Originally bought this for recording guitar and bass for the ability to re amp. Works great for that purpose. Recently had some issues with my Roland SPD-One sample pad buzzing through the PA. The ground lift on this DI Box solved the buzzing issue. Very versatile unit!

Very nice direct box! Easy to use and flexible. The variable pad is a nice touch. Clean sound. Some believe the unit colors to some extent but I didn't notice any type of real coloring. If it's there it is very slight. I would call it slight mojo. I used it on a Taylor acoustic/electric as well as a five string bass. Sweet! A box you'll want to have in your audio tool kit.

Recently performed a guitar shootout with a Countryman 85, Radial Pro DI, Radial J48, and a Warm Active/Passive. Hands-down, the Warm had the boldest body and the most rich high-end of them all, by a mile. I cannot recommend this product enough for DI enthusiasts.

Only caution is you should buffer your signal if you run a thru to an amp. It will deteriorate your signal. Get a JHS Little Black Buffer in front of it to protect your signal…

For the price, this DI box has features that make it suitable for use in just about any application. It can operate either passively or in active mode, which makes it useable for pretty much any instrument. It can also accept the line output from an amp. I typically use it with an electric guitar played through a Tone Master Pro, into the DI box, then into the mixer. I also send the thru output to my FRFR to use as a monitor. Although I haven't had the need to use the adjustable pad, it adds to the DI's versatility. Occasionally I'll use it with an acoustic guitar and it works well in that application too. There's been some debate as to whether or not a DI box is really needed for use with an amp modeler output, but I like having a clean, balanced signal going into my mixer.

I can't trash this for sound. It sounds fantastic active or passive and quiet. What I can say is I had it just over a month and the first time I unplugged a cable from the thru the nut and washer fell off. Upon further investigation the jack was stripped and the nut threaded on just enough not to fall off, just long enough for someone to buy and get home.

YMMV

I got mine used on the gear exchange. I was looking for an "RNDI-like" box, but needed the ability to run without phantom power (Sometimes I play bass at home through a powered speaker). I also like to experiment and split the signal using the THRU output, to send both clean and overdriven sounds to the speaker. The phase switch is mandatory to have when doing this- without it you can get a weak, distorted sound when combining 2 signals.
You do have to remove 6 screws to change the batteries, kinda a PITA, but battery life is so long I didn't want to take off 1/2 star for it.

I have never bothered using a DI before and just plugged straight into my interface for everything. However, I wanted to have a clean copy of my guitar signal if I ever needed to reamp my guitar through my Kemper so I started plugging it into the Warm Audio Active DI first and what a difference has it made. All the hum that I suffered with previously is gone and my guitar tone is cleaner and brighter. Great value!

Very sturdy. Professional grade. Works flawlessly and has no extraneous noise!

Punchy clean open and quiet. The variable PAD is great and the fact that you can go Active or Passive..Nice touch.

I've been in live and studio engineering for about the last 20 years, and I've tried nearly every DI out there. When I plugged this DI in, I was blown away with the quality over other great DI's I had been using for years. Don't look any further, buy this DI. Watch my full video review linked here for more details!

I always run a DI on every guitar and bass I record. My workhorse was an FE2 Ferrite Core Direct Box from DIY RE. I built this unit from a kit and soldered it myself. It is a passive box that just really worked well for me in most situations. When I bought the WA-DI-A I really needed to boost the signal of my bassist. My DI was good but I had to basically max out the pre and the signal still wasn't as full as I would have liked. Preparing to record a new single I decided it was time to get an active DI for my home studio. I have used a number of DIs and I really liked the features on the Warm unit. I love that I could run it in a passive mode and make it active just by turning on the phantom power. It works really well in my rack. I haven't really needed to use the pad yet but really glad it is there if I ever do need it. This unit is solid, they built this thing for the rough life of a studio DI. I imagine I will be using it for many years. The signal is strong and full even in the passive mode. This has become my go-to DI.

I have recently been trying to work harder at making song demos for my own solo work and up until now, I haven't had a DI box. This one is really simple to use, has every feature I need, and really cleaned up my signals, all for a competitive price. Couldn't be happier with it and I'm sure I will check out more Warm Audio products in the future.

Fantastic DI box! Simple to use and sounds great. Love the variable pad option too! Thanks Warm Audio and Sweetwater!

As somebody who has both active and passive guitars, the ability to switch between active and passive mode on the DI box is extremely handy since now I only need to have one DI box.

I am not really sure if the sound is better than the DIs in my Clarett OctoPre, one second I think I can hear a difference and then the next I can't. But the ability to split my signal to the amp and keep a DI that is super high quality no matter what guitar I use is really great.

I do have to take half of a star away just because the knob and switches come out past the metal sleeves, which makes me a little bit worried about this box in a live situation.

Yeah, I was a bit hesitant at first to spend the extra $$$ for this BEAUTIFUL little box but now that I have it, I couldn't be happier! I haven't used all of its features but for a DI'd guitar signal it's beyond AMAZING!
it does seem to have a unique ( guess it's not called "warm audio" for nothing ) tonal character….but a VERY pleasing one….and it's just total peace of mind having this rock solid unit in my arsenal.
Highly recommend it!

I bought this a while back just to have for live sound shows. But, I used this to run a bass split di laying down tracks, in the studio. All I have to say is wow. The variable pad is really nice. But this thing also sounds like, to me, that it gives a little harmonic flavor to the sound, in a good way. I really like the sound that it gave to the bass track. I don't usually get all excited about direct boxes, but I give this one 2 thumbs up. Good job Warm Audio.

I received my Warm Audio DI Box about an hour ago. My initial impression is that this must be the best sounding and feature rich DI box on the market at this price point! I've been wanting a DI box for years now to record electric guitar and bass. I had been recording straight into my Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 and have been battling with signal hum the entire time. I now feel like an idiot for putting off this purchase for so long. Before I would have to heavily manipulate my recordings to make hum less noticeable. This included adding noise gates, low pass filters, and vst preamps/di boxes to strengthen my guitar signal. After I set up my Warm Audio DI box and hit record I was astonished at how much better my guitar recordings sounded. First off, no hum! My guitar sounds great and has a richer and more natural sound. The ability to switch between active and passive was the reason I picked this up over Neve's offering, which is a DI box that I was heavily considering as well. The DI box also looks really sleek and feels very high quality. Overall I am extremely pleased with this purchase. I am now way more likely to be purchasing other Warm Audio products in the future. If your guitar recordings have been suffering from hum issues and have been sounding weak, do yourself a favor and pick this up! You can thank me later. And as always big ups to Sweetwater for being the best supplier of audio products.

fantastic sound. all good at this point.

I use this di box in my home studio with my audio interface (Apollo twin x) because I was having trouble getting a good gain level. I'd have the gain knob on zero and still get clipping. With this di box, my guitars sound amazing. No more gain issues, and the sound is extremely clear and crisp, very easy to set up and use. I was on the fence about getting this but I couldn't be happier that I did!

It's hard to get too excited about a DI box, but this one just works. Packed with every feature you want, but the real test is the sound. I plug lots of things directly to my preamps, and on many occasions I've found the built in DI to be problematic. Differing input impedance, bad jacks, etc. This DI is one of the more versatile tools I've used.

This Warm DI is ultra clean. I rarely want a DI that has its own character, I'd much rather not hear the DI working. In this case, I feel like it's adding detail by being so clean. I've never heard my bass, guitar, acoustic, keys with this kind of detail from a direct input.

The fact that it's passive and active, had a pad for those high output devices, can DI off an amp... it's nearly the perfect DI.

I will 100% but another one when they go back on sale. I have some stereo applications I'd like to pursue.

Overall, the best DI I've used!

I've been in the pro studio business for over 45 years, so I'm pretty jaded when it come to "the latest best thing", but when I plugged my guitar into the active WA-DI I was truly blow away. It's like my guitar came to life! Excellent clarity and character. I highly recommend for anyone recording direct.

After receiving my Warm Audio Active DI, I compared straight up recordings of acoustic guitar vs through the DI.
The straight up, direct from guitar to audio interface sounded extremely good.
The recording done with guitar into the DI in active mode and phantom powered is a subtle but HUGE difference if that makes sense. The depth of field, smooth analog sound, and clarity blew me away!
This device is going to be a regular performer in my studio!
Thanks Warm Audio and Sweetwater for an awesome DI that performs as advertised and more!