Active or Passive DI with Roland AC90 live?

[LBOIV001]

I play Country/Southern Rock/Funk/Metal with a Laguna Strat through a Peavey Joe Satriani Head and A/B my signal with a Roland AC90 so I can switch my wireless transmitter over to my Ovation acoustic with little trouble. My question is what to do with the line outs on both amps? I got a pretty thin and tinny tone using just my line out on the Peavey, and got some good input on another thread about using a DI box. My wireless thins the tone very, very slightly, so it was not the issue with the line out. So, in summary...

 

Do I need a DI box for the Roland? If so, should it be active or passive?

Active or passive for the Peavey?

Do I need a DI with speaker emulation for the 412 cab or is it overkill?

Can I get speaker emulation (if I need it) from a passive DI?

What products do you recommend to use (or stay away from)?

 

I usually run well over 20 feet to the console.

 

Thanks in advance.

[TimmyP]

Passive DI for the Acoustic (http://www.radialeng.com/di-prodi-prod2.htm) if you use the amp's line out. However I'd ditch the amp and wireless and just run the acoustic through the monitor(s) as most folks do, in which case I prefer an active DI (http://www.radialeng.com/re-pro48.htm).

 

For the electric, you need a mic (Audix D4, Sennheiser 609) or a cabinet simulation DI (http://www.radialeng.com/re-jdx.htm).

[LBOIV001]

Thanks, Timmy.

[agedhorse]

If you use the wireless for both guitars, here's what I would do:

 

Passive for the acoustic out of the wireless receiver, most DI's have a 1/4" built in. I would also suggest micing the electric amp but the direct signal would still be available on the wireless channel and you might find that adding in a little (assuming the polarity is correct) adds a little bite that might otherwise be needed as the drums and cymbals pick up.

[Bobby1Note]

I have a question concerning the "D.I. out" of that amp. Is this an unbalanced "out" that you would send to an external D.I., or, is the D.I. actually built into the amp, and the amp's "D.I. out" is a balanced signal that you could send to the PA?

 

Thanks,

 

Bob

[NUSound]

 

I have a question concerning the "D.I. out" of that amp. Is this an unbalanced "out" that you would send to an external D.I., or, is the D.I. actually built into the amp, and the amp's "D.I. out" is a balanced signal that you could send to the PA? Thanks, Bob

 

 

If I'm looking at the right amp (Peavey JSX?) then the line out is unbalanced.

 

Edit: Oops, didn't realize you were talking about the Roland. The DI out IS balanced.

[agedhorse]

Be sure the tuner/DI out is phantom power protected, call Roland support BEFORE trying it with an iput that has phantom present.

 

There's also the line outs that are balanced and again, verify that they are phantom protected.

 

Either of these are viable outputs to use provided they are phantom power protected, or you can use a passive DI after the wireless receiver and that will isolate you completely from phantom power.

[LBOIV001]

Thanks, all!