I like a lot of the stuff Whirlwind makes – egads, their custom shop patch panels are works of art!!
But their direct boxes didn’t do it for me. They’re not bad. There are just better options. OTOH, the Whirlwind boxes are quite affordable.
If someone wants to send me one, I can include it in the shootout and send it back! 
I bought the REDDI having never heard any lore about it. I had been recording this jam band of incredibly talented musicians, and was not getting a satisfying bass tone off the bass player’s JDX (speaker-level DI). I found a website that had comparisons if a lot of different units, including the REDDI and the Avalon U5. After listening to all the samples, I bought the REDDI.
I will save comments on its sound characteristics til after the shootout vid, so you all can make your own determinations. 
Just for my edification. Is this what we are talking about? I don’t currently need a DI box/pedal. I have a Rumble amp which has XLR out so I could use this to go to the PA / Board?
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/REDDI--a-designs-reddi-1-channel-tube-direct-box
Yep, that’s it.
It has magical powers (there’s tonewood inside)
If you have XLR out on your amp you don’t need a DI - you already have one. All a DI is is a box that takes an unbalanced instrument signal and converts it to a balanced signal out over XLR. Which you already have.
FWIW most pedalboard DI’s cost between $20 and $250. The REDDI is “special”.
Hotbox is a pretty famous DI isn’t it?
For the price of a REDDI I can buy an entire f’ing amp head. Which is what I’m going to do lol, I don’t care if it’s the equivalent of grinding live faeries into pixie dust, smearing it on my strings, and snorting a line of it before each recording take.
Yep, that’s one of the Whirlwind products.
Oh, so you’ve read the REDDI manual!
Now, I’m more interested than ever!
That hits the nail on the head.
Everybody’s ears are different, and although you can get a trained ear, you still don’t have the same ears as every other person on earth. My ears are shit, I can’t hear a lot of subtle differences, the differences have to be drastic for me to hear, or be played side by side for comparison. Spending that kind of money for extra bigness or cleanness that I probably won’t hear is not money well spent for me. For anybody that (honestly) can hear the difference, and rely upon them for work, then its money well spent.
Same with eyes. Everybody’s eyes are different, so you can’t say what TV somebody should buy. You can explain features, and differences, but they need to see tv’s side by side to know what actually looks better.
Like a wall of TV’s at a Best Buy, walk in with 4 to 6 of your friends and ask everybody to spend 10 minutes and find the TV that looks the best in the store.
Chances are that they are all standing next to different sets (as long as you make sure they don’t pay attention to price, as things like price and influence you to believe that something looks / sounds better, or that they should and you are dumb if they don’t).
Unless it comes down to a JOB and a PROFESSION WHICH FEEDS YOUR FAMILY, all gear is highly subjective, and the right gear is what sounds / looks good to you and fits your budget, and most importantly keeps you playing.
I really like this test you are going to do.
I would suggest that you do not label the tracks, and add a poll as to which track sounds best, and give it like 2 weeks before you reveal the tracks.
Make it a true test where nobody is influenced by things like brands, costs, or looks, and pick strictly by what sounds best to them with no outside influence.
That is not an order, its your test, and your time and effort is appreciated however you decide to do it, but it is a suggestion, because when I have watched or gone thru TRUE blind tests, the end results are often not what I thought, and / or not what I wanted at all.
And is 100% responsible for why I have a Danelectro (and am loving it) in my collection. I NEVER, EVER, EVER would have give one a fair shot had it not been for a blind test. And even then it was the long horn, which I still wouldn’t really see myself playing that I did the test in.
So it was really that I also realized that one of my favorite bands uses a Danelectro and has for quite some time now, and I can only reproduce a proper cover (or even licks to songs) with a Danelectro (and not needing other effects to get it).
And
since my thoughts on the tuners are “they are gonna break off in my fat hands” and then I realized Fat Mike replaced his tuners, I am now going to put new tuners on mine, and thats how easily people can be influinced by sight.
Even tho I knew that the tuners should be replaced, based on thinking I may break them, I only allowed myself to do it when I saw somebody I like do it too, and thats the honest truth if there ever is one.