Sehr interesting, I don’t know exactly how Joe Bonamassa uses the Palmer Speaker Simulators in a live setting but I’m guessing he runs a feed to the P.A. because whenever I’ve seen him live he has a couple of Marshall cabs mic’d up. Palmer MI first appeared on my radar back when Joe Satriani started using their products in the studio, I’m not sure which album it was exactly but I know Super Colossal was one of them and for me his tone wasn’t anywhere near as good as his newer albums where he has reverted to mics on cabs. Having said that a lot of people swear by them so I’d be very interested to hear a demo from Joe Bonamassa to see how his new Palmer Signature Model Speaker Simulator PDI 03 JB compares to the sound of a real speaker cabinet and microphone.

Here is some more info from Palmer:

The PDI 03 JB Speaker Simulator is a professional passive DI box for guitar amps. Providing a frequency compensated, transformer balanced direct feed to mixing consoles or soundcards it connects between the amplifier output and loudspeaker or equivalent dummy load. The PDI 03 JB has been developed for live, studio and home recording applications to eliminate the need for time consuming mic placement and mic-related problems.

Designed to Joe Bonamassa’s high standards for a huge but tightly focused tone the exclusive JB switch brings the output signal to the fore and takes it “right in your face.” The PDI 03 JB’s dual speaker simulation filters are carefully voiced to authentically replicate the frequency response of classic and contemporary loudspeakers and cabinets. The unit’s input sensitivity is adjustable for amps up to 200 watts or line and instrument level equipment.

Delivering consistent guitar tone from show to show the PDI-03 JB can also be used to add realistic speaker flavors to preamps and dirt boxes in direct recording applications. The rugged powder coated steel enclosure features high quality Amphenol connectors and a ground lift to remove hum resulting from earth loops.

For amp DI WITHOUT speakers a dummy load with matching impedance must be connected. We recommend the Palmer Power Attenuator PDI06 and the Palmer Dual Load Box PLB2X8.