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Who supplies the D.I.?
- Thread starter bass12
- Start date
Like others, I always have my Radial JDI with me. It's never "wrong", and it's good to have if the house doesn't have one, offers a crappy DI, or wants you to go through a preamp DI (BDDI, Aguilar Tone Hammer) that is redundant with your other gear. Over the years I have realized sending the cleanest signal to board is usually the best approach, and the good ole passive Radial gets it done (and I'm pretty sure is bomb proof).
I've used my JDI for years. I play active basses and have had some sound guys complain that my level is too low. This is with a band that plays corporate events and weddings and we basically have a roatation of FOH guys. I'm sick of dealing with questions like "do you have a pad on right now?" when I can't see why the level from an active bass through a JDI wouldn't be high enough. Wondering if I should just get a J48...I love my JDI.
Pro tip: The JDI can play at speaker level too and has built in EQ filtering to simulate a mic'd cab. Useful for tube amps, or in case your guitar player forgot to bring his backup mic.
Although I've never played a gig where the house did not have a DI box, I never use the house DI box. More often than not, it's a really lousy one that has seen way too much action for its own good.
Assuming they won't mike the cab (and sometimes they will, if I'm lucky), I either provide my own DI box or use the DI output of my amp. Normally, I'll use the one on the amp.
Assuming they won't mike the cab (and sometimes they will, if I'm lucky), I either provide my own DI box or use the DI output of my amp. Normally, I'll use the one on the amp.
bass12 - it's weird to me but my MIM Fender active deluxe Jazz V has a lower signal then several of my passive basses (especially P basses) - with the EQ set "flat" anyway.
I bring a Firefly to every show. It saved my ass when my amp went out on a gig. I blew a speaker in a combo amp and I could not use the DI from the amp without hearing the blown speaker.
I've been carrying one in my case ever since the first time I showed up without enough amp for a show.
In an ideal world, a sound company or house engineer should have a couple solid DIs. It's a pretty standard piece of equipment that anybody who calls them a sound engineer should have - just like stands, a snake, XLR cables, and a decent set of drum mics. Of course, we don't live in an ideal world. 
I do carry my own DI, because:
1. I've been in situations where the sound engineer didn't have a DI handy. Even though it may not always get used with my bass, I've used it for times when the engineer didn't have another DI for the acoustic guitar.
2. I carry a Radial JDI, which is probably better than 80% of the DI boxes being carried by lower tier companies and for house systems. I'd rather use a high quality DI than the Whirlwind IMP 2 or the Behringer DL100 I may end up with.
3. When using tube amps and not micing the cab, I like to run the DI in parallel with the cab, which the JDI does very well.
4. I can have it handy as an Oh Crap! box if my rig were to go down and I needed to quickly yank the XLR out of my head and put it in a DI box.
5. I do gigs with no dedicated sound engineer, and it's just something that I think is good to keep in your gig bag, along with extra cables, a screw driver, and three-prong to two-prong adapters.
I do carry my own mic and stand for times I want to mic the cab, because most sound engineers don't have a real good mic for bass.
I do carry my own DI, because:1. I've been in situations where the sound engineer didn't have a DI handy. Even though it may not always get used with my bass, I've used it for times when the engineer didn't have another DI for the acoustic guitar.
2. I carry a Radial JDI, which is probably better than 80% of the DI boxes being carried by lower tier companies and for house systems. I'd rather use a high quality DI than the Whirlwind IMP 2 or the Behringer DL100 I may end up with.
3. When using tube amps and not micing the cab, I like to run the DI in parallel with the cab, which the JDI does very well.
4. I can have it handy as an Oh Crap! box if my rig were to go down and I needed to quickly yank the XLR out of my head and put it in a DI box.
5. I do gigs with no dedicated sound engineer, and it's just something that I think is good to keep in your gig bag, along with extra cables, a screw driver, and three-prong to two-prong adapters.
I do carry my own mic and stand for times I want to mic the cab, because most sound engineers don't have a real good mic for bass.
- Oct 18, 2012
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I always have one with me. You never know if the venue will have what you need so it's better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.
My amp has a DI, I keep a BBDI on my board, and a passive DI in my bag, if given a choice, I prefer not to be mic'ed, so I'm prepared.
I use my sans amp as a DI unless front of house has one. One of the venues we've played actually took a clean DI on stage and ran into a sans amp at the board. That worked nicely as well because my sans amp RBI has a dry out so I had my rig dialed the way I like and he dialed in his sans amp specifically for the PA.
I always keep a JDI in my hardcase/gigbag. You never know when you will have a tube, speakers, or both go out.
And people wonder where I got my attitude from.
(BTW, I figured on this kind of response, I could have written it for this fellow and saved him the trouble. Getting old and lazy, I guess...)
I appreciate your attitude toward sound guys, even though I'm a full-time bassist now. I'll let this infantile, name-calling, insulting response stand on its own, for better or worse.
All I will add is that imagine what you would do to some Dweeb (oops, I guess I sank that level, too. OH, well...) comes up to your amp and starts twiddling knobs. Whomever touched my sound console will get that treatment back by a factor of 10.
Trust me on that. (Gee, I had to re-read this post to make sure it wasn't another "Weak G String on a Music Man" post.....
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I get that some.
The standard thinking, which isn't wrong, is to use the JDI for active basses and the J48 for passive basses.
However, I still get the pad question, even with my JDI and an active Music Man Stingray. That's because its pups aren't hot enough to launch Titan rockets like some basses. The sound guy has an input pad that he can adjust. If he can't get enough gain (ASSuming that the bass and the related cables, pedals and DI are working properly), he has the wrong console.
I'd say no, your JDI should be fine. Or, alternatively, you get something like a Sansamp and smoke their inputs with a high level. Probably won't help your situation.
i meant my post in a tongue-in-cheek spirit; i'm sorry that didn't come across as clearly as i might have wished.
i have to respectfully disagree with you again, though. the "sound dweeb twiddling the bassist's knobs" comparison is facile, because he's not trying to create art through your amp; you're trying to create art through his public address system. it is always the role of the sound guy to serve the artist, never the other way around. i stand by my original point.
Any time no one else has supplied one. I keep a Whirlwind IMP-2 in my gear bag and bring to every gig. My amps all have pre/post DI's, too. I carry a spare SM57, too.
