New Music Gear Monday: Radial Reamp Station Studio Reamper And Direct Box
Reamping a previously recorded track is a great technique to get a better sound or add natural room ambience. The process was made a lot easier in 1983 when engineer John Cuniberti built the first reamp box (you can hear him talk about it on my Podcast #343). Radial Engineering purchased his design in 2011 and has continued to make a faithful reproduction of the original box with their JCR. The company has now taken the original concept a step further by combining the JCR with an active direct box to create Radial’s first all-in-one recording/reamping solution called the Reamp Station.
2 In 1
First of all, Reamp Station is divided into two clearly defined parts labeled DI and JCR (the reamper). The DI features an active design with a few new tweaks that include a unity-gain Class-A Buffer switch and circuit on the Thru output, preventing any loading down of passive guitar pickups when connected to an amplifier and preserving the natural tone of the instrument. There’s also a 15dB pad that can be switched in or out. Since the DI is active, it requires phantom power and a 48V LED indicates the unit is receiving power.
On the business end of the JCR reamper (which is transformer-based and passive), there’s a Mute button that cuts the signal to the Amp output but does not affect the direct output. A Filter switch allows you to select a flat response, high-pass or low-pass filters. Finally the Level control allows you to dial in just the right amount of output in the reamp process.
Inputs include a ¼” TRS and 3.5mm mini-plug for connecting mobile devices and tablets, a female XLR Reamp In input (with a ground lift button) and ¼” TRS Reamp In, and a male XLR Direct Output (completely with a 180º polarity switch). There are also in and out insert jacks (called Link In and Link Out), as well as an Amp Out jack
One of the coolest uses for Reamp Station is connecting a pedalboard for reamping. There’s no need to feed it into an amplifier, as the Link circuit makes this pretty clean and easy.
Reamp Station costs $479.99 and is available right now from music retailers everywhere. You can find out more here.
