DI-E : Keep it simple

I have about eight of these in my kit. They cost next to nothing, so it's no problem having a few more than I might need. But on the occasion that someone turns up at a festival with an electric glockenspiel I can just grab another one out of the box knowing that everything's going to be OK.

I really struggle to understand why anyone would spend ten times as much on an active DI box with all the problems of batteries and phantom powering, when a passive unit will convert to a mic level signal (the same level as all those other mics you've got on stage anyway) and just make that instument appear on the desk along with everything else.

There's a switchable pad should you have to use a slave speaker output from an amp - rarely happens these days. There's a ground lift switch - but I have never, ever, had a hum problem when using one of these. They are the cure for all hum problems.

They're simple and sturdily built, so you can throw them back in the flight case from fifteen feet away. I guess the nuts on the jack sockets could come loose, but I don't recall having to tighten one up.

Buy yourself half a dozen. You won't regret it.