DI box vs reamp box - is there really a difference?

owlexifry

owlexifry

Well-known member
i keep reading claims that you can't use a DI box as a reamp box.

my understanding is that they both do they same thing, but in reverse, so are they really that exclusively different? there seems to be all sorts of differing expert opinions on the matter... (incl. some claims of folks using DI boxes in reverse to perform reamping duties)

i've been sitting on a JT-DB-E transformer for some time - with plans to build a DI box (with the schematic below) - but I'm wondering if i could use this DI box as a reamp box, or not..

I'm suspecting the primary:secondary impedance specifications may have a big part in this consideration...


1670305673403.png
(from http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/pdf/ggg_dbox_pass2_sc.pdf)
 
owlexifry said:
i keep reading claims that you can't use a DI box as a reamp box.
Click to expand...
This is a very late reply, but the answer, as you probably suspect, is yes and no.
Whoever said a hard no is wrong though. Before the "reamp box" became a thing, people in studios just wired DIs backwards, sometimes just with external cabling, and it worked pretty well. The subsequent actual "reamp boxes" are fundamentally the same thing, but usually with transformers wound specifically for that task, other minor but important differences, and often a level control because the backwards DI usually had to be heavily padded. In a pinch I have seen solid-state solutions, active solid state, and others, but the transformer is generally the best tool.
The tweaks over the years to reamp boxes have made them generally superior to using a DI backwards, but it's close enough to the same thing that using the DI transformer in the opposite direction should be fine, but the pad will probably be needed.
JH
 
In a passive box, the main difference between the two is going to be input/output impedances. If you take the radial Pro DI and Pro RMP as an example... the DI is 140K in / 150r out; the reamp is 1600r in / 1850r out.

In practical terms that may not matter at all, but you might want to add a buffer between the backwards DI and the amp and probably a pad of some sort if there isn't one on the DI.
 
owlexifry said:
i keep reading claims that you can't use a DI box as a reamp box.

my understanding is that they both do they same thing, but in reverse, so are they really that exclusively different? there seems to be all sorts of differing expert opinions on the matter... (incl. some claims of folks using DI boxes in reverse to perform reamping duties)

i've been sitting on a JT-DB-E transformer for some time - with plans to build a DI box (with the schematic below) - but I'm wondering if i could use this DI box as a reamp box, or not..

I'm suspecting the primary:secondary impedance specifications may have a big part in this consideration...


View attachment 37415
(from http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/pdf/ggg_dbox_pass2_sc.pdf)
Click to expand...
I made two, added a F XLR jack and they work like a charm IMO.
 
Believable said:
This is a very late reply, but the answer, as you probably suspect, is yes and no.
Whoever said a hard no is wrong though. Before the "reamp box" became a thing, people in studios just wired DIs backwards, sometimes just with external cabling, and it worked pretty well. The subsequent actual "reamp boxes" are fundamentally the same thing, but usually with transformers wound specifically for that task, other minor but important differences, and often a level control because the backwards DI usually had to be heavily padded. In a pinch I have seen solid-state solutions, active solid state, and others, but the transformer is generally the best tool.
The tweaks over the years to reamp boxes have made them generally superior to using a DI backwards, but it's close enough to the same thing that using the DI transformer in the opposite direction should be fine, but the pad will probably be needed.
JH
Click to expand...

A DI/Re-AMP box would be a good collaboration effort.
 
@PunchySunshine @Feral Feline @owlexifry @Harry Klippton
Next time I get some R&D time I'll see what kind of I/O Z works best in my setup here - interested in your thoughts. I would imagine a tapped option could be cool, create some options for interaction with the amp. The DI side is super common at this point, I used to box up Cinemag DI transformers for touring and prefer those. I'll look at the Cinemag offerings for the other direction and see what I can come up with.
 
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