Jump to content

DI Boxes?


SoundwaveLove

Recommended Posts

  • Members

 

Hey guys.  I'm starting to gig at larger venues, and the band I'm with told me I need DI boxes to step down my line level synths to mic level for the snake. 

RIght now I'm only using two synths, one stereo, and one mono.

 

What's my best bet for picking up some DI's that don't suck?

 

For some reason I was always under the impression that DI's were use to step instrument level UP to line level.  Why am I so confused?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Every venue I've played at has several DI's on hand-- especially larger ones. So unless you have a specific need for one you might just want to hold onto your cash.

 

If you do decide you need a decent DI, I'd go with the Whirlwind IMP 2. They're about $50 per at Sweetwater.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Venues always have DI boxes, though it is nice to have ones you know and trust. And sometimes they don't have quite enough. I really like my Radial Pro D2, which handles two channels, and is a quality bit of kit. Their higher models have the Jensen transformers and are supposed to be more transparent, but the Pro D2 works fine for me. You'd need an additional channel; a Pro DI would do the job. I also have an ART passive stereo DI which is very handy, but without selective ground lift which caused problems so I replaced it with the Radial. I submix 3 stereo sources (two keyboards and guitar amp/cab modeler) to stereo. It's a lot to ask a small-to-medium venue to take six channels just for keyboards. Also, I run my own monitors so I'm not dependent on what the venue has to offer (which is usually not great, in the small venues I usually play).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Yes, i have done this. The issue is that the output level will be low. So to accomplish the task I plugged a microphone into xlr output (using an xlr female to female) then used the DI's 1/4" input as the output, plugging that input into the link I've supplied to act as the preamp and raise the out level to an acceptable level http://www.rolls.com/product.php?pid=MX28 Then taking the output of the above into your mixer's 1/4" input. Convoluted but does work. I've had to do it in a pinch when our band's mixer blew up and we ran out of xlr inputs on our spare mixer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...