Do I need a DI? Bass > Boss GT100 > Pre

[Gweb]

Hi there,

I'm in the process of helping a friend record some bass and I'm trying to establish whether we need a DI in our chain. At the moment it's:

Bass > GT100 > Pre (line in) > Pro Tools

However, the GT100 is an unbalanced output and our pre has a balanced input so there's already a mismatch. However, the chain we are using sounds good. So I'm a tad confused. Should there be a DI in there? Please excuse my noob question, thank you.

[bongomania]

The point of a DI is to take the unbalanced output of a guitar and convert it into balanced for feeding into a mic preamp, and for noise rejection over long snakes of cable. If the recording input can accept an unbalanced plug, and if you are not running long cables, then you don't need a DI.

Basically if the only input jack on the recording device is an XLR, then you need to get in there somehow. But there's nothing related to impedance or level or other tech reason that would need to be converted about the GT's output.

[Gweb]

Originally Posted by bongomania

The point of a DI is to take the unbalanced output of a guitar and convert it into balanced for feeding into a mic preamp, and for noise rejection over long snakes of cable. If the recording input can accept an unbalanced plug, and if you are not running long cables, then you don't need a DI.

Basically if the only input jack on the recording device is an XLR, then you need to get in there somehow. But there's nothing related to impedance or level or other tech reason that would need to be converted about the GT's output.

Thank you very much