High Z and/or Line Input v. Direct Box

[Jack Hammer]

Many pre-amps now feature a High-Z input and/or Line input for instruments. the question is, how do they compare to dedicated direct boxes.

Ultimately, can a good pre-amp with High-Z and Line Inputs eliminate the need for a direct box in a small studio?

[darrin_h2000]

Better for the most part.

yes.

[littledog]

Hard to generalize. I've had differing results. The DI's on my API 3124+ are really excellent, but the DI's on my Vintech 1272 have somewhat flimsy jacks that don't stand up well to a lot of constant plugging and unplugging.

Certain dedicated DI boxes have a really sought-after sound. (like Aguilar, Evil Twin, Avalon). I've got the Avalon U5, and on some things like electric bass, I wouldn't even consider using any of my mic pre DI's instead. But if your DI's are all pretty low end (like Rolls Matchboxes), chances are your mic pres will outdo them.

[Richard Monroe]

I don't know yet for bass, but I am using a Fishman Prefix Plus in a Taylor 710 for a couple of pesky tracks where I just can't seem to play the damn song properly without singing. The Fishman has an onboard under-saddle transducer and a small diaphragm back electret condenser mic. It has stereo output, so you can process the 2 signals independantly. I jack the mic into a DBX386 high-Z jack, and the transducer into a Joemeek twinQcs. The DBX is compressed by RNC and the Joemeek with its own compressor, and what the hell, it works quite well. One other option I have is to use POD Pro as a DI, taking the unprocessed guitar out, shifting it to +4 dBu with an EBTECH line level shifter, to the RNC, and then into the board. Of course I can also use the POD's tube preamp model, and just go out of the +4 line level outs of the POD to the RNC, then to the board. With these 2 pres and the POD, I have found no reason in hell to buy a DI, either a Countryman (cheap) or an Avalon (not cheap). In my experience, the high-Z ins on both of these pres (and the POD) work quite well.-Richie

[littledog]

That was quite a mouthful, Richard! But I agree with the jist of what you said - a high-end DI is probably not going to be the first priority for most small studios - the mic pre DI's are certainly adequate for most applications.

But I still wouldn't want to give up my U5, now that I have owned one for about a year. It gets a lot of use at my place.

[chessrock]

Look, DI - ing is a pretty easy job.

It's pretty tough to mess that up, so just about anything will sound great if whatever you're playing does.

This is one of those instances where it is MUCH more important to make sure you're playing a good keyboard, or a good bass with nice, new strings or whatever. Anything can sound good as a DI, and if it doesn't, it should be thrown away immediately.

[ozraves]

the audio buddy outperforms a lot of other mic pres as a di. i've found it can work great with the right bass and it seems to function well with a fishman prefix on an acoustic.

radial makes some amazing dedicated di models.

i am going to be reviewing one of these:

http://www.buzzaudio.com/products/mia1.0.htm

i'm curious to see how it does.