Best ACOUSTIC Direct Box?

[Rainmaker]

I would love your thoughts.

Thanks =)

[ericmeyer4]

Re: Best ACOUSTIC Direct Box?

Ive been using the Whirlwind IMP2 for both my electric. It hasnt given me anyproblems yet!

edm

[Dirt123]

Re: Best ACOUSTIC Direct Box?

I use the L.R. Baggs Para D.I. I found it used for $99.

I use it plugged into the P.A. It helps my old Ovation sound like an actual guitar. Sometimes I feed the line out to the FX return of my guitar amp for a monitior.

http://www.lrbaggs.com/html/products/preamps_paradi.shtml

I have not tried any of the D-Tars, yet, but I'm sure they would work well too. Evan had one at UGD, & his Gibson J-45 sounded GREAT.

[That90'sGuy]

Re: Best ACOUSTIC Direct Box?

Nice thread! I was just going to ask about direct boxes myself So DI boxes will help your acoustic sound better through an electric setup?

[Dirt123]

Re: Best ACOUSTIC Direct Box?

Nice thread! I was just going to ask about direct boxes myself So DI boxes will help your acoustic sound better through an electric setup?

Yes, but they sound BEST through a PA, powered monitor or acoustic combo. Electric guitar amps don't have a wide enpough frequency response.

Running my Ovation through the DI & into the FX return of my Boogie works as a monitor, & sounds better than going through the amps preamp, but by no means does it sounds like it should.

[That90'sGuy]

Re: Best ACOUSTIC Direct Box?

Cool... I guess anything's better than nothing

[marvar]

Re: Best ACOUSTIC Direct Box?

For less than 50 buck, pick up a Berringer Active DI-
Active DI's require a battery or phantom power, but don't load the pickups, giving a cleaner,quiter, stronger signal.

[LesStrat]

Re: Best ACOUSTIC Direct Box?

Active DI boxes are a pain in the neck.

For everyday use, I prefer passive boxes.

[Rainmaker]

Re: Best ACOUSTIC Direct Box?

'Great minds think alike', Chris

I need a bit of help. Can someone define the key terms like 'passive', 'active', 'electric DI' (?), etc. and give a brief overview? Thanks.

[Dirt123]

Re: Best ACOUSTIC Direct Box?

'Great minds think alike', Chris

I need a bit of help. Can someone define the key terms like 'passive', 'active', 'electric DI' (?), etc. and give a brief overview? Thanks.

An active (electric) DI is gonna require a power source, either a battery, AC adapter or other power. A passive DI box will not. It typically has a signal transformer inside. A good passive DI will not negativly color your tone, but should match the impedance of your signal to the board it's plugged into, and should reduce noise by electrically isolating the signal form the board.

The active box can have more features, that's whay I like the Baggs. It's got an EQ & will supply phantom (48 vdc) power for a condensor mic. So in addition to being a DI box, it does double duty as a pre-amp. My Ovation is so old, it has no on-board EQ, so the Baggs helps me there too.

[Amateur]

Re: Best ACOUSTIC Direct Box?

Active DI boxes are a pain in the neck.

For everyday use, I prefer passive boxes.

I have quite a few Behringer Ultra DI100s, which I use for recording. I use the 48 volt phantom power instead of the battery. It works very well. The Behringer Ultra DIs are very quiet comparing to other DI boxes which I had tried and compared. It includes when the batteries are used. I don't know exactly what caused the pain. May be you can explain it to me so that I can beware of it also.

[bluey@sunni]

Re: Best ACOUSTIC Direct Box?

Aphex 1401 exciter for passive ie. non pre-amp piezo acoustic guitars, yet to get hold of one for a play but the review in Australian Guitar was pretty positive.

Have seen/heard one used live with a high-end Taylor with great results, but that's starting out with a great base so maybe not too indicative of it's capabilities.

AsideSaving up the money to put a pair of Celestion G12K speakers in my 1981 vintage Acoustic G60 2-12 amp, frequency response to 5.5 KHz.)

[jeremy]

Re: Best ACOUSTIC Direct Box?

the baggs para acoustic di is what i have been using for years. its great. ive been toying with it again lately and i forgot how nice it is. works well for bass also.

if i played more acoustic id probably use a equinox. ive seen/hear a few people using them and WOW really cool.

[Benjy_26]

Re: Best ACOUSTIC Direct Box?

a cool trick with the Para DI:

Jack the gain trimpot all the way up and plug in your electric and use it to goose the front end of your non-master volume tube amp. It sounded great with my Bassman.

[Dirt123]

Re: Best ACOUSTIC Direct Box?

a cool trick with the Para DI:

Jack the gain trimpot all the way up and plug in your electric and use it to goose the front end of your non-master volume tube amp. It sounded great with my Bassman.

Cool. How very Ritchie Blackmore. I'll have to try that..