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Countryman Type 85 Direct Box
The Type 85 has been the reference active DI on stages and in studios for decades. It takes any high-impedance instrument pickup, including piezo, and hands the console a strong balanced signal at an XLR without adding noise or distortion, and without loading the player's own amp: its 10 MOhm input is ten times the impedance of a typical guitar amplifier.
The circuit is a single-ended class A design built from hand-selected discrete components, and it can isolate ground even while running on phantom power, which is where most hum and buzz problems get solved. With no phantom available it runs roughly 400 hours on one internal 9 V alkaline, and the input survives 220 V AC and 20,000 V static.
| Type | Active class A FET direct box, single channel |
|---|---|
| Frequency Response | 20 Hz to 20 kHz (+/- 1 dB) |
| Distortion (1 kHz) | THD less than 0.018% |
| Input Resistance | Pickup mode: 10 MOhm |
| Power Options | 48 V phantom (0.4 mA) or 9 V battery (~400 hours) |
| Input Protection | 220 Vrms and 20,000 V static discharges |
| Dimensions / Weight | 5 in x 3 in x 1.75 in (127 x 77 x 45 mm); 18.5 oz (0.52 kg) |