Direct Injection Boxes

Posted: Mon Nov 06, 2006 12:00 pm

Any Favourites as far as budget boxes go , I have a couple of active and passive yorkville boxes that seem to very clean, also a Behringer one, which seems clean enough.

I have been seeing a lot of instrument specific boxes lately, for example, an accoustic DI, with built in exciter and eq, and a bass one with the same type of eqs.

Anybody tried these ? Do you prefer a basic DI box, or would you rather buy for specific uses ? I suppose it depends on the budget.

I really like DI's , very handy, I have done a few sessions where the only mics in the room where on drums and vocals. Makes life easier .

Posted: Wed Nov 08, 2006 9:44 am

Hey Gilligan204

Mayby you can help me? i have just bought an art acessories passive D.I and have no idea how to link it when recording an electric guitar from a mic'd marshell amp. My current set up is guitar jack straight into my D.I input then my D.I output through xlr istraight into my mixing desk do i need 48v or hi z on?. Also i have an input thru on my D.I would i use this when my electric guitar is Di'd into my marshell amp then recorded from a mic.

Thanks Goodge

Link for my D.I box

http://www.hwaudio.co.uk/shop/product.asp?PLU=29041

Posted: Wed Nov 08, 2006 10:20 am

DI boxes are a double-edged sword. They can be great when used with the right source, and they can suck on others. Traditionally, they are most often used on electric basses and keyboards. Generally, anything that doesn't rely on an amp to get its "vibe" going. Lately, many guitar players have been using them to go 'between' the guitar and the amp when they want a super-clean 'straight-to-the-mixer' signal. They will then track both, the amp mic'd up, and the DI signal, on seperate tracks, and mix/process them seperately later on.
Anyway, the design of the DI and the source you're plugging into it will determine the type of box used. A 'passive' DI uses an audio transformer to do the 'splitting', and will use no phantom power from the mixer to work. It will not 'boost' the level of the source, it will only attenuate it. Some of these are used after the amps speaker ouput, some are used atthe linelevel output of keyboards or active guitars/basses. A good quality passive DI like a Radian or Whirlwind will have a better quality transformer than a cheap-o Rolls or ART DI. This will yield less noise pick-up and better tone.
"Active" DIs use little circuit boards to control the gain and do the splitting. This requires either battery or phantom power to pull off. These are the boxes that have the 'fancy' exciter and/or EQ circuitry in them. Generally speaking, those tone-changing circuits are BS and are really hype. The better active DIs (Countryman, Radian, Whirlwind) concentrate on the barebones features like low-noise performance, extended response, gain control, etc., and don't bother with 'gimmicks'. A cheap-quality active DI can be a nightmare in the "wrong" environment where RFI noise and the like can wreak havok. While botha types are valid, you do have to consider the application before choosing which type to use.

Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2006 8:33 am

Interesting reply. I totally agree with what you say regarding cheep rolls and art equipment, it was originally bought just to be used in my home studio enviroment for a cleaner signal to my interface but after forum feedback i will look into an well considered upgrade.
Cheers for the info.

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