DIRECT BOX (ACTIVE) RTS PCB

The ready-to-solder PCB for an active direct box: a compact DI with plenty of headroom for plugging your instrument straight into a mixer or PA.

About this PCB

This board builds an excellent little active DI box with lots of headroom and excellent specs. It is similar to the active box in Boscorelli's The Stompbox Cookbook. A charge pump gives the input stage extra headroom, and the circuit provides some gain control on the output to the XLR jack. It also has a polarity switch and a ground lift switch for dealing with hum and phase issues at the board.

A metal enclosure is recommended. If you use one, pair it with a plastic-bodied XLR jack, such as our male plastic XLR jack, so the ground lift works properly.

Specs

• PCB size: 5.1cm x 3.7cm
• Gain control, polarity switch and ground lift switch
• Onboard charge pump for extra headroom

Build resources

• Complete instructions for the Active Direct Inject Box
• Schematic (PDF)
• Parts layout (PDF)
• Bill of materials (PDF)

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