Recommend me an Audio Interface/DI box!!!

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Tungemikkel

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Oct 14, 2010
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Hey Everyone. :kickass:

Right now i am using the Pod XT Pro to record my guitar's DI track into my DAW. It's connected with USB to my computer. I'm not sure, but i've heard rumours about Line6 interfaces dont send a good high quality DI. Then i heard about the DI boxes people are talking about, that send nice high quality DI.

But i'm a bit confused... if i buy a new audio interface such as the "Focusrite Saffire 6 USB" or the "Presonus AudioBox USB" - Will they provide a higher quality DI and why? And if they do, is it even necessary with a DI box? :worship:

http://www.thomann.de/gb/focusrite_saffire_6_usb.htm - Focusrite Saffire 6 USB
http://www.thomann.de/gb/presonus_audiobox_usb.htm - Presonus AudioBox USB

[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Line-6-99-050-0605-PODxt-Pro/dp/B0002NPF7S[/ame] - PodXT Pro Link/Specs
 
The A/D conversion isn't the greatest in the Pod, but since most electric guitar parts have fairly narrow bandwidth (approx 80hz - 12000khz), i found the converter decent enough to track demos for sure. I've even tracked vocals with an sm57 through it with considerably decent results. The reason i mention bandwidth isn't a science/fact, i just find that its more obvious to my ear the downfalls of converters more in the extreme lows and highs. If you just wanna track some guitar parts and come up with demos/ideas the pod is perfect. Don't confuse the d.i. with a/d and d/a converters. When shopping for an interface generally look for build quality, stability, quality of converters. Then be concerned with d.i.'s , preamps, etc. Hope this helps.
 
Getting a modest presonus/focurite interface with pres with a decent reputation and a countryman DI will get better signal by miles and miles. The biggest factor in your tone is going to be what you are using and how you have it dialed in, but a different interface and DI will certainly take things to the level if you have everything pretty nailed down. If you don't already have your dream tone going on you could be disappointed by the difference.
 
Both mentioned interfaces suffers from low Hi-Z input level (Countryman DIs also, but you can like coloration from it). Line6 stuff usually have larger highpass frequency, that make passive pickups slightly "active" sounding.
 
Thanks for the nice answers! Forget to mention both my guitars have active 85/81 EMG pickups. I've been looking alot at the Mackie Blackjack. http://www.thomann.de/gb/mackie_onyx_blackjack.htm - But i've heard people on windows are having trouble with drivers.. but i've also heard that they fixed that. Still not sure though.. sounds a bit risky. But i'm also considering the AVID Mbox http://www.thomann.de/gb/avid_mbox_pt_express.htm. - Anyone with experience with this one? I would really prefer it to be USB powered, since i don't have firewire in computer and want avoid having to install it.
 
Axonic, i got my dream tone/setup going. My only purpose for buying an audio interface and a DI box, is to get higher quality DI. Of course it's not gonna make everything 10x better, but yeah.. i got 2 solid guitars that sound great, my tone actually sounds quite good, but yeah.. i want to take the DI quality to the next level!
 
The Onyx Blackjack is a great unit at its range - I really don't know what the driver situation for them at the moment is, though. That will depend on your Windows version - if you have like Win8 or something, you could ask the Mackie support if they're officially supporting it by now.
 
I've heard a lot of good things about the Blackjack, it's almost half the price of the Mbox. I'm using windows 7, and on their website it says it supports windows 7 so. http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2...v3-0-driver-update-a-freaking-happy-occasion/ - looks like they fixed the driver issues, still haven't been able to find any decent reviews after the update though.. And the comments to the link are really negative for some reason..
 
I was really considering the AVID Mbox, but alot of people are experiencing hardware failure shortly after the the warrenty expires! Source: http://www.gearslutz.com/board/reviews/711958-avid-mbox-pro-gen-3-a.html Then there's the Mackie Blackjack with driver issues on Windows 7, still sounds like a bit of a risk. Which leads me back to Focusrite.. I'm thinking about this purchase: Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 + Countryman Type 85. What do you guys think? :worship:
 
I think a lot of people around here would advise you to stick clear of the Scarlett and go over to the Saffire series. The Scarletts are known for having hot inputs that in some circumstances clip even with the pad on and the level at minimum. Not sure on that exactly, have never personally used one but its a common complaint IIRC.

As for DI, if you are worried about preamp coloration, you can take a look into my DI+Reamp box (with other nice features as well), it has a built in preamp so all you need is a decent line input which most interfaces do extremely well.
 
TheWinterSnow said:
I think a lot of people around here would advise you to stick clear of the Scarlett and go over to the Saffire series. The Scarletts are known for having hot inputs that in some circumstances clip even with the pad on and the level at minimum. Not sure on that exactly, have never personally used one but its a common complaint IIRC.

As for DI, if you are worried about preamp coloration, you can take a look into my DI+Reamp box (with other nice features as well), it has a built in preamp so all you need is a decent line input which most interfaces do extremely well.
Click to expand...

Even expensive Focusrite stuff is bad in this regard.
I have an ISA 220 and ISA828 and the instrument inputs clip on both of them.
They must test them with a telecaster or something :-(
 
Tungemikkel said:
Thanks TheWinterSnow! Look at this thread: http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/backline/836258-interface-doesnt-clip.html - Seems like people are having trouble with the Scarlett AND the Saffire interfaces.. And i'm using active EMG 81/85 pickups. Damn, i'm really insecure in what interface i should get now?!
Click to expand...

The common solution that that has been getting a DI box and using the onboard mic preamp on the interface. Even then, you are still going into a mic preamp, dropping lots of gain in the DI only to add more gain and noise in the preamp before finally going into the line input...and the input impedance of the DI to the guitar is still much lower than what a real amp would be. Its a nightmare, its all over the shop, its improper.

That was actually why I made the DI+ mentioned earlier, cut out all that in between stuff, get the gain staging right and load the guitar down correctly. It came from the necessity for me needing a good DI and preamp (and a reamp device) with a less than stellar audio interface and a half dying mic pre, wanted to remove the pre from the equation.

mickrich said:
Even expensive Focusrite stuff is bad in this regard.
I have an ISA 220 and ISA828 and the instrument inputs clip on both of them.
They must test them with a telecaster or something :-(
Click to expand...

yeah, I know what you mean, there are still guitar forums where very experienced engineers still think that guitar pickups put out no more than 500mV for extremely high output variations, or firmly believe that the nominal signal of a guitar pickup is -10dBV. Last time I checked there are passives that exceed line level (+4dBu) and in the case of EMG pickups having +12dBu. No instrument input or mic pre could handle that ever.
 
Just looked up the Countryman Type 85, and it has pad function up to -30dB. That should be enough to handle the active pickups, right? ;) Still not sure on which interface to get though.. can you recommend any? And thanks for helping, really appreciate it! :worship:
 
The -30dB pad is meant for post power amp only as in most DI boxes use passive pads meaning the already poor input impedance of a transformer based DI box will be completely unusable under that circumstance. It may work but I wouldn't doubt on it, with that low of a signal drop you would expect to see around 1K input impedance if you are lucky, 20K tops.

Still any DI box into a mic preamp will work better than the instrument in, it won't clip the mic preamp, but you are still at the mercy of the quality of the mic pre being used and if it is noisy or adds color, it will get magnified when you run it through a high gain guitar amp or amp sim, mostly hiss. I remember before I prototyped my DI my old $35 passive DI that I bought at Guitar Center and preamp was unusable for DI recording, while the DI was quiet, the preamp had a noise floor that was too high to run guitars into distortion...actually it was even noticeable for clean bass DI as well. Never got to test onboard preamps on newer interfaces, but maybe some with the Focusrite stuff can chime in on the quality of the mic pres are.
 
TheWinterSnow said:
Last time I checked there are passives that exceed line level (+4dBu) and in the case of EMG pickups having +12dBu. No instrument input or mic pre could handle that ever.
Click to expand...
EMGs at 9 V power can not have more than +9/+10 dbu due to opamps used (depending on battery state).
Passives can easily have even more, not just +4 dbu, something like +14 dbu or more, as EMGs at 18 V.
 
deLuther said:
EMGs at 9 V power can not have more than +9/+10 dbu due to opamps used (depending on battery state).
Passives can easily have even more, not just +4 dbu, something like +14 dbu or more, as EMGs at 18 V.
Click to expand...

hmm even the spec sheet on the 81/85 is rated for 3.1Vrms which is about 8.7Vpp, easily doable with good single rail opamps. I can say that I have measured the output of an 81 and 85 and have gotten near 9Vpp output.

That is if you have a fresh battery. I am also talking about new EMG pickups which they improved the same time they released the x series. Also, the 81 and 85 would have greater than 12dBu if you ran 18v.
 
I'm 10x times more confused now.. I need an audio interface with or without a DI box, that provides High quality DI with Active EMG pickups. And within a reasonable budget.. Thanks for all your replys though.
 
Never had any issues with my m-audio fast track ultra and sounds good to me, you might try to check them out
 
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