There's not many differences between them, mostly heat treating of the intermediate and output shafts(it was only a 10 ft lb increase in rated torque handling). Direct clutch failure is because GM dual feeds it in reverse, but only single feeds it in forward. Most internally modify them to dual feed all the time when rebuilding them, or add in the transgo hd2 kit if not rebuilding them.
Removed one ring in direct drama. And a ring on support. And drowned out one channel.
In theory, the direct should have been squeezed with great effort. Approximately twice, all other things being equal.
But the switches became jerky. Probably something needs to be done with pressure accumulators or bypass balls.