Palmer PDI-09

Very easy to figure out.

Doesn't require a battery or phantom power.

Just make sure you have a speaker (or other equivalent load) attached if using this at speaker level. No load required if using it at line level.

Older models do not include a ground-lift, which means you may get hum noise if your wiring setup creates a ground loop. Newer models includes a handy ground-lift switch to disconnect the ground line if such a loop occurs.

I'm writing this as a followup to a review I wrote before. I've gained a lot more real-life experience withe the PDI-09 since then and some of my opinions have changed.

Your satisfaction of the speaker simulation will likely hinge on how accurately the PDI-09's generic simulation emulates your own particular real-life speaker. Guitar speakers come in many flavors. The PDI-09 only offers 3 filter settings.

The manual associates the 3 different filter settings with "American", "Open2x12", and "British" speakers. In reality, the 3 filter settings merely adjust the degree of high frequency roll-off.

If the PDI-09 and your real-life speaker happen to share a similar enough voicing, you will likely be very happy with the PDI-09.

I found the PDI-09 to be much brighter than the Celestion G12H90 speakers that came stock in my Line 6 cabinet. If I tweaked my tone to sound good through the G12H90, it sounded too bright and "transistory" through the PDI-09.

When I upgraded to Eminence Texas Heat speakers in a Freda cabinet, I found the PDI-09's "mellow" filter setting to be fairly accurate to the Texas Heat.

Now I'm using Eminence Wizard speakers and the PDI-09--set to the "normal" filter--sounds amazingly accurate. So much so, that I installed the PDI-09 permanently into the cabinet with an XLR connection routed through the back wall. Now all I have to do is plug the mic cable into the back of my cabinet and I know I'm sending a perfect signal to the house PA.

Does it sound like a MICed cab? hmmm... A lot of people say so. To me, the Line 6 modelers do a more REALISTIC job of emulating mic coloring. The PDI-09 is maybe more IDEAL than REALISTIC. The PDI-09 has a very straight-forward pure balanced uncolored sound that would be difficult to capture with the typical dynamic mics used in live sound reinforcement. I like that the signal from the PDI-09 is very easy to fine-tune with simple channel EQ adjustments. The sound from a mic can get more complex and harder to work with.

For this reason, I've come to actually prefer using the PDI-09 over using a microphone. It's not just a matter of convenience--I actually think it sounds better. But, again, it only works that well when one of the 3 generic filter settings happen to match the voicing of your real-life speaker.

In my previous review, I said I'd hesitate to use the PDI-09 in a recording because of the lack of ambience in the signal. Scratch that. The PDI-09 sounds fantastic recorded. And the lack of ambience is like having a pure white canvas on which you can apply any digital ambience you like.

No problems yet.

Haven't needed support.

A very simple piece of gear that does what it's supposed to without any trouble. It does seem over-priced for what is essentially a direct box with a high frequency roll-off filter. But the sound it produces works so well in a mix that it's easy to see (hear?) why the Palmer filter has achieved almost legendary status. It is currently my favorite speaker simulator.

Its a relatively simple device to use but i do think some more detail in the owner's manual might be nice.

I generally use mine with a weber mini mass acting as a load (by turning it all to the left) not as an attenuator since you must connect the thru to a load (speaker or load box).

First and foremost it sounds like a miked up guitar cabinet. It sounds very good and not like a simulator.

I usually mic up an emery superbaby through a alnico blue dog with a beyer M160 or royer 121 through a hamptone mic pre into a mytek converters.

I can't always tell the difference when i come back to a project that has tracks I've miked and tracks done with the palmer. The difference is primary one of space. I tend to position my mics 6-12 inches back to get a good amount of room and the palmer sims sound like close miked and different cabinets in a dryish room. The palmer sounds real and good just different.

There are three models: Bright, normal aggressive. Bright sounds like a celestion g12h 30 through sm57 in close mic position. Mellow sounds like a jensen P12r (think fender tweed deluxe) again via a close sm57. Normal is supposed to emulate a 2X12 open back cab. It sounds like it has more room to it than the other two and it fits right in between them in terms of brightness but I have no idea what speaker it sounds like. It does sound good though.

You can use this as a replacement to a speaker and mic and it sounds A LOT better than pod. Its sounds authentic and more authentic than any of other speaker simulators I've heard. There are times I can not tell the difference between mic and palmer take.

Its been reliable so far (1 year). Its a pretty simple device that has little to go wrong.

No issues thus far, can't say

Every studio and performing guitarist should have one of these. Its cheap ($180 or so), reliable, convenient and it sounds good.

I often use it when i can't record otherwise in my home studio, when i want some speaker variety or when i'm overdubbing lots of guitars.

I would love to see another version from palmer with some different flavors but using the same technology, maybe some with some more room/air. A lot of new speakers and mics have been introduced since the 80s when the palmer filters were first designed.

Its a direct box, how hard can it be? It has three different eq curves and three different levels which is enough for just about any guitar direct box need.

I use an extra speaker output from my amp to feed this via a speaker cable, then mic cord to the PA. To my ears it sounded better than the other passive DI boxes out there. I hate using microphones for guitar cabs and I love the simplicity and reliability of having the same sound and level feed the PA night after night so this was a no-brainer.

I use the mellow setting and -15db almost always. Occasionally I'll use a different eq curve depending on the room.

I think there could theoretically be something better out there and I haven't been signed to a giant contract yet so I give it a 9 for sound (I probably would have gotten signed by now if the DI box was better right? lol).

Essential piece of gear for me, it seems solidly made, I don't have a backup. I have many direct boxes with transformers that have come loose and rattle but this one has stayed put so far (2 years or so).

I play blues, r & b, dance, classic rock, nu-rock, and metal. The sound I get through the PA is very consistent no matter what amp I use thanks to this guy. I tried just about every DI I could get my hands on and this one worked the best for what I wanted. Some of the active DI's sounded a little better but need phantom power (or battery) and added hiss so I stuck to the best passive I could get my hands on. It's a little pricey for what it is but worth it to not have to worry about how I'm going to sound through the PA every night.

very easy. Just two cables. Must use speaker cable when connecting between amp and cab, though.

I'm going to give this a 1 because it sounds like a mic job. If I wanted the sound of a mic job, I would just throw a 57 in front of my amp. Granted, they did a good job simulating a mic job, but it's a mic job, nonetheless.

What companies should understand is that they need to concentrate efforts on a direct box that sounds like your cabinet in a room (as you listen to it), instead of your cabinet mic'ed up.

The Hughes and Kettner Red Box Pro does the best job of sounding like your cabinet as you would listen to it in a room, off axis.

Built well. So probably pretty good, but only used it for thirty seconds.

The good people at Jams audio took it back, so they were helpful.

I give it a rating of 2 overall. It's built well, but the story is as follows:

Buy this only if you like the way your amp sounds when your place an SM-57 in the center of the cone and listen to it from another room via studio monitors or PA. They've managed to simulate all the pinched and phased problems that mic'ing a guitar cabinet produces. Especially 4X12, because there are multiple speakers for cross-talk and phasing problems.

Buy the Hughes and Kettner Red Box PRO if you actually want to turn your PA, or monitors into your guitar cabinet. The PRO is best for this. The Red Box Classic and MKIII (active) still sounds better than the Palmer, but they simulate a center of the speaker sound rather than off axis. The Pro doesn't require a battery and I prefer the off axis sound because nobody ever listens to their amp with their ear pointed directly at the dust cover in the speaker cone. Palmer modeled the wrong thing.

just plug :
guitar->guitar preamp->pdi-09->mic preamp->sound card.
thats it,ready to use.
there is three sound eq option and three level option.
shortly-extremely easy.

Ibanez RG540->ADA MP-1 3TM->PDI-09->FOCUSRITE MIC PREAMP->RME SOUND CARD.
very quiet,sounds incredible,befor i bought the palmer, i pluged my ada direcly to my sound card (i don't have an amp),the sound was thin without no "flesh",when i conected the pdi-09 it was "wow what a diffrence",all of a sudden i can realy hear the power of the ada,the distortion was full,powerful,extreme style.

i don't know,i have it 3 days but its look pretty solid.

never been used.

i play hard rock and its work very well with this style,i would defently buy another one if i ever lose it.
a must have for every guitar player

Guitar -> Randall RM4 -> PDI-09 -> Avalon preamp -> ProTools.

In this configuration the PDI-09 is incredibly easy. Not much to set. Plug 'n' Play.

I used the Digital Music Cab-Tone for 6 months and it was really good. My initial impression once I got the Palmer was that it was too dark as compared to the CabTone, then I realized that I was wrong and that the CabTone is actually too bright without as much bass. The Palmer is more like what an amped cabinet sounds like. In my opinion it's much better and it holds up in the mix. Now I don't like the sound of the CabTone near as much, but I understand why some people may prefer it. It's brighter and therefore seems more alive. Think again. The Palmer is the real deal. With a good guitar and a great source (like the Randall RM4) it sounds incredible.

Too soon to know, but it feels like it's built very well. I wouldn't hesitate to take it out on the road.

It took them a while to get back to me when I asked them a question, but they did get back and they were very helpful

Does exactly what it's supposed to do and does it incredibly well. A very noticeable step up for my guitar tone.

This box is as simple as it gets to setup. A cable from your amp to the PDI 09 and from the PDI 09 to your cabinet. I run from the XLR out on the PDI into my board. There isnt much of a manual but who needs it. You can imagine there are numerous ways to work with this thing.

I bought this box box for home recording as I couldnt stand the sound from the direct out on my Mesa Boogie. A Mic isnt possible for me because I dont a have a room quiet enough. I play a Les Paul and a Carvin AE185 mostly. The tone from the PDI is UNBELEIVABLE!!! I cant imagine getting a better sound without a mic and even then, this thing would be comparable. Its truly an item that every guitar player should not be without.

It seems really well built.

I talked to one of the guys in TN and he was friendly and very knowledgeable.

Like the other reviewer, I cant beleive more people arent using this item. Maybe they want to keep it a secret, not sure. The potential use for this box and the price make it a must have.

Plug a speaker cable in the speaker out on your amp, plug into the "input", plug your speaker into the "thru", set the attenuator (0db, 15 or 30db)and choose the EQ (mellow, normal or bright). In my case -15db and mellow, plug in a mic cable, hook up to P.A. It doesn't change the amp sound and to be honest, it sounds better than a mic to me (I've had bad luck with mics in the past).

Used a Strat, Blackface Deluxe and a Rat the first time out. The clean amp sounded just like a good recording of an amp in the mains as well as the monitors (a first for me). The Rat was a little gainy but when I backed off the drive a little, SRV. Sounded great, I am very pleased.

Can't say yet but have heard good things from others.

Techstar is the distributor. The guy I talked to was nice, he forgot to ship but when I called to check on my order he took care of it and said he was sorry. What else do you expect? People make mistakes, what makes good customer service is to do what it takes to make it right.

I play contemporary Christian. That takes in almost all styles. I have been playing 30+ years. My mian rig is Strats into Blackface Deluxe Reverb, a switching system from Axess Electronics (great stuff, great guy), my effects are, a Fulltone Fulldrive II, a Rat, a Fuzzface (moded by Don Butler, works great too), a Micro Vibe, a 70's Small Stone, a Tremelo and a T.C. chrous. I also have a Vox wah, moded for true brpass and fitted with a Fulltone inductor (great as well). I have struggled with mics for some time and always thought the reason my sound was so-so was something to do with the P.A. I saw the "Junction" on the links at Axess Electronics and because Mario had treated me right before, I took the reviews at their word. This thing works. I have better sound than I had, while I'm sure I'm to blame, this thing beats everthing I've tried up to this point. I have tried Mesa Boogies direct outs before and did not like it. This thing works. Would buy it again for sure.

Just plug in the speakercord from your amp in the input, use another speakercable from the output to your cabinet and voila, your ready rock! Your amp doesn't know its there and plug your regular XLR-cable in the XLR-output and you have a clean sound.

Just did a gig with a band. The guitar player uses a marshall double 12 inch cabinet (and a lot of other good stuff!). One speaker I miced with a Shure Beta 57 and between the other speaker and the amp, I connected the PDI-09. I had completely the same sound on the board and with the palmer I had no crosstalk from the band, a super, real and clean guitar sound. The seetings on the palmer where set on "normal" and "0". After soundcheck, I discovered that I used the same eq-settings for both channels.

Its build like a rock.

I don't think it wil ever break, but those things are hard to get, so support could be a bit difficult as well.

I just don't understand why more people use them. It gives you a real and clean guitar sound. The guys from Palmer did a great job providing us with a great piece of gear.

Just plug and play. Plug the speaker out of your amp into the 09 and plug the speakers into the thru jack. These are paralell jacks, so your amp doesn't even know it's there. Then plug the mic cable into the XLR out to the console or the snake. Very clean and simple.

Your amp doesn't know it's there, so it doesn't change your sound at all. I use it for all live gigs to replace a mic. It's better than a mic cord tied through the handle of your amp and whatever mic is left over hanging who knows where in front of your speakers. This works great with any amp you use.

There's nothing to break on this thing. The tone and pad switches are almost recessed, so you can't bang them around. You don't need a backup, unless you lose it. Drop a 57 on the stage and see what happens. Drop the 09 and it won't even scratch it. No battery or power supply to run down or short out.

They have been hard to get, but I think more are available. I haven't had to call them for any repair.

I use this everywhere, clubs, concerts, and in my basement, I hang a load box on the thru jack, plug it in to my mixer, put on my phones and everybody's happy. Momma and the kids are sleeping and I'm rocking. I even took it to a session for some TV music. I plugged my pedal board into it, set the pad at 0dB, and ran it straight to the console. I haven't seen the show yet, but they did call me back.