Home recording setup - chain order?

[nemo]

Hello, I am about to record some bass track at home into Nuendo projects.
I have at my disposal the Radial JDI, Sadowsky outboard DI/Pre and M-audio Audiophile 24/96 internal soundcard.
In Nuendo I will then use Ampeg SVX.

What is the best order of pedals for the best sound?

A) bass -> Radial JDI -> Sadowsky pre -> soundcard
or
B) bass -> Sadowsky pre -> Radial JDI -> soundcard

The bass will be either P-bass or active Atelier Z.

Thanks. Other tips are welcomed too.

 

[SkiingLizard]

I'd just try it and see which you prefer

 

[EricF]

A...but you might not even need the JDI.

A DI is intended to go before a pre and doesn't output a line level (post pre), and since the 2496 card doesn't have a built-in pre, you'll need to feed it with a line level signal.

 

[nemo]

Thanks for the advices.
I will try various combinations and see what it sound like.
I just wanted to get some logic behind using DIs.
I have ordered the JDI, expecting its delivery probably in Monday and now it seems to me redundant for my home setup with Sad DI at hand.. I am bit confused. I thought that inclusion of JDI to the chain would "cure" the signal somehow, as I think the Jensen transformer output would do a better job than DI on Sad (albeit it is not bad).

 

[vicenzajay]

One does not need to get the signal to line level for many of the soundcards out there. I have had fantastic results going straight from my ME-50B (not line level...unity gain from the instrument) to all my computer soundcards. Excellent signal quality - if you need examples, pm me...I'll send you some files.

What the Boss unit does (and other units do) is buffer the signal (i.e. high input impedance prevents the loading of your pickups) and allow a nice quality signal (i.e. not stripped of highs) to your soundcard. Depending on your active bass's setup/specs - you probably could get decent results going direct to your soundcard, but I would strongly recommend some type of buffer between instrument and computer.

In addition, I have taken signal direct into my Raven Labs PHA-1 and out to the card....yes, the RL unit technically is a preamp; however, it has very little gain available.

I would suggest you use ASIO drivers for interfacing your card with Nuendo - especially if you plan on doing any layering or monitoring as latencies with native Windows drivers can get interesting on repass tracking. ASIO4all is a nice solution that works with most sound cards out there.

Jay