DI Boxes..Do I need one?

[Grumry]

Radial JDI

 

[Lowbrow]

Don't bother.

 

[wheelsup247]

Just in case any one is interested, I have a Countryman Type 85 DI for sale. $104 PayPal Shipped USA. I'm the original owner and it is in like new condition. See my Talkbass ad if interested.

 

[Basshappi]

IMO if you are gigging regularly you should have one.
My amps have good built in DIs but I also carry a DI in my gig case.

 

[Jeff Bonny]

Reasons:
1) As a fail safe in case amp dies
2) To appease FOH guy who will refuse to use the DI on back of amp
3) If you ever do a gig with out an amp (acoustic gig or a studio session) it will be useful to have

A lot of people think soundmen are idiots. But when you get into using powerful high end PAs they tend shy away from taking the line out of amps because they've seen shows fail and their equipment damaged by bad onboard DIs. Just because YOUR DI seems fine friday nights down at the Brown Spot Tavern doesn't mean they aren't more prone to going south than a high quality purpose built box. An onboard DI in most consumer bass amps is low budget convenience you shouldn't expect to be accepted anywhere with an experienced soundman running pro quality PA. But generally these guys will be offering you something like a Type 85 or JDI.

Ok that said some soundmen ARE idiots and if one tries to insist you use his $39 Behringer held together with masking tape you should politely tell him to go **** himself and line out of your amp.

But like @pbass2 says a JDI is compact, will last a lifetime, is awesome sounding and not that expensive. A good used one is $100 and honestly it's still one of my favorites at any price.

 

[MDBass]

Hi al just after a bit of advice .. Looking at DI boxes ... And if I need to purchase one ... Currently I run my direct out ( XLR cable directly out of my Hartke 5210c) which by my understanding produces a balanced signal straight to our mixing desk .. Is there any Benefit using a separate DI box ( other than as a fail safe should my amp die etc ) ..

If the DI in your Hartke sounds good (clean signal, no noise issues, etc.) then no, there is no benefit aside from having a failsafe if something happens to your rig, either internally or due to power issues at the venue.

That said, it's always better to be safe than sorry

 

[btmpancake]

The real question is - Should my DI box come in a box?

Oh no you didn't post this! but I'm still laughing too.

 

[Milo Spleen]

I did have a look at the M80 but heard a number of mixed reviews

The M80 has the bass, mids and treble centered where I like and works as a good preamp for me. Some don't care for the distortion feature, which when I turn it almost off, I really like. The Ampeg SCR-DI is useful for a preamp (gets that Ampeg tone too), a practice tool and the Scramble feature is a good feature for a DI. I have the M80 plugged into the SCR-DI with the out to the board. I also don't use an amp on stage.

 

[Edmonio]

Thanks for all the replies everyone !

 

[solarfly]

Sans amp makes a great little stomp box DI, I think Geddy Lee runs one as part of his signal chain. I have used it for DI into my home recording studio, they are really good in sound and flexibility/diversity of tone.

 

[rodv66]

My Trace has a DI, but I got the mxr 80 di plus for 70 bucks. Figured it was a good investment, never know when I might need it

 

[mikeswals]

I do own a Radial DI. However, every venue I've played at has it's own PA and every one of them has their own DI box, but the sound guys just use the DI out on the amp.

 

[angrychair]

the DI out my my SVTii Pro sucks hard. I have a B7K Ultra on my pedalboard, which I had before the SVT head, for studio sessions. For live I prefer to mic my cab.

 

[Manticore]

My observation? If the bass is going through the board for the house it doesn't matter whether you have an amp on stage or are using a DI, the house will sound the way the FOH engineer wants it to sound. Accept this undeniable fact and life gets much better. Everyone has a job: the FOH guy is responsible for making it sound good in the house, which is something the bass player can't do from the stage. Our responsibility is to provide the best signal possible with the least amount of on-stage volume. (The FOH guy has to worry about bleed through to all the other open mics on stage, so it makes his life easier by not providing anything unnecessary.) Use a decent bass and a decent DI and leave the rig at home. As far as DIs go, I've had positive responses from the FOH guys when I use a REDDI, an Avalon U5 and when I use an the DI from an Alembic preamp. I'm sure there are other options that sill suffice.

 

[Jrussblues]

So here is where I am, hopefully this helps.
1. Sound guys typically suck at bass monitors, so I got in ears, which are great, but still only as good as the soundguy.
2. I run a sansamp and I was originally running a compressor in the effects loop, but I have now moved it to behind running off of the output of the rbi preamp.
3. That signal now goes to my ears, then that signal comes out of my ears and goes to my power amp.
4. I'll be picking up a di this weekend.

The sansamp preamp has both affected and non preamp affected outs. Which is great, but if I run the sans amp straight to d.I. in the board then I will only get the sans amp and not the signal I hear in my ears with the compression. This will change my dynamics on the instrument and lead to a personally underwhelming performance. The other, and most important reason, is this...

I had to grab a di last minute from the sound guy last weekend because something in my chain crapped out, I have an active bass so I was still able to push a hot enough signal off of my on board preamp to a di and into my power amp to have stage volume and p.a. support. If he didn't have a d.I. I would have been tsol and even though I run ears you still lose a lot of the way a bass feels on stage with no low end push.
So my vote is yes, get a di, because 1 time in 15 years of playing live it saved my butt to have one available, and that is a small price to pay for insurance.

 

[beaglesandbass]

Hi al just after a bit of advice .. Looking at DI boxes ... And if I need to purchase one ... Currently I run my direct out ( XLR cable directly out of my Hartke 5210c) which by my understanding produces a balanced signal straight to our mixing desk .. Is there any Benefit using a separate DI box ( other than as a fail safe should my amp die etc ) ..

No. You don't need one. People use them to achieve different tones and go ampless. If that isn't so important to you, why spend the money?

 

[Jeff Bonny]

No. You don't need one. People use them to achieve different tones and go ampless. If that isn't so important to you, why spend the money?

Why spend the money? Several valid reasons have been given in this thread by several different people based on real world experience. Anyone running into FOH regularly can certainly justify the $100 a used Type 85 or JDI will cost.

 

[beaglesandbass]

Why spend the money? Several valid reasons have been given in this thread by several different people based on real world experience. Anyone running into FOH regularly can certainly justify the $100 a used Type 85 or JDI will cost.

Right, that's why I said "If that isn't so important to you", implying it's a personal preference, not some rule anywhere. When I use my amp I don't also use my DI. OP asked if a separate DI is needed. If everything in his current setup and he is happy with it, then no it's not needed. Sure there are benefits to them, but that is bases on personal preference.

 

[Doner Designs]

Any DI out on an amp basically does what an external DI box does, so strickly speaking you don't really need an extra DI box. I've been using the DI out on my Aguilar amps for years with very good results.
If you and your sound tech are happy with the signal coming from your Hartke, no need to change that imo.
However (with a capital H), there are DI boxes that will definitely sound a lot better than the DI out on your Hartke, e.g. the REDDI, Avalon U5, Juicebox, Noble Preamp/DI, Radial Firefly, etc.
Unfortunatley, these are usually in the area of 700, 800, 900 and more Dollars, Euros, Pounds, etc.
For a fail safe should your amp die mid gig, a decent hundred bucks box will do imo (I like the Aguilar Tone Hammer pedal/DI).

Agree with all that. Also Radial JDI is a very nice passive box. I keep one in my gig bag as insurance that I wont be forced to use a $20 house DI if/when the engineer is paranoid about connecting post amp.

 

[madidus]

I'm very happy with my Radial JDI. Most sound guys I've come across seem to appreciate what it does. Having said this, I've not tried any other DIs so can't say how it compares with the DIs mentioned by others.