Direct Box

  • Thread starter Thread starter El Barto
  • Start date Start date
E

El Barto

New member
Could anyone suggest a good, cheap direct box to record guitar? Would using a direct box be better than using a mic to record electric guitar? And do I hear the amp while it's plugged into the box and the box into my 4-track? Yes, I am a newbie.
 
It's up to personal preference as to what is the better way to go. I use a digitech processor direct into the board and mike also. Personally I like both ways. Natural speaker sound is probably my favorite though.

Others around here can help you better with name brands of direct boxes (Dragon has one off the home page)
 
I thought the direct box kept the same sound from the amp, just converts it to be quieter. Or am I wrong?
 
You are right about keeping the !AMP! sound, but part of what gives the amp it's sound is the speaker it has. direct boxes a great, I use them all the time but if you want to capture the total sound of an amp then use the direct box but also mic the speaker at the same time and mix the two signals together. That works very well (you keep the warmth of the speaker while getting the power of the direct signal!) totally cool.

On the other hand I went compleetly around amps all together on a lot of my stuff and went with a Rocktron Chameleon pre-amp fx prossesor (which has speaker simulation in it)

A cheeper way to do the same thing is to buy a direct box called the Red Box (this has speaker simulation in it as well!) or you could get the direct box called the Cabulator which dose the same thing.
You will still have to use your amp with these but they only cost between $100 and $300 insted of $900 for the Chameleon.
 
Originally posted by El Barto:
>Could anyone suggest a good, cheap direct box to record guitar?<
There are two decent ones :
ART TUBE MP - $98.00 at zzounds.com
MIDIMAN AudioBuddy - $85.00 at zzounds.com
I've had both and sold both after I got a Mackie mixer and a Line6 POD, but they work well as budget mic preamps & DIs go.

>Would using a direct box be better than using a mic to record electric guitar? <

The DI box and preamp does two things :
First, it boosts low impedance microphones to Line level and Second, it allows high impedance guitar pickups to be inputted and matched to line level ( your mixing board levels ). Would the DI be better than a microphone ? Probably, if you have a cheap mic.

>And do I hear the amp while it's plugged into the box and the box into my 4-track?<

You don't plug your amp into the DI, your mics and guitars go straight in.You can mic your amp through the DI, however, and you'll hear it, of course.

>Yes, I am a newbie<
I've been at this for a year and still feel like a newbie myself. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong about the above explanation.

Regards,
PAPicker
Click to expand...
 
I also like the combination of mic and DI.

Be very carefull with pluging a powered speaker output into a DI !!.

You can do waht you want by Pluging guitar into Di and then connecting "Out to Amp" from the DI to the input f guitar Amp.
Then connect XLR output of Di to XLP mic of mixer.
Mic your amp and youve got them both.

To skip the mic but to get amp sound do this - You need a Di that can receive a powered output of a amp. You must be sure it can or else :eek: Send the Di ti the mixer mic in or line in.
This way you get a amp sound with no mic.
 
That's right. Somthing I forgot to add, a DI box works really well if you have a pre-amp out on the back of your amp. What you do is plug that into the DI box In-from-amp jack, then run the XLR to-mixer cable to your mixing desk. I wouldn't try pluging your guitar directly into the DI box, though, most offen it ends up sounding really weak or like hell.

for just a DI box, I picked up a Peavey EDI (Equalized Direct Interface) used for about $12. It is just a DI box and nothing else but it works fine
 
I have an old Marshall 50 watt and another old tube amp(called a Paul). I just went into the Hughes & Kettner page because I was wondering if the Red Box is the only device I need to record my amps into my Gina D/A Box as I don't have a mic or a mic preamp yet. Does the output from the amp head go into The Red Box and then into my Gina A/D box or do I need a preamp(I don't have a mixer) The H & K home page doesn't explain exactly how to hook it up. I have avoided buying a mic and preamp or DI for the amps because I only do music at night and I can't have the neighbors calling the "Heat" with a blazing Marshall at 3:00 a.m......Thanks.
 
Supersonic

You should be able to plug your amp into the di box and then the di box into the Gina. you don't need a pre amp for that because your amp is functioning as one.

So to answer your question, yes, the red box is all you will need for that :)
 
Thanks for the response. Just one question though. When you say plug amp into the DI box and then into Gina. Do you mean plug the 1/4 inch out from the Marshall head into the Red Box and then into the Gina A/D box(without micing the amp) OR mic the amp cabinet and plug the output from the mic into the Red Box and connect the Red Box to the Gina A/D converter? P.S...I'm really still Subsonic, but hope to graduate to Super soon if I can get my recording problems worked out. Thanks to you and other more experienced members, I am begining to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
 
Super,
yah, plug the pre out ont the Marshall into the amp in on the red box and then plug the balenced out(XLR)on the red box into an input on the Gina (you may have to use a XLR-1/4" adapter) but wether you mic the Marshall cabnet is up to you. All micing the cabnet dose is give you a little different tone so experiment with that and find what sounds best for you, discover your own sound
:)
 
hay el barto, anything made by sans amp is great!(no i dont work for them)i use a bass driver di to mix in with the amp signal.there especally good if you have to record at a low volume.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top