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DI Question: I've Asked Before


Thunderbroom

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In order to get a clean signal to our monitor mixer (and thus to the house), I had to borrow a Radial Pro 48 ($140) DI from our sound guy last night because we could not get the Boss GT-10B signal cleaned up. While the Boss sounds fine when run into an amp, when I'm wearing $400 earbuds, it's pretty freakin' noisy.

 

I'm really disappointed.

 

I haven't sold much gear but do think a liquidation is in order. I'll likely throw the Boss (and some other stuff) up on Craigslist. I would do eBay but don't really want to bother with shipping.

 

What I'm looking for is a GUARANTEED clean signal to the board. It must be MIC level. A pad is desired. Size is important. I prefer something that can be put on a small to medium-sized pedal case. Some tone shaping/EQ is needed as I will not be using an amp. Our sound engineer deals in Radial, so I'm leaning towards the Bassbone; however, I have no experience with them and neither does he. I can get a really good deal from him if I go with a Radial product.

 

Please help me identify a few boxes that will meet my needs. I'm only interested in hearing recommendations from people that have experience with the actual unit they recommend. Having used it in an IEM system is a plus. I'm thinking that using it for recording would be valid as well.

 

I'm tired of buying stuff, and I'm tired of starting threads about stuff like this.

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Our sound engineer deals in Radial, so I'm leaning towards the Bassbone; however, I have no experience with them and neither does he. I can get a really good deal from him if I go with a Radial product.

 

 

The only Radial gear I have experience with is my JDI, which is a perfect passive DI box. It meets every requirement of yours except the tone shaping/EQ. I'd expect the Bassbone to be great, but I have NO experience with it.

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I'm interested in why you need something in the form of a pedal? There's plenty of tone shaping rack stuff that would fit in the rack with your wireless or is it that you are sold on the strobostomp and want foot stuff in front of you?

 

I took my Senn out of the rack a while ago. It's actually on my pedalboard. I'm just trying to simplify my life. I'd like to take a small/medium case with my wireless, tuner, and DI.

 

The more I think about this, I could forgo the tone shaping. I've got a Boss EQ pedal.

 

Ugghhhh...

:(

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I've heard of players using active DIs for passive basses to take advantage of the tone shaping options.

 

An active bass doesn't need the tone shaping of an active DI.

 

Having said that, I recorded a passive P/J bass with a passive box and it sounded fine. YMMV.

 

:wave:

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Semi - related.


If I'm recording things on my computer would putting a DI (or pre amp) in front of the Audio interface allow for 'better' bass tones (ie fuller, deeper, more present)?

 

 

If there is an input impedance issue with your audio interface, yes. If not, from my perspective, the fewer items in the signal chain the better. If your interface is designed for instrument level signals, it should be fine.

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If there is an input impedance issue with your audio interface, yes. If not, from my perspective, the fewer items in the signal chain the better. If your interface is designed for instrument level signals, it should be fine.

 

 

that's it ^^^ , good chance it already is a preamp , my interface does not have a pre and so I must use one to get the levels up , what interface do you use ?

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I had a crazy idea the other day - I wonder how well one of the LR Baggs DI/preamp would work in such a situation??? - after all, they're fairly well thought of for acoustic guitars - so they'd have to be somewhat noise-free, and *should* have EQing sufficient for electric bass, too...

 

 

 

- georgestrings

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That's a good suggestion. I've never seen that box before, but assuming it delivers the goods, it fits the bill.

 

 

 

Well, I was thinking that since Sansamp's Paradriver is said to work well for acoustics and electric basses, the LR Baggs dealio might just kick ass that way, too...

 

 

 

- georgestrings

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Well, I was thinking that since Sansamp's Paradriver is said to work well for acoustics and electric basses, the LR Baggs dealio might just kick ass that way, too...




- georgestrings

 

 

The EQ points are great. The "treble" control would be useless, but the other four points are really well matched.

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That's a good suggestion. I've never seen that box before, but assuming it delivers the goods, it fits the bill.

 

 

Not a fan. It's adequate for fiddles and stuff, but pales in comparison to, say, the Avalon. I think it's high-passed at 75Hz so it's marginal at best for bass.

 

Part of the reason why phantom-powered boxes are typically simple is that you only have 3 or 4mA of current available from a phantom supply. The more complex your circuitry, the more current you draw, unless you make some compromises in the circuit to make it draw less current. I looked at developing a phantom powered preamp but the current delivery limits of phantom required too many sacrifices to be able to provide decent EQ and stuff, so I gave up on it.

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Part of the reason why phantom-powered boxes are typically simple is that you only have 3 or 4mA of current available from a phantom supply.

 

 

Having never had a reason to inquire, I had no idea the current was so drastically limited.

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Part of the reason why phantom-powered boxes are typically simple is that you only have 3 or 4mA of current available from a phantom supply. The more complex your circuitry, the more current you draw, unless you make some compromises in the circuit to make it draw less current. I looked at developing a phantom powered preamp but the current delivery limits of phantom required too many sacrifices to be able to provide decent EQ and stuff, so I gave up on it.

Great info.

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