Tube DI vs. Mic'd Cab: What Am I Missing?

[DJ Bebop]

I'm usually posting in other parts of TB, but I thought this would be the best place to ask:

Why does my Demeter Tube DI box sound thin and peak-y compared to a simple Sennheiser dynamic mic on a low volume cab?

Granted, I'm at the *very* beginning of an engineer's understanding, but to my ear, it's actively worse to include the DI (I also played around with some Compression and EQ plugins, but I'm also not using a ProTools-level DAW).

Signal path:

Stingray (picked) -> Broughton RFE (to mimic a Wal filter-based pick attack) -> Demeter DI. The dirt and rest of effects come after this and go into my amp, so the DI is getting clean with some EQ shaping before hitting the interface.

The downstream amp is also Demeter, which gets rave responses from sound guys for the on-board DI (basically the same topography of the direct box, just without EQ options).

I know producers say they take both DI and cab tracks for mixing, but it seems like the cab has way more weight and character

Out of phase?

 

[bodgiebass]

It's worth doing play practice through just the DI into your monitors. No amp, no cab, no pedals. Just your bass via your recording setup monitors.
Adjust your stingray tones and maybe playing style to sound well both solo'd and with tracks that you are working on. This way you are playing for a recording rather than immediate live.

 

[DanAdams]

My two cents:
Beware of devices with tubes that are not supposed to have tubes.
A random single tube thrown into a circuit is far more effective in melting musicians' brains than it is at making bass sound better.

 

[_One//Man//Mutiny_]

Bypassing the RFE definitely helps knock down 80% of the peaks (but kills the filter attack vibe I'd like to capture). Tone controls on the Stingray are treble (neutral), mids (a bit scooped, nothing crazy), bass (a bit bumped for girth, but not boomy). My strings are also super dead so that's probably contributing to the blunt peaks vs. fresh zing.

Put the RFE after the DI? If you like what’s coming out of the speaker and not the DI, move that pedal after the DI to still capture it on the mic and the DI sound is as if the RFE isn’t engaged

 

[musicmansf]

Put the RFE after the DI? If you like what’s coming out of the speaker and not the DI, move that pedal after the DI to still capture it on the mic and the DI sound is as if the RFE isn’t engaged

Probably what I'll end up doing. Just have to re-create the pick attack filters via plugins.

 

[musicmansf]

My two cents:
Beware of devices with tubes that are not supposed to have tubes.
A random single tube thrown into a circuit is far more effective in melting musicians' brains than it is at making bass sound better.

Ha, I have a stereo preamp with a noisy tube I've been meaning to replace, but the Demeter stuff is definitely bulletproof tube design.

 

[musicmansf]

Out of phase?

Likely had it lined up correctly as I heard the same qualities when bouncing ISO between the tracks, but I'll double check to make sure.

 

[dkelley]

I hope this isn't addressed already or that you haven't already moved WAY past this point LoL, but here's my thoughts:

A tube DI isn't a cab/microphone modeler. And a cabinet doesn't add harmonics like a tube DI can, potentially.

Two different things. If there IS a cab emulation choice in the DI, then make sure it is turned on, but even then many "cab emulators" are simply LPFs, not useful miked/cab emulations.

Get a cab emulation pedal, ideally with uploadable IRs if you can't find one designed for bass (cuz guitar cabs probably aren't your thing, although some of them sound amazing to my ears)... and put in your signal chain, and voila.

 

[silky smoove]

Likely had it lined up correctly as I heard the same qualities when bouncing ISO between the tracks, but I'll double check to make sure.

Time alignment and phase relationships are not the same thing.