Prank free DI ? Philly

[pekbro]

Prod expert review: https://www.production-expert.com/produ ... -philly-di

[El°HYM]

Most definitely adds some subtle character, while Drive can go a bit over the top. If the Drive actually really pushes the emulated Transformer, thats pretty cool. Oversampling also working quite well as it seems. Not a bad plugin for sure and please keep in Mind that Bertom EQ curve analyzer should give you nothing here, except a straight flat line.

[paramita123]

MH does not seem that legit for everything they do according to Paul Third

They've adressed it in this video:

I can't tell which makes more sense because all that plugin doctor stuff is beyond my knowledge. However as someone who bought Mixhead (mainly for the 7.5 setting) I wouldn't recommend it.
It's certainly way too subtle to be a gamechanger and even at intro price it was kinda overpriced imo.
There are probably a hundred reasons why your mix sucks and mixhead won't fix any of them. It can "massage" an already good mix to maybe make it 1% better but honestly there are a gazillion plugins that do something similar.

Both of their new plugins look completely overpriced too. I'm not saying they're bad, but come on, 180 bucks for some reverb presets?

And then the DI thing... I think they even said on gearspace that it's just a fun plugin that doesn't do a lot. So personally, I don't think I will ever use this but yeah it's free so no one is hurt I guess.

I watched it, a lot of unconvincing arguments, technically much less savvy than Paul Third.
Based on not hearing nor hearing any difference with Philly, and the crazy provocative other plugins, I would certainly not spend money with them, nor even get any free plugin.

I know it may be hard to accept if you spent money on Mixhead. Maybe it is slightly different from the Melda plugin, maybe the 1% difference may justify the price for some.

But it's also fair to compare and make informed critics, to try help the community beware of impulse buying and crafty marketing.

[paramita123]

Prod expert review: https://www.production-expert.com/produ ... -philly-di

Most definitely adds some subtle character,

I looked at the article and my main issue is this : they show the Drive, which indeed to my ears produces a variation, but not the DI part. (just tried on bass, could not hear any difference)

My question is then, is this an empty blue box with a basic drive and basic comp?
It could be hyped, or the tiniest subtle thing, but considering how they hyped other very dubious stuff, this company smells very fishy to me.

[El°HYM]

BManic already gave you an Answer to your Question and there is also a Demo of PluginDoctor for you to check.

[nonstatic]

You aren't supposed to hear a difference with plain DI mode. They literally said in their own video that the design was essentially 'wire with gain' and that their own meters showed it to be completely flat.

The drive is modeling the rare UTC A-11 transformer which is inside. The compressor is nothing special, a VCA that was lifted from their MBSI plugin. The only reason to use this plugin is to have a different flavor of transformer drive to play with.

That's it.

[legendCNCD]

"technically much less savvy than Paul Third" ok, no.

[El°HYM]

At least Paul Third has an Opinion, I give him that.

The different Opinions on this, actually show another overall Aspect, when looking at it from another Angle. Which could spark an interesting Discussion, actually.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Several BPB readers who tested Philly DI (read all about it on our community page) reported that they couldn’t hear any difference when using the plugin in “clean” mode. I also tested the plugin and the effect is definitely very subtle (or even non-existent) until you apply the Drive and Comp knobs. Still, I see potential for using Philly DI on bass and guitars with added drive and compression.

via https://bedroomproducersblog.com/2025/0 ... -philly-di

[AGIGA]

Prod expert review: https://www.production-expert.com/produ ... -philly-di

Most definitely adds some subtle character,

I looked at the article and my main issue is this : they show the Drive, which indeed to my ears produces a variation, but not the DI part. (just tried on bass, could not hear any difference)

My question is then, is this an empty blue box with a basic drive and basic comp?
It could be hyped, or the tiniest subtle thing, but considering how they hyped other very dubious stuff, this company smells very fishy to me.

The manual has some info:
https://mhsecure.com/installers/manuals ... sGuide.pdf
Drive:
The transformer in the DI has so much headroom it actually requires quite a bit of drive to engage
the transformer saturation. We added a volume compensated drive control to allow you to put the
signal into the sweet spot of the transformer.
The Drive setting has a range of ±24dB, with the default in the middle at 0.00.
Comp:
Since the DI was almost always used with a leveling amp, we include a one knob compressor; simply
turn the Comp knob to engage the compressor - it is gain compensated and has a fixed attack and
release
The Comp setting spans from 0 to a maximum setting of 40.
Use the MB Philly DI to recreate that classic Philadelphia sound on lead vocals, bass, guitar, keyboards and
all sorts of other sources you might ordinarily not think of for a DI plug-in.

[El°HYM]

• Frequency Response / Delta

• Frequency Response / Random

• Harmonic Analysis / -18dB

• Harmonic Analysis / -6dB

• Harmonic Analysis / 0dB

• Harmonic Analysis / Bypass

Used Preset: "Factory Default" O/S: None - Drive = 0 / Comp = 0

[El°HYM]

Ok, here my final thoughts after some further testing.

Flaws:

- Comp breaks up at about 30+ and indeed seems buggy
- Drive becomes unusable at about +- 5, small sweetspot

Likes:

- Transformer emulation is nice, with proper gain - staging
- Headroom is very high, you can actually really push this
- Oversampling seems to be implemented quite well (16x)

Because of the pretty small sweetspot I actually used gain (-staging) to drive it, instead of using the drive. Also used Fircomp instead of the built in option. Actually, due to how a Transformer saturates, it was even more fun to use a compressor in front which kind of solidified the Bass. As with any Transformer, you mostly have a 50/50 chance it sounding good or better; either its off or on (by choice). These are passive Boxes in real world; mostly with no Gain nor Drive adjustable. Since you can really push this one, it might have some good uses even inside the box. So might indeed be using this once in a while (or not) even having more sophisticated and advanced options like True Iron or P42 available.