Your thoughts on a good, cheap DI box...

Hmmm..18.99 for a DI?? Remember, you get what you pay for..I would recommend going on Ebay and looking for a Sansamp BDDI. Can't go wrong with it.

Best of luck!

 

Man, break out the Big Bills and buy the Behringer!


(You never thought you'd hear a phrase like that....did you?)


Really....I can't comment on the ones you are linking to, but ever club I play at has the $35 behringer box....and it seems to do the job very well.

For only a pitance more, I'd go with a box more tried and true(wow, I'm still talking about behringer....thats crazy)

 

Yes. Spend just a bit more and get something used, like spectorbass83 said. Seriously. There's lots of good DI's out there and if you go used, it won't be too much $. A year from now, it's not gonna matter that you spent an extra $40 or whatever; that will be forgotten. But you will be glad you did if you get a better piece of equipment.

Also, if you're using a passive bass, get a DI with a high input impedance. 1 meg ohm would be great, 10 even better. That does make a difference, especially with passive basses.

 

My thoughts, exactly. IMO, it would be much more worth it to go ahead and plan on spending around the $100-$130 range, maybe a little higher. For that, you should be able to find a used SABDDI, Radial JDI, Countryman 85, or maybe even a J-Retro stompbox (I think I got mine for about $125).

 

In that case, if you really do have to go for the lower price range, at least check out here. The ART's about a buck more, but they have free shipping with no minimum of purchase, and in all my dealings with both companies, the customer service is much, MUCH better.

 

Yeah, it's the only DI box I have any experience with.

I don't know how it's sound quality compares to others, but they're tough lil suckers and the sound seems good enough when put through a full mix and pretty good alone(only heard during sound checks).

 

No such thing as good and cheap.

The cheapest I would go for would be a Countryman Type 85 DI. Said to be indestructable. No tone adjustments. Needs a 9 Volt battery.

Then there is the MXR Bass DI and the Sansamp BDDI. These include overdirve (mild distortion) along with bass and treble control. The MXR is cheaper and offers more sound control because it has a mid knob, but the overdrive on the Sansamp is thought by many (including me) to sound better. Again, these need 9 Volt batteries.

Then there is the DI boxes by Radial. Look at the Radial JDI. No battery (passive). Great sound. Jensen transformer inside. NOT Cheap.

Then there is Sadowsky. Bass and Treble boost only. 9 Volt battery. XLR out and 1/4 out are BOTH affected by the internal electronics and your adjustments. Most other DI boxes have an unaffected bypass 1/4 out.

One of the best threads on talkbass ever:

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=91941

Another to look at are the BBE DI Passive and Active Direct Boxs, but they are another thing.

Of course, we have to mention, many feel the best is the Avalon U5 Direct Box / Instrument Preamplifier. But you are looking for cheap.

Remember, if you are going "straight to the board" and you are not "down on stage" you can plug an active bass directly into that board with no DI.

 

You do want to transfer your sound as clean as possible to the board, so the soundman can adjust it to the house PA.

Really, that Behringer never let me down at our school gigs. It sounded just perfect. Never had any problems with grounding/annoying hiss etc.

The Behringer has a sigh of approval for me.

 

You get what you pay for - and you're only going to sound as good as the weakest link in the chain.

Lonnybass

 

"thoughts on a good, cheap DI box..." If you're emphasizing the cheap part, the behringers are ok for live work and nasty in the studio in my experience. If your emphasis is on the good part, have a look on the Jensen web site. You can buy the exact same transformer used in the Radial di mentioned earlier by tim99 for much less money and put it together yourself (very easy). Jensen will sell you everything you need, except maybe a box to put it in. The plans are on the site too.

 

http://www.zzounds.com/item--RADPRODI

This gets great reviews and it has a Jensen-like transformer for transparency. Passive, bulletproof and small.

 

I've used a Baggs ParaAcoustic DI with bass before with very pleasing results both live and into a board for recording (nice tone shaping eq and phase inversion). If you're going to be playing acoustic bass thru this as well as slab, you might consider one like the Baggs if only for the phase feature - although it will cost more than the ones you list. Available used for $100.

 

I have a bunch of the Rolls units you linked to and they work well and have lasted for years. I also have a couple of the Behringer units that I bought for my audio rental business and they have been durable, quiet and trouble free for the six months that I have had them. I will probably buy more of them.

 

The pros over at ProSoundWeb seem to like this one or this one for cheap direct boxes. Forget Nady and Behringer. I don't know if Rolls is any good, but the Whirlwinds get good reviews from the guys who use them every day on the job.

I just bought one of these used from junglebike here at TB, but it wasn't what I'd call cheap.

 

Get the cheapest passive box you can find, preferably one that's inoperative. Or just buy a Bud box and drill a few holes. Buy a Jensen DI transformer off their website for $73.08 and put it in there. Worked great for me, only I found the tranformer for like 20 bucks with a good bit of luck.

Jensen has a few schematics for different DI permutations on their site, BTW.

The Horizon ones linked above are OK, but they make some really nice ones too if and when you've got the dough. Carvin sells some budget priced ones that'll do in a pinch as well.