Where to place DI Box in my chain

[Sifl]

So this is how my rig is set up: Bass>Tuner>Sansamp>Effects Return on my LMII>Cab.

One of the sound guys we use on occasion likes to use a DI box instead of the DI on the amp or miking the cab. We had the DI box inbetween the Sansamp and the Effects Return. So I figured what was coming out of the PA was strictly Sansamp.

Where can I put the DI box so that it captures the tone from the amp? Is this possible or do I just have to trust the sound guy? Does this make sense?

Thank you!

 

[totallybacan]

What tone from the amp if you are going straight to a SS power section? And why don't you use the DI from the Sansamp? That would seem so much easier. If you do want to capture the very slightly colored sound of the power section, you could find a DI box that goes between amp and cab. I still think using the sansamp bddi is the best idea

 

[Sifl]

The Little Mark II's Effects Loop is wired parallel, so I can still use it's tone controls. I boost the lows and mids on the amp and I have the Sansamp on the "fat tube" setting to dirty up the clean sound of the Little Mark. I just want the tone coming out of the cab to be what the crowd hears through the PA. Direct from the Sansamp is just too trebley.

 

[JustDavid]

The tone from your amp will not be the tone that you hear: your cab & the room will also contribute to that. Usually EQ adjustments on the amp deal with these to get you back to Your Tone. Plus FOH is using a different cab that will interact with the room slightly differently. It's easier for him to EQ the sound out of your Sansamp (if that's only EQ'ed for "sound" & not for "cab+room"). That's why Sound might not want an amp DI signal.

I'd be a bit surprised if a good & experienced sound tech would bother adding a DI after a SansAmp, but they aren't all good nor experienced.

 

[JimmyM]

The Little Mark II's Effects Loop is wired parallel, so I can still use it's tone controls. I boost the lows and mids on the amp and I have the Sansamp on the "fat tube" setting to dirty up the clean sound of the Little Mark. I just want the tone coming out of the cab to be what the crowd hears through the PA. Direct from the Sansamp is just too trebley.

Yeah, but a soundman can take care of that. I used to like running DI from the amp for the same reason, and then I AB'd the DI in my LMII with a Countryman Type 85, and the Countryman blows it away. So I think it's better to either take the DI out of the Sansamp or run another DI after the Sansamp and let the soundman worry about EQ.

 

[two fingers]

The problem is that most of us set our stage tone to something that sounds like pure mud out front (don't get me wrong, the tone may sound GREAT on stage, but that SAME tone going through huge PA cabs will sound like crap...at best). Being a sound man, I can tell you that most of the time, the tone right off of the bass sounds better than all of our thousands of dollars of gear on stage. (This is coming from a guy who owns an SWR stack AND an Ampeg stack). If you are doing a larger venue, have him mic your cab and blend the two if he likes. Or maybe have him get a direct signal off of the bass AND the BDDI (again, two channels blended). Other than that, just trust him. I'm a sound guy AND a bassist, so you KNOW I'm going to have the bass sounding GREAT out front.

 

[JimmyM]

The problem is that most of us set our stage tone to something that sounds like pure mud out front (don't get me wrong, the tone may sound GREAT on stage, but that SAME tone going through huge PA cabs will sound like crap...at best). Being a sound man, I can tell you that most of the time, the tone right off of the bass sounds better than all of our thousands of dollars of gear on stage. (This is coming from a guy who owns an SWR stack AND an Ampeg stack). If you are doing a larger venue, have him mic your cab and blend the two if he likes. Or maybe have him get a direct signal off of the bass AND the BDDI (again, two channels blended). Other than that, just trust him. I'm a sound guy AND a bassist, so you KNOW I'm going to have the bass sounding GREAT out front.

What if we don't get you?

BTW, I disagree that right off the bass sounds the best, though I'll pretty much do anything it takes to get through a gig without incident these days and it always sounds fine to my ears.