Whirlwind IMP 2 1-channel Passive Instrument Direct Box Reviews

Wonderful product. Super long lasting.

Basically the industry standard DI box. Does it's job, and does it well. I've run acoustic guitars, electric guitars, bass guitars, keyboards, and even a violin through the IMP 2… it always performs as intended and provides a clear and balanced signal to the board. Construction is top notch and built with quality components. A must have for any gigging musician.

Great DI. Fits nice on the board and sounds great!

In my church worship band we are using only these direct boxes because they are dependable and very affordable.

I wanted a dry signal for the DAW (computer) and effects into the live PA. It must have been a Tuesday.

I wanted to send a customized XLR stereo patch to my Yamaha mixer from my TC Helicon Play-Acoustic. I wanted to send a dry XLR to my Focusrite Scarlett 2i2. The Hi-Z patches through to the TC while the XLR sends to the Scarlett. It keeps my options open.

Excelente product and affordable

My oldest piece of gear. When I first started I had this old fella who had toured in the 70's and 80's tell me to buy this and always keep it in my case. It was about 30 bucks back then and you have no idea how many times this little box has saved the day. For all the pedals/amps and what not, this is a cheap price for the insurance that it provides. Sure there are higher models, but this has always done as I needed!

It works perfectly. Don't know what more to say. It was recommended be staff & does what it is supposed to do.

We always keep an extra one of these direct boxes. No direct box lasts forever, but I have found these last longer than the more expensive ones that I have purchased. The whirlwind is simple to use and I have no complaints. The greatest part of purchasing is always working with Ryan Murray. He is always willing to take time and help.

I have had this direct box for at least 10 years, it's been tossed around, stepped on, rolled over by cases and sat in a trailer that was overwhelmingly moist for Long periods of time and still works like it's brand spanking new with cosmetic damage lol

I have never used a DI before, got this from Sweetwater to record my guitar and bass into my DAW. I must say that this IMP 2 has impressed the heck out of me. My guitar and bass sound much clearer and crisp, just what I was needing . Excellent service from Sweetwater as usual .

While back I purchased two of these from Sweetwater For some reason I thought that I would need a spare for my keyboard rig I was wrong these things are built like tanks I gig all the time and it has not failed me yet !

Many gigs I play require me running a line out from my mixer to front of house, and at times the house sound guys or the sound company they"ve hired are scrambling to find a DI box. At the rock brill hall of fame, the sound crew was very surprised when I told them I didn"t need one, I have my own! Works like a champ too!

What's there to say? Zero noise, straight to the point, easy to use product. I use this for sending my click tracks to the drummer's personal monitor amp

Quality DI at a friendly price. Just plug in and go. I use it for my acoustic guitar into the mixer. Sounds good no hum or buzz. Allows me to have balanced input to the board.

Haven't used it much yet, so I can't attest to the durability, but so far, this is great. Small in size, doesn't seem to color the sound at all, and it's built like a tank. I see a lot of these on stages, so they must be good!

I use these in my portable sound system for travel. They're compact, they weren't great, and I have never had a problem with them.

Play on a Worship Team. Wanted to simplify setting up for rehearsal and for worship.
Mounted this on my pedal board, can go in plug into xlr, plug in guitar and ready to play
Compatable with house system no noticeable loss in tone or signal

The Whirlwind IMP 2 has been around seemingly forever. I used them in my formative years as a live mixer in the early 80's and the product is as solid as ever. This a a solid, reliable go to device that works every time without fail. You can go fancy and expensive, but at the end of the will deliver and get the job done.

Simple, elegant way to play my electric and acoustic electric direct into the PA. Rugged enclosure should provide years of trouble free service.

It works great! I play harmonica at church and use it to hook up to their sound system with 1/4"
Cable and my microphone. Sweetwater staff recommended this product. I'm very satisfied.

Simple, easy, how can you go wrong ? Love it.

Since we set These boxes up at our performances we had no more bad interruptive sounds. This box works incredible

The Whirlwind IMP 2 does exactly what a direct box is supposed to do. I gig a lot and being able to use an acoustic guitar is crucial to my set. It really does a great job in cleaning up the signal. The box is a rugged and simple design. I have no doubt that it will last a LONG time.

It works great! We use it on stage for our band and has never let us down.

I was having trouble with buzz through an old DI box so I got this. Our rehearsal space has everything on one circuit and the lights have dimmers so noise is a problem. The ground lift switch made the noise disappear. it's affordable and rugged and I hope it lasts 30 years like my last DI box did. I'm using it with a Taylor and Martin acoustic both with active pickups.

Works great

I've been using these DI boxes for years in mobile churches and church plants. They've been beaten, dropped, kicked, and knocked around, but worked every time they're plugged in. You can't beat it for the price.

Needed an avenue to change the signal from our overhead projector to our P.A. system. It works great and no buzzing!

Bought two of these for line level outs on a guitar and bass rig
to the mixer. Works perfectly and the ground lift solved the hum
problem I was having with a cheaper DI box.
Built like a tank for road use, this is a great buy and an outstanding
unit.

Does the trick on a budget. Sturdy little box, no self noise, solid connections. Everything one would expect from a DI box. Would absolutely purchase again

I bought this after looking at the price ranges for passive direct boxes, and I was pleasantly surprised to find this at this low a price - and amazed further when I got it out of the box and into my signal chain.

I have been using it since the day I got it, and it performs its job well. My only gripe is that the paint wears off a bit quick when left on the ground - making it look a few years old after a couple months.. =)

Other than that, the ground lift function works very well, and solved me some guitar pickup problems that I was having.

If you're reading this review, don't hesitate to place the order now - it won't let you down; and at this price, it's a steal.

This unit does what it is supposed to do and the best part is that it's passive. It's quiet but really delivers a punch on the other end.

Great tool for our sound system. The guitars love them.

Built as solidly as advertised.

it did exactly what i needed it to do, sounds clear, and clean

These are simply the best. I've never had one go bad. I will not purchase anything else.

Great DI for the price. I own several of these and have had no problems

I was looking for a Direct Box for emergencies and did not consider this one at all. After calling in to my sales representative he steered me toward the Whirlwind, and I could not be any happier! You wouldn't believe how many times now I've either had a) The Guitarist's Active DI go bad or b) Their amp go and I whip out this little baby to save the day. Rugged, Reliable, and sounds great!

This is a great DI for the price. It has saved the day on several occasions whether playing gigs at local dive bars or running sound at Church. It sounds pretty clean and has been an all-star when gear breaks and the show must go on. I'll use it recording at home with no issue until I upgrade, I'm confident it will work terrifically. If I had this vs a Jensen equipped Radial DI, I'm not sure it would win the day, but for the price...this thing has proven to be a miracle worker!

Bought one of these for use with Acoustic Gtr. at Church....loved it!...brought out the clear sound of the gtr. ....so I ordered another one!,...I buy ALOT of music equipment for my own use....and Sweetwater has become my favorite online store!..Great customer service...fast shipping!

Parallel in/out works great for instrumentalists that are wanting to tap into their rig on stage along side of giving me a straight signal to play with.

Does exactly what I wanted it to do. I'm using it on bass guitar for signal to the mixer. I'm getting a very clear, full, punchy bass sound into the DAW. When we first plugged it in the ground lift was on. Flipped the switch , silence.

Your run of the mill barebones DI. Nothing fancy here. 2 1/4" inputs (paralleled, so you don't have to worry about guitarists plugging into the output), an XLR output, and one ground/lift switch. Pretty tough metal case and everything feels sturdy. Sounds pretty darn good for a $50 passive DI.

This box will kill any buzz you have whether it's from your speakers, or your keyboard with a crappy output jack on it. For only $50, you can't beat it!

Bought this to interface midi device with an XLR cable as input into a Helicon Voice Live 2. The perfect solution for using my EWI (electronic wind controller) with the Voice Live 2. Works great, effective low cost solution to allow one to produce some amazing effects with the EWI. Many thanks to Jason at Sweetwater for recommending this solution.

This DI is very light, has a perfect size but is still very strong. I play the violin and my instrument is coming out nice and clear, the sound have definitely improved.
It will fit perfectly in your budget which to me, was the cherry on top.
I recommend it.

The IMP2, like most Whirlwind products, is solidly built and does what you need it to. For providing safe ground lifting and impedance conversion this is an industry standard.

Folks looking for a "one size fits all" solution to any and all hum problems should be aware that EVERY item in the signal chain needs to have hum addressed. This is just one (albeit important) part of the solution.

Simple, practical, sturdy. Clean signal path and a simple ground switch.

This unit works great... Would have been good to include installation instructions or diagram as we haven't used this type of gear in a quite a while and some less experienced in our group didn't know how to use it or what it is for.

Product works great. Very easy and stress-free transaction. Product arrived very quickly. Sweetwater contacted me to let me know the product had been shipped....then again after it arrived just to make sure all was well. Great service!

I use the IMP 2 at a restaurant as an entry point for musicians to connect to the house audio system. I no longer have problems with buzz and distortion. It is also well built.

We installed our new Yamaha powered mixer several months ago, the goal was to get all vocals and instruments through the board. I kept struggling with the bass and acoustic guitar; burying the gains, boasting the faders just to get a blink on the input. Finally called my favorite Sweetwater guy: Kurt Martin who happens to play an acoustic himself with direct input. Immediately he advised me that both the acoustic and bass had very high signal output impedance and recommended this quick fix. Amazing what $50 does to a line level; gains are back to normal, faders are back down; and low and behold- I have a signal input. Flip of the switch on the high lift and the guitar humm disappeared. Thanks Kurt- loved it so much I bought two. i also liked the fact that it is passive; we ran out of receptacles along time ago.

the only time I've use a D.I box was at church and they weren't that good, so I may not be the best for advice. I will say this though, compared to what we do have at church this thing seems to work better, easier to use, is built like a tank and the ground lift actually works. The amps I'm used to using have a line out or I use a shure 57. I recently purchased a small digital amp which didn't offer a line out and the venue I will be using this amp at is to small for the 57 so I purchased the Whirlwind Direct Box. The Sales guy I talked to at Sweetwater asked all the right questions and to be honest I was surprised how expensive these things can get. He recommended this one and so far out of every piece of gear I bought with the advice of the sweetwater reps I haven't returned one thing.

really good direct input box.

A great little Di to have...

Bought 2 of these for our Church band. Very good price...and they are of good quality! They work great~!

I didn't rate it a 5 because I am completely new at this. I had a great deal of help from Mark Maddich on getting set up, Sweetwater is the best! I am VERY happy that the IMP 2 is designed and built in the U.S.A. This box is built like a tank, it will outlast me I think. For anyone requiring a direct box like this I highly recommend it.

Does the job and sounds good. It did fail after three months, problem easily diagnosed and repaired as a cold solder common connection to the input jacks.

I have used these DI's for years, have some that are 10 years old, never any problems! They are just a great little piece when needed for sound systems.

So far this is another good Whirlwind product. I have had the cable tester for a number of years and it's been reliable. This is my first experience with this particular model so we'll see over time how it holds up. The ground lift was an important feature to combat a dirty AM station in the area whose signal has infiltrated our wiring. If it holds up like the cable tester does we're on a winner here.

The IMP2 is considered an industry standard direct box for good reason - It is rugged, long lasting, and does its job well.
Inside is really just a transformer and some connectors which means that this direct box doesn't have any extra parts to fail.
Highly recommended!

The IMP2 works just like I had expected. But, no surprise from the folks at Sweetwater -- stuff is reasonably priced, delivery is fast, stuff always works, and -- best of all -- they follow up with contacts witht the customer to make sure everything is OK. Best on-line supplier that I've found.

We are using this DI to integrate electric bass with an otherwise acoustic band, with all other instruments miced. The IMP 2 gives a proper balanced signal to the PA mixer, while passing through the signal to the onstage bass amp. Most important: it adds no noise to either signal.
If it still works this well a couple of years from now, I'll raise my rating to 5 stars.

Good little DI for the money. Its built like a brick so you're not going to worry about breaking it on the road.

Does NOT help my electric guitar player loose that static, yet to find one that does.