Grace Design m303

A super clean-sounding basic DI box.

Most acoustic musicians know about Colorado’s Grace Design via their acclaimed line of pedal-style preamp/DIs, such as the FELiX, ALiX, MOXi, and BiX. But Grace built its reputation with studio and pro-sound gear, and when they offered to send us one of their m303 direct boxes, I jumped at the chance. Grace acoustic preamps impress with their sonic clarity and a sophisticated feature set, but the m303 is a basic DI box. It does one thing exceptionally well: It turns the high-impedance signal of a typical instrument pickup into a balanced low-impedance signal to send to a mixing board or recording rig via an XLR cable. Built around a Lundahl transformer, the m303 features a phantom-powered active design, bullet-proof construction, and a pristine sonic footprint. In this video, I demo the m303 in the Peghead Nation studio using a Martin OM with a Baggs Anthem pickup system. 

Grace Design m303 Specs

• Fully isolated active direct box 
• ¼-inch input 
• XLR DI output 
• ¼-inch thru jack
• PAD switch with 13 db of attenuation
• Peak indicator LED
• Power Indicator LED
• Custom Lundahl transformer
• Metal enclosure
• $299 street

gracedesign.com

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