DI advice

[DanOwens]

The DI on my Littlemark didn't work at the other gig - I think it hates phantom. I'm a self-sufficient guy so I'd like a plan B if this happens again.

I'd like a DI in my spares bag, perhaps with a touch of amp sim but clean enough to appease the soundman. Clean is king, but perhaps not as transparent as a straightforward DI.

What do you guys use?

[TKenrick]

I remember having an issue with the DI on my LMII years ago - opened up the top and one of the cables had come loose, fixed in 30 seconds! It might be worth a look inside to see if there's anything visually suspect going on.

As far as plan B goes, I've had good experiences gigging without an amp using the following DIs: Radial Tonebone, Sansamp BDDI, Aguilar Tonehammer and (most recently) the Noble DI.

[DanOwens]

[quote name='TKenrick' timestamp='1468255990' post='3089624']
As far as plan B goes, I've had good experiences gigging without an amp using the following DIs: Radial Tonebone, Sansamp BDDI, Aguilar Tonehammer and (most recently) the Noble DI.
[/quote]

What was your favourite and why? There's a few there that I thought were quite dirty and I'm after clean. Can the Sansamp and the Aguilar do clean?

[51m0n]

REDDI is the best

But very expensive....

[EBS_freak]

http://www.orchid-electronics.co.uk/classic_DI.htm

Sounds great - just check out the reviews to clarify - and too cheap not to have one anyway.

[DanOwens]

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1468264809' post='3089737']
http://www.orchid-electronics.co.uk/classic_DI.htm

Sounds great - just check out the reviews to clarify - and too cheap not to have one anyway.
[/quote]

This sounds very tempting. Do you own one? What are your experiences?

[TKenrick]

[quote name='DanOwens' timestamp='1468259424' post='3089668']
What was your favourite and why? There's a few there that I thought were quite dirty and I'm after clean. Can the Sansamp and the Aguilar do clean?
[/quote]

My favourite is the Noble, because it gives a really quiet, clean signal and engineers and band members always make positive comments about it. I can also take a small solid state head to a gig and run it through the Noble to make it sound like a tube amp without the backache. Apparently it's comparable to the REDDI but I don't have any experience of the latter so can't comment.

I always ran my Aguilar completely clean, it does that fine and the ability to switch between two sounds is useful. They're well made and I never had any problems with mine.

Might be worth looking into a Radial JDI or ProDI, both of which are used in a lot of venues.

[rmorris]

[quote name='DanOwens' timestamp='1468259424' post='3089668']


What was your favourite and why? There's a few there that I thought were quite dirty and I'm after clean. Can the Sansamp and the Aguilar do clean?
[/quote]

Switching the BDDI 'off' and it's a pure DI. Same with Behringer DI21 but unlike BDDI that won't run from phantom power.

[BassBod]

I carry Radial Pro1 passive - if I get noise or level problems from the Sansamp or amp DI out, I just run a jack cable from effects send/line out into the Radial. Has always worked perfectly...in fact, plan B should really be plan A by now 😳

[BassBod]

Most of the time the Sansamps (BDDI and VT) are fine, but sometimes they have both picked up electrical noise (hums or digi stuff). I've found that only a transformer/passive DI works in these situations.

[DanOwens]

[quote name='BassBod' timestamp='1468952680' post='3094636']
Most of the time the Sansamps (BDDI and VT) are fine, but sometimes they have both picked up electrical noise (hums or digi stuff). I've found that only a transformer/passive DI works in these situations.
[/quote]

I suppose it's a perpetual circle: Want a DI thats clean and reliable > get a dry sound > get an amp sim > Too much colour (and perhaps unwanted noise). Start again.

[BassBod]

I've found amp - effects send- passive DI to be the most effective approach, especially for run around gigging. There are some issues (put the DI on top of amp and you may get radiated hum from mains transformer, some house engineers insist you use their Beringer box in front of the amp, because your eq will ruin his mix) but it's as close to simple and foolproof as I've got in years of gigging. I use a Sansamp a lot of the time, but the "Earth lift" doesn't always remove noise.

[DanOwens]

[quote name='BassBod' timestamp='1469054061' post='3095490']
I've found amp - effects send- passive DI to be the most effective approach, especially for run around gigging. There are some issues (put the DI on top of amp and you may get radiated hum from mains transformer, some house engineers insist you use their Beringer box in front of the amp, because your eq will ruin his mix) but it's as close to simple and foolproof as I've got in years of gigging. I use a Sansamp a lot of the time, but the "Earth lift" doesn't always remove noise.
[/quote]

Is it a BDDI? I was put off it as I need a clean signal and everyone raves about the dirtiness.

[BassBod]

BDDI and VT - they both do clean if you set them up for it, but really they do "warm" tones and amp emulation the best. The Sadowsky unit does warm and clean very well, probably the best I've heard, before you get into the really expensive stuff (that I don't use) but it doesn't do any hint of distortion.