DI/Line-Box strategies

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5v333

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 30, 2013
Messages
631
Location
Gothenburg
I like to think about different DI Boxes are good for differnt things.

there are DI´s with transformers and without, active and passive..

I have made two Bosse Hansén Di´s and really like how the transformers works with acc gitar at live gigs. The transformers seems to soak a lot of nasty transients and sounds a little bit  like a vintage preamp.

When there is electronic drum trax i like to think transformerless to retain punch and clearity in the lowend.


What´s your strategies in choosing DI´s for specific tasks? Bass git, rhodes, keyboards, trax...
 
First and fore-most, I like  passive DI  units for  bass and  clean elec. guitars

- with the  'main'  (balanced  xlr output) feeding a mix desk 'mic input' 
- and the  'direct' (unbalanced t-s output) feeding  a small combo amp

I do do a  'mic' on the combo amp  feed to the mixer desk too (as well).

The jensen di circuit and commercial versions are superbly superb ...  my own di box with jensen  is very satisfying.

...


Funny thing, I mostly like my jensen di box  going into a 'neve-ee mic preamp + eq'  box ...  the  'traffo+traffo' input chain doesn't do any harm at all .. on the contrary, it smooths out the transient response [ providing the levels are reasonable]
 
Well, I like them both, of course. 

With regards to the 'passive' -  it's mostly because  of the 'J bass'  ..  is so very fine into it [the jensen di transformer]

Then onto a mix desk, with a parallel feed to my 'combo amp'. 

Simple, best performance and a  known quantity :)  [quantum compute a J bass-storius : ]

On the other hand,

With regards to the 'active' -  the sky is the limit with respect to HiDef.

Acoustic guitars, mics and all the way to the fizzy top :) I love them all.

...

I have both and then some ...  mostly they are all really good  :) 

But for me, and I'm a old git person first and for-most  ..  J-Bass and Jensen DI  and one weeks notice and Im there. [must have lunch and cab avail]  :)
 
alright. thanks for sharing.

when working with live sound and bass. i put a m88 or b52 on the cab for sub info.
if the amp is a tube amp with a direct out i use that or  just a di box for tone.

i make a sub channel and a tone channel.
crossover with a multiband comp in the desk to retain phase coherance and separation.

love b52 for bass. not so much for kick...

the m88 and b52 are transformerless and provides great dynamics in the subs compared to 421 for ex.

ill try using a passive box for the tone in the future.
 
5v333 said:
What´s your strategies in choosing DI´s for specific tasks? Bass git, rhodes, keyboards, trax...

I like Active DI's with 10 Mega input impedance DI for Acoustic Guitar piezos and Double Bass Piezos

I like Passive DI's for Bass

I also seem to like Passive DI's for Samplers and Keyboards
 
5v333 said:
What´s your strategies in choosing DI´s for specific tasks? Bass git, rhodes, keyboards, trax...
For high-Z instruments (passive guitar & bass, preampless Rhodes) I never use a passive DI; they interfere too much with the volume/tone controls. I use passive only with active gtr/bass, synths and keybords with built-in preamp, Wurlitzer, Vox organ..., and very seldom; I don't see any case where I would favour a passive over an active for sonic reasons. Passive are just more convenient sometimes (all my active DI's are rack-mount).
DI'ed guitars never make it to the mix, they're only guide tracks that are later replaced with proper mic'd tracks.
 
This definitly widend my view on di's.

Matching things is something i like in the job.
Passives with actives.
Clean with dirty.

But also prioritise what should sound bigger or smaller.
And not use the same mic/di for every source.

Have a nice weekend.
 
alexc said:
To be more detailed, my fav 'nyd mila' type DI preamp uses  the Jensen  transformer up front, then an active circuit [tubes or discrete ss]  to drive an output transformer to 600ohm line 
You mean a step-down transformer driving a tube stage?
 
alexc said:
I like a good 'di traffo' up front,
That means you're driving the electronics with a low impedance (less than 500 ohms). Solid-state electronics can be made to operate quite well with such a low source impedance, but tubes want to see a much higher impedance for best noise performance. The actual loss in the step-down (about 20dB) results in 20dB loss of Signal-to-Noise ratio. That would be considered design malpractice in a professional environment.
Now, considering the output level of an electric gtr is about 100mV, thus 10mV at the grid of the tube, and a typical noise level of 1-2uV for most preamp tubes, that leaves a comfortable 75-80dB S/N ratio.
 
Re-amping synths and other instruments through a DI is one of my fav ways to get a little extra mojo without completely altering the sound.... my fav at the moment is the tube DI based on the reddi.
 

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