d.i.ing

  • Thread starter Thread starter dr.colossus
  • Start date Start date
dr.colossus

dr.colossus

New member
when i d.i. my bass into the mixer to the adat i can never get a hot enough signal without driving the pre's to the point of distortion...at first i thought it was just the bass, so i tried the guitar, same thing.....wtf is going on? do i need a proper d.i. to boost the level? help?
 
What kind of D.I. box are you using? Or are you even using one? You can't plug a passive guitar (or bass) pickup into a line input; you'll have a serious mis-match of impedence and signal level. You need a D.I. box to change your unbalanced high impedence signal to balanced low impedence which can be plugged into a mic. pre-amp on the mixer. OR you need an outboard pre-amp with an instrument level input which will bring the instrument up to line level.

Scott
 
i'm not using a d.i. box, just plugging straight into the mixer...this technique worked fine when i plugged straight into my old porta studio...urrgh, why was i under the impression that i'd get away with plugging the bass straight into the mixer...

...btw i'm a drummer, that should explain a few things!:D
 
The pre-amp of your mixer can't cope with the signal obviously.

You should use DI to get a good sound, Behringer has some cheap ones which actually sound good (yes, even behringer can sound good :D)
 
There's a level/impedense mis-match. You need a D.I. of some kind, be it a POD, J-Station, a Countryman, Hughs & Kettner or the like.
 
thanks guys, i should have posted that in the newbie section, but i guess as they say, there are no stupid questions, just stupid people :)
 
I just did a session where the bassist was using a sans amp bass driver (or something like that) and I was really impressed with it.
 
i used to plug directly into my mixer before i got a DI box. i never had any problems. it didnt sound too impressive, but it worked. i am recording to a fostex D80 harddrive recorder, which is similar to an adat. do other sources (mics) work ok? you say it worked with your porta studio. i would check the operating level on the adat. maybe you have some defective cables, or they are wired improperly.
 
Cheap solution

dr.colossus said:
i'm not using a d.i. box, just plugging straight into the mixer...this technique worked fine when i plugged straight into my old porta studio...urrgh, why was i under the impression that i'd get away with plugging the bass straight into the mixer...
Click to expand...

If you like your current bass tone, one cheapo solution is to drap out the PortaStudio (gotta love 'em... maybe) and use that to add gain to your bass. Works OK as a non-phantom mic pre too if you don't mind the sound. A real DI may sound better, but this will at least work.
 
Cave Dweller said:
do other sources (mics) work ok?
Click to expand...

mics work fine..... i do like the idea of using the tascam for extra boost, just afraid things may start becoming a little noisy, thanks again for your help guys, i might run a search on the behrininger d.i. (it looks like about all i can afford)
 
dr.colossus -

I love my Behringer D.I.s They were dirt cheap, and solve many of my problems (Bass recordings, noisy keyboards, and more...)
If you want to hear a bass track that was made with a Behringer DI, you can listen to a MP3 on my Nowhereradio page
www.nowhereradio.com/Eejit/singles
Listen to "Youth Shall See Visions". The other song has no bass in it.

(It was a 5 string Ibanez bass, if you were wondering).

Oren
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top