Stupid Direct Recording Question

[nate_dennis]

Ok, so I'm new to direct recording of electric guitars. If I run a guitar through a MFX pedal with Amp Modeler do I need to put a D.I. in between the MFX and the mixer? I'm sure this is a stupid question, but I really have no clue. Thanks a lot guys.

[ggunn]

Originally Posted by nate_dennis

Ok, so I'm new to direct recording of electric guitars. If I run a guitar through a MFX pedal with Amp Modeler do I need to put a D.I. in between the MFX and the mixer? I'm sure this is a stupid question, but I really have no clue. Thanks a lot guys.

If you are talking about a passive DI that is just a transformer, and you are not trying to drive cables that are 30 or 40 or more feet long, or if you are not working in an extremely RF noisy environment, then no, there's no reason to use it unless you have a ground loop you need to break. If you need tone shaping and/or signal boost and you have a DI that does that, then maybe.

If something upstream from your mixer also plugs into AC, you may have a ground loop (you'll hear the 60Hz hum if that happens), and a DI will let you disconnect the hi-Z shield from the ground of the low-Z input.

[nate_dennis]

Thanks so much! I was about to start connecting the MFX through a DI then in. I appreciate the help.