so1t012017 Rupert Neve Designs RND! | SOUND ON SOUND. NEWS FORUM MAGAZINE REVIEWS TECHNIQUES PEOPLE Rupert Neve Designs RNDI Active DI Box ByBob Thomas, With Rupert Neve's pedigree in transformer-based equipment design, a DI box was surely just a matter of time, Ws a sobering though for me that, when Ist walked into a recording studio in 1972, the active, phantorn-pawered, transformer Dl simply didn exist, It wasn't until April 1975 thatthe now defunct US-based DE Magazine published the details of an active, phantor-powered, transistor, transformer Dl — developed for Leon Russells studio — that remains, to this day, the basic template for an active, phantom-powered, transformer DI ‘Transformers continue to be held in high regard by engineers, none more so than those designed by Rupert Neve, but weve all ad to wait along time for an active transformer Dl beating his name to appear. Developed by the engineers at Rupert Neve Designs around a new transformer design from the master, tne RNOI Active Transformer Direct Interface bulls on the legacy of that 1975 design to create a DI capable of handling ary input signal, fom the sub- 100m output ofan electric guitar piekup to the 92V RMS of an amplifier driving TkW into 80, In The Box With its black clamshell case andl recessed light grey end panels, the RNDI exudes lass, There's not much to laok at — one end carries the In and thru quarter-ineh jacks, the Speaker/instrument selector switen and 48V power indicator LED, whilst onthe other end youll ind only a balanced output XLR and ground-it switch, Electronically, the 48V phantom-powered ciculry i fully discrete, with not an op amp to be seen, Av the Instrument setting, the RNDI' Class-A-biased FET buffer amp has a 2.2M@ input Impedance that correctly loads electric guitar pickups. Since this setting can actualy handle input levels up to +21dBu without distortion, you can connect almost ary guitar preamp, keyboard, drum machine a line-evel source tothe RNDI without a pad, With the swith in the Speaker postion, the input impedance drops to 200K0 and the input level before distortion Jumps to +41 Sabu, Intps:lwawsoundonsound.convroviewsiuper-neve-designs.ena Search SOUND ADVICE MUSIC BUSINESS Inthis atic * conckson| * Aerratves| upare Neve Designs RNDI + Canhanale the ouput of wal anything yo + Notthe cheapst DI yous nd, out worn ots Te ANDI a hgh-quay high-performance acive transformer, hat capable of handing everything ‘nom an electri guitarprcku to 1h ampli Band performsto avery high standard. Highly Information SOS Awards VOTE N Readers! Ads On the same subject + Presonus Quantum Aust 2017 + Scundera Ua + Universal Aus alla Twin Mk June 2017, June20"7, From the same manufacturer + fupert Neve Designs Shara sos1 S052 + fupert Neve Designs Portico il Channel 1asorr0n017 Rupert Neve Designs RNO! | Following the buffer stage youl find the RNDIs custom, phase-coherent transformer. Aswwellas + Rupert Neve sign Pore S012 having the potential to contribute the secnd- and thrdorder harmonic dstrion andthe Oreenbe sense of analogue warmth thc transformer can delve, hs Rupert Neve-desgned + Rupr Neve ess Price Component ase possesses an outputimpedance oles than 400, which enabes tre RNDIto ‘M207 drive long cable rune wth rinima lose of iphstequencles. Latest Videos Unfortunately, for me atleast, there sno ‘option to use an external power supply with the RNDI — Ihave a few eld, ood-sounding analogue bits and pleces that lack phantom comarca oersz en SYNTHFEST|UK @) In Use ; : @! Iran a variety of electric guitars, electric basses {and piezo-equipped acoustic, bath with and vathout preamplifiers through the RNDI, which The maximum ouput evel ether 21d delvered the direct-injected sounds of the sumer mode, or 1 SdBUin Speaker mode, Individual instruments with clarity and depth — exactly what fd expect from a high-qualty box witha real-world frequency response of 12.5H2 to 634K (2 Syntest UK 2017 Roed-Up To my ears there's 2 subtle but definite, character tothe sound ofthe RNDI that appears tobe mare pronounced at higher input signal levels, presumably duet Increased levels of harmonic distortion being generated by the combination of FET buffer amp and transformer. isan = attractive sound that felt had more going for it than that of atransformerless active D, which NEED A Seemed sligntly more clinalin comparison eer a Taking a feed from the extension speaker socket of a valve gutar amp worked perfect, teal Capel Voal Pre Pouton hough i was impossible for me to judge wnere the distortion from the amp ended and that Uyroaded ances s dns se ofthe RNDI began, Conclusion ‘The RNDI is certainly a class act. ts high-quality construction and superb sonic performance put it up there withthe best phantom-powered active transformer (and transformertess) 01 boxes around. Although I think that its appearance may well confine itto studlo use, the AND is rugged enough to stand up tothe rigours of the road, where its ability to deal with high- (age outputs and to drive long cables would make t deal for delivering clean feeds from Instruments and from the outputs of stage amps down a couple of hundred feet of multicore. Reaper — Creating Chane Strips Ifyou are in the market fora really high-qualty active OI box, the RNOI has to be on your aualtion list, However, please dont think that you'll be geting the sound of a vintage Neve ‘onsale as part of the package — you wan't! What you will be geting is @ superb Dl box that can ada its character tothe colours of your sonic palette. The RNDI isnt cheap, but quality never i. Highly recommended, Uploaded T month 2 week ago [At this performance level our alternatives could include the Countryman Type 85 or, if youive abit more budget available, a combination such as Racals 48 and JOX 4. youre into DY, the Burnblebee Bb:D1 Spark could come into play. Finally, depending on your application, a preamp/DI combination could also be an option. Publehed october 2015 Issue navigator Previous article Next article 0S TWITTER S05 FACEBOOK Forus New topics Intps:lwawsoundonsound.convroviewsiuper-neve-designs.rnai 218sort0n017 Rupert Neve Designs RNO! | @sospublcatons DIY Dynamic Merophone Switcher SOS peso STN reese ns op ek ge — = ss 4 Harrion Mixbus 32¢ Group Buy Sound On Sound Email Contact SOs wy sos, MAGATINE suescrist slophone: 040995 Acc i subscribe to Pi, Web, Tab My eNewsletter Malig Uist u Su eee sos sHoP Fou sos vioeo PODCASTS FORMATION READERS’ ADS. 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