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DI too hot for a PA input???

Rockin Mike

Rockin Mike

May 27, 2011
2,772
424
#1
Can somebody sanity check me on this?

I had a guitar player tell me the direct out of my amp would be too hot for the PA input. He wouldn't even try it, he made me come out of the quarter inch line out and use an XLR adapter.

I didn't tell him he was full of sh*t because I was just subbing and it was his gig.

I was using an Eden WT550, which has a direct out with a level knob, going into his Mackie PPM-1008 PA head. That should be able to go straight into an XLR input on any channel, right?

That's exactly what it's designed to do, right?
 
#2
yes whilst what you are saying is true, i have experienced on some GK heads this problem as well. my fix was to use a DI before the amp. and if it was too hot i would pad it and that would bring everything into order again! :)

i didn't bother to look into as to specifically why cos i fixed my issue, but yes, some bass heads output are excessive, others are not...
 
#3
Dude didn't even try my DI, and it has an output control knob. I run it into my Allen & Heath all the time with no problems at all...

I know plenty of people (all?) go from DI out straight into the board.
I was just wondering if there was another school of thought that I hadn't heard of.
 
#5
I have never had any sound guy complain about the DI out from my amp. Once I was asked to turn the DI down, so I did. End of problem and no drama.

I always run the DI out from my amp to the PA when I am doing sound. I almost never need it, but it is "just in case".
 
#7
I seldom use an amp. Always DI'd to the FOH mixer. The girl who used to run sound at my church could never get the gain set without some distortion when I tried to use any type of preamp. I tried Sansamps, Eden, GK, MXR, etc, and always ended up with some distortion in my bass sound. I finally switched to using a Markbass Compressore and a Radial JDI, and she could work with my signal without the clipping.

Your guitar playing friend probably falls into the same category: someone who doesn't understand and has no clue about setting gain structure.
 
#10
Here's where the 'confusion' can happen. In general, if you go to a DI directly from your bass, the sound man can plug that into the XLR(mic) input on the board. If you're coming from a LINE level output from your amp into the board, it should be plugged into the LINE level input of the board(1/4" TRS). If you plug a line level signal into the XLR(mic) input, it will overload and clip the preamp of the mixer. Then, the signal will need to be lowered from the source(aka the level control on your amplifier) or, an external pad will need to be placed ahead of the mic preamp on the mixer. If there is ever any distortion, it is usually because the signal is overloarding the input on the mixer.
 
#11
So, he had it backwards. He insisted I come out of the line level (i.e. the effects send) but I used the instrument level tuner output instead to avoid the clipping you're talking about. The DI would would have been fine also and would have allowed more control over the signal.
 

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