Strange DI-idea?

[Phyrexian]

Hello,

Quick introduction: I play in heavy stonerrock/metal band. My sound is very overdriven. My bass is a USA G&L L2000 into an Ampeg SVT-3 Pro; all the overdrive comes from the amp's preamp tubes.

Me and my band are playing quite a lot of gigs lately, most of the time there's no or little PA support. Although the last few gigs took place at bigger venues where the whole band was goin' through the PA.

Now I love my sound and especially how it sounds through my cabinet (Peavey 410TVX). It's THE sound I want people to hear in the mix.
On some gigs I used the SVT-3 Pro's DI-out and imho it's NO good at all; it sound harsch and scratchy; the overdriven sound isn't very musical unlike the sound coming out of the cabinet.

I need some opinions 'bout a solution for my live-sound feed to the PA:
1. Get a microphone: most likely a AKG D112. I've read very nice things 'bout these babies.
2. Get a DI-box with overdrive on it like the Sansamp BassDriver DI, the MXR M80 or the EBS MicroBass II. Pro: easy on setup. Con: no tubes
3. Now here's the 'stranger' idea: someone proposed this in another topic and I'd like to hear some idea's from you guys and gals:
Using a very good clean DI-box that's connected to my amp's SEND-jack from the fx-loop. This way the whole tube-preamp sound is maintained and send in a good way (thank to the DI) to the PA.
What do you think?

thanks in advance,

Bart

 

[AlembicPlayer]

Hi Bart,
the mic is a sure fire way to get your sound to the FOH.
I use a number of different DI's depending on what I want to do...another option for you might be a H&K Redbox DI. This is a speaker sim DI that can go between your poweramp and your speaker cab. This will get your full tone out to the FOH. These boxes sound real good with bass. I use them all the time.

 

[Phyrexian]

Hi Bart,
the mic is a sure fire way to get your sound to the FOH.
I use a number of different DI's depending on what I want to do...another option for you might be a H&K Redbox DI. This is a speaker sim DI that can go between your poweramp and your speaker cab. This will get your full tone out to the FOH. These boxes sound real good with bass. I use them all the time.

Thanks for the tip about the H&K box. Do these red gems work well with overdriven bass-sounds?

 

[AlembicPlayer]

Thanks for the tip about the H&K box. Do these red gems work well with overdriven bass-sounds?

sure...whatever tone is coming from your amp will go to the DI....because the redbox takes the signal from your amp speaker out. The box goes between the speaker out and the speaker cab (be sure to use a speaker cable) and then simulates either a 4x12 or combo cab. The 4x12 setting sounds huge on bass. I use one for my high signal in a bi-amp setup. I use a passive DI clean to my low signal.