Palmer PAN 01 - DI Box Passive

A good DI box is one of those pieces of audio gear that rarely gets a glamorous moment in the spotlight. It just sits on the floor doing the extremely important job of getting your instrument signal to the desk without adding hum, noise or general electrical mischief. The Palmer PAN 01 Passive DI Box has been doing exactly that for years, and its straightforward, road-ready design remains wonderfully useful.

The PAN 01 is a single-channel passive DI, meaning there are no batteries or external power supplies to worry about. Plug your instrument or other suitable unbalanced source into the 6.3mm jack input, and the internal transformer converts the signal for connection to the balanced microphone input of a mixer, stage box or audio system via XLR.

Alongside the input you'll find a parallel THRU jack output, allowing the original signal to continue onwards to another piece of equipment. For a bassist or guitarist, that means you can send the balanced DI signal to front of house while simultaneously feeding your own amplifier on stage. Simple, practical and considerably tidier than attempting to invent an audio routing solution five minutes before doors open.

The PAN 01 isn't restricted to ordinary instrument signals either. A switchable 0/-30dB input pad allows it to accommodate much hotter sources, with Palmer specifying a maximum input level of +54dBu. That means the PAN 01 can handle line-level and speaker-level signals when connected appropriately, giving it considerably more versatility than its little steel box might suggest.

There's also a Ground Lift switch, designed to help tackle ground-loop hum when it rears its ugly head. Transformer isolation provides galvanic separation between input and output, while lifting the ground connection can help when interconnected equipment decides to contribute an unwanted 50Hz solo of its own.

Frequency response runs from 20Hz to 20kHz, with a 10:1 transformer ratio, 60kΩ input impedance at 60Hz and 600Ω output impedance. The whole thing lives inside a tough powder-coated sheet-steel enclosure, measuring just 110 x 73 x 42mm and weighing around 340g.

At Musicmaker, the PAN 01 is exactly the kind of DI box we appreciate: no menus, no charging cable and no tiny screen demanding a firmware update. Instrument in, balanced signal out, gig continues. Sometimes that's precisely what you want.

Features

• Palmer PAN 01 Passive DI Box

• Model / item number: PAN01

• Part of the Palmer Box Tools range

• Single-channel passive DI box

• Requires no battery or external power supply

• Converts suitable unbalanced signals for connection to balanced microphone inputs

• 1 x 6.3mm jack input

• Parallel 6.3mm THRU output

• Balanced XLR output

• Transformer-balanced design

• Provides galvanic isolation between input and output

• Ideal for connecting instruments directly to mixers and stage boxes

• THRU connection allows simultaneous connection to an instrument amplifier

• Suitable for instrument, line-level and speaker-level signals when used correctly

• Switchable 0 / -30dB input attenuation

• Maximum input level: +54dBu

• Maximum output level: +4dBu

• Input impedance: 60kΩ at 60Hz

• Output impedance: 600Ω

• Transformer ratio: 10:1

• Frequency response: 20Hz–20kHz

• Ground Lift switch

• Helps reduce unwanted ground-loop hum

• Tough sheet-steel enclosure

• Durable powder-coated finish

• Width: 110mm

• Depth: 73mm

• Height: 42mm

• Weight: approximately 0.34kg