ART Pro Audio - PDB Passive Direct Box

The PDB™ Passive Direct Box is a rock solid, roadworthy DI for connection of the outputs of electronic musical instruments (or other audio sources) to the balanced inputs of mixer consoles and other balanced inputs.

The PDB™ also allows connection of a music source to an instrument amplifier while simultaneously patching it to a mixer.

Features

• Switchable Input Attenuation
• 0dB for electric guitar and bass pickups
• - 20dB for line level signals, such as keyboards and cd players
• - 40dB for speaker feeds
• 50k Ohm Instrument Input
• The PDB matches the signal level and impedance with unity gain, without any adverse effects on the source signal.
• 50k Ohm Parallel Link jack
• The 50k ohm parallel link jack output enables you to connect the output from the PDB directly to power amplifiers without a separate preamplifier.
• 600 Ohm XLR Output Jack
• The 600 ohm XLR output jack enables you to send a balanced signal to a mixing console.
• Switchable Ground Lift
• A switchable ground lift is provided to help eliminate hum caused by ground loops.

Applications

• Electric guitar and bass pick up output signals - The high impedance signal from a guitar or bass guitar pickup is translated by the PDB™ into a low impedance balanced signal required by mixing consoles.
• Keyboards and line level signals - The PDB™ automatically balances and matches the line level outputs of modern electronic keyboards. If you are using a multiple keyboard setup and your keyboards are all plugged into a single instrument amplifier, the PDB™ can be used to replace individual direct boxes. Simply send the output of the instrument amplifier to the PDB™ and then to the console (instead of a separate DI box for each keyboard).   
• DJ console output signals - DJ mixers often supply only an unbalanced -10dB signal. The PDB™ converts this signal to a balanced line level signal before it reaches the console, while providing a convenient method of connector transition with the capability to run long cables.
• Speaker level signals - The PDB's ability to accept speaker level inputs from a power amplifier's output allows post-amplifier, post eq and effects signals to be fed directly to the console. In this manner, a particular effect or amplifier sound can be sent directly to the mix.