Direct Bass into a PA

[NYMorningstar]

Is there any problem with using a bass guitar direct into a mixing board? Can it damage the mixer at all?

[dr.colossus]

as long as your using a d.i. box, el cheapo passive d.i.'s should probably be under $20us, and an active one a little more... i don't know a lot about d.i.'s, so i can't tell you the diff between the passive ones and the actives, apart from the fact that the actives need phantom or battery power... maybe the actives are a little cleaner or boost the signal a little....... i don't know..... the behringer ultra-di gets some good comments (and that should be cheap)

i think a lot of mic pre's like the Art Tube MP, or the beh ultragain can be used as d.i. devices, someone was saqying they got a good result using the art or the bluetube as a bass d.i. through a p.a.

anyhow to answer your question, just whack the bass through a d.i. box before it hits the mixer and you'll be fine ......

um... i hope this helps

[NYMorningstar]

Thanks Doc. What I'm asking though is what happens if I don't use a box?

[christiaan]

There may be quite some feet to span from the stage to the mixer. For these distances you'd really need balanced signals or you may get a nice wash of additional noise to your bass sound.

Multi cables from the stage to the mixer are as far as I know always balanced in the first place, so you'd better feed it with a balanced signal.

I've asked this very question myself before. When I stick my bass directly in my mixer at home just to play a bit, I don't really bother about putting a DI in the chain. I just crack up the gain on the mixer a bit more. And that has worked fine for me for years.

[dr.colossus]

Originally posted by NYMorningstar
Thanks Doc. What I'm asking though is what happens if I don't use a box?

hehehe, i had a feeling that was the case

christiaan: i used to do that too (sttraight to mixer) but for what its worth, i always use the d.i. box the signal is louder and clearer with much less noise....

[christiaan]

Originally posted by dr.colossus

christiaan: i used to do that too (sttraight to mixer) but for what its worth, i always use the d.i. box the signal is louder and clearer with much less noise....

I fully agree. Using a DI is a good thing. Until a week ago for recordings I would definately pick my DI of the shelve. It's just that when I feel like playing along with a cd or so the additional noise doesn't bother me and is not very noticable in my setup. Then I just play for fun.

Until a week ago? Yeah. Now I own a VC6Q.