Anybody Using a Tube DI?

[HomeBySix]

I was finishing up at a gig recently and one of the other players starting talking to me about his Demeter Tube DI that he swore by. He said the difference the tube made to his sound was amazing, and I agreed. Seemed very warm. So I have been doing some research and have found Demeter, the Radial Firefly and a US made GMF AI Protube. These guys are expensive options, and not a lot of reviews, so before I made a leap I thought I'd ask, is anyone using one? See any benefits? To spend this much money better to jump up to something like Grace? I saw that Demeter had a product of the year award in 1998, so is this something that has just come and gone?

[KevWind]

What a good tube DI might bring to the table sonically is not some flash in pan trend....So not something that has "come and gone"

As to whether the cost is justified depends entirely on your subjective opinion.

I Don't use an outboard DI unit myself because in my PA system I have a DI input on my Langevin DVC combo 2 channel mic pre , Eq, limiter.
That said and if I did not already have the DVC , I personally would use the A Designs Reddi http://www.adesignsaudio.com/reddi-all-tube-direct-box

[Al Acuff]

Many of us have been using the Demeter Tube DI for over 30 years. That includes studios and stages. It's the real deal!

[YamahaGuy]

I use ART MP tube pre for vocals and on my large pedal board. It's great when I plug direct into a pa system and am able to get tube saturated tone with acoustic or electric guitar. I have upgraded the stock tube and am very pleased with the results. Plus it's nice to have more volume/gain control. I'm using JJ12AT7 in the guitar unit and Groove tubes 12AT7 in the vocal rig.

[MiG50]

I'd rather look at an Avalon U5, when talking about DIs in this category. Tubes are great for a lot of applications, but I think a well-designed transistor works great for acoustic instruments, where high-frequency transient response is fairly important.