DI box and Ampeg V4b

[Groovy_Gravy]

I have a 70's ampeg v4b that I use at live gigs. we run the bass through the PA and have done it through the line out on the back of the amp. Does this mean I dont need a DI box?

Would a DI box give me a better sound? If so what would be a good one to get. I hear Radial and Countryman recommended a lot but I have no knowledge about these and how they hook up...active/passive..

PLease can someone give me a crash course on these things. I would greatly appreciate it!

[craig.p]

Well... First of all make sure you're running that amp as quiet on stage as you possibly can, because the louder it is, the more phasing anomalies you're going to create with the mains. And the more of those you create, the more craptastic the summed bass sound will be where the audience is. In that type of scenario, what you're using to feed the PA wouldn't make a bit of difference because it would be swamped by the effects of the competing mains and the V4B.

Ok, with that business put away, what you're doing is fine, assuming you're sending external amp out to a board line level via an unbalanced (single-ended, phone plug) snake feed. There is a VERY slight possibility that the V4B's output is being loaded down by the board's line-in input, if the board's input impedance for that feed is much below 25K ohms (I'd bump that number to 50K if it were for guitar or vocals, but this is bass, after all, and a lot of high end lost due to excessive loading can be made up for with the board channel's tone controls.) Even if it's a low number like 10K, though, a lot of the loss can be made up for -- again -- with that board channel's tone controls.

If you want super high quality and very low noise, and you want the sound person to have full control over your tone by sending him a dry (pre-eq) signal, then yeah, you could go with a quality direct box and send him that signal through a snake mic line. But... it can't be a low end passive direct box, because the transformers in those are crap. You'd want a high-end passive direct box or a reasonably good active direct box. There are religious wars fought in these forums on direct-box selection, and I won't join in. So I'll conclude by saying that if your line out to the board is giving the sound person what he wants, and the sound coming from the mains is good, then don't change a thing! Many problems in live sound reinforcement come about because people start making changes to what's been working fine all along.

Hope this helps.

[Groovy_Gravy]

Originally Posted by craig.p

Well... First of all make sure you're running that amp as quiet on stage as you possibly can, because the louder it is, the more phasing anomalies you're going to create with the mains. And the more of those you create, the more craptastic the summed bass sound will be where the audience is. In that type of scenario, what you're using to feed the PA wouldn't make a bit of difference because it would be swamped by the effects of the competing mains and the V4B.

Ok, with that business put away, what you're doing is fine, assuming you're sending external amp out to a board line level via an unbalanced (single-ended, phone plug) snake feed. There is a VERY slight possibility that the V4B's output is being loaded down by the board's line-in input, if the board's input impedance for that feed is much below 25K ohms (I'd bump that number to 50K if it were for guitar or vocals, but this is bass, after all, and a lot of high end lost due to excessive loading can be made up for with the board channel's tone controls.) Even if it's a low number like 10K, though, a lot of the loss can be made up for -- again -- with that board channel's tone controls.

If you want super high quality and very low noise, and you want the sound person to have full control over your tone by sending him a dry (pre-eq) signal, then yeah, you could go with a quality direct box and send him that signal through a snake mic line. But... it can't be a low end passive direct box, because the transformers in those are crap. You'd want a high-end passive direct box or a reasonably good active direct box. There are religious wars fought in these forums on direct-box selection, and I won't join in. So I'll conclude by saying that if your line out to the board is giving the sound person what he wants, and the sound coming from the mains is good, then don't change a thing! Many problems in live sound reinforcement come about because people start making changes to what's been working fine all along.

Hope this helps.

We do our own sound. where do you guys get that everyone has a soundman? 95% of people on this site do their own sound, thanks.

[two fingers]

Whoa! Would you believe there's another thread that was recently started with the EXACT same title? There's some good information over there. I think yours got lost in the weeds when a good discussion got started with the other thread. So jump on in!

DI box and Ampeg V4b

[TimmyP]

If it works, great. But there will come a venue where it won't (hellish buzz and/or hum). Then a DI or isolation transformer will be much needed.

[rodl2005]

I use the line out on my Fender Studio Bass 200 & go from it into a DI. Seems to work well.:thumbup: