PA head to DI box....ohms n stuff

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FZfile

FZfile

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I remeber reading somewhere in my Ultra DI box manual, which has currently been hiding from me, that you could plug speaker outs of x amout of power into the box and then safley run that to the appropriate destination device.

I have some old PA head that I want to record direct so I can see how it sounds by itself and try and distort it in some usefull fashion.
however......
There are male ended speaker outs (xlr) and my DI is a male ended.
I am about to build a male xlr to male xlr but Is there a better way to send the PA head direct to the recorder.

The PA head in question is a Vibration Technologies 4M 140.
It has a 16 ohm xlr speaker out (left) and an 8 ohm xlr speaker out (right)......and a trs "slave" jack out on the front.

Do ohms matter......... as far as driving the DI?????

Thanks in advance.

-mike
 
maybe I'm just confused:confused:

but...if you're taking an amp'd signal out of the head (speaker outs), why would you even need to involve a DI box? seems to me that you may be able to go direct into your recording device (whatever that may be)?
 
The confusion is probably mine...

....I thought I had read in the DI manual that it could be used to sort of "attenuate" amplifier output.

I guess it was probably referring to impedence issues as I believe is the case with DI'ing an un-amped guitar.

.....but I kind of remember some wording about the box being good for handling ampplifier output before going direct into the recorder.

.....ohhh if only I could find the manual.

My other question, to clarify, is about the 8ohm verses 16ohm output.......which is the better one to use for this kind of thing, or does it matter.

thaks

-mike
 
DO NOT PLUG ANYTHING UP TO THE POWERED OUTPUTS ON YOUR PA HEAD EXCEPT FOR SPEAKERS!!!!!

Seriously you will blow some shit up. DI's are not for handling a powered load. There are Hot Plates and other boxes designed for that but I would be VERY surprised if you DI was made for that. Find your manual and read very carefully before trying that and if it is capable of it it will tell you what ohm load to use.

If you are just using the PA head for an effect then you would probalby be best micing a speaker or using a Preamp or monitor/aux out on the head and running that direct to your mixer/recorder.

The DI has a male plug because that is the output not the input.
 
Many DI's are designed to handle a signal from a power amp.

For instance, I'm staring right now at one of my Countryman Type 85 FET direct boxes. There is a toggle switch for either an instrument input or an amp input.
 
well, i answered my first question.

"The input has been designed to handle any source: instrument direct, line input or even the speaker output of amplifiers with up to 3,000 watts of power (max input level is +50dBu!)"

Dont know why I din't just search the web in the first place, instead of turning my house upside down....although the manual really should be on the book shelf with all of my other manuals.

Anywho........I appreciate the warning Tex.
Better safe that sorry.

The Ultra DI does not have any kind of switch on it to select the input source, but it apparently is all handled by the transformer.

So how about the 2nd part of the question........will it matter whether i use the 8 or 16ohm output?????

thanks

-mike
 
....uuuhhhmmmmm....wait. i know that one.

I guess it wouldnt matter whether I use the 8 or 16 ohm outs because thats what the DI is for in the first place, right.

Anyways....thanks again fo rthe advice.

-mike
 
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