I own a RME Fireface 800 and a Great River 1NV preamp. Both have Instrument/DI. Would you bother to buy an expensive DI such as the Country Man 85 or would you just use the rme or 1nv? I love the sound of the 1nv on bass. This question pertains more to DI guitar to be amp sim'd or reamped. Thanks for your time.
DI Question
- Thread starter Studdy
- Start date
heshian46
Member
Honestly I would continue to use what you have. Those are both great units. And also, if you like the sound of it then keep it that way.
MurderMachine
Member
- Jan 8, 2012
- 33
- 0
- 6
I'm also a little confused about this myself...
To my understanding, an instrument input boosts the level of your guitar / bass pickups by around 20dB to bring it to line level. What's the point of bringing it to line level if you're going to re-amp later anyway? If I just DI'd my guitar into a regular line input and then later used a line output without adjusting the original recorded level, why wouldn't it work with desirable results?
As far as I know, people use an inst. input to boost a guitar signal to line level, and then use a DI box of some sort to knock it back down to instrument level for re-amping. Why all the hassle with the conversions? Or do I just have it backwards?
Thanks.
To my understanding, an instrument input boosts the level of your guitar / bass pickups by around 20dB to bring it to line level. What's the point of bringing it to line level if you're going to re-amp later anyway? If I just DI'd my guitar into a regular line input and then later used a line output without adjusting the original recorded level, why wouldn't it work with desirable results?
As far as I know, people use an inst. input to boost a guitar signal to line level, and then use a DI box of some sort to knock it back down to instrument level for re-amping. Why all the hassle with the conversions? Or do I just have it backwards?
Thanks.
Fox Mulder
The Truth Is Out There
AFAIK the great river would colour the sound of your DI, which may or may not be pleasing depending on what you're tracking. For distorted guitars you can't go wrong with a Countryman Type 85 or Type 10. IMO that's the most valuable investment a sound guy can make.
egan.
daylightdies.com
The GR is pretty transparent if you max the output and keep the input as low as possible. Using a DI you are going to get preamp coloration ultimately anyway so it may as well be awesome coloration. That said the 85 is undeniably awesome and worth owning.
To clarify early questions, instrument inputs should be bringing things up to line level and in general DI boxes bring things down to mic level so you'd still need a mic pre (not just a line in). There are exceptions of course but that's the rule of thumb.
To clarify early questions, instrument inputs should be bringing things up to line level and in general DI boxes bring things down to mic level so you'd still need a mic pre (not just a line in). There are exceptions of course but that's the rule of thumb.
...or reducing to line level or leaving signal as is, just performing impedance matching. In some cases pickups can output hot signal, up to several volts.
Pursuance
AKA Kylezan
bump.
Is a countryman di into a great river 1nv preamp really going to sound much different than just going directly into the 1nv? Also some people have said the di on the RME fireface 800 isnt very good. Why? Too my ears it seems to sound quite clean. Isnt that what we want when using amp sims and such? Im just looking for some reasoning to why some people use a separate di, other than just because.
Thanks again for everyones time.
best forum on earth \m/ \m/
Is a countryman di into a great river 1nv preamp really going to sound much different than just going directly into the 1nv? Also some people have said the di on the RME fireface 800 isnt very good. Why? Too my ears it seems to sound quite clean. Isnt that what we want when using amp sims and such? Im just looking for some reasoning to why some people use a separate di, other than just because.
Thanks again for everyones time.
best forum on earth \m/ \m/
people use a separate DI, really, because many preamp don't have an instrument input built into them. manufacturers then started adding the hi-z input as an attractive feature since allows you to not need to bother with the DI. remember that anytime you're trying to record guitar/bass DI's, you need to do the following to the signal:
a)convert high-impedance/unbalanced instrument level to low-impedance/balanced mic level. this is what the DI does.
b)raise the level of the mic signal to line level...this is what the preamp does. onboard instrument inputs are just doing both for you, and with the quality shit that you have, i wouldn't bother with an external DI unless you need multiple simultaneous DI inpouts.
a)convert high-impedance/unbalanced instrument level to low-impedance/balanced mic level. this is what the DI does.
b)raise the level of the mic signal to line level...this is what the preamp does. onboard instrument inputs are just doing both for you, and with the quality shit that you have, i wouldn't bother with an external DI unless you need multiple simultaneous DI inpouts.
For GR 1NV there is one interesting thing in manual: "This is an “instrument” level input, not “line” level, so putting a full “+4dBu” signal into it is
likely to distort on peaks.", no further specification on input level. If guitar have high output it should be considered that such preamp can have significant coloration due to distortion, usual behaviour for discrete preamp (or FET/bipolar buffer, as stated in manual). Usually, with equal supply voltage, opamps can give less THD (until clipping occurs), than transistor-based buffer in Class A. Correct me if I`m wrong...
likely to distort on peaks.", no further specification on input level. If guitar have high output it should be considered that such preamp can have significant coloration due to distortion, usual behaviour for discrete preamp (or FET/bipolar buffer, as stated in manual). Usually, with equal supply voltage, opamps can give less THD (until clipping occurs), than transistor-based buffer in Class A. Correct me if I`m wrong...
