New acoustic DI with Preamp (Kickstarter)

[gmfgtr]

New Acoustic DI with Preamp

Hello fellow acoustic players. Greg Farres here, the original designer and founder of Ultrasound Amplifiers, makers of the DI Plus and the DI MAX. I wanted to let you know that I’ve started my own company and I have designed a new product that you should know about, the Ai1.

The Ai1 is a studio quality DI with preamp designed for professional musicians with added flexibility for musicians who want the features of a preamp/DI but don't have a dedicated amp or PA. The Ai1 also offers musicians the option to add their instrument signal to backing tracks or music from another source.

On stage? Great, this Preamp/DI is for you. It has been road tested by professional musicians for quality and durability. You will be able to dial in your clear natural acoustic sound and route it through a balanced XLR output or unbalanced standard line output to the PA sound system.

Not on stage? Not a problem, the Ai1 Preamp/DI is still for you. The Ai1 is designed so you can connect your acoustic instrument into your home theater system or any sound source with stereo RCA compatible inputs.

Want a big discount? Go to our KICKSTARTER campaign and learn how you can own a first production run Ai1 Preamp/DI at up to a 50% discount.

Specifications:
Instrument Input: Acoustic instrument with a pickup installed (guitar, violin, mandolin etc.)
Connector: Standard ¼” TS Jack
Impedance 1M ohm
Output:
Connector Standard ¼” TS Jack
Impedance 510 ohm
DI OUT:
Connector XLR Balanced
Impedance 100 ohm
Headphone:
Connector 1/8” TRS Stereo Jack
Impedance 5.1 ohm

AUX Line In: (Stereo) (MP3 adapter included in the interface pack)
Connector: RCA, Unbalanced
Impedance 10K ohm
AUX Line Out: (Stereo)
Connector: RCA, Unbalanced
Impedance 1K ohm

Check out the Ai1 preamp/DI by using any of the links below, or you can shoot me an e-mail with any questions you might have.

You can also link to KICKSTARTER from our GMF amps website or view videos on our YouTube channel. Please stop by our Facebook page and share the big news with your fellow musicians.

http://www.gmfamps.com
https://www.facebook.com/gmfamps
http://kck.st/11cfR3S

Thanks in advance for your support!

These are currently available on Kickstarter. They will ship in mid January

[gmfgtr]

Thanks AGF for providing such a great site for acoustic guitarists!!

[DavidE]

I'm curious about the lack of a control for midrange. Why?

Thanks

[rockabilly69]

Originally Posted by DavidE

I'm curious about the lack of a control for midrange. Why?

Thanks

Yep, me too. Typically I have more of a need of a sweepable midrange than any other tone control on a preamp/D.I.

[gmfgtr]

Thanks and good questions guys.
The Ai1 has active tone controls and a shape control which is a mid cut control that allows a complete different voice when turned on.
I wanted to keep things as simple as possible for setup on the Ai1 to make it easy to use and dial in a good tone instead of dialing "out" a good tone. I've found over the years that the more knobs there are to play with the easier it is to get your tone out of whack.
I have road tested these with some good pro musicians and they love the easy set up. They seldom ever stray away from a fairly flat setting. I have one musician from Nashville, Zach Rundquist, who plays acoustic guitar, mandolin, fiddle and resonator through these and loves the tone. The sound engineers at the venues he plays always rave about his tone also. He's currently on the road with Lee Ann Womack.
I designed this unit to be a versatile tool to throw in your gig bag that can be used in a number of situations. For example if you want to practice with some recorded music or backing tracks, you can blend these in from the Stereo Line In jack. The tracks will be heard through all of the outputs, including the headphone out which makes it a great practice tool.
With the Stereo Line Out jack, you can plug the Ai1 into most any sound system.
I have a buddy who is testing one, that took it along with him to a deer hunting camp and plugged it into the AUX of his truck stereo so they could sit in the truck bed and play in the evenings.
Sorry for being so long winded, but I am very passionate about this unit.
Thanks again for the comments!

[DavidE]

I'm definitely in the same camp. Give me too many knobs with too much control and I'll make it sound bad.