Mic Preamp and project samplerate questions.

[Downtuned]

I have a few questions about gear that I'm not sure about so hopefully someone can help me.

I'm wanting to get the best quality DI's down that I can. At the moment I'm using a Palmer PAN02 active DI box into an M-Audio Projectmix with a Behringer ADA8000 attached by ADAT to a PC with Cubase 5.

Now the projectmix does me ok for an interface but I don't think the preamps and converters in it are the best (not the worst either) but I was thinking of getting a dedicated mic preamp and not being very techy and never having owned one, would I have to run my instrument through the preamp and then into one of the projectmix's inputs?

If so wouldn't that just cancel out any good signal by going from a great preamp to a crappy one?

Also on another note, does the project bit and sample rate only apply's to recorded audio sections and not 'live' audio simply passing through. I only ask because I can usually get decent tones when jamming my guitar live through the system (with a sim & inpulse) to the speakers but when I actually lay down the DI's audio and play back it seems to lose quality in the form of more fuzz and dullness. It's the same tone but some of the quality seems to be lost.

Thanks.

 

[nervirasme]

DI signal does NOT go through preamp(lification) - the active DI box that you're using turns the instrument-level signal to line-level signal (and unlike mic signal, line level doesn't need preamplification). You'll just plug the output of DI box to "line" input on your Project Mix and engage the "line" button (which effectively bypasses the preamp on that channel). Apparently, there is a built-in DI box on the first channel of Project Mix - that's why you have that "instrument" button - you can plug your guitar directly to the Project Mix and avoid any additional hardware... (but an outboard active DI box would probably yield slightly better sound).
ADA8000 is totally unnecessary in this chain.

 

[Downtuned]

So all I need for the best DI quality possible is my DI box into a line level input? (Obviously with good cables, new strings and fresh battery for the pickups?)

 

[tgs]

DI signal does NOT go through preamp(lification) - the active DI box that you're using turns the instrument-level signal to line-level signal

No it doesn't. You get a mic level signal from the output and ideed you should run it through a mic preamp, especially if your box takes phantom power (which the Palmer does).
As for which preamp to use...it has dawned to me that it's like asking what car to buy. Like here half will say Volvo and half will say Saab, and they all say the other half is wrong. Maybe the pres in your projectmix are good enough, never used them. Before getting a mic pre to improve your DI signal though you're probably better off trying some different DI boxes, different guitars, pickups... The difference between mic pres will not be very big in this example.

 

[aviel]

DI does go through mic preamp, as far as i know, and thats how i always did it. i have a countryman type 85 and you have a blanced output in mic level, and you plug it into the mic preamp.

 

[Trevoire520]

Guitar > Hi-z Instrument Input
or
Guitar > DI Box > Interface Mic Pre
or
Guitar > External Mic Pre Hi-z Instrument Input > Interface Line Input
or
Guitar > DI Box > External Mic Pre Mic Input > Interface Line Input

^Any of the above is correct and assuming your equipment is of fairly decent quality should get you a useable DI signal.
Anyone telling you any other way of connecting this up (like plugging DI boxes into line inputs) is wrong.