DI : passive or active

[BitchSlap]

Hey guys,
I'm sure that question has been asked before, but cant seem to find the answer here : what is better to record a track to be reamped later ? Active or passive DI box ?
And also, is it better to run the output directly to the input of the soundcard, rather than going through a preamp (even without gain) ? I would suppose so, since it would only add noise to the signal.

Those Radial DI seem to be popular here. So the bottom line of my question is : is it better to buy a JDI (passive) or a J48 (active), since they are the same price ?
Cheers

 

[slinky_]

Hey guys,
I'm sure that question has been asked before, but cant seem to find the answer here : what is better to record a track to be reamped later ? Active or passive DI box ?
And also, is it better to run the output directly to the input of the soundcard, rather than going through a preamp (even without gain) ? I would suppose so, since it would only add noise to the signal.

Those Radial DI seem to be popular here. So the bottom line of my question is : is it better to buy a JDI (passive) or a J48 (active), since they are the same price ?
Cheers

I was also thinking , should I get active or passive... I´m pretty new to reamping and looking for a DI-box and a reamp-box. Was thinking of buying little labs red eye, so I could get both, the DI and the Reamp-box.

 

[elmuchoescadawg]

Hey guys,
I'm sure that question has been asked before, but cant seem to find the answer here : what is better to record a track to be reamped later ? Active or passive DI box ?
And also, is it better to run the output directly to the input of the soundcard, rather than going through a preamp (even without gain) ? I would suppose so, since it would only add noise to the signal.

Those Radial DI seem to be popular here. So the bottom line of my question is : is it better to buy a JDI (passive) or a J48 (active), since they are the same price ?
Cheers

You would have to go through a Pre amp. having converted the lignal from instrument level to mic level you would need the pre amp to drive it up to line level or you would have nothing to work with.

Id go for an active DI

 

[slinky_]

You would have to go through a Pre amp. having converted the lignal from instrument level to mic level you would need the pre amp to drive it up to line level or you would have nothing to work with.

Id go for an active DI

I bought Radial Pro DI yesterday. It´s a passive box so I can use it as a reamp box too. Did some A/B comparison. First I recorded the DI-signal and PodXT. Then I reamped the DI-track through POD with the same settings, using the Pro DI reverse as a reamp box. The results were great. I´ll post some clips when I have the time.

Pro DI´s nice, and pretty cheap. Paid 127e of it.

 

[QV]

A passive DI is much better if you plan to use it in live situations since you don't need a battery or a power supply anywhere + it can double as a reamp box. On the other hand if you are getting this for studio use then go active since most are transformerless and it's the transformer that affects the quality of the passive DI signal in the first place (hence Radial passives are popular since they use a very good transformer design (jensen).
My drummer just fried a 5 input active DI box on tour, we were wishing we had passives.
For studio I have the JDV.
-b