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Old 05-19-2018, 11:59 PM
pieterh pieterh is offline
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Location: Near Stockholm, Sweden
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Quote:
Originally Posted by King Jorma View Post
Thank you for your answers, I hope this conversation will continue!



I am sorry, my last message was not written very clearly! My goal is to buy a quality ACTIVE DI, which works very well with my acoustic and its preamp, but also could handle the RC-300 output. So actually I would be buying 2 active Mono DI:s or one active Stereo DI.



Why do I want an active DI for my acoustic preamp?



What comes to DI:s with acoustic guitars(passive or active) , I have done some research and asked around. I am not sure about everything yet but this is what I have learned.



For example Radial recommends active DI boxes even if you have a preamp on your acoustic guitar. If I remember correctly, Radial have noticed that most of the acoustic guitar players tend to like the "air" and "life" what quality active DI:s bring to the sound. So I guess in a way acoustic guitar is an exception.



I have also talked with some professional sound engineers. Most of them recommended active DI even with preamp because:



Sometimes when you play in smaller places(coffee shops etc.) maybe with cheaper PA, It's possible that with the passive DI the input signal is very low for the cheap/small/old mixer and you have to put a lot of gain at the mixer and it might cause problems with the sound.

Active box can help to keep the signal high enough and then cleaner cause you don't have to increase the mixer gain(good gain staging, less noise?). And even if the preamp output is too hot, you can switch the Pad on.



These are the main reasons why I have been searching information and reviews about active DI:s. Mostly Radial. Many people also recommend Countryman DI:s. I like the extra features(boost, effects loop) of the Fire-Eye Red-Eye and I have found a lot of reviews full of praise. But maybe the problem is that Red-Eye does not have Pad, so it might not be able to handle the output of the RC-300. This is just my guess.



If I were rich I would buy the best DI for the acoustic, and Best DI(:s) for the RC-300. But to save some money I hope that the DI I choose for my acoustic would work well with the RC-300.



I hope you still have more great recommendations and advice!



Thank you


Your experience might be different of course though I am a professional sound engineer and I don’t necessarily buy the active is always better for acoustic theory.

Yes an active Pz-DI would be ideal as the additional features are suited to acoustic instruments. But as your guitar chain already has an active section (the Trinity preamp) then the signal should already be strong enough. An active DI shouldn’t boost the signal as such but just buffers it and makes sure it can drive both its own balanced output AND a line out to a stage amp IF the signal going in is from a passive pickup (like the K&K pure mini without a preamp). And presumably your signal chain should be able to handle giving the input channel of any mixer a decent level - again, I don’t have your experience so don’t know what they have to offer at these venues. I usually have my gear with us when we play or else know the venue in advance of the gig.

My experience with different DIs is that I like using passive whenever I can - on keyboards, loopers, acoustics with active electronics (it I can’t use the Pz-Di), active basses etc. I use the J48 on passive sources such as acoustic basses or guitars without active electronics.

A DI that boosts a signal significantly is leaning into preamp territory. The Red Eye is a preamp which has a balanced output. My own Pz-pre is a balanced output preamp with an effects loop, two inputs (summed to mono of using both at the same time) and I love it but it is a preamp not (merely) a DI.

So back to what you want. If you are wanting the simplicity and transparent sound of a decent DI then the JDI stereo, J48 stereo or JDI Duplex will do a great job with your setup.
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