I think i would say the avalon is a clean sound .It has 5 eq's for guitar bass electric guitar ect.---Why dont you plug in to one at guitar center

Both are very good DI boxes. The Avalon seems to be more popular and well loved. I like the Manley DI but some of newer tube DI units from Millennia Media, Groove Tubes and Aguliar got a nice tone to them as well. I've got the hard to find/get Eclair Engineering Evil Twin and am very happy with it's performance.

what will you be using it for.I think maybe it with all the preamps with DI's in them this is a tough choice.You could get something you could also use on mics.

well, i'd mainly use for live performances. If i wanted to record i'd probably get a nice pre-amp, though that's kinda outta my budget atm. Thing is, the stores that do sell them are quite far away (thank the land down under) so before i take that trip i guess it'd be a good idea to know what i'm should be looking for. Heh...the only DI's i've used are the proco passive and berrinhger active ones.

oh for live--have you been to the avalon website there are alot of people thaty use it for live

I have the Manley. I love it! Beautiful sound. I bought it because someone strongly recommended that I get a DI. I never thought it could make such a difference. What a surprise!!! The five position eq that gives you truly different useable tones. It beats anything else I've tried for guitars ands basses. I always use it when tracking synths and samplers. I get a better, fuller sound, noiseless,...
Taking it on the road is an other question... Will it stand rough travelling conditions??? It has tubes in it but Manley construction is outstanding. I don't know much about electronics, but if you get a chance to look inside of their boxes, you'll understand that what you pay is what you get...
One thing you probably know, but it's very important: The output of a DI is not at line level, but at microphone level. Make sure you have a nice mic preamp behind it or the use of a high quality DI is totally pointless.
If it's too much trouble, then you should look at a good quality mic preamp WITH an instrument input that will output healthy levels that can run long distances for live application...

Have a nice day,

Thomas