Recording - July 2013 - 40

B Y PA U L V N U K J R .

Sonic Farm was founded in 2009 in
Vancouver, BC, Canada. The company is
owned and run by lifelong friends Zoran
Todorovic and Boris Drazic, who met in
1966 when they formed their first band in
their home country, then known as
Yugoslavia.
Sonic Farm’s modus operandi is, “To
come up with pro audio equipment that the
market is not saturated with”—in other
words, no clones of famous gear of yesteryear. Their philosophy is, “To do whatever
gets the right tone.” As such they don’t
care if they use tubes, transistors, IC chips,
or op amps, as long as it sounds good!
Currently the company’s line consists of
five units: The Creamer and Creamer Plus
2-channel tube preamps; the Creamliner 2-

Sonic Farm 2DI4 Pentode Direct Box
Think DI boxes are boring? Think again...
channel tube/transformer line-level signal
conditioner; the brand-new Silkworm 500
Series preamp; and the item we are looking at today, the 2DI4 Pentode Direct Box.
To die four
The 2DI4 is a single-channel Direct Box
that uses a class-A circuit built around an
EF86 pentode tube; this is followed by a
solid-state buffer and an output which is
either transformer- or op amp-balanced
(more below). While a simple and direct
circuit design, the 2DI4 has a healthy number of tone-shaping tricks up its sleeve that
keep it from being just a one-trick pony.
As a DI unit (“Direct Input” or “Direct
Injection”), the 2DI4 is built for portability, complete with a metal carrying handle
on top. The box itself measures roughly
11.5 x 6 x 3.5". It is of all-metal construction and is dressed, like all Sonic
Farm boxes, in a red enamel finish with
black and white accents.

On its rear panel it has a pair of male
XLR outputs; one is a transformer-balanced
DI output and the other is an op amp-balanced standard line output. This allows
you to use the unit as a traditional DI with
a mixing console, a preamp-equipped
desktop interface, or any mic preamp of
your choice, or you can use it on its own
as a line-level front end for recording instruments direct. [Sonic Farm elaborates: “The
DI output’s special Cinemag transformer
brings line-level signals down to mic level
and alters the unit’s output impedance to
that of vintage tube mics... the transformer
also protects the DI circuitry from 48V
phantom power if accidentally turned on
from the mic preamp.”—MM]
Also on the back of the box is a ground
switch, a power switch and a 3-prong
IEC connector for the unit’s internal power
supply (no line lumps or wall-warts here).
Additional I/O is located on the front,
with a 1/4" unbalanced input, and a 1/4"

unbalanced buffered amplifier output for
looping back into your amplifier.
Input, drive and tone
Next to the 1/4" I/O in front are controls
for input, tone and output. Overall, input is
largely handled from the output of your
source, be it guitar, bass, or keyboard, and
it is monitored by a 2-stage signal LED that
lights green when signal is present and red
when the input becomes clipped. On a tube
box, clipping is not always a bad thing!
Additionally, the 2DI4 offers a few ways
to tweak the input signal. There is a 3-position toggle switch that offers a 12 dB cut if
your input is too hot, as well as a Mute setting which is useful when changing instruments or when your instrument is plugged
in but sitting idle between takes. This
switch comes after the tube stage and
before the output buffer.
If you need more gain, there is a gain
button that offers either 5 dB or 9 dB

The 2DI4 can be pushed into a nice
overdriven tone, thanks to its gain boost
and T/P modes. It’s not as drastic as a
tube-based effects pedal, but it can still put
some “hair” on the source.
40

RECORDING July 2013

Recording - July 2013

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