Takamine Acoustic DI+ vs Red Eye or Fishman Platinum Stage or...

[Brushwood]

Any thoughts from those who have used a Takamine DI+ paired with a Takamine MIJ that has a Cool Tube CPT-1, 2 or 3? Does a different preamp like the Fishman Platinum Stage or Red Eye or other ones work just as good or better for all other purposes except the ability to be able to save the batteries on the Cool Tubes by using the DI+ as a power source (I'm thinking just having a supply of some good quality rechargeable batteries would work just as well for power to the CTP)? Or is the DI+ preferable to use with one of those particular Takamine’s?
Thanks for any opinions on this!

[erniecaster]

Hi,

in a minute this guy will appear, who always writes how great the Red Eye always sounds. Always and everywhere. Usually I would write after that, that the Red Eye has no EQ to adjust your rig to the venue.

This time, I am faster.

cu

erniecaster

[Brushwood]

Originally Posted by erniecaster

Hi,

in a minute this guy will appear, who always writes how great the Red Eye always sounds. Always and everywhere. Usually I would write after that, that the Red Eye has no EQ to adjust your rig to the venue.

This time, I am faster.

cu

erniecaster

The reason I’m using the Red Eye option is because I already own a Red Eye Twin and a single instrument Red Eye and like them both paired up with my guitars that have the K&K pure mini. I’ll add the Fishman Platinum Stage into the mix (sorry for the pun) for “EQ” variety in my question about the Takamine DI+. I appreciate your thoughts.

[redwards]

This is off topic, so apologies Brushwood, but I use a Red Eye in tandem with a Fishman Aura Spectrum

This is probably all wrong on a technical level and I'm sure some with more experience would frown at it, but, by accident, I found they sound better combined than used individually.

I have a K&K pickup and I'm not using the Aura's imagining function, I use the Aura for basic eq and mute.

[Jinder]

I used Takamine for years with a variety of their Cool Tube preamps.

In my experience, using an external pre with a Takamine isn’t necessary in terms of gain staging. The onboard preamps are superb, and whilst I tried mine with external preamps, I never found any improvement over just plugging the guitar into a high quality DI. I have always enjoyed Radial DIs but of course a ton of options exist..

The DI+ is an excellent unit and has the power supply option to save on the rather poor lifespan of the CTP1/2/3 onboard batteries etc. If you were using the TLD unit with no onboard EQ/volume control I would definitely recommend the DI+ but with the Cool Tubes I feel it may be gilding the lily somewhat.