My Sunnaudio Stage DI 2 Pre-stine Review
 

I ran three of my Dazzo equipped guitars into this new preamp by Sunnaudio. It didn't disappoint.

Treble/Mid/Bass Control
The mid control has an internal frequency adjustment. It covers a range of 700hz to 1.7Khz and is controlled by a screw driver.

High Pass Filter - Adjustable from 40hz to 220hz. It eliminates unwanted or overbearing low frequencies. This is a very useful tool for Soundboard style pickups like Dazzos or K&Ks. When working in loud band and high volume situations, this has the ability t keep feedback at bay as well as allow the acoustic guitar to naturally cut through the mix with out needing to boost the trebles to crunchy levels.

Boost Switch - it comes with an adjustable boost up to 8 decibels.

Mute Switch

Internal dip switch for adjusting the impedance from 5 Meg ohms to 1 Meg ohm. This may have a beneficial effect on your particular pickup.

A second internal dip switch to add 1.8 decibels of brightness at 2.5 Khz to add presence/cut.

It is powered 3 ways: 9 volt battery, phantom power and 9 volt adapter. It is inconvenient to have to plug into AC power. This does it without being attached to an extra power cable.

I turned my Bose PA speaker up to 12:00, sat 6 feet in front of the speaker and plugged all three guitars in it. The sonic character of each guitar shown through. Each guitar took seconds to dial it in. Mostly my go to adjustment was the high pas filter in some degree. My speaker was sitting on a large window sill that acts like a big hollow box, well, because it is a big hollow box.

All this functionality literally fits into the palm of your hand. The sound is just as pleasing and pristine as their previous releases. Second to none in term of sonic quality. I wish this was the one they would have conceived first in the lineup. If you are just looking to get one preamp for your stable of guitars, this would be it. It is not cheap, but then again, you get what you pay for. For you guys who are just figuring what to do to get your sound in out into the public in an amplified way, Sunnaudio and Dazzo are a fantastic combo.

Disclaimer: I am just a regular guy suffering from a picky ear that spent a lot of time and money chasing a satisfying plugged in tone. I have the opportunity to try a lot of gear. Achieving a truly pleasing plugged in acoustic guitar amplified sound is not easy and the tech has come a long way. Going this direction may save you money in the long run and a AGF discount to boot! Good job once again Sunny.

As a newbie can you you elaborate on the use of the HPF? I'm not following you. Thanks.

It stands for high pass filter. It basically cuts off anything below the frequency it is set to. It's quite handy btw. Nothing below 100Hz on an amplified acoustic is useful, and generally causes nothing but problems.

Thanks, I understand what a HPF is, but wanted to understand what are the unwanted frequencies you want to filter out and how does it prevent feedback.

The low frequencies from 100 to 200Hz many times couple with the speaker and start a low end runaway feedback, especially as volumes come up. The HPF on my Grace Alix is the most used control on it!

You guys are nailing it. On soundboard transducers, they are susceptible to feedback issues in loud settings. As Rockabilly stated, the lower body resonances are the most common problem causing sounds on an acoustic with soundboard transducers. It is very customary to reduce bass on an acoustic guitar when a Bass player is present. The Bass player covers that range. There is no need to have an acoustic guitar booming out those frequencies.

I agree that my HPF is the most used filter in on my preamps. When I play through my Bose S1, with it's small speaker, there is tons of bass. I use this HPF tool to control that. If I plug into a normal size speaker, I really don't need it as much. The Dazzos along with the Sunnaudio preamps allow plenty of the subsonic sounds below 80hz to come through. Other gear may just eliminate everything below 80hz. That's just a guess. The Sunnaudio guys might speak to this idea. They made the choice to keep those sub sounds in there for people who enjoy that thunderous bass. When I play solo, I have a couple of songs where I like to get that extra thump.

Oddly enough, it the the wide frequency response of the SunnAudio gain stage that may make the hi pass filter necessary, in that there are more lows captured than in the Fire Eye I used to use. Solo, you can use this to your advantage for a warmer, thicker sound, but when cranking in a band, feedback is the issue, so the HPF is truly useful. When I say I use no or flat EQ, it's in a solo or duo context.

I am confused by the 'insert' plug for the effects loop on the DI2 vs the
send/return of the original Stage DI. I currently use the original Stage DI.

I use multiple pedal configurations ( 1 - 4 pedals),
and DI is sometimes on the PB and sometimes not. For example the
loop could be 15 INCHES back to the return if the DI is on the PB,
or 10 FEET back to the return plug if the DI is next to me to use the volume control.

Must I have a different insert cable for each configuration? Surely not!
What am I missing? I have seen other mfrs use this, too.

Thanks.

I don’t believe I can answer your question. I bet Sunny or Marc might check in here and answer it.

Simple solution to using Insert jack
 

To convert an Insert jack to 2 female jacks, a cable similar to "Hosa YPP-117 Stereo Breakout Cable - 1/4-inch TRS Male to Left and Right 1/4-inch TS Female" can be used.

The result will mimic the Insert Loop with 2 separate jacks, 1 for send and 1 for return.

Sunny

Vancebo, the more I know about your pickup and pre adventures, the more I am grateful to have stumbled onto Dazzo/Sunnaudio. I mean, I had a thinline UST 20 years ago, tried a Baggs lyric (ugh). Then a friend told me about a guy locally making good pickups, and it's been Dazzo ever sense. Every time I got a guitar, I thought I should try a PUTW, or Trance, also local products, but in the end though why, I know I'll like Dazzos.

Similarly, Teddy plugged me into a FireEye, then SunnAudio when they came out. I played the DI 1 prototype. So much time, effort, and money saved chasing tone. Really fortunate.

I just got one to review on YouTube.com/aaronshortmusic and initial impressions are excellent.

It is light, battery powered and it has a lot of features for the size/weight.

If you are using a passive pickup (K&K) this is looking to be an EXCELLENT option.

That sounds like my kinda unit. Looking forward to the review Aaron!

The stage DI-2 can also be used while bypassing the tone EQ circuit by plugging into the Insert if one desires. This can come in handy in some situations. We look forward to more reviews!

I placed an order tonight after receiving a discount code from Sunny. I will let everyone know how it sounds with my three K&K equipped guitars. I'm excited to have a real go-to solution. Fingers crossed.