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Bass DI


Norm

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I am thinking of getting a new DI for both stage and studio. Does anyone have any faves? Are there any that people hate?

 

Currently, I am using a SansAmp BassDriver and am looking for something a little warmer. My band uses In Ear Monitors and I don't have an amp on stage, so I am relying on a DI and my Lakland for all of my tone. Any tips would be great!

 

Thanks, Norm

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Raven Labs makes a couple of DI's that I think are great. The one I use (PMB-1)has a couple of inputs so you can have 2 basses or a electric and a URB.

 

raven-labs.com

 

It's really a quality and great DI.

 

Randy Clay

I'm trying to think but nuthin' happens....
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I use my Sansamp Bass Driver all the time. I've tried several other DI's (to see if I'm missing out on something), but overall I've been pretty happy with it. You can learn to coax a ton of different sounds out of it if you do some experimenting. Absolutely nothing wrong with the Sansamp, IMHO.

 

BTW, I'm usually playing a Stingray 5 through it.

All your bass are belong to us!
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I started with the Sans amp but switched to the Sadowsky preamp/DI. I originally bought it for my passive 72 jazz but it sounds great with everything. It even warms up an Ernie Ball Musicman with everything on the MM set flat and equing from the preamp. Soundmen always compliment the sound and robust signal.

 

One other great thing about it is that it has just volume, bass and treble. Now that's simplicity.

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There are a lot of good DIs out now, some very good tube models such as the Summit but it also becomes a question of how much you can spend.

 

For live I've been using the bass pod pro it's great for that application but not the warmest thing to record with but not horrible either.

"I never would have seen it, if I didn't already believe it" Unknown

http://www.SongCritic.com

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The Summit TPA-200B (http://www.summitaudio.com/main.htm) is absolutely the best. I use them in the studio as often as possible and WOW. I love the sound. Of course, they are stupid-expensive.

 

A Countryman direct box is always reliable and clean, and they are only about $150.

 

I'd suggest trying out a bunch and going with whatever you ultimately like the sound of... you have to play through it, man. :)

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I second Bumpcity on the Countryman.

 

As I've said in the past, at every studio and every live show that I have ever played, I have been given a Countryman to use. There must be a reason.

 

I talked to the Countryman people at NAMM and congratulated them for making such a universally known product. They said the only problem was that their direct boxes never broke or wore out so they were running out of customers.

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Whoopee...another chance to talk about the BBE Sonic Maximizer

 

They used to make a DI, but it's not available. BP mag. did a DI shootout several years ago...and the BBE was highly rated (as was the countryman and the Sadowsky)

 

The BBE effect is great...and there is a very close approximation in my DI, the Rolls Red Square.

 

I also have the ART, but I'm not impressed, and I'm not sure that the tube does anything but glow.

"Let's raise the level of this conversation" -- Jeremy Cohen, in the Picasso Thread.

 

Still spendin' that political capital far faster than I can earn it...stretched way out on a limb here and looking for a better interest rate.

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Originally posted by Bumpcity:

OOo, and then there is this

that summit piece looks really cool. who knows how it sounds, but i like that they have a loading knob that you can adjust for optimum tone from active and passive instruments. you can even simulate the hi-Z instrument out into a low-Z console input crap sound if you want! how cool.

 

robb.

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I'd go for one of these (and try before you buy because they're not apples to apples):

 

Avalon U5

Eclair Evil Twin

Aguilar DB 900

 

On the less side, I've heard decent things about the MXR, but haven't tried it.

 

Had decent results from a Blue Tube a while ago. Beats going just DI into a live board. Better than the ART, SansAmp, and other things mentioned (IMO).

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  • 2 weeks later...

I am searching for that same thing right now and dug this thread out in a search- so sorry for being 'late for the train' on this topic.

 

I have discovered that the Demeter HBP-1 really deserves a close audition if you're looking at the $400+ level. They've got the warm, big, not-sterile sound without having to kill the neighbors with your SVT rig. Beautiful stuff.

 

Here.

 

Freq. response 10Hz-40KHz...

"We are the Federales... You know, the Mounted Police..."

---"If you're the police, where are your badges?"

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I own an MXR m-80, and I am very pleased with it. The EQ is pretty flexible (3 band, boost and cut), it has an extra 1/4 inch out for a tuner or second amp, and a distortion channel that you can blend with the clean signal. The sans-amp DI only has one channel, so if you want distortion, you're stuck with it for the whole song. One complaint- There is a pre shape control that is switchable on the clean channel but is defaulted to "on" on the distortion channel. It does sound nice and warm, but what if I don't want warm (I do)? Sorry, didn't mean to go all gearhead on you guys.
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