direct boxes / pod farm

[joeymusicguy]

i plan to mostly track with pod farm and di
i just bought a radial JDI Duplex

i was messing around with it this morning and discovered something that has annoyed me for a long time

if i plug my guitar into my pod xt pro, and hook up a TRS cable from DI out to a LINE input on the back of my interface, i can get perfect line level signal from the guitar. if the pick up is too loud, i can just hit the pad and all is well. this "path" has no volume adjustment. the level of the guitar is controlled by the pad or the pick up distance to the strings and the guitars volume knob ONLY.

with the radial DI, im reaching for the gain knob.

can anyone explain this? I really want a HIGH END di to track guitars raw right into my interface, without any gain in the pathway. When i go XLR out of the radial DI to the line in the back of my interface (the line's on the back have no gain, so i assume they just operate at +4), its way quiet.

feeling kinda dumb,
-Joey

 

[egan.]

i plan to mostly track with pod farm and di
i just bought a radial JDI Duplex

i was messing around with it this morning and discovered something that has annoyed me for a long time

if i plug my guitar into my pod xt pro, and hook up a TRS cable from DI out to a LINE input on the back of my interface, i can get perfect line level signal from the guitar. if the pick up is too loud, i can just hit the pad and all is well. this "path" has no volume adjustment. the level of the guitar is controlled by the pad or the pick up distance to the strings and the guitars volume knob ONLY.

with the radial DI, im reaching for the gain knob.

can anyone explain this? I really want a HIGH END di to track guitars raw right into my interface, without any gain in the pathway. When i go XLR out of the radial DI to the line in the back of my interface (the line's on the back have no gain, so i assume they just operate at +4), its way quiet.

feeling kinda dumb,
-Joey

The XT is amplifying the signal to line level and the DI is lowering it to mic level. The only "no gain" way to do it would be to plug the guitar straight into the converter but then there are potential impedance issues.
OTOH if it sounds ok then I wouldn't sweat using the Pod.

 

[Joshua Wickman]

I just bought Pod Farm and I have a Countryman type 85 dir. Now from my understanding, I thought you always run the dir box output (xlr) to a mic pre input (xlr).

Did you ever figure out a different way Joey?

 

[joeymusicguy]

I just bought Pod Farm and I have a Countryman type 85 dir. Now from my understanding, I thought you always run the dir box output (xlr) to a mic pre input (xlr).

Did you ever figure out a different way Joey?

XLR and TRS are the same thing =]

but anyways, i guess what im looking for is something that goes from guitar to line level, instead of mic level. not sure if that even exists...

 

[Lasse Lammert]

XLR and TRS are the same thing =]

?
XLR (external live return?) ist the mic-connector and TRS (tip ring sleeve) is a 1/4" jack...
not the same....

or what do you mean?

 

[egan.]

Hey Joey, you might want to check out a transparent pre with a hiZ input. Something like a grace or millenia would probably do well. Then you could also get some non-guitar use out of it as well.

 

[006]

I think Joey means that it's the same cable, just one has XLR connectors the other has 1/4" TRS connectors. The cable itself is the same though.

I don't think anything exists to serve the purpose you describe Joey. It may be annoying but everything should be fine.

 

[joeymusicguy]

?
XLR (external live return?) ist the mic-connector and TRS (tip ring sleeve) is a 1/4" jack...
not the same....

or what do you mean?

its the same cable, regardless of the jack / plug