# Which reamp box? Active, passive?



## gnoll (Jul 19, 2016)

Hey guys.

I need a reamp box and I've been looking mainly at the radial stuff. But how do I know if I want an active or a passive one? I tried googling it and for each type there seems to be people saying it's bad. So... Idk what to do. Also if I get an active one will I need to buy a separate power supply for it? Because that would be a bitch, but if it sounds way better I guess it's worth it.


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## tedtan (Jul 19, 2016)

Generally, you want an active DI if you use passive pickups and a passive DI if you use active pickups. (Note, this is the DI you use to capture your guitar DI). Then, for reamping, either a passive reamp box or an active reamp box should be OK.

Since I use all of the above, I tend to like the Little Labs Red Eye 3D Phantom, which offers passive DI, active DI (through 48 volt phantom power of the mic pre or interface) and reamp box all in a single unit and sounds great. It costs more than a single Radial box, but it is doing what it would take three Radial boxes to do.


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## sharedEQ (Jul 19, 2016)

I tested both the Radial ProRMP against the Radial X-amp, reamping side by side. I used the DI input of an RME UFX to get the signal into the DAW.

When reamping, levels were normalized.

The X-amp sounds ever so slightly better. The ProRMP loses some presence and clarity, like if you were running the signal through an old Boss pedal before your amp. To compensate, I found I was adding more treble/presence on the amp to get a similar sound, but it lost something.

The ProRMP is not that bad though. My impression at the time was if you never heard the X-amp you would be completely happy with the ProRMP.

Some people have claimed they cant hear a difference between the proRMP reamped and live, but I suspect it has something to do with using a passive DI to get the signal into the computer. It may be that it already lost the presence on the way into the computer the first time, so they don't notice it when they reamp.

Both work, but the X-amp is better imo. 

However, if you don't have a great DI, and you only have $200, you will do much better with a ProRMP and DI Box pair than just an X-amp used with the crappy built in DI from an interface. 


Edit: I second the suggestion above to get an Active DI if you are using passive pickups. That will make bigger differnce than passive vs active reamp box. The signal coming from your computer is always low impedance so it doesnt matter as much.


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## gnoll (Jul 19, 2016)

tedtan said:


> Generally, you want an active DI if you use passive pickups and a passive DI if you use active pickups. (Note, this is the DI you use to capture your guitar DI). Then, for reamping, either a passive reamp box or an active reamp box should be OK.
> 
> Since I use all of the above, I tend to like the Little Labs Red Eye 3D Phantom, which offers passive DI, active DI (through 48 volt phantom power of the mic pre or interface) and reamp box all in a single unit and sounds great. It costs more than a single Radial box, but it is doing what it would take three Radial boxes to do.



Yeah, I already decided on getting a passive DI since I'll be using EMG's and an active bass. The problem is the reamp box since as you say, either "should be ok". I don't want ok, I want magnificent!!! Lol. No but yeah, I'm likely over-analyzing this but if one sounds slightly better than the other that's the one I want.

And ya, I actually looked at the Little Labs too, but Idk, Radial as a brand just seems bigger and more established, which I feel a bit more comfortable with.



sharedEQ said:


> I tested both the Radial ProRMP against the Radial X-amp, reamping side by side. I used the DI input of an RME UFX to get the signal into the DAW.
> 
> When reamping, levels were normalized.
> 
> ...



Mhh, yeah this is interesting, because something I am a little afraid of is that the passive reamp box is gonna cut off highs and sound murky... Hmmmm... But then I've read some people complaining about the x-amp as well... Still leaning towards it as of now I think... Would I need an extra power supply for it though, or do they come with one or something?


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## jsmalleus (Jul 19, 2016)

+1 on the little labs redeye 3d phantom tedtan recommended. Killer box that will cover you on the DI and reamping fronts. 

The redeye clips were preferred over my radial JDI passive DI box by the engineer we were sending the tracks to as well, so no worries about the quality suffering for the additional functionality it provides.


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## sharedEQ (Jul 19, 2016)

gnoll said:


> Yeah, I already decided on getting a passive DI since I'll be using EMG's and an active bass. The problem is the reamp box since as you say, either "should be ok". I don't want ok, I want magnificent!!! Lol. No but yeah, I'm likely over-analyzing this but if one sounds slightly better than the other that's the one I want.
> 
> And ya, I actually looked at the Little Labs too, but Idk, Radial as a brand just seems bigger and more established, which I feel a bit more comfortable with.
> 
> ...



It comes with power supply. I think the x-amp adds a tiny bit to the noise floor compared to the proRMP, but it sounds bigger, more detailed. The X-amp has some extra features to help break ground loops which I use all the time.

If you don't have a great active DI, check out the redeye thing. It does both.


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## Winspear (Jul 20, 2016)

I see you are in Europe, I'm not really sure the differences but I'm selling an X Amp for £120 unused aside from testing, very happy with it! PM me if you end up wanting one of those


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## Descent (Jul 20, 2016)

I have Radial ProRMP and a Radial DI passive box which I've used in reverse and there is little difference. The DI in reverse is a little bit noisier. 
Haven't tried active reamp box but I think there is noise in all of them from what I've read from reviews. 

I don't think the ProRMP loses something in the translation that can't be fixed with eq but for the most part I do this for rhythm guitars that are layered with different amps, etc. that it is hard to tell what you're really missing as you're usually not working with recording the amp with guitar plugged in and recording the DI reamped, maybe I need to check that but I get good results with the ProRMP and at this stage if it ain't broke 

You might get a passive transformer based DI like the Radial first, then test that in reverse, if you feel like you'd need a reamp box then, get one.

BTW the Little Labs Redeye looks really interesting...I also see that there is a Palmer DACCAPO reamp box which I've never tried...


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