MESA Walkabout DI for recording?

[sumeursault]

I'm wondering how usable the DI on my beloved Walkabout is for serious recording situations. I'd love to get some feedback from you guys&gals that do a lot of session work.

I'm trying to get my home recording rig tooled up. Thanks!

 

[space pulse]

I'm curious, as well. I've been recording bass with my mixer plugged into my computer via the mixer's headphone jack and it sounds okay when I do super distorted pieces, but my clean tones are pretty stale. I was thinking about using the DI from my Walkabout into the mixer to improve the sound. I just need to pick up an XLR cable and I can give it a shot. I'll let you know how that goes when I get around to it. Meursault42, have you set your walkabout up for recording?

 

[rodl2005]

WA DI is. ..imo...one of the best things about the WA! I haven't used it much for recording. ..only coz I don't DO that much recording. But a friend of mine has a WA in his ( pro level ) studio as he thinks it just that good. He usually runs a mic on the WA Scout 12" speaker and DI's it as well. He's got great results from what I've heard.

 

[sumeursault]

Yes, I do use the WA DI for recording. I think it sounds really great. I'm not sure how it stacks up in terms of signal-to-noise ratio when compared to the high end DIs out there. But to me, the overall tone is great. Warm and focused without too much hyped low end.

 

[two fingers]

Yes, the sound quality is plenty good for recordings.

Here's the thing. You need to understand that the physics of speakers vs a recording is very different. What I mean is this. "Your tone" that sounds like the left hand of Gawd on a 20 foot Steinway through your speakers may need to be tweaked for recording. The WA has a powerful EQ section so that shouldn't be an issue.

I run a 15" Scout combo. I had great results a couple of times recording for a church using three channels. One DI clean box straight into the board right offor of my P bass. One DI from the Walkabout. One mic (and I don't recall which mic) about three feet in front of the cab with a blanket draped over the combo going over to a chair right behind the mic (pretty much creating a very dry blanket tunnel).

We ended up using mostly the Walkabout DI for most songs. However, a couple of times we blended in more of one of the other tracks to help it fit the mood/mix of the song. So, if you have the tracks available, give that a shot.

 

[MuthaFunk]

My band Quadrafonics just did a new album release called Assemble on this past Friday. It's available on Bandcamp or iTunes. The whole thing was recorded through my Mesa WA DI! We went into a legit studio to get the bed tracks down and I had plenty of options. The WA DI was perfect! I used a JDI for a clean channel right off the bass but in mixing noticed I never dialed it in. Actually, one track that I used a UBass on I used the JDI but that's it. Everything else the Walkabout.

I'm at work with internet restriction now otherwise I'd post a link.

Check it out!

Quadrafonics Assemble

 

[pickles]

It can hang with the best DIs out there.

 

[pfschim]

I have recorded numerous times with the WA DI and it has always gotten thumbs up from sound engineers.
I have use it directly (DI only) and DI + mic'd cab, both with good results.
go for it.

 

[Chef]

It's a great DI. I used it lots when I had one.
If you can, track a mic too, so you can blend them, if you're into that.

If I recall; this was just the DI; click around, there's a bunch of different tones there that were just the result of the blend knob and hand position.