Samson MDA1 Mono Active Direct Box

I've been wanting a J48 for a long time, but the $200 price tag has kept it out of my and many others reach for years... Enter Samson like a tank thru a guitar store with the venerable MDA1 Active DI! This thing is a road worthy beast, and just as heavy duty as a J48, but is more simplistic, and at $35 bones this thing is a steal for anyone who wants to direct inject into their I/O. The bad ass ground lift switch killed my hum problem too! After having the J48 shoved in my face for years, I just had to crack the case and see what was under the hood of the MDA1 (see images, J48 posted for comparison), and I am very impressed, not with just the heavy duty steel case, but with the very clean solder work and quality 100v/50v caps within it. This is not a generic DI by no means, and it is comparable to Radials $100+ DI's. Works just like a J48, but without all the bells and whistles you don't really need, or will never really use unless your doing an opening gig for Metallica! I tested it on my I/O and it runs off the phantom power, or you can pop in a 9v on stage. Sound is clean, no coloration, and true bypass too! Pound for pound against the J48, the MDA1 stomps a mud hole in the J48's ass when it comes to price vs. performance! The Samson MDA1 will get the job done just as well, and save your wallet from a brand name ass kicking!... Don't hesitate... Get one, or two, before their gone! UPDATE; 5.27.21 Had to order another one of these Samson DI's... The one I reviewed here is still going strong since I bought it a little over three years ago. Does the same dam thing all the other high priced DI Boxes do, I eventually got a used J48 and I can't tell the difference between the two in a DAW or Live pass thru... Clean amp signals to my I/O and DAW, haven't had any problems whatsoever with it. Runs right into the stage mixer no issues. Don't buy hype! Buy a SAMSON!

Works great. This actually has less noise than the audio interface guitar selector. So I now use this for line in on the audio interface vs selecting guitar on the input selector. Much better!

solid product for the price

Easy to use. Has all the important features. I like the attenuation pad switch and the on/off button for the active circuit powered by an onboard 9v battery. It still outputs thru the unit to my guitar amp when the active XLR output to the PA is switched off with the button. The sound quality is great and the unit is mostly quiet and free of PA 'pops', if you pay attention and don't start yanking on things while the PA is hot. Connections along the chain to the power amp of the PA are sensitive. Disconnecting a reverb pedal from a hot PA input line might cause a booming sound like kicking an old Fender amp with an inboard reverb tank while turned up. A loud and expensive sounding sound erupts! You have to be careful. I can see people taping the cable connections. You have to pay attention before unplugging your guitar. Turn off the PA. Switch off the active direct box. Avoid more than a couple connected effects pedals because those patch cable connection are susceptible to easily triggering popping in the PA. Very loud mini shorts actually. Happens when tiny sparks jump around at the sites of cable connections. You can't actually see these sparks. They occur in the electrical circuit at the jack site interfaces.

works great' just what i needed for my passive P-bass at church

I've been playing Bass for over 30 years, mostly for fun but some on stage and this just upped my game. I was running out of the balanced output of my combo amp but wasn't happy with the sound through the PA. I switched to this DI box and the sound is definitely cleaner. The one thing I don't like about it is that it requires a 9v battery. There is no way to connect the box to an external 9v power source. The one thing I thought would work, an adapter that came with my 9v power supply, won't because the battery is a direct fit.

Excellent Direct Bod. Works to send Guitar signal through a mixer. However, it seems to need the POWER ON when used WITH or WITHOUT an amp.

De los mejores DI Box en el mercado. Es el tercero que compro por su durabilidad, buenos materiales, excelente calidad.

Very good active DI, clean sound, plenty of headroom, small, easy to use.

This is a very nice Active DI box for electric guitar with passive pickups. The input impedance is 1 Mega ohm which is good for all electric guitar except guitars with piezo pickups. Quality of sound is great. It preserves the highend tones. It is able to drive the tone Over longer cables. It can also be used to plug in to Analog mixer which doesn't have HiZ/INST input and has only Line/Mic level inputs. Works with Battery and Phantom power and has a Thru to connect to amp for Double tracking with no lag. Price is fantastic. A value for money product Cons Cannot be used for guitars with piezo pickups which require input impedance ok 10 mega ohm Wish it came with XLR cable and battery so that it can be ready to use out of the pack

Ich bin von der Samson DI Box restlos begeistert,die Klangqualität ist hervorragend und braucht den Vergleich zu weitaus teureren Produkten überhaupt nicht zu schäuen. Was man hier so günstig an Qualität geliefert bekommt ist schon unglaublich, ich betreibe schon sehr lange Homerecording ,aber ich war nie richtig zufrieden mit meinem Gitarren Sound, irgendwie hörte es sich nie so richtig an, bis heute, diese kleine DI Box hat mir endlich den Sound geliefert den ich so lange gesucht habe, warum habe ich das nicht schon eher ausprobiert. Alles in allem kann ich dieses Gerät uneingeschränkt empfehlen, es ist jeden Cent wert, ich bin begeistert !!!

Excelente caja directa

I use this phantom-powered with contact mics. Does great things to the sound and fits in my small orca 270 recording bag; alongside a Tascam DR-70D. 9V power option is a big plus. Perhaps the only minus for potable use is the tank-like build. This could also be a plus in the long run.