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DI box…do I need one?

camardelle

camardelle

Feb 19, 2012
882
104
Beautiful Willis, Texas
#1
I'm about to play my first real "gig" which is just a short performance with some other faculty members at the school where I work. We are using our pa system which is really nice, but I'm reading about di boxes and need some info.

Can someone give me a brief description on what the purpose of the di box is? I know I can plug into it and run my bass through the pa, but it seems like I can do that without the di. Is there an advantage to using one? Also, any recommendations of candidates for the job are welcomed as well.

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, trust me I've got thick skin, and more than I need so fire away. I'm more concerned with time. The "performance" is only a couple weeks away and want to have time to purchase and work with the box should I need one.

As you can likely tell, my experience with pedals is only with the tuners I have. Help please! Thanks!
 
#2
It takes the unbalanced signal from your bass and turns it into a balanced signal for the pa. Few people here would say that you don't need a DI box. The question becomes how, or where do you put that into your signal chain? Most amps these days have a DI out built in. A lot of quality preamp pedals have DI outs on them too (eg. Sansamp, Tone Hammer, etc.). If you're not using a bass amp, I'd recommend a preamp pedal/DI like the Tone Hammer or Sansamp.

Best of luck with the gig.
 
#3
1/4 inch guitar cable in.......3 prong mic cable out. All DI boxes work this way to convert the signal as the above post says. They range in price from $30 to $300 dollars with build quality, transformer size and routing options adding to the price. An inexpensive ART or Berhinger should be fine for what you need.
 
#6
Well, if you want to plug into a PA and still have some control over your tone, then yes.

I'd recommend the SansAmp BDDI. It's tried and true and not unreasonably pricey. Engineers and soundmen generally love them and most will let you use it instead of using "their" DI. It really is a useful tool for a gigging bassist.
 
#10
Common use would be to plug your bass into your DI input. Your DI will have a XLR male three-pin output to send to the snake or mixing board input via a XLR or "mic" cable. Your DI will also have a 1/4" output to send to your amp (if you use one) input via a second guitar cable.

Cheap passive DIs and the often bad tone they output are the scourge of the bass world so please avoid them. Decent actives aren't really cheap, and all actives will require phantom power or a internal battery, which is fine if you're prepared to deal with that (dead batteries are a pain and phantom from budget boards can be non-existant or "global", which brings it's own set of challenges). If you want, as a novice, to own a DI, I say keep it simple and pay the $200 for a Radial JDI.
 
#11
camardelle said:
I'm about to play my first real "gig" which is just a short performance with some other faculty members at the school where I work. We are using our pa system which is really nice, but I'm reading about di boxes and need some info.

Can someone give me a brief description on what the purpose of the di box is? I know I can plug into it and run my bass through the pa, but it seems like I can do that without the di. Is there an advantage to using one? Also, any recommendations of candidates for the job are welcomed as well.

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, trust me I've got thick skin, and more than I need so fire away. I'm more concerned with time. The "performance" is only a couple weeks away and want to have time to purchase and work with the box should I need one.

As you can likely tell, my experience with pedals is only with the tuners I have. Help please! Thanks!
Click to expand...

camardelle...
I highly recommend taking a few minutes to review this video from Peter Janis over at Radial.



Serious...Good info
 
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#12
camardelle said:
Thanks Nev375 for the recommendation. Would moving up to the Tech21 shown here be worth the extra $10 bucks?
Click to expand...

I've never used that one, but it's meant to make you sound like you are playing a classic Ampeg rig. So if you like Ampeg, sure, go for it.
I'd find a guitar center and try em both out if you can.

I bought my BDDI from an acoustic guitarist friend for $75. Theres plenty of the original ones out there so you don't necessarily have to pay retail.
 
#13
TonyP,

Wow! That was great! Thanks for taking the time to post that. I really appreciate your, and everyone else's efforts to educate this old high school assistant principal. It's never too late to learn, right.

I think I have a handle on what it does, and why I should think seriously about getting one. Based on what I've seen above, I can still run an amp onstage, but run the output from my bass to a pa, or mixer board. This adds another question.

I get that I'll need some regular 1/4" cables for the box, bass, and such, but what kind of XLR cable will I need? XLR on both ends, or XLR to 1/4" plug? Does it matter? Which one is best?

I don't mind spending the money to get something that will accomplish the task, and have a decent life or resale value so recommend away.

I really love this board. There's so much information just a keyboard away. Thanks again guys.
 
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#16
TonyP,
You should check the back of the Line 6 to see if it has a DI or check the manual on-line of your amp for a DI. It would be a 'male' XLR awaiting a 'female' XLR end. If not, then you'll need a DI assuming you are taking a bass signal and putting it through a pa. Then you need to see how you would be sending that cable to the mixing/sound board for the pa. Usually, XLR cables are female on one end and male end on the other end but you can get them with a 1/4 inch male end if that's how your soundboard will accept your signal.
Another pa invention is a Snake which allows multiple cables to plug into it (eg. vox, drum mics, gtr mics, keys, etc.) at a central spot with a thick cable going to the soundboard many meters away which allows the sound tech to mix your group as each XLR/1/4 inch plugged into the snake gets a channel on the sound board.
Good luck.
 
#17
I can't believe that no one has mentioned that if you mic your amp you don't really have a need for a DI.

To make that work - you put a microphone on a stand at a good place in front of your cab, run an XLR cable to the board and voila (of course assuming your board can accept microphone inputs (almost all can - these days I would say 99.9%) and turning on phantom power if the mic requires it. Mic->XLR female cable->XLR male->sbd. Then you adjust levels accordingly until you are happy with tone and sound levels - probably you won't need too much microphone gain if the cab is close miked.

Trust me bassists made it to the PA before the DI was so common place. And that way you also get a feed to the board that captures the sound of your amp and cab together.
 
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#18
camardelle said:
I may or may not be using an amp. I've been playing with the school's Line 6 amp which is pretty nice but have no idea if it has a DI out or not. I'm going to guess not.
Click to expand...
If you have the Line6 LowDown LD150 it has a DI out.

camardelle said:
Any Berhinger is particular?
Click to expand...
I suppose people refers to the Behringer V-TONE Bass Driver DI BDI21

camardelle said:
I get that I'll need some regular 1/4" cables for the box, bass, and such, but what kind of XLR cable will I need? XLR on both ends, or XLR to 1/4" plug? Does it matter? Which one is best?
Click to expand...
XLR on both ends is the best choice. ;)

Gretings! :thumbsup:
 

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