Hi Z?

[Bulls Hit]

My mixer doesn't have Hi Z switches.

If I plug the guitar into the line in, I can wind up the gain, throw an amplitube plugin or whatever on in Cakewalk and record while monitoring the effect. This is handy for getting ideas down when the kids are in bed & I can't mic the amp.

So what's the deal with Hi Z? Why would I need it? Am I going to damage something by not using a DI box?

 

[boingoman]

1/4" line-in is hi-z. Hi-z means hi-impedance. Unlike microphones, line level gear needs hi-z inputs.
Guitar and bass also need hi-z inputs. The higher the better. If the impedance isn't high enough you start to lose frequencys from your instrument, most notably highs. A lot of mixer inputs don't have enough impedance to let your instrument sound it's best.

You aren't hurting anything, but your sound will probably improve with a DI that has a guitar input, or a tube mic pre with an instrument input, or a pre-amp, basically anything designed for guitar.

Try it, maybe you won't notice enough difference to change your method. But I bet you will.

 

[manning1]

bulls hit - there is a basic electronics rule.
low impedence outputs like to "look into" high impedence inputs.
if you look at guitar amp schematics you will notice a guitar will hook into
a high impedence input on a guitar amp.
now heres a trick - if you cant afford a di box you can build one for a few bucks in parts using a J FET (a high input impedence device) which guitars
love. just search in google for "JFET guitar direct box". or i believe one is called "JFET GUITAR CABLE". you should get lots of schematics links. takes about half hour to build using just one jfet, and a couple of resistors to bias the jfet and a 9 volt battery and a couple of capacitors.
but if youve never done this before maybe you might consider an adult electronics course. very usefull - then you can build all sorts of gizmos like mic pre's etc. you could also use something like a hi impedence input
op amp. like a motorola mc33171 or such like.

 

[Bulls Hit]

Thanks for the info guys.

I'm not really very practical so I'll probably just invest in a DI box

 

[mshilarious]

You could also get a 1/4"-XLR converter from the Shack. I think those are $15 or so.

 

[sweetnubs]

Don't plug your guitar directly into the console. Get a direct box m'kay. Countryman on the cheap.

 

[noisedude]

The Behringer DI boxes (the chunky silver ones) are very good IMHO!