drum samples/di

[johnnyblotter]

sup folks. sorry in advance...I did search...appreciate the patience...vote for Kerry.

So I gets my BA 312's w/2520 amp yesterday. Plug her in, run a couple tests on drums, guitar, etc. Tastiness and deliciousness abound. Then I'm like, let's try the old run drum samples through it thing. Situation - multiface, jumpers at +4. Tests- 1. Sampler out through Behringer DI (I know) to mic pre in, out into converter. Test 2 - samples into api DI, into converter. Test 3 - sampler out directly into mic pre. Well, I thought I would see a big change in the drum samples, but it ain't happening yet. I have a few theoretically sketchy reasons for this. 1. Since +4 doesn't leave me big headroom, when I go sampler - behringer - mic pre, I'm forced to either pad the behringer (-20) or the api (-10?) with sampler at even a pretty low volume. Subsequently, when I try the old, let's lower the sample volume dramatically, engage a pad on either the behringer or api, and crank the api, it just ain't opening up the sound. Maybe cause I'm making it crank to much to get to a hot enough level? Does throwing the pad on choke the thing a little, maybe?

As a side note, I'm going out of the pre into the converter with an unbalanced cable. This makes the software increase the level an additional +6.

What's happening is, I basically get the same sound as if I went sampler out direct to the breakout box, except sliiightly more aggressive. I'm not sure if the best way to deal with this would be to adjust the jumpers to -15db, thereby eliminating the need for the pad...or if it's really a direct box issue, and I need to scrap the Behringer DI for something better (I have a countryman on loan to a friend). Or, was I expecting something unrealistic? I kind of had this idea of really driving em for a little extra flavor on the drums, and it is so barely noticeable right now that it's not worth the patching. Any suggestions?

[johnnyblotter]

anyone?