Radial AC Driver Acoustic Preamp

I recently purchased this unit to be paired with several guitars I have with KK mini pickups. The build quality is great. The sound quality is superb for how simple this device is. Low cut helps dial out unnecessary low end that can cause feedback issues. The frequency with the notch helps to quickly find frequencies causing feedback issues and dial them out. The level sets the level, which has quite a bit after unity gain is set. A tuner out is very hand, and the mutes switch sets you up for those much needed breaks.For the money, with such a simple approach to getting good tone from your guitar, these are simple easy to use units, that feel as if they are built like a tank.

I’m going to compare this to two other DIs I own; the Radial JDI (passive) and the Fire Eye Development DeeEye (requires phantom power).The AC Driver is a nice DI and with some fundamental features I wish more DI would have, namely a variable High Pass Filter. This is great for those times when you have multiple guitars and one frequency most certainly doesn’t not fit all. The AC Driver also has a mute button and while you can get a tuner with the same function, I suspect most of us acoustic players are accustomed to the clip on type on our headstock and don’t use a foot tuner. But in the end, it’s the sound that matters most.In my opinion, the AC has a “wooly” sound to it. It didnt really suit my guitar very well as compared to the JDI or DeeEye. As I mentioned, it’s not a bad DI, but it will color your sound... with a very mid-forward tone to it. I prefer the smooth, warm and transparent tone of the Jensen JDI even though it doesn’t have the features of the AC Driver. If Radial made a Jensen equipped AC Driver, it would be game over.Should you buy it? Well... I’d say yes. But as each guitar is different it’s not as easy as an emphatic yes. I would say it’s probably be fine for most (and I would even consider keeping it if I didn’t also have the DeeEye (a great DI box by the way, as well as the Red Eye).. But I think it definitely needs some EQ to shape it a bit. The JDI on the other hand barely needs any.I tested all three using a Signal Blender (basically a floor based mixer) so I can switch from DI to DI quickly so my ears can hear the differences without the bias of time in between each. Radial makes quality gear so I don’t think anyone would be disappointed generally.

Wow! Superb piece of equipment - just like everything made by Radial. It is tough as nails, and does exactly what it should. Just used it at a folk festival with just my guitar and the sound engineer loved it, too! Highly recommend.

It’s the best

I bought this to kill the hum/feedback that I sometimes get from my rig in live settings. My rig = Martin acoustic w/K&K pickup -->AC-Driver-->into multi-fx --> looper-->PA. It has done the trick quite well. It's a little pricey, but it works and is a tank. Like I say, I mostly use it for the notch filter (I leave the low cut filter off). I also have used the ground lift function a couple of times when I got noisy static. Took care of it like a charm. It's nice to have physical knobs and switches for these types of things when you need to resolve the issue fast, without having to do a menu dive on your digital processors, etc.The Baggs Venue also has these features and more (powerful EQ, tuner) for only a $90 more. If I had the room on my floor rig I would have used that. The AC-Driver was just the right size.The one review is right that the unit colors the tone--it's buffered and it takes just a little off the highs, in my experience, but not so much that I don't want to use it.

Huge fan of Radial gear. This is my second Radial preamp for a smaller pedal board as I use a PZ Pre on my main board and it's built like a tank. For those wondering about what adapter they'll need for the AC Driver, this is straight from Radial's manual:"As the AC-Driver has no power switch, the moment you connect a 9V power supply the POWER LED will illuminate, letting you know that the pedal is ready to use.The AC-Driver uses a typical 9V Boss®-style power supply (not included), and requires a minimum of 40mA of current with a centerpin negative connector. "