Behringer Ultra DI sucks!!

  • Thread starter Thread starter ad0lescnts
  • Start date Start date
A

ad0lescnts

New member
i was using one yesterday to DI a bass guitar. (we did a blend of DI then used the link to go into an amp and mic'd it) The bass was going straight into the DI.. just a standard Fender P Bass (not active) and the stupid thing was clipping when he played bass hard enough! that stupid thing caused me a lot of trouble. i hate it

T
 
"..clipping when he played bass hard enough.."

You think the DI did that?
 
I agree -- as much as I'm not a Behringer fan, I don't see how you could "clip" a DI with a passive pickup...
 
The DI probably did not clip; most likely it was your mic pre. If you are using the Ultra DI and having clipping problems on your board, the DI has two -20 db pad buttons. Press one of them and see if the clipping goes away. You may need to adjust your mic pre again. If you still have clippping problems, push the second button and that will give you -40 db. I doubt you will have clipping problems once both buttons are engaged.
 
ad0lescnts said:
i was using one yesterday to DI a bass guitar. (we did a blend of DI then used the link to go into an amp and mic'd it) The bass was going straight into the DI.. just a standard Fender P Bass (not active) and the stupid thing was clipping when he played bass hard enough! that stupid thing caused me a lot of trouble. i hate it

T
Click to expand...

I have heard Countryman DI's do the same thing buddy. The key phrase you posted was: "was clipping when he played bass hard enough!".

The simple solution is to have the bass player not "play the bass hard enough" to cause the strings to fart out on the fretboard!

I have used the Behringer Ultra DI to DI a lot of different stuff for live recordings and it is in fact a very great sounding DI box.

Ed
 
I use one ...no clipping problems.

I just used one to record a Musicman..... active (WAY active).......and the player is Flea jr :) ......popping and slapping.

No clipping....I actually had a weird thing where I wasn't getting enuf push out of the DI.

But maybe your DI has a bad connection somewhere.

-mike
 
i'm positive it wasnt clipping on my pre. i watched it hte whole time. it never came close to clipping (i turned it way down in anger of the clipping problem) and it still did it when he played loud enough. i switched to Y cable and it worked perfectly.

???

T

is the countryman better? why?
 
You may be getting transients that are too fast to be seen on the meters...

It's not likely at all that the DI is clipping......
 
Question: Can a DI "clip"? Is that even possible? Does a DI have "headroom"? Isn't it just passing a signal along? I'd be interested to know if this is even a proper term for DI's.
 
ad0lescnts said:
i'm positive it wasnt clipping on my pre. i watched it hte whole time. it never came close to clipping (i turned it way down in anger of the clipping problem) and it still did it when he played loud enough. i switched to Y cable and it worked perfectly.

???

T

is the countryman better? why?
Click to expand...

If the bass guitar itself is played too hard, you will get this horrible, bloaty, clipping sound.

It could be poor pickups. I could be poor playing. It could be that the action on the instrument is far too low.


What do you mean by "i switched to Y cable and it worked perfectly."?

Ed
 
I think he means that he split the signal to the DI and the amp with a Y cable instead of using the direct out of the DI.

The fact that it worked perfectly with the Y cable means that there's some troubleshooting to do. I'd switch back to going through the DI only, and then swap cables from the bass to the DI. I'd also swap out the cable from the DI to the amp.

It's possible the DI is causing the problem, but it's also possible it's something else. Only by isolating the problem and eliminating possibilities can it be found.
 
SonicAlbert said:
I think he means that he split the signal to the DI and the amp with a Y cable instead of using the direct out of the DI.

The fact that it worked perfectly with the Y cable means that there's some troubleshooting to do. I'd switch back to going through the DI only, and then swap cables from the bass to the DI. I'd also swap out the cable from the DI to the amp.

It's possible the DI is causing the problem, but it's also possible it's something else. Only by isolating the problem and eliminating possibilities can it be found.
Click to expand...

A Y cable would also split the signal strength as well, wouldn't it?
 
Yep. I have the ultra DI and Ive done some monster playing though it with very high output basses, never clipped it. I think this guy is just trying to seem cool by having a beef with something. It's the punk thing to do you know?
 
Use the PADS!

They are there for a reason!

Yes an insterment with active pickups can drive an active di into cliping...

But... most preamps will go into cliping well before the DI will clip!

Now the Ultra DI sucks but its not because of headroom, its a cheap mass produced DI made by a company with a less than stellar track record. They use cheap parts and poor designs. Also the ultra DI's are not quite fool prool, there are alot of switches which can be set wrong, more on some models than others...

Anyway a behringer DI is far better than no DI!

And for the price they cannot be beat.
 
clipping...internal

you may have a bad buffer chip, all electronics can pop and clip.
chips are no different than a bunch of transistors, power supply spikes..etc...

take it back and try another? sounds like some happy owners.
 
Re: clipping...internal

COOLCAT said:
you may have a bad buffer chip, all electronics can pop and clip.
chips are no different than a bunch of transistors, power supply spikes..etc.../B]
Click to expand...
That depends... if the DI is passive, it shouldn't clip!
 
ad0lescnts:

It's kind of hard to see the DI as the culprit, since you can actualy plug the SPEAKER outputs of a Marshall JCM into it, crank it, and get a clean signal to the board. Somehow I don't think the P-Bass has as powerful a signal as the Marshall amp speaker outputs. Even so, 40dB (20+20) of attenuation sould tame a P-Bass signal even if you're shooting arrows from the strings.

Just a simple question: Is the 9V battery fresh? What you're describing sounds like it could be a failing battery.

Try running the (LoZ) line to the board with phantom power ---this will bypass the internal battery and power the Behringer DI.

What I'm really trying to figure out is why you even need to use a Y setup---the Behringer DI has a parallel 1/4-in output (marked "LINK") specifically designed to run to your bass amp.


Let us know,
Paj
8^)
 
Paj said:
Just a simple question: Is the 9V battery fresh? What you're describing sounds like it could be a failing battery.
[/B]
Click to expand...

I use the phantom power from my board to power my UltraDI.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top