The next morning, he presented the unit to the 'shocked' artist and the rest as they say was history. Navy's Preferred Circuits) and adapted it heavily. Ken simply looked up the schematics for building an 'OTL line transmission amp' in one of the old audio 'cookbooks' (U.S. Indeed, the concept for the Juice Box came from a DI being needed on a session for a well-known artist at Bearsville. Beginning his career as a tech at the famous Sigma Sound in NYC in the late '60s and then moving on to Bearsville Studios as head tech for the next 17 years, and subsequently ending up at Allaire Studios (until their closing a few years ago), Ken has 'been around the block' as they say. Retrospec's Ken McKim has been a major player in the audio community for well over 40 years. I know of no other DI made that has these unique design features and sound. Now this is not a cop out as I've tried the original Juice Box against many DI boxes over the years -and more recently, this remake. To that end, only the Juice Box sounds like the Juice Box. What makes the Juice Box a bit unique compared to other valve DI boxes is that the Juice Box is completely tube, without any transformers in the signal path (only in the power supply). Since the unit is all tube, the enclosure is vented with small holes all over, making it look somewhat like a cheese grater and indeed that is nickname I've always given the box around my workshop. The toggle switches and knobs are very tactile. The white finish and red lettering make seeing the controls very easy.

The balanced XLR output can be switched for -20 dB operation (typical to feed into a microphone input) unity gain (for mic or low-level line input) or +20 dB with a continuously variable gain knob (for going direct to converter or tape). The unbalanced 1/4'' Amp Out is buffered by the first-stage tube and is nominally unity gain.

It has the usual 1/4'' I/O and an XLR output to feed a mic preamp, console or converter. It is fairly simple in layout and unique in looks. Injection box for recording musical instruments. The Retrospec Juice Box is an all tube, Class A direct.

Juicebox bass line