Palmer PDI-09 DI Box - design flaw?

smigeon

Hi all,

I got one of these Palmer PDI-09 passive DI boxes with speaker emulation. It works fine, and sounds OK when I use it to put my Princeton through the PA.

But one thing bothers me: the two 1/4" jack sockets don't seem to grip the plugs very well - to the extent that it's easy to accidentally pull them out, which potentially exposes the amp to damage.

Is there anyone else out there who has one of these and has noticed this problem? If so, any experience of fixing it - like replacing the jacks with something better quality?

ICBM

This is why I always prefer simply connecting one of these to a spare speaker jack if one is available, not running the whole speaker connection through the box.

The Princeton does have one, so you can do that. You don't even need a speaker cable for the connection, since it isn't carrying speaker current.

smigeon

Thanks ICBM. Yes, I do do that actually - it's a pretty elegant solution to just plug it into the amp's speaker extension socket :-).

But even though using it that way admittedly doesn't endanger the amp, it's still annoying for the jack sockets to be apparently not up to scratch because it means the connection to the PA is vulnerable.

(I should also have said that I'm reasonably certain it's not the plugs that I've used - I've tried quite a few different makes that I have lying around, and none of them seem to grip properly.)

ICBM

Can you open it up and see what type of jacks it has?

smigeon

I did have look a few weeks ago to see if anything was to be gained by bending the contacts (on inspection, didn't think it was!), and I did think they looked like cheapos but didn't spot any marks to identify them as any particular make. I think their connector tabs were directly soldered to the PCB. When I can grab a moment I'll have another look and see if I can spot any identifying features. Do you have some replacement types in mind, depending on what they are?? I am up to wielding a soldering iron if necessary :-). It does seem an otherwise functional and sturdy unit, so probably worth a bit of effort to fix the apparent design flaw...

ICBM

A right-angle plug and an elastic band would probably be just as effective .

smigeon

Ha ha, you're probably right!

ICBM

Hmmm… I've just Googled pics of this in the hope of finding an inside shot - I couldn't, but I can see enough of the outside for it to worry me. The jacks appear to be those crap brittle plastic ones which are notorious for breaking and/or cracking their PCB pins. I wouldn't recommend using one for a speaker connection at all.