Passive DI Box for an Electro Acoustic

eldarvanyar

Hi Guys, 
its been a long time since I last posted due to crazy work schedule. 

Can you recommend a good passive DI Box for an electro-acoustic guitar?

I don't want to faff around with batteries. 

There seem to be loads to choose from. 

Some I have seen online are

Stagg 2 Channel DI BOX with Mono/Stereo Switch £22

Behringer DI400P Ultra-DI Passive DI Box £24

Samson's MDA1 Mono Active Direct Box £34

or more expensive 

Radial PRO-DI Box £120

Thanks 

 

ICBM

The Behringer works fine - I haven't tried the others.

I assume when you say electro-acoustic, you mean one with an onboard battery powered preamp? If not then a passive DI won't work well at all - you need power at some point in the signal path or you'll be trying to drive the whole cable to the PA from the guitar pickup, which will sound terrible.

Almost all active DI boxes will accept phantom power too, so if the desk has that then you still don't need a battery.

eldarvanyar

Thanks ICBM

Yes my Guitar has a battery driven preamp

You raised a really good point about a passive acoustic guitar preamp which I hadn't thought off

Thanks 

robinbowes

Any recommendation for active boxes? I'm building up a PA setup and want to have a few DI boxes on-hand but am not sure what to go for...

R.

ICBM

eldarvanyar said:

You raised a really good point about a passive acoustic guitar preamp which I hadn't thought off

No problem - it's an easy thing to overlook. I prefer unpreamped guitars (I try to keep everything as simple as possible) so I always need to think about loading.

robinbowes said:

Any recommendation for active boxes? I'm building up a PA setup and want to have a few DI boxes on-hand but am not sure what to go for...

I've got an old Boss DI-1 - which they still make as far as I know. It works and sounds good… I've never needed to look any further since 99% of the time I just use whatever the sound engineer at the venue provides.

I do prefer passive boxes for electric guitar and bass, so I've got a couple of those as well - actually old DOD ones. They sound good - not at all hi-fi, but that's the point.

KKJale

robinbowes said:

Any recommendation for active boxes? I'm building up a PA setup and want to have a few DI boxes on-hand but am not sure what to go for...

R.

I recommend these... http://www.orchid-electronics.co.uk/classic_DI.htm

robinbowes

KKJale said:

robinbowes said:

Any recommendation for active boxes? I'm building up a PA setup and want to have a few DI boxes on-hand but am not sure what to go for...

R.

I recommend these... http://www.orchid-electronics.co.uk/classic_DI.htm

Nice. I'd like to see earth lift and possibly phase switching - wonder if they do one with those options?

R.,

robinbowes

robinbowes said:

KKJale said:

robinbowes said:

Any recommendation for active boxes? I'm building up a PA setup and want to have a few DI boxes on-hand but am not sure what to go for...

R.

I recommend these... http://www.orchid-electronics.co.uk/classic_DI.htm

Nice. I'd like to see earth lift and possibly phase switching - wonder if they do one with those options?

R.,

Aha - they don't need one:

"6) Why no earth lift switch?

Earth lift isolation to prevent the formation of hum loops is taken care in the circuitry of our DI Boxes - so no switch is fitted. On some manufactures DI Boxes you cannot use Phantom power with the switch in the lifted (or earth disconnected) position. It is also our experience that anything that can be fiddled with (or adjusted) - will be! On several occasions the sound has been fine at the sound check, but when the concert begins a mystery hum appears on one of the audio feeds due to the spurious operation of an earth lift switch. Better to design it out of the product!"

hubobulous

I have a H&K Red Box for sale if that's of interest?

wayneirie

BSS/Radial if you want to get spendy

Studiospares DI on a budget. 

Just phase reverse on the console.

maltingsaudio

The orchids have earth lift built into them and work really well. There are lots of DI's out there at different price points  but in the real world spending more than £100 on one (DI's with eq etc like the Baggs excepted) won't produce any discernable difference to the tone of your guitar in an average gig situation., spending under £20 will!I use a selection of LA Audio, MTR, Palmer and  Orchid di's and usually find any excess noise or oddities coming from them is from the cables not the boxes. I also have a Behringer 8 channel jobby which is very noisy so doesn't get used unless push comes to very hard shove and then just gate the channels as the background noise isn't that obvious when the music is going.

For my personal acoustic shenanigans its Orchid every time, 

This is worth a read https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/orchid-electronics-di-boxes

robinbowes

@maltingsaudio Do you use the classics or the Micros?

I'm also thinking that one of the reasons to use DI boxes is to isolate my expensive mixer from various random muso equipment (bass amps, keyboards, etc). I was thinking that a transformer-based DI would be better for that, but I guess the Orchids will also perform that function, ie. they will blow up first rather than the mixer.

R.

ICBM

robinbowes said:

I'm also thinking that one of the reasons to use DI boxes is to isolate my expensive mixer from various random muso equipment (bass amps, keyboards, etc). I was thinking that a transformer-based DI would be better for that, but I guess the Orchids will also perform that function, ie. they will blow up first rather than the mixer.

Either should be fine. You're right be cautious though - with bass amps with onboard DI sockets especially. I would always avoid those unless it's known to be a passive transformer type in the amp - like early Trace Elliots.

There's another thread here about problems with a Warwick one - no damage, but it didn't work properly. I always think it's better to take a normal 1/4" line out and go through a separate DI box.

robinbowes

ICBM said:

robinbowes said:

I'm also thinking that one of the reasons to use DI boxes is to isolate my expensive mixer from various random muso equipment (bass amps, keyboards, etc). I was thinking that a transformer-based DI would be better for that, but I guess the Orchids will also perform that function, ie. they will blow up first rather than the mixer.

Either should be fine. You're right be cautious though - with bass amps with onboard DI sockets especially. I would always avoid those unless it's known to be a passive transformer type in the amp - like early Trace Elliots.

There's another thread here about problems with a Warwick one - no damage, but it didn't work properly. I always think it's better to take a normal 1/4" line out and go through a separate DI box.

Yeah, except a lot of bass amps have XLR direct out so neither Orchid product will do. Also, for keyboards a "thru" output would useful so the Micro would be no good for that, and the Classic is quite large.

I guess I need something else

R.

maltingsaudio

robinbowes said:

@maltingsaudio Do you use the classics or the Micros?

I'm also thinking that one of the reasons to use DI boxes is to isolate my expensive mixer from various random muso equipment (bass amps, keyboards, etc). I was thinking that a transformer-based DI would be better for that, but I guess the Orchids will also perform that function, ie. they will blow up first rather than the mixer.

R.

I use micro DI's, Your point on ass di' ing is valid but I don't use the Orchids for that I use the LA audio one simply because it has the extra ins and outs.

As to DI outs on bass amps, haven't come across the Warwick amp but the Orange Tint Terror Bass amp is definitely one to use a DI box on not the amps di out!

robinbowes

maltingsaudio said:

Your point on ass di' ing is valid 

*snigger*

R.

BigMonka

I've had good experience with quite a few or the ART range,
Passive: http://artproaudio.com/passive_di/product/zdirect/
Active: http://http//artproaudio.com/active_di/product/xdirect/ 

ICBM

robinbowes said:

Yeah, except a lot of bass amps have XLR direct out so neither Orchid product will do.

There will almost always be some other usable output though, either the FX send or the tuner out (although that may be pre-EQ), even if there's no actual 1/4" line output.

It does seem ridiculous that so many amps have an XLR output, which then proves to be unusable in reality because it's badly designed. This may be partly why some soundmen refuse to use them and prefer to DI the bass at the amp input. (Other than pure control-freakery!)

robinbowes

I reckon a good passive box with a balanced input will do for the bass. Similarly, a stereo passive box should be fine for keyboards. I'll keep looking.

R.

maltingsaudio

robinbowes said:

I reckon a good passive box with a balanced input will do for the bass. Similarly, a stereo passive box should be fine for keyboards. I'll keep looking.

R.

If your looking for one good stereo DI box have a look at the Palmer,PL104 Media DI box  simply because of its extra features ie RCA in and 3.5mm stereo jack, in.really useful for dodgy samplers,projectors,dj decks and people who want to play their backing tracks from their phone..... just saying

ESBlonde

When i ran a small PA hire I had several Behringer Actives (D100 and one DI20), one crapped out but the other 4 survived extensive use. Don't place them atop an amp with a big transformer, there is no mumetal can like on the unit they copied (allegedly) and they might buzzzzz.
Like ICBM I had a pair of the DOD passive DIs from way back, usable. I had a couple of splitter transformers wound for me by Sowter that made nice passive DI's. I had an Orchid Classic active DI and when I sold off lots of the gear I kept that and still use it to this day with my acoustic guitar (or whatever). The price difference up to an Orchid from a Behringer is a couple of pints and well worth the cost. @robinbowes I'd have a selection of units, some are better in certain situations, the Behringer is said to be capable of taking a speaker load in tandum with a proper cabinet so you can get the amp sound of novice bass players who don't belive you can replicate the tone with your £10,000 desk, Just beware the PCB tracks are very thin for the alleged rated power handling.