DI Boxes

[obbm]

I'm going to need to get one.

What do you use?

Which is best?

Do any have a headphone out?

[Happy Jack]

For "pure" DI work I use my Phil Jones Bass Buddy. Very light/portable, very simple, has everything you need and nothing you don't need; the on-board EQ avoids the [i]let's see how many knobs and sliders we can fit in here, then write a 240-page manual[/i] syndrome, and is very effective.

My main stage amp (as you know) is an Eden WTX-260. Again, it's very light/portable, very simple ... erm ... can you see a pattern developing here?

Edit: For the benefit of other readers of this thread, the WTX-260 is also a DI box and a rather good one, too. Far too expensive to buy just for that, of course, but worth considering when pricing up a new amp. End of edit.

Both the above have headphone out. On the Eden the headphone socket does NOT kill the speaker out, making it ideal for in-ear monitoring. Actually (and picking up on another conversation we're having) I need to check whether the same is true of the Bass Buddy.

Do you ever get up to London, Dave?

Edited June 4, 2008 by Happy Jack

[john_the_bass]

I have a Behringer Ultra-G G100 DI box. Ground-lift, couple of pad switches, 4x12 emulation (the blurb says it "realistically emulates a 4x12 cab" - it doesn't it's rubbish, oh - it might realistically emulate a Behringer 4x12 cab, I'd not thought of that), battery or phantom. No headphone out.

It's a good cheap DI box if that's all you need it for, but I don't know if any of them do the headphone thing - you might be able to use a multi-fx thingy though.

Edited June 4, 2008 by john_the_bass

[obbm]

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='212282' date='Jun 4 2008, 08:36 AM']For "pure" DI work I use my Phil Jones Bass Buddy. Very light/portable, very simple, has everything you need and nothing you don't need; the on-board EQ avoids the [i]let's see how many knobs and sliders we can fit in here, then write a 240-page manual[/i] syndrome, and is very effective.

My main stage amp (as you know) is an Eden WTX-260. Again, it's very light/portable, very simple ... erm ... can you see a pattern developing here?

Both the above have headphone out. On the Eden the headphone socket does NOT kill the speaker out, making it ideal for in-ear monitoring. Actually (and picking up on another conversation we're having) I need to check whether the same is true of the Bass Buddy.

Do you ever get up to London, Dave?[/quote]

Jack, I think you've just solved your own problem. If the Bass Buddy has an instrument loop-through and a headphone out then you should use it when using other amps.

Yes I do come up to London occasionally for meetings. I'll let you know next time.

[99ster]

[quote name='obbm' post='212279' date='Jun 4 2008, 08:23 AM']I'm going to need to get one.

What do you use?

Which is best?

Do any have a headphone out?[/quote]


Dave - one of the very best is the [url="http://www.avalondesign.com/instrudi.html"]Avalon U5[/url] - it's become an industry standard for bass in top studios. They are absolutely fantastic. And this has a headphone output. But they're about £400 new - though I got mine off eBay for £250.
You should also check out anything made by Radial - all their kit is excellent 'pro' standard. Many people swear by the Radial JDI for bass - this is a VERY good passive DI (but has no headphone output).

Then there are bass specific DI's like the Sansamp BDDI & the MXR M80 - lots of fans of these on Basschat.

You can come & try out all of these at my place if you like?

Edited June 4, 2008 by 99ster

[bass_ferret]

And the EBS Microbass

[ahpook]

i normally use the Di on my ampeg svp-pro, which seems to be ok...

the best i've used is my ridge farm gas cooker

[johnnylager]

[quote name='john_the_bass' post='212284' date='Jun 4 2008, 08:45 AM']I have a Behringer Ultra-G G100 DI box. Ground-lift, couple of pad switches, 4x12 emulation (the blurb says it "realistically emulates a 4x12 cab" - it doesn't it's rubbish, oh - it might realistically emulate a Behringer 4x12 cab, I'd not thought of that)[/quote]
Lunch on keyboard again
EBS has a headphone thing, but I couldn't afford one so I got a SansAmp Para Driver and I like it. A ton off fleabay. I originally had a programmable one but it dined heartily on mids and I only used one channel. So I sold it.

[woodster]

+1 for the Avalon U5, best £400 I've spent in a long time.

[obbm]

Thanks for your contributions. I was asked by someone how they could monitor his bass on headphones regardless of what amp was being used. In essence he needs a headphone amp with a high impedance input to sit across the cable from the bass to the amp, just like a DI box. That got me thinking as to what was out there.

Obviously he could use a DI box and a stand-alone headphone amp but that gets a bit too messy. What's needed is a one-box solution. Ideally a battery powered belt-pack headphone amp with a bass loop-through that doesn't degrade the signal in any way.

Certainly the EBS fits the criteria but is really too complex, too expensive and too large for this specific application.

Keep the ideas coming.


(Oh and I need a box because the Orange doesn't have a DI out.)

Edited June 4, 2008 by obbm

[BassBod]

I use a Radial ProI - the cheaper passive box. Never had any problems or complaints (but I sometimes did when I used active DIs....running from an amp output). For a good cheap active DI look at Orchid Electronics - excellent for passive basses or piezo pickups on acoustic things.

BB

[Steve Woodcock]

[quote name='99ster' post='212287' date='Jun 4 2008, 08:52 AM']You should also check out anything made by Radial - all their kit is excellent 'pro' standard. Many people swear by the Radial JDI for bass - this is a VERY good passive DI (but has no headphone output).[/quote]

Dave,

I may well be selling a Radial JDI soon - only used once in the studio to A/B it against the J48 to find which one suited my basses better...

[Pkomor]

[quote]Obviously he could use a DI box and a stand-alone headphone amp but that gets a bit too messy. What's needed is a one-box solution. Ideally a battery powered belt-pack headphone amp with a bass loop-through that doesn't degrade the signal in any way.[/quote]

i would be interested in something like that to, it could be very useful!

[Happy Jack]

Y'know Dave, I'm beginning to see a gap in the market ...

[Pkomor]

[url="http://www.music123.com/Rolls-PM50s-Personal-Monitor-Amp-483854-i1145960.Music123"]Would something like this work?[/url]

only xlr inputs/outputs though, but right sort of thing...

Edited June 5, 2008 by Pkomor

[Happy Jack]

[quote name='Pkomor' post='213410' date='Jun 5 2008, 06:57 PM'][url="http://www.music123.com/Rolls-PM50s-Personal-Monitor-Amp-483854-i1145960.Music123"]Would something like this work?[/url]

only xlr inputs/outputs though, but right sort of thing...[/quote]

No (because it needs an external power supply) but [i]this[/i] might:

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Rolls-PM52-Connect-Headphones-to-Amp-Speaker-Outputs_W0QQitemZ160136644759QQihZ006QQcategoryZ21145QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Rolls-PM52-Connect-H...1742.m153.l1262[/url]

Think I'll do some digging.

Dave - what do you think? Are we nearly there yet?

[Happy Jack]

Found one of them there PM52 units for just $24 on a Yankee website. I've got a member of my team in New York office next week anyway, so I've bought it. I'll let you know what I think when I get it in a couple of weeks.

[johnnylager]

How about [url="http://www.canford.co.uk/blueprintonline/blueprintsep2002/headphoneamp.aspx"]this[/url]? Jack to XLR into it from the bass, XLR to jack out to amp? WTFDIK, I'm a bass player

Ah, it's line level. I'm wating for a response to me email...

Edited June 6, 2008 by johnnylager

[obbm]

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='213651' date='Jun 6 2008, 09:18 AM']Found one of them there PM52 units for just $24 on a Yankee website. I've got a member of my team in New York office next week anyway, so I've bought it. I'll let you know what I think when I get it in a couple of weeks.[/quote]

I would think that's a good start Jack although you will need to plug into the speaker feed of the amp. That could be a problem with a combo.

I was going to suggest that you try using the Bass Buddy. It has all that you need and you already have one. You just need a Y-cord so you can feed the Buddy and the amp from the bass. No different than going into two amp heads simultaneously and it's all your side of the amp input jack.

[obbm]

[quote name='johnnylager' post='213659' date='Jun 6 2008, 09:42 AM']How about [url="http://www.canford.co.uk/blueprintonline/blueprintsep2002/headphoneamp.aspx"]this[/url]? Jack to XLR into it from the bass, XLR to jack out to amp? WTFDIK, I'm a bass player

Ah, it's line level. I'm wating for a response to me email...[/quote]

Interesting but it's not loop through. It's a 2-channel device.

[johnnylager]

[quote name='obbm' post='213673' date='Jun 6 2008, 09:55 AM']Interesting but it's not loop through. It's a 2-channel device.[/quote]
Ah, I see. Please read the caption under my avatar and put together with the words "I", "am" & "a" And it would need to come off the DI out of your amp, so the very nice chap at Canford has just told me.

Edited June 6, 2008 by johnnylager

[obbm]

[quote name='johnnylager' post='213693' date='Jun 6 2008, 10:20 AM']Ah, I see. Please read the caption under my avatar and put together with the words "I", "am" & "a" And it would need to come off the DI out of your amp, so the very nice chap at Canford has just told me.[/quote]

Now c'mon. Don't put yourself down like that. It was good idea.

[johnnylager]

So, bass > headphone amp/DI > amp, yes? I'll try and build one, wife & kids willing...

Edited June 6, 2008 by johnnylager

[Pkomor]

theres quite a few that have xlr in, xlr through, monitor in (which you wouldn't need) and headphone out, but i cant find any with jack input and jack through output..

[xilddx]

I use the Hartke Bass Attack which works really well. The Preamp is cool and has really good tone shaping and the tube distrtion effect ain't bad. Got a balanced XLR out, line out, parallel out (uneffected) to go to your amp, takes phantom power, battery and 9v, has a ground lift, pre and post switch. I don't bother with an amp, just this straight to the PA. It has two footswitches for the shape control and the eq. It's very versatile. You can use the line out for phones.

I've played some very large stages with just this and just use the wedges for monitoring, sound guys seem to be pretty impressed with it after initial concerns. Great for recording and silent practicing too. It's about £75.

Good luck mate.

Edited June 6, 2008 by silddx