LR Baggs Para DI or Venue DI?

[AHill]

I am getting a new Martin D-18 soon and it's going to have a K&K Pure Mini installed. I'm now looking for a DI / preamp to match the K&K. Mostly just getting plugged into amps, and not into soundboards. The Para DI is pretty much a basic DI, but the Venue does have one feature I think I'd find quite useful - a built-in tuner.

Thoughts? Alternatives? Cost isn't a huge issue for me. Hey, it's Christmas!

[RockerDuck]

I had both and I prefer the Para DI. The tuner on the venue doesn't work good. I use a Boss tu-3 waza for a tuner that's 1000% better. The Para is more compact and takes up less space, and, for me, has better controls. Plus, has lotza volume for weak pickups.

[Ed-in-Ohio]

Originally Posted by AHill

I am getting a new Martin D-18 soon and it's going to have a K&K Pure Mini installed. I'm now looking for a DI / preamp to match the K&K. Mostly just getting plugged into amps, and not into soundboards. The Para DI is pretty much a basic DI, but the Venue does have one feature I think I'd find quite useful - a built-in tuner.

Thoughts? Alternatives? Cost isn't a huge issue for me. Hey, it's Christmas!

I have owned both. With a K&K equipped guitar, the BBE Acoustimax blows both of the Baggs units out of the water. Highly recommended.

[AHill]

After some more research, I've discovered the K&K Mini output is a 1 Megaohm impedance. So, the best match for it would be a 1 Megohm preamp. K&K, of course, matches that impedance, but the XLR seems pretty basic to me. Ultrasound (Dean Markley), Redeye, and BBE match 1 Megohm. So, I'm more likely to go that route. The BBE Acoustimax seems to offer a lot for the money. I'm leaning that way unless I'm convinced otherwise.

[Vancebo]

If you want and all in one unit the Venue is fine. I like the no battery of the PADI since it works off of phantom power. I don’t like that it doesn’t have a footswitch mute and boost. The Red Eye sounds the best of all of them but it has limited EQ. Your amp would do the heavy EQing. It all about features. Get the features you need the most and go with it.

[philjs]

Originally Posted by Vancebo

I like the no battery of the PADI since it works off of phantom power.

Another DI that runs off phantom power, that you might want to investigate and given that you will be using an amp with EQ on board, is the Baggs Session. Has a mute switch (no boost or tuner) but offers nice acoustic compression and saturation.

BUT I'll strongly suggest and encourage you to check out and invest in a ToneDexter. It has all the features a good acoustic DI offers, with tuner, boost, mute, EQ and effects loop, AND you can train your pickup to sound like a nice microphone. It works quite nicely with a K&K and other SBTs and is, frankly, revolutionary.

Phil

[Methos1979]

I've owned all the DI's mentioned thus far on this thread and I use K&K's exclusively on all my guitars. Here is my opinion of each:

Venue - never able to get a decent tone out of my K&K guitars with this DI
Para - a little better but just WAY too many controls to be useful for me
RedEye - best sound by far and incredible in it's simplicity
K&K (belt clip) - small and inexpensive, volume and EQ shaping at your fingertips when worn on the body.

So it sort of depends on what you're looking to do. If you want/need a ton of EQ shaping/notching/gain staging or just like to fiddle around with buttons and knobs - Para. Just want to plug in and forget it (and have phantom power) - RedEye. Need some volume control and a little EQ at your fingertips - K&K.

There's a lot of others out there but this will get you started. All three can be had for a decent price new and even better used. Heck, I've got a Para I'll sell you cheap!

[StringFive]

The Baggs DI is a classic. I've used mine with every guitar I own...including the K&K....over countless gigs....and it's never let me down and always sounds great.

[AHill]

Lots of good suggestions to mull over. One observation is that it seems the ones with the best reviews aren't cheap. It makes sense that a DI/preamp that costs 2x a K&K XLR or LB Para would perform better. The ToneDexter is very appealing, but I don't gig on a regular basis (just occasional church stuff), so I can't justify that much on a DI.

[ricdoug]

LR Baggs Para Acoustic DI has not ever been blown out of the water by any other previously mentioned sub-standard product. I have been using one for decades and intuitively know how to dial in my sound with it. On the bargain side, the Behringer ADI21, GDI21 and BDI21 will all produce amazing results. There is no one stop shop answer to your question. In addition to being a well paid performing musician, I am also a well paid live sound engineer.
Ric

[AHill]

Originally Posted by ricdoug

LR Baggs Para Acoustic DI has not ever been blown out of the water by any other previously mentioned sub-standard product. I have been using one for decades and intuitively know how to dial in my sound with it. On the bargain side, the Behringer ADI21, GDI21 and BDI21 will all produce amazing results. There is no one stop shop answer to your question. In addition to being a well paid performing musician, I am also a well paid live sound engineer.
Ric

For clarification, when you say "previously mentioned sub-standard product" are you referring to more expensive DI's that you believe are substandard to the LB Para DI?

[Al Acuff]

I used a Para DI but sold it after getting a Venue. It's much easier to see your knob settings on a dim stage on the Venue. Bigger knobs are reason enough to go with the Venue.

[Dustinfurlow]

I'm someone who dual-sources a k&k trinity with magnetic currently but previously worked with just the Pure Mini...FWIW if I were you I'd grab the Para or (if price isn't a huge factor) the Grace Alex...the Para is the go-to for a wide array of acoustic instruments - not just guitar. The cellist I was gigging with for awhile used to use it and got great results fighting feedback and shaping the natural tone, and he'd tried tons of pre's/pickups. I never actually used it but I can only imagine how well it can tame bad frequencies on a guitar if it worked efficiently for the sustaining-notes of a bassy cello.

The Venue I've heard good and equally bad things about for its price point - I think its best feature is the "boost" but without that, id just grab a cheap Boss tuner or a Snark and not feel bad after grabbing the trusty Para.

[Irish Pennant]

Originally Posted by Dustinfurlow

I'm someone who dual-sources a k&k trinity with magnetic currently but previously worked with just the Pure Mini...FWIW if I were you I'd grab the Para or (if price isn't a huge factor) the Grace Alex...the Para is the go-to for a wide array of acoustic instruments - not just guitar.

I have a PADI, originally bought for my acoustic guitar. I now use a Zoom A3 on my pedal board. Very recently I put the PADI on my electric guitar pedal board, plugged my pedal board into my mixer. I like the results for home use. I've had a real hard time warming up to the electric guitar, I think this will help. It gives me a warm tone that fits my comfort level.

For the OP, I settled in on the Zoom A3 because I play different guitars with different pickups and I'm able to tune in a tone that works with each one. I've saved them as presets. One of the guitars is a D18 with a K&K, another is a Takamine LTD with a CT4B-II, two completely different animals.

[MrErikJ]

I believe that the preamp sections of each unit are, more or less, the same. The Venue has more features, including a Boost and Mute/Tuner and an extended set of mid-range controls (High, Low, and Presence). I would say it depends on what your pickup is but more importantly, what you require on stage.

I use the Para DI 90% of the time despite having a Tonebone PZ Deluxe which is, arguably, superior to the Venue and the Para. The PZ has much more power, a high-pass filter, and 15 volts of headroom. It is much more powerful and very clean sounding. It does not impart any "warmth" to the pickup as the Para does. THAT SAID, the Para is small, very tune-able, phantom power-able, and toneful. I am rarely the starring act and I have limited time and resources as my disposal on-stage. It is nice to have a simple preamp/DI that I can quickly set-up and can run on phantom or 9-volt power. I have also found that the Para is especially toneful with the "old-school" Baggs pickups like the LB6, which it was designed for. If I was using a high-output, active-pickup, I may look for something with more headroom (like the Venue or Tonebone) but for a phantom-powerable DI paired with the same brand's passive pickup...the Para is an exceptional piece of gear.

One note: I have heard anecdotal reports that the K&K sucks with the Para. I haven't tried it but many report it's due to an impedance mismatch (K&K wants 1mohm, Para has 10mohm). This isn't a true "impedance mismatch" as a mismatch would be running an unbalanced, high-impedance, signal into something with a low-impedance input (like a guitar into a mic-channel). The difference between 1mohm and 10mohm is insignificant and I think @Doug Young has done the sound check research to support this. More than anything, it's likely that the circuitry and preamp voicing that Lloyd's team designed was intended to complement (get this)...their pickups, like the LB6. The Para is rather warm with a slight bit of compression to it, which makes sense when your star pickup (in that era) was an intra-saddle piezo pickup. It may not be a good complement to the K&K, which needs a mid-cut and some treble enhancement, but that's due to tone design and not impedance.