Do I need a DI?

[SmallAxeBigTree]

Just waiting on the arrival of a new passive bass for recording to replace (or go alongside) a lovely active bass I have which is let down by a crappy preamp.

I was wondering for recording the passive bass, is a DI necessary to get a great tone when recording?

How about the active bass with a crappy preamp - can this be 'awakened' by a DI, or will it still have issues?

I'm asking this as I already have Amplitube 4 and a Mackie Blackjack sound interface with a fairly average DI and just wanted to know if a DI like a Radial or Sansamp will give significantly better results.

An alternative option I'd like would be to mic a small practice amp costing around the same as a DI (if that is possible). What do you think would give a better result?

 

[fenix899]

This really depends on your recording setup. Since you're using the Mackie Blackjack, a DI is unnecessary as you can set the impedance specifically to tailor to the high impedance (i.e. Hi-Z) output of your passive bass.

In terms of tone, that's really a personal preference thing. Most DIs try to be as transparent as possible - that means, they will reproduce the source signal as accurately as possible. If you want something like a tube preamp to colour your sound, then that's a different story.

Regarding the active bass with a crappy preamp, you could probably try to fix it with some tone shaping tools (not necessary a DI - something like an EQ, preamp etc might help), but it's almost always better to fix issues at the source rather than trying to fix them in post.

Do bear in mind that the Radial DIs are transparent DIs while the Sansamp Bass DIs colour the sound. They serve different purposes and you've got to figure out what you want before you buy either of them. A high quality DI is almost always better at doing its job, but if it's just you wanting a good direct sound into your interface, a DI isn't necessary with your setup.