Advice on Tube DI

[T McClure]

I think one takwawy from this thread and others is I don't think anyone dislikes any of these well-regarded tube DIs. I see people saying they like one more for whichever reason, but I don't see anyone saying they hate any of these.

Which is to say, don't overly sweat it because you're probably going to like whichever of these recommended DIs you go with.

 

[4Mal]

I've been using a Neptinium for a bit. I like the on board tone stack . It is though off my board at the moment. I went back to an HX Stomp so I could host IR's for my EUB so I'm usimg thr Stomp as my Di. Works fine but no tube... Pretty soon I'll migrate to a slightly larger board for my small board and have room for my Empress comp or an Underground Accellerator and Neptinium.

 

[SamuelSandoval]

I’ve used a lot of the higher end DI’s mentioned here like the Noble, Reddi, Khan, Monique, etc. I’ve even used the Effectrode LA1A limiting compresor.

Here’s a clip of how the Khan and the Effectrode LA1A sound like together. I highly recommend both.

Note- use headphones if possible to hear the clip.

 

[Mario Lewis]

Just to get some more clarity - what is it that your VT bass isn't giving you regarding the higher frequencies?

I felt that the VT bass adds a good amount of warmth and girth to the bass tone.


I have:

Sushibox Finally and Neptunium
Sansamp: BDDI, Paradriver, VT bass Deluxe, Q strip, Bass Fly rig V1
Origin Effects - Super Vintage
Joyo American Sound
Spark boost - 4 knob version

I'm probably forgetting one or two others.

It's fun to try out different pre amps and tube DIs, but honestly, for gigging and live music, I feel like a lot of subtlety gets lost. For me, the higher end preamps make more sense for recording or for headphone practice.

Once we are moving air and playing live, the small differences in tone are kind of overwhelmed by the overall sound of my amp and cab, and the sonic interactions from the drums and guitar.

It is nice to have a great live sound though. Unfortunately, in the end I feel like we are at the mercy of the person running sound and their equipment and their biases about bass tone.

I agree. I have often said that all of the G.A.S, and sculpting of tone is pretty much a moot point once the rest of the band kicks in and the SoundGuy does his thing. We bass players are a vane brood…. And for all that we try to do in the interest of our sound, our tone and that ever loved “signal chain”, the fat guy on the third row, the Bar Tender, and the passer by out on the sidewalk have no idea if I’m playing a Eden head, or Mesa cabs, or using Mogami cables…. The issue is “Are they bobbing their heads and shaking their asses?” If yes, mission accomplished. More magic is made with our hands and minds and creativity than brand of preamp tube or saturation.

Just my $0.02.

 

[Bonecat]

I have a Finally and like it a great deal, but it became my backup after I got my Walrus Mantle. Yeah, I know it doesn’t have tubes, but it sounds great. Our audio engineer has remarked several times that it sounds better in the mix than the SushiBox and the tone/gain controls make it easy to get useful tones in any room. It’s the only pedal I use now - Shure GLXD16+ > Mantle > FOH…

 

[s0c9]

I have a Finally and like it a great deal, but it became my backup after I got my Walrus Mantle. Yeah, I know it doesn’t have tubes, but it sounds great. Our audio engineer has remarked several times that it sounds better in the mix than the SushiBox and the tone/gain controls make it easy to get useful tones in any room. It’s the only pedal I use now - Shure GLXD16+ > Mantle > FOH…

It goes back to those old adages -
Each to their own, and
One persons junk is another’s treasure
YMMV