Is a bass driver DI useful for a good quality active bass?

[Mr JJB]

Hi all.

I've got a Lakland Skyline 55-02 (active bass with a jazz bass and a mm pick-ups)

During a recording session, the engineer dismissed my Boss bass overdrive pedal and got me a Tech 21 SansAmp bass driver DI (with 3 programmable settings) to use instead. And he not only made me use it for the bit where I planned to have overdrive, but also for my 'neutral' setting.

I was directly plugged into this PA, and did not use an amp.

The more I read about bass drivers DI, the more it seems that it will make the signal of a bass stronger.

Arguably my bass did sound punchy as I listened to the recording (pre-mixing), but then again he had good equipment, so it was hard to see how much the DI had to do with it.

I'd have thought that a decent active bass like mine wouldn't need one, only something to create effects (i.e. overdrive in this case) and thus that a bass driver is a bit of an overkill, whether for recording or even gigging (even when plugged in directly to the PA)...

Or am I missing something?...

Many thanks.

 

[isaac42]

It was used. It must be useful.

[lug]

read this.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DI_unit

[WRGKMC]

I'm guessing this was a live gig and he was putting your through the PA for sound vs micing an amp or using an amps line out.

 

When you have a good sound man, he is going to want to get the best sound quality for you and the audience. By using the Sans Amp, he can dial up the bass tones that sound best through the sound system, especially at a distance where the audience hears it and you cant. When you play through a sound system like that, you basically hear monitors and or bass from the side of the cab.

 

If you were using a bass amp, then you dial that up for stage volume and tone. The sound man would adjust the mains and monitors. One of the big problems doing sound is getting good tones from stage gear. Something like a drive pedal may sound fine to you through a bass amp that rolls off the highs at 3Khz, but a PA produces frequencies well up above 12~15Khz. With the same settings you'd use with a bass amp it can sound absolutely awful through the mains, so my opinion is he made the right decisions for you, you followed his advice and you got good tones.

 

It really didn't matter if your pickups were active or not in this case. The DI box does convert the signal to mic level, and it contours the frequencies to emulate an actual amp and speaker. I own several of these for direct recording purposes. Even the inexpensive Behringer BDI21 which is a copy of the Sans amp does a fair job at 1/10th the cost.

 

http://www.americanmusical.com/Item--i-BEH-BDI21-LIST?src=Y0802G00SRCHCAPN&gclid=CMHhsICJoMACFSxk7AodJHkATQ

 

Using one of these before a bass amp, isn't necessary and may even rob some tones if you don't dial them up flat and no additional gain. It does however allow a mic cable to be connected for direct recording. The engineer can dial up his best recording tones, and you could dial up the amp for the best amp tones. This works so long as you don't tweak any knobs on the bass.

 

The other way to do a DI is off the amps speaker cable. I own some older fender gear that has no line outs or effects loops. I installed a speaker emulated line out off the speaker jack so I can record that amp head direct if I want. Building one into a box that can be plugged between the head and cab only costs a few bucks. Its like two resistors and 2 caps. Then a couple of jacks and a metal box.

 

They used to be very common for micing bands and recording back before amps had line outs and loops. They were especially designed to work off the speaker lead however so you don't want to confuse them with other types of DI boxes. Some active boxes and transformer based DI boxes can be run that way and some will either blow the box instantly of take your head out so you need to know the exact capabilities before you buy one.

 

You can buy simple passive transformer based DI's that will connect an instrument to a mic input for around $25. They don't have any preamp or adjustments for tone. If anything they may have an attenuator switch and ground lift switch. You plug the box between the guitar and amp and play normal and it taps a signal directly off the guitar to feed a mic input to a PA, Preamp, etc. The active ones do the same kinds of things except it uses active components and may have a better frequency response.

 

The Sans amp is a Preamp, Amp Modeler, EQ and DI box all in one. These can be very handy in situations like you were in. Still others have additional cab and amp head modeling and even have mic emulation of on an off axis tones. Like I said, I own several I use for recording bass direct. One of my favorites lately is also one of the least expansive. I bought a Korg Bassworks unit for $10 on EBay. Its got compression EQ and amp modeling. The settings for a Classic SVT head and 8X10" cab is one of the most realistic Ampeg emulators I've found. It almost sounds as good as my Ampeg head running direct with the line out.

[Mr Temporary]

I have that 3 button SansAmp, and I definitely find it to be useful:

 

- Setup the channels for my "standard" sound, "slap/pop", and "dirt".

- DI using the balanced out direct to the board for those gigs where I don't want to haul an amp to, e.g. benefit shows.

- Fault tolerance, in the event that my amp craps out on me. Hasn't happened yet, but being in IT I'm naturally paranoid.

 

Also considered getting a Radial JDI or a Countryman box, both of which sound great, but opted for the Sansamp for the preamp control. If you don't need that tone shaping stuff on the direct, then either of those would be great additions to your rig.

 

For gigs where I bring my amp, I use the direct out on the amp itself, set to send the signal before the amp head's preamp stage. That way the sound guy gets a signal that he can shape whatever way he sees fit. I suppose I could just plug into the SansAmp, but then I'd have yet another cable under my feet.

 

[onelife]

I use the SansAmp Bass Driver DI with a passive bass and I find that it gives me a warm fat tone reminiscent of the old SVT days but without the hassle and the dolly.

 

You may not need the added punch with your active bass but I would think the warm amp like tone would still be useful in many situations.

[Radar-Love]

I was using a SansAmp Bass Driver DI for many years, but switched over to an Eden World Tour DI a while back. I found the Eden to have a bit more broader sonic palette.