-amping" in the studio.

The BBE DI-100X is designed for recording studios that are very demanding when it comes to the kind of high-integrity audio they expect from a direct injection device. BBE completely hand-builds the DI-100X in California and it gives any studio that wishes to be a cut above the others the option of exceptional quality and sound clarity.

The DI-100X's class A/B circuit topology, with its transformerless output stage, delivers an open, intimate sound with a level of detail that goes well beyond the requirements of the most demanding recording applications. This BBE direct box has an airy top-end unlike any other. It will translate the instrument with uncompromising clarity and transparency. The DI-100X is extremely quiet, extremely flat through the entire frequency spectrum and phase degradation is effectively nil.

As a tool for the creative recording process, the BBE DI-100X makes getting great sound effortless. The renowned BBE Sonic Maximizer, which is an integral part of the DI-100X' design, offers engineers and producers the ability to give back to each instrument its unique voice. The Sonic Maximizer reveals detail and nuance that are all but obscured with budget DIs.

Rugged aluminum housing, military spec circuit boards, extra-wide double-thick traces, and circuit board-mounted pots, switches, and connectors give the BBE DI-100X stage-toughness and studio-level sonic integrity. Incorporated Sonic Maximizer gives any instrument you plug in more clarity and presence. Balanced XLR and 1/4" tip-sleeve outputs, 1/4" tip-sleeve input and thru-put, 15dB pad switch, and ground lift. The DI-100X Active Direct Box has recessed switches and a non-skid bottom pad for added utility.

The BBE Process"What it Is"

Loudspeakers have difficulty working with the electronic signals supplied by an amplifier. These difficulties cause such major phase and amplitude distortion that the sound reproduced by the speaker differs significantly from the sound produced by the original source.

In the past, these problems proved unsolvable and were thus relegated to a position of secondary importance in audio system design. However, phase and amplitude integrity is essential to accurate sound reproduction. Research shows that the information which the listener translates into the recognizable characteristics of a live performance are intimately tied into complex time and amplitude relationships between the fundamental and harmonic components of a given musical note or sound. These relationships define a sound's "sound".

When these complex relationships pass through a speaker, the proper order is lost. The higher frequencies are delayed. A lower frequency may reach the listener's ear first or perhaps simultaneously with that of a higher frequency. In some cases, the fundamental components may be so time-shifted that they reach the listener's ear ahead of some or all of the harmonic components.

This change in the phase and amplitude relationship on the harmonic and fundamental frequencies is technically called "envelope distortion." The listener perceives this loss of sound integrity in the reproduced sound as "muddy" and "smeared." In the extreme, it can become difficult to tell the difference between musical instruments, for example, an oboe and a clarinet.

BBE Sound, Inc. conducted extensive studies of numerous speaker systems over a ten year period. With this knowledge, it became possible to identify the characteristics of an ideal speaker and to distill the corrections necessary to return the fundamental and harmonic frequency structures to their correct order. While there are differences among various speaker designs in the magnitude of their correction, the overall pattern of correction needed is remarkably consistent.

The BBE Process is so unique that 42 patents have been awarded by the U.S. Patent Office.

BBE DI-100X Active Direct Box Features:

• Rugged aluminum housing
• Military spec circuit boards
• Extra-wide, double-thick traces
• Circuit board-mounted pots, switches, and connectors
• Incorporated Sonic Maximizer gives any instrument more clarity and presence
• Balanced XLR and 1/4" tip-sleeve outputs
• 1/4" tip-sleeve input and thru-put
• 15dB pad switch
• Ground lift
• Recessed switches
• Non-skid bottom pad

You need a good DI box and another Sonic Maximizer is always nice to have. Order this well-designed, high-quality unit today.

BBE DI-100X Active Direct Box

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Average of 6 User Ratings

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Great DI

Posted by Anonymous Musician on Aug 18, 2008

Experience w/product: I own it

Reviewer's Background: N/A

Reviewer's Play Style: N/A

I bought this used for recording bass in my home studio. Wow! I only use a fender Squire bass with modified pickups, which sounded thin and lifeless before I got this thing (I had it plugged into a preamp with a balanced out and then into the mixer). It sounds huge now, just like on pro recordings, due to the maximizer (I usually turn both 'low contour' and 'process' knobs almost all the way up). I could only imagine how this would sound on a high end bass. I am now thinking about getting another one, because I like to use it for direct recording for my electric guitar as well.

On a side note, I'm thinking about getting the Aphex Aural Exciter, which sounds like it is the same type of device as the BBE: it just makes everything sound better. However, the Aphex Aural exciter has two balanced inputs/outputs, so I am planning on running my main mixer outs into the Exciter inputs, and the Exciter outputs to my computer/DAW.

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Any Audio Dude Should Have One!

Posted by Dude from Quezon City, Philippines on Oct 19, 2007

Experience w/product: I own it

Reviewer's Background: Musician, Amateur Engineer

Reviewer's Play Style: Any

Actually I own the predescessor, the DI-100 box. All I can say is, if your sound is muddy after a long time of mixing, or if you can't hear your voice or instrument while singing or playing with other people and/or instruments, pass it through this gadget before your board or amp, and it'll clean the mud and make your voice or instrument cut through the mix nicely.

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Great DI for a modest price

Posted by Steven from San Francisco, CA on Sep 27, 2006

Experience w/product: I own it

Reviewer's Background: Touring Bassist

Reviewer's Play Style: Melodic Progressive Rock

The BBE100X DI is a great wat to simultaniously clean up the sound of your rig and get a great direct to board tone! You never know what kind of crappy DI the house provides, if any. I take this thing with me everywhere and let me tell you, it is bulletproof!

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Impressive sound

Posted by fivestringdoc from Louisville, KY on Oct 21, 2004

Experience w/product: I own it

Reviewer's Background: Musician for recording and live performance

Reviewer's Play Style: Gospel, Jazz, R & B, Old School

This is very versitile in that I can plug my bass in and there is a thru put that can send a clean bass sound to my stage amp. It is nice to have even though I never use it because the modified sound of the BBE into my stage amp makes my amp sound like a million bucks. There is no less expensive way to make even a modest amp (like my Trace Elliott Commando 100 used at church on a five string bass) sound great. It delivers a pleasingly clean sound to the sound board, even on one of the pickiest sound systems I have ever had to play through. Well worth the money.

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love it

Posted by Billy from AL on Jun 6, 2004

Experience w/product: I own it

Reviewer's Background: praise & worship leader at my church

Reviewer's Play Style: all kinds

love it....great direct box...well worth the money. it really does make a difference in the sound.

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BBE DI-100X Active Direct Box

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