New Music Gear Monday: Little Labs Pepper Effects Blender/DI

Little Labs is known for its unique problem solving boxes that more often than not tackle a problem that we might not be aware of initially but come to find out how important it is in our audio chain (a great example being the IBP phase tool). Now the company has introduced a new box that tackles the complex connection environment that electric musicians (especially guitar players) frequently find themselves in.

The Little Labs Pepper is a device with multiple uses. It can act as a blender for direct and effects signals, a direct box or a reamp box, but with a precision and adjustment range that most dedicated boxes don't have. It's made to be the hub that interfaces both hi-Z studio guitar pedals and low-Z studio effects, at both mic and line levels, all at once.

Pepper incorporates a high-quality analog signal path with UTC-style output transformers for mic and instrument level, along with a balanced transformer-less line level out. It also has both pedal and "Pro" hard bypass that can be controlled with a footpedal, and adjustable instrument input load impedance, as well as a "Load-Off" switch just for piezo pickups.

The unit is powered by a heavy duty external power supply and is Mu Metal shielded for quiet performance in both live and studio environments.

The Little Labs Pepper isn't cheap at around $650 street price, but it does what few other devices can do. Check out the video below for a more thorough explanation.

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New Music Gear Monday: Rupert Neve Designs RNDI Direct Box

Anyone who's ever played with direct boxes knows that they're not created equally, especially when it comes to the bass guitar. Some sound thin and wooly while others are big and lush sounding, and that can make a big difference when it comes to the mix.

Rupert Neve's reputation as a console designer is unparalleled, having been at the forefront of the art for more than 50 years. Now he takes on the direct box with his new RNDI.

The RNDI is an active direct box based around a very high impedance (2 megaohm) discrete FET amplifier that utilizes a custom designed transformer as well (something that Neve has always been noted for). This is unusual in that most DIs either have one or the other, but the RNDI incorporates both, which the company says is responsible for its outstanding phase coherence and frequency response out to 100kHz.

The box features a 1/4 input jack that's capable of handling both instruments and line level with headroom of 21.5dBU. A speaker switch allows a direct connection from an amp as powerful as 1000 watts. A Thru jack is included in order to send the signal to an amplifier as well. Power comes via 48V phantom power.

The Rupert Neve Designs RNDI retails for $269 and is available now.

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