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Help with DI pedals…


BassBeast
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Hello folks,

 

Sadly, I’m not at liberty to try pedals in person…but have found vids online purporting that Line 6’s HX Stomp is a superior bass DI solution. 
 

Anyone with experience using this?

 

Is there anything similar / smaller that can give my 4 band Stingray loads of punch / bottom end (without distorting or muddying) before going into my compressor pedal?

 

cheers!

Edited by BassBeast
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17 hours ago, BassBeast said:

Hello folks,

 

Sadly, I’m not at liberty to try pedals in person…but have found vids online purporting that Line 6’s HX Stomp is a superior bass DI solution. 
 

Anyone with experience using this?

 

Is there anything similar / smaller that can give my 4 band Stingray loads of punch / bottom end (without distorting or muddying) before going into my compressor pedal?

 

cheers!

 

Normally a DI pedal would go right at the end of the chain so you can this send you final signal (incl. compression) to FoH. It might be that a decent EQ pedal would be of more use here to do what you're looking for. But also, if you have a four band Stringray shouldn't that allow you to dial in that tone on the bass itself? 

 

Might be worth sharing your current signal path so we can see how it's all looking? 

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I love my Stomp, but I feel it might be a bit of overkill for your situation looking at what you already have. 

 

As someone else said, DI box is usually at the end of the chain to send a balanced signal to front of house or recording desk. 

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A HX Stomp would potentially replace your entire board as a 'one box' solution but depends if you're happy with the digital style editing that comes with a mutli fx pedal..... and indeed if you like the sounds you can get from the Stomp as it's not cheap.

 

For a straight forward DI to put at the end of your signal chain I can recommend the Radial SB-2 Stagebug; passive, so nothing really to go wrong, with an Eclipse transformer (according to the Radial blurb, the transformer is 'magical'!!). If you want more punch from your bass, check out the review I did recently of the Dod Meatbox reissue. Just using a little of the Octave out (not the sub synth output as this kills speakers!) I found gave a nice push in the low frequencies without sounding artificial.

Edited by Boodang
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I tried boosting the gain on my MXR EQ after sticking it at the end of the chain. Got some more meat out of me bass this way. 
 

How could a DI make any difference?
 

Really haven’t cottoned onto what a Di is used for. For my set up at least 

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I would also consider looking at your pedal order and EQ settings first, if i were using that setup I would be going;

Compressor, Pitchfork, AfterShock, EQ, Mobius, Nemisis

For the EQ I would experiment with your settings a bit more as your current settings aren't ideal for punch. 

 

As for a DI, completely depends on which one you choose as they have different uses. A plain DI does nothing but send a balanced signal to FOH/desk where as something like a sansamp adds a lot more flavour and utility.

Edited by maidens97
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Putting the pitchfork before the dirt will just allow it to track better as it'll only be getting a clean compressed signal, instead of a distorted one which it won't track as well. The mobius and delay would really depend what you use them for but they'd probably be fine either way.

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All pitch FX work better with a clean signal and when placed after a compressor. Then they get a really clean and even signal to work with.

 

You could replace your entire board with HX Stomp, although the stomp only has 3 footswitches. If some of your current pedals are always on - like the comp and the EQ etc then that might not matter. It's easy to add an external midi unit to a stomp, or there is the bigger Stomp XL, but to be honest at that point the money is so close to a Helix LT that the LT would be a better and more powerful option for not a lot more.

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I have been using the HX Stomp for most of this year and have really loved using it! There are a couple for sale on here (including mine) for decent prices. Only reason i'm selling mine is due to having the strong urge to build a big pedalboard again 

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2 hours ago, BassBeast said:

How could a DI make any difference?
 

Really haven’t cottoned onto what a Di is used for. For my set up at least 

A DI won't make any difference to your sound. It's either for sending a signal to the PA or recording.

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44 minutes ago, BassBeast said:

The stomp can replicate all my pedals precisely? 😇

 

Well, without knowing your settings or preferred sounds...

 

I would think it could replace your EQ, drive, compressor, and pitch easily enough. The question will be over your delay and modulation sounds. For me - I'm completely happy with the Helix sounds for them (Stomp and Helix have the same sounds), but I know some people like dedicated units with different controls for that sort of thing. Some use a Stomp and then a Strymon or 2 - and use midi to swap everything at once when needed.

 

You can have 8 blocks in the Stomp. There are some DSP limits - the recently introduced PolyCapo effect uses loads leaving less power for everything else, but it's a really good poly octave designed for use instead of retuning a guitar. Don't know any bassists using that effect.

 

EQ, drive, compression hardly use any DSP. There are loads of options for each type, and just because an effect appears in the 'Guitar' list does not mean it can't be used on bass.

 

If you find a sensibly priced used on you wouldn't lose any money if you discover it's not for you. There is a bit of a learning curve, but the UI is really simple and there's plenty of us on here with an HX based unit to help and swap patches with.

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On 22/08/2024 at 12:42, Boodang said:

A DI won't make any difference to your sound. It's either for sending a signal to the PA or recording.

Well millions would say otherwise!! Depends on the DI you use of course but every DI will colour to a lesser or greater degree your sound and as far as I’m concerned is a pretty integral part of any bass players overall sound.  Otherwise you put your sound at the mercy of whatever DI box a venue has (could be decent, often isn’t!). I’ve got various DIs that all do a different job and I’ll often use a different one depending upon the gig / sound required. 

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5 hours ago, dodge_bass said:

Well millions would say otherwise!! Depends on the DI you use of course but every DI will colour to a lesser or greater degree your sound and as far as I’m concerned is a pretty integral part of any bass players overall sound.  Otherwise you put your sound at the mercy of whatever DI box a venue has (could be decent, often isn’t!). I’ve got various DIs that all do a different job and I’ll often use a different one depending upon the gig / sound required. 

I agree wholeheartedly, I was just simplifying the matter in the context that a DI is not what is needed here. 
A DI is definitely going to have an effect, especially if you buy Radial as according to them the transformers they use have ‘magical’ qualities! 

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4 hours ago, Boodang said:

I agree wholeheartedly, I was just simplifying the matter in the context that a DI is not what is needed here. 
A DI is definitely going to have an effect, especially if you buy Radial as according to them the transformers they use have ‘magical’ qualities! 

Apologies, it was late and I missed what you were actually saying there. Yes apparently they do, I have a couple and they are pretty good though I think I more impressed with just how robust they are than anything! 

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4 hours ago, dodge_bass said:

Apologies, it was late and I missed what you were actually saying there. Yes apparently they do, I have a couple and they are pretty good though I think I more impressed with just how robust they are than anything! 

No worries. Conscious not to hijack the thread into a DI forum but.... in the studio I'll use a fancy pants DI but live I use the Radial SB-2 as it's passive, so not worrying about psu's, it's electrically indestructible and I reckon you could play football with it and it'll still work. Oh, and it sounds great too. 

Edited by Boodang
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