Who supplies the D.I.?

[bass12]

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.

It's the sound guy's job to serve the client - and the band isn't always the client.

 

[Mark Reccord]

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 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.

Not that most consoles wouldn't have enough gain on tap to make up for it, but the JDI (and any other passive DI that uses the JT-DB-E transformer) does drop the input signal by 22dB at its output. This can make for a pretty low level signal especially with a not so hot output bass. If the sound person is not familiar with the JDI then I can totally understand wondering if the pad is on because the signal is definitely attenuated a lot in comparison to any active box or amp DI.

 

[bigtone23]

Though my amps have them, I always have some DI box (or two-an active and a passive) in my accessory bag in the rare case the engineer doesn't have one for me, his is on the fritz or is not as nice.