Jesse Meade
New member
Does using a passive DI box with a passive pickup do anything at all to the signal?
Is there voltage coming out of a passive pickup?Yes, it will swap voltage for current, giving you a lower-level, low output impedance signal. This is what step-down transformers do. They don't particularly care if the source feeding them is a pickup or a transistor. Although more complex interactions are possible with the pickup, which may create larger variations in tone. That could be good or bad, depending on the specific parts in question and desired sound.
There has to be, otherwise there would be no signal.Is there voltage coming out of a passive pickup?
There are dozens of passive DI's. They just contain a step down transformer. Active DI's need power from a battery or phantom, passive's do not.The reason for using a DI (passive, active, whatever . . . though they are all active as far as I know . . . at least the ones I use are)
Passive DI's don't have anything other than ground lift switches. They will also load down the pickup in some instances.Whether you have active or passive pickups is of no consequence to the DI. They usually have adjustments to cope with varying levels of input signal.
Yes, it will swap voltage for current, giving you a lower-level, low output impedance signal. This is what step-down transformers do. They don't particularly care if the source feeding them is a pickup or a transistor. Although more complex interactions are possible with the pickup, which may create larger variations in tone. That could be good or bad, depending on the specific parts in question and desired sound.