In a recent interview with triple Grammy winner David Bottrill (Producer-Engineer for Daniel Lanois, Tool, GodSmack, Peter Gabriel), David told Radial that while recording the new Staind album, he used the Gefell UM900 on vocals and percussion and the Gefell UMT70 on guitars. The loved the UM900 so much, that lead singer Aaron Lewis bought a UM900 for himself.

As a long time user or Radial products, they took the opportunity to ask David about his Radial JD7 and JDV. David said; "Every instrument that connects with a wire first goes through the Radial JDV and then to the Radial JD7. Every instrument all the time. On every production. Need I say more?"

The Radial JDV is arguably the best direct box made today. The JDV's origins date back to the 1980s at Vancouver's Little Mountain Studio where Bruce Fairburn and Bob Rock recorded many blockbuster albums with Aerosmith, Bon Jovie, Bryan Adams, and ACDC. John Vrtacic, technical engineer for the studio built his own direct box, the spark that became the JDV. (The V in the name credits Mr. Vrtacic) The JDV has many attributes that set it apart: To begin, consider that most mixing consoles such as Mackies employ 14V internal rails for headroom. High-end consoles like Neves and SSLs usually have 24V rails. The JDV's 30V rails are unprecedented in a compact DI for amazing headroom and dynamics. Furthermore, the JDV's audio circuit is both Class-A and without a traditional circuit stabilizing feedback loop. Kind of like walking a tightrope without a net. Add to this Drag Control load correction, a bunch of outputs for flexibility and the result is a natural tone that is nothing less than astonishing.

David Bottrill uses the JDV for the front end of all instruments to record a dry track. This is usually used later for re-amping with the Radial JD7 Injector.

For those that may not be familiar with the Radial JD7, this is a 1-in, 7-out signal distribution system that allows one to play up to seven amps at the same time while retaining the natural tone of the instrument. A direct output drives the main guitar amplifier while the other 5 front panel outputs are used to drive effect pedals, guitar amps and so on. There is a 7th tuner out on the back. The main outputs are transformer isolated to eliminate hum and buzz caused by ground loops and equipped with a polarity reverse to 'line-up' all the amps. Of course the JD7 boasts 100% discreet Class A circuitry and world renown Jensen audio transformers to assure the very best signal quality is maintained. The JD7 is also equipped with Drag Control to ensue the guitar 'sees' the correct load thus retaining the natural relationship is assured. A built-in Radial JDI direct box is provided for recording a dry track and regular DI use.
 

The beauty of the JD7 is that it is equipped with a line-level re-amping input that allows the pre-recorded dry track to be sent back through the JD7 to add effects, track doubling or to change the sound of the track all together while retaining the original performance. This allows the producer to employ 'real' amplifiers and effects on guitars, keyboards and vocals to create new and distinctive tones.

As David Bottrill said:

"Since I bought the JD7, I have used it on every project. It makes it easy to capture the moment because we can quickly get the sounds we want without having to stop and reconnect amps. The re-amping functionality allows me to narrow in on the exact tones I am after. There is no question that the JD7 has become an integral part of my recording process"