I purchased a
Behringer P1 thinking I could use one of my DI boxes to feed my bass into one channel and get a monitor mix from the board in the other. After setting it up, the output is super quiet and after a lot of digging (can't find anything helpful in the Behringer documentation) I found that it needs line level inputs as mic level won't cut it.
Is there anything in a DI-like format (preferably 9v) that can amplify my 1/4" instrument signal to XLR line level or have my plans of mounting this on my board gone out the window?
You could get a pedal Preamp/DIs that has balanced line level output. For example take a look at the Mesa Subway Preamp DIs. They have a mic level DI, and line level preamp out. Both are XLR with a ground lift:
Here are links to both models:
Mesa Boogie Subway Bass DI Preamp | MESA/Boogie®
MESA/Boogie®
I would not personally recommend the solution you are pursuing since I believe your mix will hard pan the bass to one side and your monitor mix to the other side.
Here is a better solution IMHO, providing the audio-tech has two channels that can be dedicated to you. Use a regular DI to send you bass to FOH. Have the audio tech build a nice stereo monitor mix for you with your bass and the kick drum in the center. If you sing, your voice should also be in the center. Everything else should be panned off center in 3-5dB increments up to about 15dB L/R. The only thing I would pan any harder than 15dB or 20dB max is stereo reverb. You can hard pan stereo reverb because it is dense and continuous from L to R.
The reason you don't use hard panning is to protect your hearing. When you hear a sound source equally in both ears you get binaural summing and the sound is perceived as 6dB louder. If you only hear that sound in one ear you have to turn it up 6dB for it to be perceived at the same volume.
Using a stereo mix also helps protect your ears. When everything is jumbled in the center of the mix, it becomes much more difficult to distinguish one instrument from the next. In order to hear better the tendency is typically to crank the volume. When all of the instruments are panned out in natural horizon it becomes much easier to hear each instrument, so we don't have to turn up as much.
Low frequencies are omni-directional, so IMHO the lowest frequency instruments should always be panned dead center as that will create the most natural sound.
If running through the main mixer is not an option, consider getting a small personal mixer with a High Z instrument level input. Plug your bass into a High Z input and plug the monitor mix into one of the line level inputs. Then you can at least adjust the panning to a more appropriate value. You don't want hard panning, but also you don't want full mono either. The output of the personal mixer will be line level XLR suitable for the P1.
Anyway...hope of these ideas help.
Good luck!
