Recording - February 2013 - 39

More than a DI box, the Firefly is really a hub for your performance needs. It’s an instrument switcher so you can have multiple instruments hooked in and at the ready, like two guitars in different tunings, or a guitar and a mandolin, your favorite basses and more, and since each channel has its own volume control the studio engineer or soundman does not need to re-adjust gain settings on the fly. The tuner connection is always live so there is no switching or unplugging between songs to check whether your E string went flat. It’s also great in the studio for capturing a clean DI take, as well as sending the signal out to your amp, where you can choose how much tube color to add to your sound before the amp or to keep it clean as a whistle. If your amp lacks an effects loop, then just add a TRS Y-cable and the Firefly gives you that luxury as well. Sound and use I used the Firefly in all of the instances described above except mandolin, but I substituted a piezo-equipped banjo instead. In each instance it was a rock solid performer with a nice, full, yet nonimposing sound, meaning it added a nice touch of tube and transformer fullness to the otherwise sterile raw instrument sound, but not so much that it got in the way... not like some cheap tube boxes tend to do by way of excess harmonic tube distortion. Having said that, you can push it to alter your tone if you want to, although it’s still not drastic. While it is not a tube preamp per se, it does allow you to push into the tube stage by cranking the input while backing down the output. It’s not in any way a crushed overdrive like some push-pull tube preamps, though—rather it’s more of a harmonic sweetening. So instead of thinking full-on fuzz, expect a nice touch of lint to keep sterile sonics at bay. Gain staging with the Firefly is very important, especially in a studio situation with a standalone mic pre; not only are you adjusting the input and output gain of the DI, but it also affects the level of your chosen mic pre, and if that preamp includes its own input-into-

output structure, then dialing in the right balance of tone vs. noise floor can be touchy. By nature the Firefly can be a touch noisier than your average DI, and Radial makes no secret of that on its web site, fully embracing tube color and vibe over accurate, quiet sonics. (Of course, if you desire the latter, then Radial has a ton of choices in that department as well.) I obsessed over the Drag feature in my JDV-Pre review, and my love affair has not waned one bit. It’s amazing what this setting can do for almost any instrument! Conclusion To sum this all up: Radial’s Firefly is a tube character box, an instrument switcher, an effects loop insert, a guitar preamp/pre-amp (not a misprint!), a pickup picker-upper, and, oh yeah, don’t forget that it’s also an active direct box! That’s why it costs more than the single-function DI boxes we are used to—you pay more and you get more. Way more. Price: $599 More from: Radial Engineering, www.radialeng.com

http://www.radialeng.com http://www.trunorthmusicandsound.com http://www.lewitt-audio.com http://www.lewitt-audio.com

Recording - February 2013

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