Best di box?

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wannabecomedeat

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hey i wanna record some bass from the preamp out, i guess i need a di box for that, right? Then if it's the case is there really a difference between a cheat di box vs a 300$ di? which one would be the best for the price (REALLY restricted budget).

anyway,

thnx!!
 
i have to second the Countryman. VERY nice DI. made my tele actually sound like a tele. :p


cheers,
wade
 
Back up a step--you want to record from the line out on your bass amp? Unless this is a stage setting where you need a long cable run, or you need to patch into a snake, do you really need a direct box?
 
The Countryman's sound good, but in my opinion the BSS Ar166 sounds at least as good as the Countryman. They are almost exactly the same price, but the BSS does some stuff the Countryman does not. It has an XLR pass through for one so it can be used as a more versatile signal split if needed. Also, the battery compartment is much easier to get to, it has a light to show you when the box is recieving phantom power as well as if it is being run from battery or not. Also, it has a 3 position pad (which I have found incredibly useful. None of these features are really all that major except the next.... The BSS is FAR mor durable, has rubber feet and stacks better. The Countryman's seem to have a real problem with screws and jacks constantly coming loose. I have a dozen Countryman boxes and EVERY one of them needs fairly constant maintenance. I also have a dozen of the BSS boxes. NONE of them have EVER had a problem. I wish I had found out about the BSS boxes before we had bought 12 countrymans. As far as pure sound quality goes, i actually prefer the BSS boxes. Realistically they are probably both just as nice, but the Countrymans issues and lack of extra features maybe biases my opinion a bit. Another solid performer in the same price range would be the Radial boxes.

It really is amazing the difference between something like the BSS DI and a Behringer one. Not only that but Behringer did their best to try and emulate the BSS. Everything looks the same except that the Berri is silver instead of green. Not even close though if you actually listen to them:)
 
i can imagine the countryman might have some issues when used consistently in a live setting or in a studio with a bunch of wookies who abuse things. mine, thankfully, doesn't see live use and only gets used by me in my studio.

i'd like to get hold of a couple of those Radial boxes--especially the one with the Jensen (model escapes me right now). i bet they've got a nice, different flavor.

for a poor-man's DI, i've always been perfectly happy with the line-in on my VTB1. works fine for bass, and you can blend in a little toob for some distortion which IMO really helps out a bass track.

one of the things i like best about the countryman, though, is that one of the inputs is at speaker level, so i can run out of my amp head straight into it. i'm sure most DIs have this functionality......but i dig it. :D


cheers,
wade
 
mshilarious said:
Back up a step--you want to record from the line out on your bass amp? Unless this is a stage setting where you need a long cable run, or you need to patch into a snake, do you really need a direct box?
Click to expand...

What he said. The preamp out should already be line level and can go directly into the board with no DI. High Z signals like passive pickups do need a DI box to sound their best though, like if you are recording the bass directly.
 
wannabecomedeat said:
hey i wanna record some bass from the preamp out, i guess i need a di box for that, right? Then if it's the case is there really a difference between a cheat di box vs a 300$ di? which one would be the best for the price (REALLY restricted budget).

anyway,

thnx!!
Click to expand...

Avalon U5 is the one I use all the time.
 
My bass player is using a sadowky d.i. it sounds excellent.. he's playing a 1970's p-bass, and it sounds awesome, and I'm REALLY into the way it sounds...recorded.

We are running the bass into the sadowky di, then into the safesound p1 and it sounds amazing, and is sitting really well in our mixes.

Here is the link to it:
http://www.sadowsky.com/pages/framesets/fs_preamp.html
evt
 
wannabecomedeat said:
which one would be the best for the price (REALLY restricted budget).
Click to expand...

A lot of people claim the art mp is good as a bass DI - you can get them on ebay for about $30.
 
Well tnx everyone!

good to see the lot of quality replies you gave, good to see people who care about others projects!
 
What about the SansAmp Tech 21 Bass DI???

I've heard that these were the "Cats Pajamas" :)

Rick
 
Oh, another one to mention thats not too expensive is the Hartke Bass Attack DI, my bass player got one thrown in with a bunch of stuff he bought and its actually very versatile and quiet.
 
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