I got the PZ-DI because I needed an active, piezo-friendly and phantom powered DI for my double bass. I also own a lot of other DIs, active, passive, tubes, transformers, including other Radial models like JDI, J48, JDV.
The PZ-DI is simply the best phantom powered DI I've ever used. It's basically a J48 with added functions. When the PZ-DI is set for 220 k-ohms it will sound EXACTLY like the J48. The only missing feature from the J48 is the merge function but the PZ-DI adds a lot of other features that the J48 doesn't have:
-Selectable load, including a piezo-friendly 10 megaohm.
-Sweepable hi-pass filter.
-3 kHz low-pass filter.
-Switchable buffer/amplifier for piezos.
The PZ-DI is only slightly more expensive than the classic J48 and with all the extra features I think it is one of the best bargains in DIs out there. Sure, there are other DIs I like even better but they all require an extra power supply which isn't always convenient. There are also many applications where I prefer passive DIs but for an active, phantom powered DI you can't do much better than the Radial PZ-DI. Even if I never used piezos I would still prefer it over the J48 because of all the added features.
It is also built like a tank like all Radial products. I would have absolutely no hesitations about touring with it, and that's something I can't say about most music equipment manufactured these days.
HIGHLY recommended!!!
