NAMM 2016: Radial unveils 12 new problem-solving DIs and switchers

Introduction

NAMM 2016: Canadian firm Radial has kicked off its convention with a wealth of announcements, among them the JDX Direct-Drive amp simulator/DI, Switchbone V2, Classic V9 and BT-Pro Bluetooth DI.

All typically useful little packages from a firm that's made it's name healing headaches you didn't know you had. Browse the gallery below...

JDX Direct-Drive amp simulator

PRESS RELEASE: The Direct Drive™ is a combination amp emulator and direct box that lets you perform live or record without a guitar amplifier.

It features a Voicing Control with three amp simulation EQs starting with a traditional Radial JDX™ 4x12 tone; next - a beefy sounding Marshall™ Half-Stack for rock and metal; and finally - a clean Fender Twin™ tone for blues and country picking. A bright switch acts like the presence on your amp.

Connect your guitar to your pedals, the pedals to the Direct Drive and the XLR output to the PA. Easy! You can even send a signal to your amp and tuner! Finally, a great sounding stage amp that won’t break your back!

BT-Pro Bluetooth DI

PRESS RELEASE: Finally you can control the music while you’re moving around, the BT-Pro pairs with Bluetooth® to wirelessly connect your laptop, phone or tablet.

Balanced outputs with trim control allow for connection to microphone or line level inputs on any PA system. A headphone output is provided to test the audio output before connection to the PA.

The FCC approved BT-Pro offers stereo reception up to 30’ (10 meters) from the source using the A2DP interface over 2.0 EDR and converts to analog ensuring the best audio quality.

The Classic V9 Distoverdrive

PRESS RELEASE: Back in 1998, the very first Tonebone Classic hit the market and soon was adopted as a best in class by what may well be two of the best ears in the business: Eric Johnson and Steve Lukather. The new V9 brings about some significant changes that address the needs of today’s pedal crazy market!

The new Classic V9 is in fact a Distoverdrive. In other words, it sits somewhere between a traditional overdrive and a modern distortion pedal whereby it can clean up when playing legato and you can really dig into the notes when you want extra sustain and harmonic generation.

Eliminating the tube enables the Classic V9 to operate on standard 9V power making it easy to integrate into a pedalboard using a mutli-output power brick.

This also enables you to reduce the footprint so that it could better fit on pedalboards where real-estate may be limited.

Yes, it retains much of the character that has made the Classic one of the most sought after pedals on the used market, but with these advancements, it now delivers more tonal power than ever before.

New Regency for mid and high gain amps

PRESS RELEASE: According to company President Peter Janis: “When developing new products, we often consult with a tight knit group of individuals that we have grown to trust.

One such individual is Rejean ‘Rej.E’ Lachance an incredibly talented player from Québec that is best known for his work with Roc Voisine, Lara Fabian and Johnny Halliday.

Rejean wanted a pedal that he could use to drive the front end of his amp harder, either to add sustain or to produce extra grind. He worked with long time engineer Denis Rozon to produce a prototype and the result is the Regency.”

The Regency is in fact two pedals in one. The first is the pre-drive – a high output, low distortion overdrive that is used to add extra saturation to the amp without muddying up the tone. This features a drive control, adjustable tone and a level control.

A 3-position low-mid switch further refines the tone by allowing the artist to tailor the bottom end to suit. When in play, the pre-drive adds natural sustain and harmonics. The second is a 100% discrete class-A boost that delivers up to +18dB of gain.

A built-in effects loop automatically activates when the boost is engaged, allowing the artist to turn on his delay at the same time when soloing. This not only improves on-stage efficiency; it also helps to deliver a better performance. Both the pre-drive and the boost may be used at the same time, should absolute power be needed.

Made Radial tough from 14 gauge steel, the Regency is well prepared to handle the rigors of international touring. It is also super compact and powers by a standard 9V supply for easy integration onto a pedalboard.

Switchbone V2

PRESS RELEASE: The Radial Switchbone has quietly gained a huge following by some of the most talented players on the planet. Eric Clapton, Derek Trucks, Alan Holdsworth and G.E. Smith are just a sampling.

There are several reasons for this: The Radial Class-A buffer for tone purity, Drag™ control load correction for optimal feel, opto-couplers for click-free switching, transformer isolation to eliminate noise and a power booster that is considered to be the best in the business.

The Switchbone V2 retains all of the above while adding a more powerful mid-boost section with fully variable mid-range, Slingshot™ remote controllability that lets you change channels or activate effects while hitting a footswitch, and it may be configured to drive as many as three amps at the same time for A, B, and C setups.

Shotgun signal splitter

PRESS RELEASE: The Tonebone Shotgun lets you shoot your guitar signal to as many as four amps at the same time. And it lets you do it either in mono or in stereo – quietly, as it eliminates hum and buzz caused by ground loops.

Last year, we met with the guitar techs for Colin James and Joe Bonamassa and both were having horrific problems with buzz and hum in just about every venue that they played in.

Interestingly enough, Colin uses a 1x4 setup while Joe uses a stereo 2x2 setup. So our engineering brainiacs got to work figuring out a way to solve both problems with one box. The Shotgun is the result.

When only input-1 is used, it routes the guitar signal to all four amps. If input-2 is also used, it spits the signal in a 2 x 2 stereo configuration. This enables the guitar tech to optimise the setup for each player.

MR5™ MIDI translator for JR5™ footswitch

PRESS RELEASE: A MIDI signal translator that lets you drive the Radial JX44™ and other Radial products that use the JR5 footswitch - using a MIDI controller.

At one end, it features a MIDI in, out and thru to integrate it within a MIDI network. On the other, two XLR outputs to control the JX44 guitars and amps. A side access dip switch enables the user to configure the MIDI set up for omnimode or dedicate the MR5 to a single channel.

You can also set it for program and channel changes, should this be required. Should a MIDI error occur, a side-access reset switch allows for instant setup recovery. The MR5 is powered by the host Radial product, thus eliminating the need for an external power supply.

The Bumper

PRESS RELEASE: At night on a stage that is… The Bumper is a compact instrument selector that lets you switch between four instruments using a simple footswitch.

An innovative circuit advances through the connected inputs depending on what is connected. Full size, super-bright LEDs follow the selector switch for instant visual feedback.

Each input features Radial’s legendary Class- A input buffers to drive long cables without noise, distortion or artifact. Each input is also equipped with either Drag™ control load correction or a TRIM, depending on how it is set.

This allows guitarists or bass players that use multiple instruments to quickly change instruments while optimising the load on passive pickups or matching the level when using louder active sources. A dedicated tuner out is always on hand for on-the-fly adjustments.

Headlight

PRESS RELEASE: There are plenty of crazy guitarists that will plug into four amps at the same time! Why, say you? With a catalog of songs, having the ability to select the right amp for the right tune not only sounds better, it makes them groove on stage.

In the studio, quickly switching between one amp to another without having to bring a rack and large multi-selector footswitch makes things all that much easier. The Headlight is made for these folks.

The design begins with Radial’s award winning Class-A buffer and Drag™ control load correction for absolute best tone and natural feel. A single rotational footswitch advances the signal to all of the outputs that are connected. A series of color-coded LEDs follow along for instant visual feedback. To ensure quiet performance, the outputs are transformer isolated.

These eliminate ground loops and the hum and buzz that seems to always be present with other switchers. Ground lift and 180º polarity reverse switches are also available to further quiet down the system and ensure all amps play in phase. A mute switch works double duty to either turn all amps off for tuning, or turn them all on to unleash the power of the sun!

New Mix-Blender

PRESS RELEASE: Radial is known for making problem-solvers. The Mix-Blender solves two long standing problems in with one compact device. The functions are in the name…

The Mix section is exactly that, a 2-input mixer that lets you combine two sources and send them to one output. This could be used to blend two pickups from an acoustic guitar or allow two guitars to be active at once for players that must instantly transition from one tone to another.

It can also be used to mix two effects chains together in parallel by first splitting the signal and then recombining them. This studio trick is often used to create subtle or unique effects.

Headlight-Pro

PRESS RELEASE: Here’s the drill: You are the hired gun and have to magically switch between acoustic guitar, mandolin, banjo and fiddle… you want each instrument to have its own audio channel in the PA yet you do not want a bunch of cables causing a tangled mess of spaghetti on stage and do not want to use hand-signals to let the FOH and monitor engineers to mute your instrument during every change. What do you do?

The Headlight Pro comes to the rescue with a simple six step plan:

1. Stomp on the Mute footswitch to turn off the signal going to the PA and stage amp
2. Disconnect your guitar and connect your mandolin
3. Check tuning with always-on tuner output
4. Depress Select footswitch to set to output-2
5. Check LED indicators to make sure you are on the right channel
6. Hit Mute footswitch again to go live

Elapsed time for changeover: 8.3 seconds Engineer appreciation level: 10/10 Professional appearance on stage: 10/10 Sound quality: 10/10 LED cool factor: 10/10

Features standard ¼” instrument input, always-on tuner out, four fully isolated balanced XLR outputs with ground lift switches to eliminate hum and buzz caused by ground loops, 180º polarity reverse switches to help eliminate hot-spots on stage, selector switch that can be set to advance through 2, 3 or 4 inputs, mute footswitch for changeovers and quiet on-stage tuning, typical 9V powering for use with power-bricks, and ultra-sturdy Radial build quality.

DiNETTM network direct boxes for Dante

PRESS RELEASE: The DiNET DAN-TX is the worlds first Dante™ enabled stereo direct box.

Equipped with 1/4”, RCA and stereo 3.5mm input jacks, the DAN-TX allows the user to connect instruments or line level sources directly to networked audio systems using the Dante protocol.

The DAN-TX features 24bit/96kHz analog to digital conversion to provide the highest audio quality, and a local 3.5mm headphone output provides the means to quickly test audio.

The DiNET DAN-RX is a 24bit/96kHz digital to analog endpoint that allows the user to output audio from a Dante™ network to stereo systems.

The DAN-RX is equipped with left and right balanced XLR outputs with a level control that allows for connection to microphone inputs up to +4dBu line level systems.

A local 3.5mm headphone output is provided to test or monitor audio before connection to the PA system.