==Live --- Active bass directly to the board with 1/4 input==

[MNAirHead]

Originally Posted by JimmyM

+1 for Vail. Try it. Worst that happens is you don't like the sound. But I've plugged my bass directly into a mixer before and have been satisfied with it. Well, at least as satisfied as when I used a DI.

Looking to learn (and eliminate boxes/cables)..

Is it signal loss they're talking about loosing over 20"?

The pro sound vendors accross the board noted that a DI would be required for this many links and lengths.


Thank you for the reply.

[JimmyM]

Links and lengths? I thought you were talking about plugging directly into the mixer. If there are links and lengths, I would certainly use a DI.

BTW, what kind of dolt gets upset about the color of a DI? Who can even see it?

[MNAirHead]

It's a church setting.. mike stand.. it's right out in front .

I can kind of undertstand high bar to jump over.. all session guys.. very clean stage

We're getting there.. wishing there was a how to book for this before we started.. all the owners manuals were kind of a joke.

Tim

[JimmyM]

I'm not following...you keep your DI on a mic stand? I'm all for a clean stage, but you have to use something if the lengths are long.

[Interceptor]

At the risk of sounding like a lawyer; it depends.

There are a number of factors at play; the output impedance of the instrument, the input impedance of the console, cable length and the cable makeup between the instrument and the console.

Passive pickups are sensitive to load impedance, but not all act the same way. For the most part, passive instruments are relatively high in output impedance, and changes in load impedance will affect both level and frequency response. How much is best left determined via trial and error. Active setups are usually fairly low impedance outputs, on the order of 100 Ohms, and are relatively unaffected.

Consoles unbalanced input impedances are are usually on the order of 100 K Ohm, most DI boxes are around 1 Meg Ohm. That's enough of a load impedance difference to possibly impact a passive instrument, but won't usually matter to an active bass. Trial and error again, it may or may not matter!

In my opinion, you're in DI land if your signal has to hit a snake to get to the console, as then it is balanced cable for the bulk of the run, and one can get away (after trial and error) with a unbalanced straight into a console, sometimes. I always use a DI and save myself the trial and error.

[Mark Reccord]

If it's a short run there probably won't be any issue. Any active bass with the master volume wide open will have a source impedance <100 Ohms (probably a lot less) and I've never seen a line input on a console with less than 10k Ohms input impedance. There won't be any loss over 20 feet (or even 100 feet) of cable with that impedance ratio. If you're in an electrically noisy environment or if there are long cable runs involved you'd want to convert to balanced because of the enhanced noise immunity it offers.

[MNAirHead]

Thanks for the insight.

Yes the boxes are not on the floor or tucked away in dugouts. They're on stand mounts.

I know some that are not familiar with church settings would be puzzled at the request for a clean stage..

Thanks again...

[Interceptor]

I've had the "joy" of clean stage situations where I was going direct. My solutions are to clip the DI to the back of the guitar strap or clip it to my belt hide the mess under a suit jacket. I use a 3 foot cable to go bass to DI.

[MNAirHead]

Originally Posted by Interceptor

I've had the "joy" of clean stage situations where I was going direct. My solutions are to clip the DI to the back of the guitar strap or clip it to my belt hide the mess under a suit jacket. I use a 3 foot cable to go bass to DI.

Thanks 'ceptor.

All gear stays stealthy.. we then have a 5 minute turn over from Bethoven to distorted guitars.