DI-Box Confusion

[manue]

Greetings!

I have been been practicing recording for about 5 months or so. I use a guitar with EMG active pups, and recently, I plugged my guitar in to the line input of my sound card(focusrite saffire 6) to record some clean channels for experimenting with amp/cab freeware.
I recorded a guitar with passive pups first and then a guitar with active pups. I observed that the active pups had a much larger waveform and were considerable louder and clearer compared to that of the passive pickups.
I was reading on the net about using a DI box to record line inputs, but I am really not able to conclude if it is really necessary since I already have an audio interface.
Also, if I use a line 6 pod HD series processor by deactivating the amp into my interface to record a signal, wouldn't it do the same job that is done by a DI? Anyone with an experience on a scenario like this can please shed some light on this issue. Thanks a ton!

Cheers \m/

 

[Farview]

In your case, you would not need a di when you record actuve pickups. If your interface has a guitar input (different from the line input) then you would not need a di at all.

With passive pickups, the fear is that the line input will load down the pickup and take the high end away. An active di will solve that problem. So will plugging in to a bypassed effects pedal.

Yes, the pod will function as a di box.