Chaining a floor tuner and a DI box

[mcrawfordmusic]

It's best practice to use a DI if going directly into a PA system.

 

[johnh89]

You should always use a DI when going into FOH. Bass output is an unbalanced signal. DI converts unbalanced signal into a balanced signal. While there is much debate over the maximum length of running an unbalanced signal, most generally consider 15’ to 25’ at max. Using a shielded cable might get you a few more feet but at some point you are just making a giant RF antenna.

A balanced signal can run a 100’ or more without issues. So the DI is not only for impedance balancing, it is also there to convert it to balanced signal.

Point taken , but I'm never going to be using a cable over 20ft where I play . Any further and i'm on wireless .

 

[AK Bass Guy]

Point taken , but I'm never going to be using a cable over 20ft where I play . Any further and i'm on wireless .

There are always exceptions to rules. If I was 15’ to 20’ cable run from a digital stage box that had xlr/trs combi jacks I might just plug straight into it also. Same if it was one of those rack mount mixers on a small stage, no reason to take extra gear to a gig if your plug in is right behind you.
Cheers.

 

[Ralph Manak]

This is a good product, although out of stock at the moment:

Tuner + DI (TDI) – Sonic Nuance Electronics

Third generation design is 30% smaller, lighter, more durable, quieter and lower priced! Costly high quality, wide dynamic range, low noise and low distortion opamp-based buffers for transparency EMRS (electro- magnetic relay soft switching) technology for the ultimate in reliability (relay...

www.sonicnuance.com

Excellent DI with different powering options. The tuner is good, but the LEDs lose visibility in bright sunlight or on a bright stage.

 

[Jack]

Most of the specific advice that you need has been covered already and I agree with it. Bass>Tuner>DI>Mixer is the way to go.

What I did want to add in though, it to be careful thinking about things like impedance and levels in absolute terms. Yes an active bass is low impedance, and yes so is a DI box output (as well as being balanced) but their low impedances aren't the same as each other! I'd guess the DI would be around 600ohms and the bass maybe 200? The same is true of mic level, instrument level and line level. Yes, they're all useful terms, but don't worry too much about it. I can find you a really, really loud mic and a really, really quiet instrument if you want. It's like saying "that's a fast car" and "that's a slow car". Useful to think about and to know, but not specific enough for some situations. An MX5 and a McLaren are both fast cars, but they're not really comparable.

In short, you're overthinking this. Good on you for doing the research (most people don't do enough) but you'll be fine with pretty much any tuner and any di.

 

[Zooberwerx]

I use a Peterson Strobostomp 2 tuner that has a built-in active D.I., so it’s your 1 pedal solution. I’m sure there are others available on the market as well.

I have one...but never used the DI! Is it fairly decent?

Riis

 

[bassfran]

I have one...but never used the DI! Is it fairly decent?

Riis

I have fuzzy memories of bringing the Petersen to some solo acoustic guitar gigs many years ago and don't recall any complaints.
They make decent products overall it seems so I'd be surprised if it was especially lousy. YMMV.
I own a few other devices for D.I. these days and a new head that gets used for that instead. Let us know your findings.

 

[N. Kentucky Bass]

Here's how mine goes: tuner --> HPF --> compressor (for sale) --> preamp/DI --> amp and/or board

 

[Zbysek]

Now my question is how do I combine these together?

Active Bass -> Tuner -> DI Box -> Mixer

The real question maybe is about if each item in the chain determines whether its own output signal is high or low impedance to the next item in the chain, or if anything up the chain still matters... If I put a true-bypass tuner after my active bass, does it change the low impedance signal of the bass into a high impedance bass, and does it mean the DI Box afterwards needs to be itself an active DI box instead of passive? Should I instead forget about true-bypass and in that case would a passive DI be ok after a tuner in buffered mode?

Yes, this is the correct signal chain: active bass - tuner - DI box - mixer

Since your bass is active, you don't need to worry about impedance(s): you can use either passive or active DI box, you can use either buffered or true bypass tuner.

I can see a small advantage of using buffered tuner since (some) true bypass tuners introduce a pop into the signal chain when they are engaged.

Good luck!

 

[40Hz]

The Countryman 85 has been the Honda Accord of DIs for a long time but there are certainly others.

That's been my goto DI since forever. You can usually find them for a good price on the used market.

The Radial Pro DI is another good choice for an affordable high quality passive unit, which is perfectly fine for use with an active bass.

I prefer strobe style tuners. Not everyone does however. But the two I use and recommend are the Sonic Research ST-300 for bass, and the Peterson StroboStomp HD for bass and everything (literally!) else.

That said, my guitarist SO can’t stand strobe tuners and swears by her trusty TCE Polytune 3. I tried it with a bass. And to no surprise also works really well for that.

I don’t use clip-on tuners so I have no opinion. She, on the other hand, sometimes does. And after trying out a pretty large number of them (we have a junk drawer full of them) decided that Snark brand clip-ons worked the best for her requirements.

Signal path: Bass > Tuner > DI > Board