Straight recording vs DI out

[Sparkl]

Hi there!

I haven't yet found the finances to afford myself a proper pro-grade DI for recording my bass guitar so I am plugging it mostly straight into my TLA 5051 channel strip preamp which then goes straight into my focusrite scarlett 8i6. I tend to get fairly great results with it but am wondering whether there are any technical benefits plugging the bass in my Ampeg SVT3Pro and then routing its DI out into the before-mentioned 5051.

Is it a good praxis from a technical POV or is it better to just go straight until I get myself a standalone DI (my logic here is that the more unnecessary stages I plug into, the more the quality of signal suffers from it).

Or is it a better praxis to just record straight and then reamp with a good plugin if needed for tonal character purposes?

My desire is to just capture the best bass base possible to then be able to work with in a digital environment (daw).

Would appreciate some pro technician input.



Best regards,
Sparkl

 

[el murdoque]

Basically, all a DI does is convert the signal to a symmetrical one. This way, you will get less noise from the cable running from the DI into the board. When that cable is a short one and there is not much interference from things, a DI itself will help you none. I used a DI when recording at home for another reason:
There is quite some difference between recording a signal that is already EQ'ed via the amp vs. one that is not.
I use the DI box straight after the bass to record a clean tone, just in case. Then, I use whatever is at hand - when I can get my hands on a very good mic, I will mic the cab and when no one has a Neumann lying around, I'll just use the DI out (set to post) of the amp. That gives me, under ideal circumstances, three signals.
One straight from the bass, totally uncolored and totally boring, which is to be used just in case.
The second one from the amp, with that touch of tube magic.
The third one mic'ed from the cab.

 

[Sparkl]

Basically, all a DI does is convert the signal to a symmetrical one. This way, you will get less noise from the cable running from the DI into the board. When that cable is a short one and there is not much interference from things, a DI itself will help you none. I used a DI when recording at home for another reason:
There is quite some difference between recording a signal that is already EQ'ed via the amp vs. one that is not.
I use the DI box straight after the bass to record a clean tone, just in case. Then, I use whatever is at hand - when I can get my hands on a very good mic, I will mic the cab and when no one has a Neumann lying around, I'll just use the DI out (set to post) of the amp. That gives me, under ideal circumstances, three signals.
One straight from the bass, totally uncolored and totally boring, which is to be used just in case.
The second one from the amp, with that touch of tube magic.
The third one mic'ed from the cab.

Thanks for your reply!

Unfortunately I have no proper bass mics for cab micing and though I would love to record my cabs it just isn't an option atm. What I could do though, is record 2 signals, one SVT3Pro post EQ straight into the interface and another straight into the 5051.

Although the 5051 already has tubes in it. Gotta test it one day.

 

[silky smoove]

I am plugging it mostly straight into my TLA 5051 channel strip preamp which then goes straight into my focusrite scarlett 8i6.

The TLA 5051 is already doing what a DI would do, and likely more given that it has onboard controls and is not just converting a high impedance signal to a low impedance one with a balanced output. This assumes you're either using an XLR or TRS cable from the TLA and not the 1/4" outputs with a TS cable. Summit Audio makes excellent gear, especially for the price, so I wouldn't worry about using anything else if you're already getting good results.

just record straight and then reamp with a good plugin if needed for tonal character purposes?

Reamping isn't done with plugins. To reamp you take a signal that exists in the digital environment, send it through a physical output to a reamp box and then to an amplifier which you then mic or grab via DI. Once you're using plugins you're beyond the process of reamping, unless you're using the plugins to modify the signal before sending it out to an amplifier.

 

[Sparkl]

The TLA 5051 is already doing what a DI would do, and likely more given that it has onboard controls and is not just converting a high impedance signal to a low impedance one with a balanced output. This assumes you're either using an XLR or TRS cable from the TLA and not the 1/4" outputs with a TS cable. Summit Audio makes excellent gear, especially for the price, so I wouldn't worry about using anything else if you're already getting good results.


Reamping isn't done with plugins. To reamp you take a signal that exists in the digital environment, send it through a physical output to a reamp box and then to an amplifier which you then mic or grab via DI. Once you're using plugins you're beyond the process of reamping, unless you're using the plugins to modify the signal before sending it out to an amplifier.

Thanks. Yeah by reamping I meant "reamping" with amp plugins in a DAW. CLA "re-amp" simulation is pretty good for a plugin honestly.

But yes, regarding the 5051, those were my exact thoughts. Just wasn't sure whether I am missing an important piece of gear to get the best out of my current gear.

 

[silky smoove]

But yes, regarding the 5051, those were my exact thoughts. Just wasn't sure whether I am missing an important piece of gear to get the best out of my current gear.

You're not missing anything. You have a high quality front end with that TLA and it's giving you results that you like. I'd save your money and just keep using.

 

[ofajen]

There is really nothing intrinsically better sounding about a DI. It mainly exists because you had to have that for live sound where you are on stage and have a long run to the low impedance, differential input of a console microphone input.

I have made hundreds of good recordings of electric guitar, electric bass, Stick, synths and many other sources fed into one of my Korg PME-40X pedalboards. Sometimes with an effect or processor engaged but often with all slots bypassed, just so I have a short cable run and get a buffered signal through the 1 MOhm input on the front of the pedalboard. Your channel strip will have essentially the same circuitry and it is very friendly to an instrument input.

Otto

 

[hbarcat]

The reason I like to DI is to get a variety of sounds that just going from the raw bass tone doesn't provide.

I've used various standalone DI's like the several Tech21 boxes and often use the REDDI tube pre. But there are times when I want a specific tone and prefer to go post EQ from my Ampeg SVT3 pro or Mesa M2000. They each have a distinctive character that isn't a achievable any other way.

As others have pointed out, it's never a bad idea to record 2 tracks simultaneously, with the other track being a raw bass sound. You can always add tone and character to that track with your DAW plugins but you can't easily take away a tone from a DI that is highly colored.

 

[Microbass]

Every recording I’ve done in the last decade has been the DI from the amp (TE V4) with whatever flavour of pedals I’m using and in some cases a mic’d cab. The last few I’ve taken a “raw” feed from the Behringer BDI pedal for safety but generally hasn’t been used.

I’ll be using the amp DI again for main flavour, with a DI from the X7 and a couple of mics on the cabs. Might throw down a few extra mics and a raw DI. We have 16 channels.. why not!

 

[Real Soon]

I think in your case, the benefit of adding a track via the amp head's DI is the extra color it will impart.

That said, even if all you've got is a standard instrument mic, sticking that in front of a cab juiced by your SVT3Pro will give you a track that has tons of character and a natural low EQ rolloff that will make mixing with the 5051's signal a breeze.

I've arrived at the conclusion that if I can record DI + cab, using a mic for character rather than low-freq bandwidth is the way to go. Something like an AKG D112 in particular would just take away from the cab's salient tone; I'd even take a Shure SM58 vocal mic instead.