can you recommend a good....

[anne]

I need a good DI for my bass, and would LOVE a recommendation on one and a stompbox e.q.

While I'm at it, how about some ideas for the same for my guitar player?

We go right into our Yamaha 512sc for gigs, and need a little cleaner sound.

If you have any suggestions , I'd love to hear them -

Thanks in advance

[mazz]

I'm a big fan of the Radial passive DIs with the Jensen transformers. I like passive because there's no batteries or power supplies to deal with. They are built like a tank and will last forever.

I got Jean one of these for her acoustic and she takes it to all her gigs and it sounds great through the PA:

http://www.google.com/products/catalog? ... CHkQ8gIwBg


You might consider the stereo model. I have one that I use for keyboards live, but I use it in the studio as well and it sounds fantastic. Passive as well, no power, dead batteries, etc. The nice thing about this is that you only have to bring one box to the gig and you can use it in the studio as well. (when I bring it to gigs, the sound people usually ooh and ahh a bit.... )

http://www.radialeng.com/re-duplex.htm

Here's the stereo version of the first one, probably a bit less expensive than the other stereo one, but would sound just fine!

http://www.radialeng.com/di-prodi-prod2.htm

Both would work equally well for bass and guitar.

My 2c

Mazz

PS: I should mention that the ground lift switch has saved my bacon more than once. It made a nice and loud but not very musically appealing 60 Hz hum disappear completely!! Ahh.......

[anne]

Yes, the Radials are definitely on the list! Those are incredible sounding.

I am playing a good old American Fender P-bass with a split switch. It was recommended that an active with eq works well for passive basses , so I was looking at one of these: (not an affiliate link)
http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/s ... ranorma_2/

But Mazz, I do think you are spot on for the acoustic guitar and the radial. He switches between his acoustic and his fender strat ( a vintage maple - incredible sound), typically playing on the front single coil.

I'd love more suggestions.

[mojobone]

Can't imagine what would be cleaner than going direct; does your bass have an onboard preamp? (battery in it)

The best direct box for bass is probably the Avalon U5, but it's pretty spendy (costs as much as many low end bass amps) and not really designed for live work, though it's plenty rugged and many use it for that purpose. Summit Audio makes a nice tube direct box, too. I use the MXR M-80 Bass D.I.+ , but I mostly use it as a 'pocket amp' for live gigs. I like that it runs off the mixing board's phantom power, so I don't need to fool with batteries, and it has a parallel output that I use for a tuner. It's very versatile and can cover anything from Reggae to Nu-Metal, with stops at funk, rock and Motown.

Drawbacks? You lose phantom power if you activate the ground lift switch, (though you could still use a battery in that case, and there's a very effective "smart" noise gate)

For studio work and for gigs where I play both guitar and bass, I use this: http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/reviews/ ... index.html , but it's probably a lot more complex and sophisticated a device than you really need; it requires programming so that you don't inadvertently wahwah your bass player when using guitar and bass models simultaneously.

[Kolstad]

I have a BSS AR-133 Active DI Box http://www.bssaudio.com/productpg.php?product_id=17 , which is pretty much industry standard here overseas, it's quiet as a whisper and has a really good low frequency response. I use it for guitars too, sometimes. Built like a tank, hardly uses any battery. Does the job.

[musicliner]

I love passive, transformer-based DIs, too. I've been using ART DTI for a couple of years now: well made, flat and transparent response, it does the job.

It is incredibly versatile, as it sports 3 stereo inputs/outputs: XLR, RCA & 1/4". You can pretty much connect anything to anything.

Even if you don't need a DI all the time, this is a great (and inexpensive) tool to have in your toolbox. It saved my ..s a couple of time while gigging (e.g. "Oh, we just have this DJ PA with RCA inputs. Can you plug in your guitar?" - you know the spiel...)

[marcblack30]

I used the Avalon U5 when touring and there wasn't a single sound engineer that didn't absolutely love it!
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/U5/

I now use it in my studio, it's excellent for bass and acoustic guitars for my uses... not sure about electric guitars... but I'd imagine if you could plug a broom stick into it, it would sound amazing! I bought it several years ago and toured with it exclusively for 11 years, it's still in perfect condition and it lived a rough life on the road right by my side. One of my all time best purchases.

[anne]

Great information here - Thank you for some sweet recommendations!

We are going straight out of our stomp boxes into the mixer now, but the mixer manual (Yamaha EC512) says not to do that, thus our search for DI. Secondary to that, it'd be very useful to add any processing in line if it is beneficial to helping shape the sound.

Someone mentioned that I'd be best off with an active DI rather than a passive DI (i.e. needs a battery or phantom power) since I play a P-Bass.
Anything that has eq or amp modeling is active, so its kind of a non-issue for me but for the guitar player - he switches between his acoustic with internal pick up and his Fender strat -
both go through his foot pedals before hitting the board, so the DI would be after the foot pedals. Any reason for passive v. active on his DI?

Personally I think we'd both benefit from boxes with amp modeling.

[LoDrop]

if you have a good pre amp that you're recording vocals with, that might just be good for the bass too....

peace
Al

[jonathansorensen]

The REDDI by A-Designs is one of the best bass DI's you'll hear. I use it and go into the Great River 1-NV mic pre and straight into the DAW. Warm, tight and punchy. Love it.


JS