A beautiful direct box, inside and out
Review by Paul Vunk Jr.
Grace Design is well known for crafting some of the cleanest, clearest microphone and instrument preamps available. Now, the Grace brothers and their team have extended that design know-how into the company’s first dedicated direct box offering—the just-released m303.
Let’s Be Direct
The direct box or DI dates back to the 1950s—the Wolfbox, invented by Dr. Edward Wolfrum and was used to famously record direct bass and electric guitar signals at Motown in the early 1960s. Most early direct boxes were bespoke custom designs, and it was not until the 1970s that commercial direct box designs entered the market en masse.
The job of a direct box is to take a 1/4“ high-impedance audio signal—guitar, bass, electric piano and even most synths and keyboards—and convert it to a low-impedance signal that can be utilized by the XLR microphone preamps on most mixing consoles, audio interfaces and stand-alone preamps.
It may seem dumb to emphasize this, but inside the earpads, the left and right are marked with a huge bright L and R that you could see from space. Wow, what a relief—not having to use a magnifying glass or my phone’s flashlight to see which side is which.
Passive Versus Active
There are two types of direct boxes: passive and active. Passive direct boxes need no power and simply convert signals through the unit’s internal circuitry and transformers.
Active direct boxes use a +48v phantom-powered preamp stage that boosts the incoming signal, offering a cleaner, more stable signal that helps with low-powered pickups and longer cable runs.
A Touch of Grace
The new Grace Design m303 is a fully isolated active direct box that uses “galvanic isolation.” According to Wikipedia, “Galvanic isolation is a principle of isolating functional sections of electrical systems to prevent current flow; no direct conduction path is permitted.”
According to Eben Grace, “This is designed to eliminate ground or line-induced noise problems which active DI designs are susceptible to, especially on a busy stage. We feel that the m303 is really unique in this feature.”
Inside, you will find a custom-designed magnetically shielded nickel-core Lundhahl transformer and phantom power integration that only draws 4mA of current.
The m303 has a 20–80 kHz frequency response, a 124dB dynamic range, and ultra-low distortion (-100dB at 1 kHz/ -80dB at 50 Hz).
It offers impressive low-frequency headroom and a 1-Mohm input impedance that can accommodate Hi-Z pickup-based instruments and line-level sources. The unit also protects against electrostatic discharge (ESD) and radio frequency interference (RFI).
Appearance and Build
The m303 measures 5.30“ (L) x 3.19“ (W) x 1.73“ (H) and weighs 1.05 lbs. The body/surround is a single piece of 1/8“ aluminum finished in vibrant sky blue. The silver aluminum end caps are recessed 1/4“ for protection.
This is possibly the most beautiful and classy-looking direct box I have ever seen and used. Still, this beauty is married to an incredibly robust build that, visually and functionally, should withstand the rigors of daily stage and studio use for years to come.
Ins, Outs and Features
On the front, you will find a pair of 1/4“ input and through jacks, along with a pair of bright glowing LED lights for peak and power indication and a gold contact toggle switch to engage a -13dB input pad.
Moving to the other side, you have a male XLR output and a second ground lift toggle switch.
Sound and Use
Direct boxes are kind of boring. They are those simple, little brick-sized gizmos we use on the stage or in the studio to interface most 1/4” instruments with our otherwise XLR-based world. Perhaps you flip the ground if there is a buzz or hum, pad the signal if the pickup is too hot, and then get on with the gig. Nowadays, in today’s studio landscape, most interfaces and preamps (including those from Grace Design) conveniently have 1/4” inputs—even Hi-Z inputs—onboard. So, have you ever wondered how much of a difference a direct box makes sonically, and if you even need one?
Curious about the above questions, I compared the m303 alongside two popular, similarly priced active direct boxes, the 1/4” Hi-Z input on my Universal Audio x8 Apollo interface, and the 1/4” input on an API 512C microphone preamp with the single coil pickups on my ’69 reissue Fender Telecaster, my Rickenbacker 4003 bass and a 1970s Fender Rhodes piano.
In each case, yes, there was a difference in the tone and clarity. Comparing all three direct boxes, one was a touch thinner with a more pronounced midrange, while the other was decidedly a touch thicker, especially in the low-end. To be fair, I am being very picky, and these differences are subtle and nuanced, similar to comparing high-end microphone preamps. I point this out simply because the job of a good direct box is not to color the sound.
However, a good direct box can enhance the sound and ensure each subtle detail shines through, which is where I would place the m303. To my ears, it offered a tangible clarity that made the pluck and strum of the strings, as well as the chime of the Rhodes, sound a bit more defined and three-dimensional—much like the words I often use when describing the company’s microphone preamps.
This dimension and detail were very apparent when compared to the direct inputs on my interface. While the m303 was sonically the closest to the 1/4“ input on my API 512C, the m303 was still a touch cleaner and tighter sounding.
Finally, I also used a pair of m303 direct boxes live with several passive bass guitars and various direct, pickup-equipped acoustic guitars. In each case, the sound was full, natural and detailed, with nothing sonically added.
Wrap Up
The best way I can sum up the Grace Design m303 is that it is like getting a new high-quality lens for your camera—it simply enhances the detail and sonic focus of every instrument you plug into it. Of course, just like with preamps, you may prefer the “sound” of one high-end direct box over another. Conveniently, the m303 is priced similarly to most other high-quality direct boxes, so your decision can be made on subjective taste rather than price and quality.
The bottom line is, if you want a direct box that is dimensional, clean and robust, and lets the nuances of your instrument and the performance shine clearly, I highly recommend checking out the m303.
Price: $299
More From: gracedesign.com
