Is there any way to have a 3 pin out out added to a bass?

Josh Emmons · #1 12-27-2010, 12:27 PM

hello, as some of you may know, i am getting a custom bass built for me. i when playing with bands mainky play with a DI box, and i skip the amp all together. soooo, is there any way that i can add to my bass, a 3 pin balanced output?

okcrum · #2 12-27-2010, 12:58 PM

Basically you need a preamp with balanced 600 ohm output at line level, around 0 dBm or 0.775 volts RMS, about 2 volts peak to peak. Or, if you already have a preamp with unbalanced output, you need a line driver or transformer hooked to its output, depending on the preamp's drive capability. The reason this isn't commonly done is battery life; line drivers use a lot of juice compared to most preamps.

FunkMetalBass · #3 12-27-2010, 01:31 PM

An XLR output jack is easy to install. Balancing the signal and bringing it to line level...not so much.

**line6man** · #4 12-27-2010, 01:39 PM

You just need to add an onboard DI. (Possibly phantom powered?)

**line6man** · #5 12-27-2010, 01:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FunkMetalBass

An XLR output jack is easy to install. Balancing the signal and bringing it to line level...not so much.

It doesn't have to be line level. I would rather do a mic level XLR output.

walterw · #6 12-27-2010, 08:41 PM

functionally, you'd just be building the DI box, transformer and all, right into the bass. added complexity with not much point. (where do you plug in the tuner?)

bassbenj · #7 12-27-2010, 11:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Josh Emmons

hello, as some of you may know, i am getting a custom bass built for me. i when playing with bands mainky play with a DI box, and i skip the amp all together. soooo, is there any way that i can add to my bass, a 3 pin balanced output?

Yes, there is. Go check out this recent thread:

Neutrik output plugin for bass

You use that dual connector instead of the usual 1/4" phone jack and you need a mic to line transformer and probably an attenuator (a bunch of resistors and maybe a selector switch... or just set it for a value that you know works. If worse comes to worse just take the transformer and attenuator circuit out of a decent passive DI. Note that Quality DI transformers are expensive, but aren't especially large or heavy especially if you have cut the signal back to mic levels.