Experience unparalleled DI performance on stage and in the studio
Rich sound. Awesome clarity. Incredible performance. The TD-100 Tube Direct Box and Instrument Preamplifier is in a league of its own. With the TD-100 in your set up, you have an excellent sounding input stage for digital recording, adding personality and quality to the signal before the converters. It's also excellent for live applications.

No other DI gives you the wealth of features that you get with the TD-100. Summit Audio's TD-100's input section is driven by a 12AX7A/ECC83 vacuum tube, with the output section driven by a discrete transistor circuit utilizing plus or minus 24V rails. Use the loading control to match the input impedance with the output of your bass, guitar, or keyboard. Boost the output gain to get tons of drive and get the most out of the warm tube signal. If you're looking for great sound from what many consider the ultimate professional DI, you've found it with the TD-100!

Features:

• Variable input impedance from 10K ohms to 2M ohms
• XLR mic level output
• 1/4" TRS line level output
• Headphone output
• Up to +24dB output gain
• Signal ground lift
• Polarity switch
• Signal and overload LEDs
• Internal high voltage power supply
• One 12AX7A/ECC83 vacuum tube
• 3 Year Warranty
   

Can one little box really make the difference in your sound, the difference between sterile and sweet? Yes it can. It's time to add some real tone into your music! The TD-100 instrument preamp and tube direct box from Summit Audio features a hybrid signal path utilizing both a discrete solid state output device and a 12AX7A/ECC83 vacuum tube to give your musical instruments the clarity of class A sound with the richness and warmth of vacuum tubes all in ½ rack space. Perfect for both live and studio use, the TD-100 offers both XLR microphone level and ¼" TRS line level outputs, plus variable input impedance, polarity switch and ground lift, signal and overdrive LEDs, and even a headphone output for use as a practice device. All with the quality that says Summit Audio.

How can this little box improve your sound so drastically? First is the the tone. Plug your instrument into the input and it goes directly to the grid of the tube, not to an op amp or transistor array so you get immediate, direct access to that sweet, class A tube with no transformer in the circuit. This vacuum tube isn't made to distort and pervert, it adds a subtle texture and smoothness, a professional sheen to your instrument. Next is the variable input impedance control (loading). By lowering the impedance on the TD-100 your instrument's pickups get loaded down, changing their tone and the way they react to the string vibrations. Raising the impedance lets your pickups work without hindrance, opening up the sound with a slight increase in gain. Use this to make your instrument sit properly in a mix without EQ or other tone shapers. Try the TD-100 in your signal chain, live or in the studio, with guitar, bass, keyboards, or any Hi-Z instrument and see what a little Summit Audio can do for you.

What is a direct box?
The TD-100 is both a direct box and an instrument preamp. A direct box or "DI" (direct inject or direct input) is used to take high impedance instruments and transform them into a balanced, low impedance output. Most professional consoles need a balanced, low impedance input and a DI translates an instruments high impedance, unbalanced output for recording and mixing. Use the balanced XLR output on the TD-100 to send your instrument to the console or other preamplifier.

What is an instrument preamplifier?
Use the ¼" balanced TRS output on the TD-100 to go directly into your recording device (DAW, tape machine, etc.). This output is already amplified, so there is no need to go to another preamp such as the microphone input on a console. This output is also useful for interfacing your instrument with compressors, EQ's, and other signal processors such as gates, expanders, filters, etc.

What makes the TD-100 so special?
Summit Audio designed the TD-100 with two things in mind: great sound and lots of versatility. All the features on the TD-100 enhance the sound of your instrument, helping you get the perfect tone for your recordings and shows. We have selected the best components, relying on our 20 years of experience making the highest quality signal processors to choose great sounding and long lasting inputs, outputs, potentiometers, switches, and other components, making the TD-100 a highly valuable, fantastic sounding, and long lasting tool for your music.

How do you use the TD-100 live?
The TD-100 is perfect for playing live. It is made to interface your instrument with the front-of-house and monitor sound consoles with either a low level (microphone) or high level (line) output. To insert the TD-100 between your instrument and your amp, just run your instrument into the TD-100 and run another ¼" cable from the direct instrument output into you amplifier. Then, choose either the XLR mic level or ¼" line level out to run into the snake or stage box to run to the front-of-house and monitor consoles.

How do you use the TD-100 in a recording studio?
Using the TD-100 in a recording studio will give your recordings a warm yet clear tone. By utilizing the ¼" line level output, you can bypass any other preamplifying stage such as a console, thereby lowering the noise floor, and enabling you to run much longer cable runs without significant signal loss. If you need to monitor into the console at the same time, simply run the XLR output into the console and monitor from there while recording from the ¼" TRS balanced output.

Manual