Double Bass Good DI box

[Francois Blais]

Here's the deal in a nutshell: no DI's are not used just for recording. In fact, they are just as often used for live sound and to improve the sound out of your rig. But whichever application they are used for, a good DI has the main impact of putting the outgoing signal at the proper impedance for its desination - and also outputting a balanced outgoing signal. A lot of upright bass pups in particular don't have the proper impedance for amps designed for electric bass - a good DI rectifies this [snip]

Lately I changed the pickup system on my Carruthers EUB.
In fact I changed the bridge and put a Barcus Berry piezo on it.
I'm using my Tubeworks 4001 DI (modified to raise the input impedance to 3.3Meg) as a buffer between the pup and my iAmp600 head. Although the EA's passive input impedance is 1Meg, I found it somewhat too low to get the proper tone from the pup.
The DI has a balanced XLR output for PA or mixing board, and a 1/4" jack to plug into the EA head.

 

[kwd]

But whichever application they are used for, a good DI has the main impact of putting the outgoing signal at the proper impedance for its desination - and also outputting a balanced outgoing signal. A lot of upright bass pups in particular don't have the proper impedance for amps designed for electric bass - a good DI rectifies this.

Thank you for the response. Have you not described a preamp(impedance matching)? Since my amp has a 'preamp out' output that allows me to go into a mixing board, what am I gaining by buying a DI, vice a preamp? I think what I'm missing here is that these so called DIs are more than that. They're really DI + eq + preamp + notch filter etc.

 

[Francois Blais]

Thank you for the response. Have you not described a preamp(impedance matching)? Since my amp has a 'preamp out' output that allows me to go into a mixing board, what am I gaining by buying a DI, vice a preamp? I think what I'm missing here is that these so called DIs are more than that. They're really DI + eq + preamp + notch filter etc.

Typically, a DI performs impedance matching, allows to plug balanced/unbalanced units together, and has unity gain.
(on my Tubeworks 4001 DI, I can plug in my bass, but I can also plug the power amp's output; there's a selector for the input. The "speaker" choice has a negative gain.)
Some preamps can do this, but they also feature variable gain, tone control and/or EQ.
A DI is usually a very simple unit, while a preamp may feature complex functions.

 

[Vunz]

I just ordered a SPL Gainstation which is a mic preamp-cum-di box. I will let you know how it sounds as soon as I get it!

Vincent

 

[NeedMoreBass]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the Radial JDI. Awesome DI!!

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[Jeff Bonny]

I use a Raven Labs PMB-II and it works fine. I use it with my SWR Super Redhead or a cheapo active monitor - when I'm too lazy to cary the RH ;-) QUOTE]

I'll second the raven Labs PMB recommendation. It's a very versatile piece of gear.

 

[Marcus Johnson]

Third that. I love mine too.

 

[godoze]

Another vote for Sansamp here. I love mine especially with the built in EQ.

 

[tornadobass]

Something to watch...some DI boxes jump the signal out to the amp, so that there's no buffering that direction and the tone is affected. Last weekend, a sound guy asked me to plug my BugBass...it uses a BassMax pickup...into a Countryman active DI...it's a high quality box.

But the signal to my amp was thin and weak when I tried that, probably because the Bug doesn't have an internal preamp. My usual solution is to use my amp's DI...in that case, an SWR SM-400S. In the studio, this has been a very good solution...nice, fat tone, both in the amp and the speakers. Works well at gigs, too.