Acoustic-electrics + DI boxes = confusion! Can you help?

[Camannwordsmith]

I believe it to not be an issue with the DAW because I get the same result whether the DAW is running or not.

With the DI, the output on the guitar has to be set close to max in order for me to even hear it, and while it's fine 80% of the time, the other 20% is distorted both through my headphones and through playback later.

Originally Posted by lschwart

Are you sure your distortion is happening at the stage of the Presonus' preamps and not in the input setting of your recording software? As others have noted, it's unlikely that the mic-level signal coming out of your DI box would be difficult for the Presonus inputs to handle (assuming the settings are correct on the DI, you're using the right cables, and you've got the input gain set correctly on the Presonus inputs). Also, whats the output level setting on the guitar's pickup? What happens when you back that down?

Louis

[shufflebeat]

Originally Posted by Camannwordsmith

You cannot run that type of cord into the Audiobox if an instrument has active pickups--PreSonus says it will damage the unit.

I think this might be a misreading of what the manual says. There are many standards for what constitutes a healthy signal. A preamped pickup, unless it is beyond hot, will not damage or even overload an "instrument level" input. If, however I were to plug my guitar into my little DMP3 preamp and plug the output of that into a mic input on my interface I should expect complaints. That's why I would plug it into a "line level" I where that level is expected.

Late gig, might be more help after sleep.

[Camannwordsmith]

Maybe, but I don't believe so. Here's what I'm basing it off of:

"The AudioBox USB and AudioBox 22VSL devices accept microphone or instrument level signals only. A microphone, passive electric guitar, passive electric bass, etc., create signals that are very weak - this is because these signals are physically generated by the instrument or mic itself, not through electronic amplification.

The AudioBox USB and AudioBox 22VSL devices are designed to preamplify these weak signals to line level so that they can be better treated by the device. However, these devices are not intended to accept an alreadypreamplified, or line level, signal. A line level source is too powerful for the preamps of these devices and could potentially damage the unit, requiring a repair.

Common devices that output a line level signal include:

Synthesizers
Mixing consoles
CD/MP3 players
Keyboard workstations
Guitars/basses with "active" pickup technology
The outputs of other audio interfaces

If you wish to connect one of these devices to the AudioBox USB or 22VSL, you would want to first connect your source to a direct box, or DI. These are small, inexpensive devices that can attenuate the line level signal down to instrument level, allowing safe acceptance by the AudioBox preamp."

https://support.presonus.com/hc/en-u...x-USB-or-22VSL

[lschwart]

Just in order to check off all of the possibilities, what kind of cable are you using from the DI to the Presonus?

You might also want to try another DI box (maybe borrow one) just to make sure there's nothing wrong with the Behringer you bought.

And how exactly are you setting the gain on the Presonus?

Louis

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by Camannwordsmith

You cannot run that type of cord into the Audiobox if an instrument has active pickups--PreSonus says it will damage the unit.

That makes no sense. The Audiobox has a dual input, XLR and 1/4 in one jack (assuming I'm looking at the right box). it advertises that you can plug your guitar right in with a standard 1/4 cable, as an "instrument input". An active preamp in the guitar should not be able to damage the unit. Most active pickups are no hotter than many passive ones and even a very hot pickup would not damage anything, it would just overdrive, causing distortion.

So you should not need a DI- the box is already functioning as a DI of sorts. If you have another DI, you plug the guitar (1/4 inch) into the DI, and run an XLR cable from the DI to the interface. That should, too, but it's redundant.

It's pretty hard to diagnose things like this remotely. Possibilities range from a bad unit to something being set up wrong.

Oh, just read your quoted manual. Note that they say the device take "instrument level". That's your guitar, right into it. What they're telling you is not to use some other preamp with a hot output, like a mixer board and run it into the instrument inputs. Unless you are running some amp into the inputs, you should be fine. Just plug the guitar in, active or not.