Acoustic Pedal Board DI

[Nick84]

I’m swapping my pedal board around but it means losing my DI out from the Fishman Tonedeq that was on the board but now removed.

Is adding a simple passive DI at the end of the board to go to the PA mixer the most sensible way around this? There should be enough gain going through the pedals to not require an active DI?

[pieterh]

Should be fine! Radial’s JDI is a high end industry standard and sounds fantastic on acoustic boards. I have the Duplex (stereo) version though I usually use the Pz-pre with my acoustics.

[Nick84]

Originally Posted by pieterh

Should be fine! Radial’s JDI is a high end industry standard and sounds fantastic on acoustic boards. I have the Duplex (stereo) version though I usually use the Pz-pre with my acoustics.

Thanks for that I was thinking Radial - there’s a used passive stagebug available at the moment which is a likely candidate

[RockerDuck]

I use a Whirlwind imp 2. Sound techs like it to the FOH.

[ZebraKing]

I use a Fire-Eye Dee-Eye. It has an effect loop and can run on phantom power, but just use it for a passive DI without power or the effect loop and it sounds great. Phantom power it not required if you are not using he effects loop. Small and simple, I just mount it under my board.

https://www.fire-eye.com/dee-eye-1

[Br1ck]

You have it backward if you have a piezo pickup. You must have a devise with a 1 Meg ohm input impedance as the first thing after your guitar running passive pickups like K&Ks. If you have a battery in your guitar, disregard this. Your guitar has a pre in it. So if this is the case, a passive Di like you'd use for keyboards would work fine for long cords going to the PA from your board. The input impedance doesn't have to be high.

[jayhawk]

Originally Posted by Br1ck

You have it backward if you have a piezo pickup. You must have a devise with a 1 Meg ohm input impedance as the first thing after your guitar running passive pickups like K&Ks. If you have a battery in your guitar, disregard this. Your guitar has a pre in it. So if this is the case, a passive Di like you'd use for keyboards would work fine for long cords going to the PA from your board. The input impedance doesn't have to be high.

Yes, Brick is correct, if you don’t have a preamp in the guitar you’ll want an active DI. At least that is my experience with K&K.

Jack

[shufflebeat]

Originally Posted by jayhawk

Yes, Brick is correct, if you don’t have a preamp in the guitar you’ll want an active DI. At least that is my experience with K&K.

Jack

This is only relevant if you are going straight from pickup to DI. The fact that you have pedals in between means you have dealt with those issues earlier in the chain. Whether you've done that appropriately is a separate question.

Most pedals put out the level of signal a DI (active or passive) is expecting to encounter, level is rarely an issue. Most decent DI models are well designed and sound pretty much the same despite what the brochures say.

All other things being equal the main issue you will encounter is whether the PA can provide phantom power to run an active DI, most will and some DIs can run on battery if not. A passive DI needs no external power and will sound fine. The Whirlwind mentioned is very solid and reliable.

[pieterh]

Originally Posted by Nick84

Thanks for that I was thinking Radial - there’s a used passive stagebug available at the moment which is a likely candidate

Stage bugs are cool!

[Nick84]

Originally Posted by Br1ck

You have it backward if you have a piezo pickup. You must have a devise with a 1 Meg ohm input impedance as the first thing after your guitar running passive pickups like K&Ks. If you have a battery in your guitar, disregard this. Your guitar has a pre in it. So if this is the case, a passive Di like you'd use for keyboards would work fine for long cords going to the PA from your board. The input impedance doesn't have to be high.

The tuner at the start has a 1 Meg ohm input so that’s no issue. I just need the option of an XLR out.

[sam.spoons]

Originally Posted by Nick84

Is adding a simple passive DI at the end of the board to go to the PA mixer the most sensible way around this? There should be enough gain going through the pedals to not require an active DI?

The gain requirements of passive and active DIs should be much the same, both are designed to take an instrument (or line) level signal and reduce it to mic level.

Radial are great but UK company Orchid Electronics make active DI's which are equivalent in quality for about ¼ of the price. The simple micro DI is £28 shipped within the UK but they do ship worldwide too.

https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews...onics-di-boxes

[Nick84]

Originally Posted by sam.spoons

The gain requirements of passive and active DIs should be much the same, both are designed to take an instrument (or line) level signal and reduce it to mic level.

Radial are great but UK company Orchid Electronics make active DI's which are equivalent in quality for about ¼ of the price. The simple micro DI is £28 shipped within the UK but they do ship worldwide too.

https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews...onics-di-boxes

I do have an Orchid classic DI box which I use with my K&K Eastman. Ideally I want passive then I don’t need to rely on phantom power (now more room to power it from the power brick on the board either)