Red Eye pre/DI question

[sunnaudio]

Originally Posted by Groberts

Big +1 for the inclusion of a boost button on any new Pedal board preamp you develop. I will add, the "soft switch" on the RedEye. that makes it relatively silent and easier to engage/disengage than a latching foot switch that "Clicks" on or off. Having used both types of switches, I am a huge fan the soft switch!

A

Thank you Uncle Pauhana and Groberts and everyone else for their input on this!

So... we have the means to have the "pro" version of the Rabbithead which will include a boost function option. It will not alter the tone at all.
Also we are already using "soft" switches for our products. The rabbithead has them.

The option will be to switch from using button #1 (on left) as a Mix/Clean switch or a Boost switch. Our first rabbitheads will only have the Mix Mode available, but we will shortly (towards the end of the year) have the pro version with this available as well.

We are discussing (again) on what Uncle Pauhana and others have mentioned - to have the controls on top + the boost and mute switches for another version of the Stage DI. So we are going over the logistics of this which includes how to fit everything, size of box and passive vs active XLR output (the Stage DI has an Active XLR which allows for really long runs of cable without issues)

Marc

[El Conquistador]

I am a very early adapter of RedEye. I run it though an SA220. The SA220 provides all the EQ I need, so, I do not look to the RedEye for EQ.

What I do look to the RedEye for is clean penetrating sound. This is extremely important to me playing live. Every venue is different. Sometimes I get excellent acoustics and (at the beginning of a gig) quiet crowds. In that situation, I run the RedEye EQ nob at about 11:00.

However, as the crowd, and thus the crowd noise, grows, my sound starts to get a little muddy. So, I just start cranking up the EQ nob and it cleans to tone right up keeping me able to be heard without having to increase my volume. It is indispensable to me.

Steve

[Pnewsom]

The Redeye's boost switch pushes the mid's a bit as well as making the instrument louder. This also works very well for fattening up a solid body guitar. My Strat sounds great through the RedEye into an amp, but maybe a little sterile direct into the pa. The boost adds a bit of 'hair' to the sound.
Also, the boost button is great for an overall volume increase when you can’t get to the pa board(open mic's etc.). It is also very useful when switching from flat picking to finger style for a song.

[Groberts]

Originally Posted by Pnewsom

The Redeye's boost switch pushes the mid's a bit as well as making the instrument louder. This also works very well for fattening up a solid body guitar. My Strat sounds great through the RedEye into an amp, but maybe a little sterile direct into the pa. The boost adds a bit of 'hair' to the sound.
Also, the boost button is great for an overall volume increase when you can’t get to the pa board(open mic's etc.). It is also very useful when switching from flat picking to finger style for a song.

Great insight!! Yes, thank you. Point well taken about switching from flat picking to fingerstyle.

[Br1ck]

Marc, I got to hear my Dazzo equipped guitar through your blender DI from the audience perspective last night when I lent my guitar to a friend. The clairity string to string was amazing, something I can't hear that well through the monitors. I could hone in on the sound of an individual string in a chord. My Epiphone Texan has a strong low E string and never came close to exceeding the headroom of the SunnAudio Di.

Really heard the wide frequency range, especially the low frequency extension. Big difference there compared to my RedEye.

[sunnaudio]

Originally Posted by Groberts

Great insight!! Yes, thank you. Point well taken about switching from flat picking to fingerstyle.

Originally Posted by Pnewsom

The Redeye's boost switch pushes the mid's a bit as well as making the instrument louder. This also works very well for fattening up a solid body guitar. My Strat sounds great through the RedEye into an amp, but maybe a little sterile direct into the pa. The boost adds a bit of 'hair' to the sound.
Also, the boost button is great for an overall volume increase when you can’t get to the pa board(open mic's etc.). It is also very useful when switching from flat picking to finger style for a song.

All good insight and points!

I will ad just another tidbit in our case;
Since we have a compact pedal and is intended for acoustic instruments (mag or piezo) AND electric guitars/bass etc.. we cant really add another gain stage for a gain "mid boost" but we can add a level bump E.g: set master at 12 o'clock and then set your boost to max (or wherever desired) with trim pot.
So essentially you'd have a two setting master volume without 'mid' boost since it wont work the same for all instruments. That would require a larger footprint to be able to dial in. Nevertheless we can get level boost in this way if desired.
Also you can run straight into PA, with or without speaker sim engaged and blend in as much clean or saturated as needed.

[meb]

I had a gig yesterday that I needed both Volume control and Boost.
I was plugging into someone else's PA.
I did not think about this at the time, 'but' could I run the Red-eye
in the loop of the sunnaudio stage DI? or vice-versa? I am thinking
the Stage should be first, since I prefer its sound.

Will this muddy up the sound? I thought I would ask before I try it

Thanks.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by steelvibe

…Who can convince me that a Red Eye is worth owning when it has zero feedback control? No phase switch, no mid- shaping capability, no notch filter....nothing. Certainly it can't mean that they are inherently feedback resistant? What are owners doing to combat the issue?

Hi sv

Not me. Those are the reasons I do NOT own one. The situations I play in are sometimes more challenging than a conventional auditorium. Therefore I need a bit more adjustment capability than a point-n-shoot preamp.

Good new…there are other options.

[sunnaudio]

Originally Posted by meb

I had a gig yesterday that I needed both Volume control and Boost.

I was plugging into someone else's PA.

I did not think about this at the time, 'but' could I run the Red-eye

in the loop of the sunnaudio stage DI? or vice-versa? I am thinking

the Stage should be first, since I prefer its sound.



Will this muddy up the sound? I thought I would ask before I try it



Thanks.

Hi Meb,
We haven’t tried using the red eye through the loop yet, but if you want to try it and let us know how it works, would be good to know!
In any case, we will try that method soon and see how that does.

[meb]

I finally had a little time to try the stage/red-eye combo.

The chain was Guitar/Black Angel Passive to Stage input via 1/4"
- Stage send out to RE instrument input (see question below)
- RE effects loop out to stage return in
-Stage xlr out to Bose t1 and on the Bose L1C.

The short story is it worked fine and sounded fine with very little perceived
degradation in sound vs the stand-alone Stage DI which to my ear was
somewhat more organic and full..

It also did fine with BA to Stage input
- Stage TRS Balanced output to RE instrument in
-RE XLR out to T1 and L1C
This way, I had to turn the volume on the Stage up considerably.

I also worked with Stage thru Red-eye loop, but I preferred the other way

I have a question....what is the effects input used for? I got no sound when
I used it vs using the 'instrument in' which did fine.

I hope this helps.

[guitarwebguy]

Great discussion .... I rarely use my amp anymore and that’s because I sold my other preamps, and boxes and picked up a Grace Design Felix which goes with me whenever I play anywhere that has a sound system. It covers the bases for the instruments I play (and duty for use with a mic) I occasionally add a tuner and/or reverb to the external loop but that’s it. It covers all the pre-amp/EQ I could wish for, if you’ve not had the chance to look at one or play through one, I’d look for a local shop and give it a try.

[sunnaudio]

Originally Posted by meb

I have a question....what is the effects input used for? I got no sound when

I used it vs using the 'instrument in' which did fine.



I hope this helps.

Hi Meb,
Are you referring to the return inout on the RedEye or Stage DI?
The stage DI loop is designed to take a any buffered output from a pedal or already pre-amped guitar.

[meb]

I was referring to the Return Input on the Stage., but do not understand your
answer...I think you are saying there should be no difference???

The chain was:
Guitar/pickup/ to Stage send out to' Red-eye instrument input' to Red-eye
Effects Loop output to Stage Return in. Then Stage xlr out to T1 preamp.

Should there be a difference with:
Guitar/pickup to Stage Send Out to 'Red-Eye Effects Loop input' to Red-Eye
Effects Loop Output to Stage Return in. Then Stage xlr out to T1 preamp.

Thanks sunnaudio for your help.

Hello Guitarwebguy. I did own the Alix, the single input version of the Felix, and sent it back before the trial period was over. I greatly prefer the
sunnaudio Stage DI sound, but I am controlling my sound 90% of the
time and usually do not need all the Felix/Alix features. Soundwise,
the Alix and Stage are both clean and fast, but the Stage has more organic
fullness of tone.

Different strokes for different folks and situations.

[sunnaudio]

Hi Meb,

The RE Effects Return goes directly to the XLR output transformer. That's why there's no signal in the RE preamp path. Does this help?

Cheers,
Sunny

[meb]

I think so Sunny. Since I am using the instrument input on the both the
Stage DI and the Red-eye, I am going thru both preamp gain stages????
True?

Thanks.