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Passive Bass with Buffer into Passive DI

People in Sweden (and most of Western/Central Europe for that matter) generally speak very good English. I honestly don't see how a language barrier could become a problem at all. At least not for something as simple as doing a soundcheck and connecting a DI box. The ONLY Western/Central European country I've ever had any problems whatsoever communicating in English is France, and even there it's ok most of the time. In some (but not all) East European countries it can sometimes be a bit more challenging, but people working at live venues will generally speak decent English all over Europe.

With your setup the difference between the JDI and the RNDI is pretty much negligible from the FOH engineer's (or the audience's) perspective. If anything, the question you could perhaps ask yourself instead is whether you should use ANY of these two DI boxes, or a different DI box altogether. Both the JDI and the RNDI have a rather low output. Live sound engineers are typically used to DI boxes with a significantly higher output. This shouldn't matter at all as long as the mixer has decent quality micpres (and at venues in Europe they generally do). Still, if your objective is to make the job easier for the FOH engineer, you might want to consider using a DI box with a more "normal" output for live sound, but I really don't think it will matter at all.

As for active vs passive, all the most commonly used DI boxes for live sound in Europe are active. Phantom power won't be a problem. I have NEVER played a venue in Europe that couldn't provide phantom power for a DI box. In fact, if I personally had to choose active or passive for a live gig I would go active, because it's usually the allround safest choice. But I never actually have to make this choice because...

...I never bother bringing a DI box to a live gig at all anymore. I've played lots of gigs all over Western/Central Europe and I have never, ever needed to bring a DI box. The venue has ALWAYS provided plenty of good quality DI boxes. Typically BSS, Countryman or (pre-Behringer) Klart Teknik. All very good DI boxes. Will they sound the same as a JDI/RNDI? No, they're slightly different sounding, but not better or worse, just SLIGHTLY different. Will the difference matter? In a studio/recording setting, sure (although rather marginally). But at a live gig... not at all. No-one in the audience will hear a difference whatsoever.

It would be almost unthinkable for a decent venue in Sweden to not provide enough DI boxes for the entire band. It would be comparable to a venue that doesn't provide mics for the vocals/amps/drums. If anything, FOH engineers will probably prefer using DI boxes they know and trust. In my experience FOH engineers will nearly always prefer using the house DI boxes and tend to give people funny looks if they bring their own. If you're in doubt, check the technical specs for the venues. I'm pretty sure they will have plenty of DI boxes.

If you're using the house backline you might even find a DI box already connected and waiting for you on stage when you arrive. Changing to your JDI/RNDI will then just be an unnecessary distraction and a waste of time from the FOH engineer's perspective.

You can expect decent venues in Sweden to have professional FOH engineers, rather just "some guy" who doesn't know what he's doing. It will depend on the venue though. If it's small pub/cafe type of gigs, all bets are off, but those are the kinds of gigs where there might not even be PA (except for the vocals) so you wouldn't actually need a DI box for the bass. Anything from small club venues and upwards should have a sufficient number of good quality DI boxes and a decent, English speaking engineer.

If it was me, I would leave the JDI/RNDI at home and use the DI boxes provided by the venues. Less stuff to carry around and less stuff that can get stolen.
Thanks for the heads up. Its for a showcase/festival and theres a few other club dates as well, so I'm safely assuming there will be great sound equipment and engineers like youve described. This is making me feel a lot more at ease for sure. I live in rural Canada and here you don't always know what youre getting. I do think, perhaps, I will get my hands on a J48 or something *just incase*, and run my usual rig through it.

To be fair, the chances of me using backline for anything but stage monitoring are slim to none. I generally get a lot of compliments about my bass tone from other musicians and bass players, so I know whatever is coming out of my DI set up is decent. I've been.... less than happy with DIs straight from a lot of amps (yes, even pre-eq, I'm looking at you MarkBass) in the past so I'll try and avoid that if possible. Thats the whole reason I started to go with the JDI and RNDI in the first place, plus they both have sonic qualities I like. For instance I find the RNDI is kind of airy and has some interesting harmonic saturdaiton and the JDI sounds really thumpy with a nice treble roll off, plus I find hitting the JDI with a really hot signal sounds very cool. I expect this has something to do with the transformer because other passive boxes don't seem to do it. Honestly though, for something like this I'm just stoked to go and want to make it a good time for the artist thats taking me along, so I'll do my best to keep an open mind and work with the stage crew, which sounds like it'll be fairly easy from what everyone is saying.
 
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A variable high pass filter should be in every signal chain. The only red flag that I see in your signal chain is the 20 foot cable. Use one only as long as you need, in general shorter is better. If that has to be 20 feet, fine. Don’t loop it, snake it back and forth on the floor.
I often run a Broughton variable HPF. I tune it to the low E in every room. In fact, besides my tuner its the only pedal that lives in my case, just incase my other poopie get stolen or lost.
 
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Thanks for the heads up. Its for a showcase/festival and theres a few other club dates as well, so I'm safely assuming there will be great sound equipment and engineers like youve described. This is making me feel a lot more at ease for sure. I live in rural Canada and here you don't always know what youre getting. I do think, perhaps, I will get my hands on a J48 or something *just incase*, and run my usual rig through it.

To be fair, the chances of me using backline for anything but stage monitoring are slim to none. I generally get a lot of compliments about my bass tone from other musicians and bass players, so I know whatever is coming out of my DI set up is decent. I've been.... less than happy with DIs straight from a lot of amps (yes, even pre-eq, I'm looking at you MarkBass) in the past so I'll try and avoid that if possible. Thats the whole reason I started to go with the JDI and RNDI in the first place, plus they both have sonic qualities I like. For instance I find the RNDI is kind of airy and has some interesting harmonic saturdaiton and the JDI sounds really thumpy with a nice treble roll off, plus I find hitting the JDI with a really hot signal sounds very cool. I expect this has something to do with the transformer because other passive boxes don't seem to do it. Honestly though, for something like this I'm just stoked to go and want to make it a good time for the artist thats taking me along, so I'll do my best to keep an open mind and work with the stage crew, which sounds like it'll be fairly easy from what everyone is saying.
I love the tone of both the JDI and the RNDI too. They are two of my favorites bass guitar DI boxes for recording, but I would never bother bringing them to a gig.

Unless something totally unexpected happens you can expect top quality DI boxes and a professional, English speaking engineer at a festival gig in Sweden (and yes, I have played gigs in Sweden). You can expect everything to be professionally organized, and that the quality of the provided backline/PA is very good. Club gigs will of course always vary a bit depending on the club, but in Sweden it will generally be very good, with decent backline, good quality DI boxes and a competent English speaking engineer who knows the room and the equipment.

You mentioned the J48. This is also a very nice DI box, but it will SLIGHTLY dull the highs of the signal coming out of the thru output (to your amp) due it's rather low input impedance. Personally I have never found this to be a problem with bass guitar (guitar would be a different matter...) but there was a recent thread here on Talkbass about this, where someone couldn't use the J48 with his setup because of this. The Radial PZ-DI, which is basically a J48 with different functions, will enable you to change the input impedance to 1meg, which will (at least in theory) eliminate this problem, although I doubt whether it would really be a problem for most bass players.

Of course, if you have any doubts at all it won't hurt to bring your own DI box, but I don't think you will need it.
 
Don't overthink this...
+1,000,000 :thumbsup:

A variable high pass filter should be in every signal chain.

I’ve joined an evil cult and I can't escape! I tried to throw my fdeck into the river but every time I get back to my room and it would be sitting on the floor dripping wet. :roflmao:

Fo pro touring there will already be HPFs on the mixer.
 
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You mentioned the J48. This is also a very nice DI box, but it will SLIGHTLY dull the highs of the signal coming out of the thru output (to your amp) due it's rather low input impedance. Personally I have never found this to be a problem with bass guitar (guitar would be a different matter...) but there was a recent thread here on Talkbass about this, where someone couldn't use the J48 with his setup because of this. The Radial PZ-DI, which is basically a J48 with different functions, will enable you to change the input impedance to 1meg, which will (at least in theory) eliminate this problem, although I doubt whether it would really be a problem for most bass players.
I’ve always heard the JDI has more rolled off highs than the J48, never the other way around. Either way I don’t think it would hurt to take a couple Radial boxes with me even if it’s just to rep Canadian made gear! I’ll likely take my empress compressor, and broughton HPF, parametric eq, and studio boost mini along as well so I’ll be rocking an entirely Canadian pedal rig!

I think the RNDI is my favourite sound though it’s just such a great tool. I’m actually starting to prefer my DI rig tone to my old SVT 3 Pro sound to be honest.
 
I’ve always heard the JDI has more rolled off highs than the J48, never the other way around. Either way I don’t think it would hurt to take a couple Radial boxes with me even if it’s just to rep Canadian made gear! I’ll likely take my empress compressor, and broughton HPF, parametric eq, and studio boost mini along as well so I’ll be rocking an entirely Canadian pedal rig!

I think the RNDI is my favourite sound though it’s just such a great tool. I’m actually starting to prefer my DI rig tone to my old SVT 3 Pro sound to be honest.

With a buffered signal going into the J48, there will be no loss of highs on the XLR or Thru jacks. There is a noticeable loss with a passive Strat or a Jazz w/fresh rounds if you're going for a super bright and snappy high end, but that's not an issue with your other pedals in the path.

The lows on the J48 are fantastic. I've been A/B-ing my J48 against a Countryman Type 85 and the J48 just sounds bigger, thicker, and warmer when the gains are normalized - especially the B-string. The Countryman is no slouch, but the J48 tickles my ears more. I've never used an RNDI, so I can't compare to that.
 
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To be honest, I'd be more inclined to bring a Radial Stage bug passive SB-1 (Active) or SB-2 (Passive) which are .55 lbs vs. the 1.55 lbs of the JDI or RNDI. For touring, you probably don't need one. And, I'd rather not lug around an extra pound on tour for the oddball situation where you need one.
 
In a studio critical listening environment you might be able to hear a difference between an active and a passive DI when isolated. But in a live stage mix you're splitting the least important hair on that entire stage. Show up with a box labeled Radial or Neve and the sound person literally won't think twice about it unless it's buzzing. Plug in; line check; move on to the drums. Heck, they'll probably insist on using their own DI anyway, cuz sound guys always seem to have trust issues like that.

I will add though, the Radial JDI can be used to prop open doors, chock a tire on the van, hammer down a loose nail on the stage, or knock out a surly patron who keeps shouting at you to play Freebird. They're bulletproof.

Also also, as a fellow Canadian Broughton fan playing country music, I highly recommend you pick up a P15 and call that your DI ;).
 
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Sadly no, I sold it to fund some other toob goodness, but I will definitely consider buying another one some day.
Resurrection! Curious to know what you’re using now

So, long story short, I wound up bringing a P bass with Fralin 5% overwound pickup, flats (labella105), a strobostomp, and a… j48! Had one given to me by a local sound guy/buddy. Honestly, I didn’t even feel the need for a preamp using this rig, and house compression was adequate everywhere I played. I’m honestly floored at how good this ultra simple rig was and I’ve been using it a lot since.

I did recently pickup a BSS AR116 which has proven to be a pretty neat DI as well.

Looked into the Broughton P15 but it’s a little outta my price range and also a little too big for my liking right now.
 
And no language trouble in Sweden? FWIW the input impedance of a J48 is not meaningfully higher than that of a JDI at 220k Ohms. With a 1k input impedance mic pre the JDI has an input impedance of 144k Ohms. Whereas something like a Countryman Type 85 has an input impedance of 10M Ohms. The J48 is high enough for most passive instruments to not get loaded down much but it's still like oddly low for an active direct box.
 
And no language trouble in Sweden? FWIW the input impedance of a J48 is not meaningfully higher than that of a JDI at 220k Ohms. With a 1k input impedance mic pre the JDI has an input impedance of 144k Ohms. Whereas something like a Countryman Type 85 has an input impedance of 10M Ohms. The J48 is high enough for most passive instruments to not get loaded down much but it's still like oddly low for an active direct box.
No language issues. There was always someone who spoke enough English to make it work.

I honestly don’t know what input impedance even means so I’m not sure how it affects my signal?
 
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