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Good but reasonably priced DI ?

Jim Nazium

Jim Nazium

Jun 19, 2007
2,622
3,890
Loudoun County VA (DC area)
#1
I just started playing in a church band that uses IEMs, no amps on stage. The other bass player owns a REDDI tube DI that sounds great but cost like $900. If he's not there I use one of the generic passive DIs. It works, but the output isn't nearly as hot as the REDDI so the sound guy doesn't like the change.

Would the Sansamp Bass Driver DI be better? That would also give some me some EQ and drive which would be nice. Anything else worth considering in the $200 price range?
 
#4
It'll be tough with a REDDI as your baseline for comparison. I sold my REDDI and went HX Stomp for a few reasons. While the Stomp is very versatile, sounds great and 1/2 the price, the REDDI was the best bass tone and feel I've ever had. Period.

I'm a fan of Genzler products. They have a new preamp/DI pedal that looks pretty sweet for $299.

MAGELLAN Preamp/DI Pedal - Genzler Amplification

I've never been a SansAmp fan. If you don't need/want and eq options, it's hard to beat a Radial DI. Pro, JDI, etc.
 
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#5
Jim Nazium said:
I just started playing in a church band that uses IEMs, no amps on stage. The other bass player owns a REDDI tube DI that sounds great but cost like $900. If he's not there I use one of the generic passive DIs. It works, but the output isn't nearly as hot as the REDDI so the sound guy doesn't like the change.

Would the Sansamp Bass Driver DI be better? That would also give some me some EQ and drive which would be nice. Anything else worth considering in the $200 price range?
Click to expand...
Define good?
IME - there’s going to be a huge [quality] difference between a REDDI, Noble, Khan/SVTDI (all active tube DI’s) and any tone shaping box that happens to have a DI [XLR] output. Basically.. pure DI vs tone shaping w/ DI. They are NOT equivalents.
For pure DI, consensus seems to be that Radial is the goto in your price range.
However, on the DI threads, everyone has an opinion on “good”.
If you want tone shaping - Pandora’s box!
 
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#6
Jim Nazium said:
Would the Sansamp Bass Driver DI be better? That would also give some me some EQ and drive which would be nice. Anything else worth considering in the $200 price range?
Click to expand...

NickFromNY said:
The Bass Driver is nice, I like the Q Strip better from Tech 21. More versitle and warmer sound in my opinion. A Countryman type 85 is a good all around DI, as are the Radial JDI (passive) or J48 (active) DI's.
Click to expand...

I've been an active church bassist for the last 10 yrs. We have a dual-channel setup for the bass with the SansAmp BDDI (v2) and the Radial J48 so the sound tech has full control over how the two channels (effected and clean) are blended. I also own the Tech 21 VT Bass DI and the Q\Strip DI. They all work well for what I do.
 
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#7
The REDDI manual says the max output level for the XLR is +22dBu...this is a very hot line level signal. Most DIs put out mic level.
upload_2023-10-5_13-9-26.png


There are some preamp/DIs that might work.

Subway D800+
upload_2023-10-5_12-57-55.png


The DI out is mic level, but the balanced preamp out is line level. The Max Output is listed as +12dBu, compared to +22dBu max for the REDDI.
upload_2023-10-5_13-2-25.png


It's not clear what the nominal output is for the REDDI, so the Mesa may resolve the problem. At the very minimum it will greatly mitigate the problem.

Mesa made a regular and a plus model Subway preamp/DI. These have been discontinued, but you should be able to find a used one.

Whatever you get, you need something with a relatively hot line-level out...so check the specs.
 
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#8
Caveman BP1. My sound guy at church LOVES IT!!! Better than going out my Mesa D800+ which he really likes too.
 
#13
SteveC said:
It'll be tough with a REDDI as your baseline for comparison. I sold my REDDI and went HX Stomp for a few reasons. While the Stomp is very versatile, sounds great and 1/2 the price, the REDDI was the best bass tone and feel I've ever had. Period.

I'm a fan of Genzler products. They have a new preamp/DI pedal that looks pretty sweet for $299.

MAGELLAN Preamp/DI Pedal - Genzler Amplification

I've never been a SansAmp fan. If you don't need/want and eq options, it's hard to beat a Radial DI. Pro, JDI, etc.
Click to expand...
love this pedal
 
#15
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#16
At most of the gigs I've played this year, we had professional sound guys setting everything up. Just for fun, I noted the DI boxes the different venues used. So recently I've played through these DI boxes:

Radial Engineering SB-1 €95
Radial Engineering JDI €277
LD Systems LDI 02 €45
Behringer DI100 Ultra-Di €44

They all sounded pretty much the same to me. If I had to choose one, I'd probably get the Radial Engineering SB-1 for €95, for no particular reason.
 
#18
I have four DI boxes I use depending on the gig/overall setup:

Radial Pro (ProDI - Radial Engineering)
Pure DI (no EQ whatsoever), well within your budget.

Broughton Messenger Jr (https://www.broughtonaudio.com/product-page/messenger-jr)
Pre/EQ, includes a very useful L/HPF, presently not in stock, at the limit of your budget

Fishman Platinum Pro (Fishman | Platinum Pro EQ/DI Analog Preamp)
Pre/EQ, lots of control including HPF, tuner and compressor, slightly above your budget (but you can get rid of other pedals)

Broughton P15 Tube Preamp (https://www.broughtonaudio.com/product-page/P15)
Pre/EQ, well above your budget (but cheaper than the REDDI), an amazing reproduction (tube included) of the Ampeg B15 preamp section

I'm happy with all of them, but these are clearly very different animals.
 
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