Recomendations for affordable Bass DI

[league_of_james]

Hello all,
Looking for a affordable DI for Bass, something more musical than nuetral.
Cheers, James

[AdamJay]

what do you consider "affordable" ?

$200? $700?

i'm partial to the A-Designs Reddi.
"musical" is, coincidentally, the best way to describe it.

[ben_allison]

Sansamp Bass BI.
Ampeg SVP
FMR RNP
The Avalon U5, depending on budget.

[ozraves]

Some people view the Radial JDI as neutral in flavor but it's put across some of the most musical feeling bass tracks I've mixed.

[bilco]

Sansamp Bass Driver DI - the best money I ever spent, great bass sound for live and recording, definitely not neutral

RNP- more neutral, but different. It works with my Pbass on swing tunes with a walking bass line, but for pop stuff, I go with the Sansamp

bilco

[aussie_techie]

sans amp, it can give you a 'sound' or it can be a fairly clean DI which will work on everything not just bass

[doorknocker]

Originally Posted by bilco

Sansamp Bass Driver DI - the best money I ever spent, great bass sound for live and recording, definitely not neutral

How does it compare to the Sans Amp PSA-1?

I'm a big fan of the PSA-1 and I usually start with either the 'SVT' or 'Jazz' presets (#30 + # 32) and tweak it from there.

If the question is 'best Bass DI per se' though, then there's no contest IMO: Little Labs IBP.

I split the signal so that one side goes direct to PT and the the other to the PSA-1 (by way of the IBP's 'buffered instr. out').

Now I can adjust the phase with the IBP and it makes a tremendous difference even with this here ampless setup.

[league_of_james]

Originally Posted by AdamJay

what do you consider "affordable" ?

$200? $700?

i'm partial to the A-Designs Reddi.
"musical" is, coincidentally, the best way to describe it.

Thanks you for all the suggestions everyone. Im looking under $500 max.

[feyshay]

The Radial JDI is always something good to have. As far as a preamp/DI that you can get a bit of tubeish drive to, consider the Brick from Groove Tubes. Definitely in your price range.

[league_of_james]

Someone was telling me about a small company in NJ ? who hand builds a Nice white ? tube DI for less that the Reddi and perhaps jusst as much personality. He could not remember the name however. Anyone know the name of this one ?

[covert]

I've found the MXR(Dunlop) Bass DI+ surprisingly good for a cert inexpensive unit.

[Power Supply]

Originally Posted by league_of_james

Someone was telling me about a small company in NJ ? who hand builds a Nice white ? tube DI for less that the Reddi and perhaps jusst as much personality. He could not remember the name however. Anyone know the name of this one ?

Valvotronics?

[league_of_james]

Originally Posted by Power Supply

Valvotronics?

yah, thats it. Any opinion on this unit ?

Sans amp looks good affordable though.

[Power Supply]

Originally Posted by league_of_james

yah, thats it. Any opinion on this unit ?

Sans amp looks good affordable though.

Sans Amp is okay if you need to save $$ but IMO
the Valvotronics is the finest I've heard (and
I'm really into DI's). That's not to say there's
not a TON of great ones, just that the Valvo
is my fave sonically. Rich yet clean. Just beautiful.

[warhead]

Do you have decent preamps or even a variety of them? The Radial JDI does not get in the way at ALL of the original source and has been my DI of choice for many moons. The good thing is you are relying on your preamps for gain so you can add some drive to the sound there if you have it available.

War

[Pohaku]

Radial JDI or GT Ditto (these really dropped in price after the Brick came out).

[TEMAS]

Phoenix Audio Nice DI

[Power Supply]

Another thumb's up for Radial.
Really great DI.

[tINY]

With at decent EQ on the channel it's going into, I often find the old barrels from Rat Shack workwell.




-tINY

[bilco]

Originally Posted by doorknocker

How does it compare to the Sans Amp PSA-1?

I'm a big fan of the PSA-1 and I usually start with either the 'SVT' or 'Jazz' presets (#30 + # 32) and tweak it from there.

If the question is 'best Bass DI per se' though, then there's no contest IMO: Little Labs IBP.

I split the signal so that one side goes direct to PT and the the other to the PSA-1 (by way of the IBP's 'buffered instr. out').

Now I can adjust the phase with the IBP and it makes a tremendous difference even with this here ampless setup.

Sorry, I haven't heard the PSA-1.

bilco

[league_of_james]

I am going with the Valvotronics everyone. Ecspecially nice to to have Robert in our back yard basically in update NY now. He seems on the edge about making the MkII from his website so I encourage you to write him a email if you would like to see it. I found a used mk1 thanks to a tip from him. I will run the Valvo into my board or my UA pre.
James

[Power Supply]

Originally Posted by league_of_james

I am going with the Valvotronics everyone. Ecspecially nice to to have Robert in our back yard basically in update NY now. He seems on the edge about making the MkII from his website so I encourage you to write him a email if you would like to see it. I found a used mk1 thanks to a tip from him. I will run the Valvo into my board or my UA pre.
James

You will not be disappointed.

[redddog]

I'm interested in the valvetronics too. Could someone throw out the web address to me? I'm having some trouble finding it.

How much does this mofo cost anyway?

Thanks,

Danny

[Power Supply]

I think it's:

www.valvotronics.com

or ay least it was. I think I paid $450. for mine.

[gimboid]

Hi Guys,

I'm looking for a decent unit to use to DI Bass at my production room. Whereas a lot of the stuff I record there is guide and retracked in 'proper' studios, I find I often end up using the DI on Bass parts anyway so I'm looking for something thats gonna give me some good sounds, and preferably something thats fairly flexible.

I've used the Sansamp Bass Driver DI a couple of times a few years back and was fairly impressed by the results, so I've been looking at the Sansamp RBI - which is supposed to be a rack version with a few useful additional features. I haven't really used much other stuff, so I was wondering what the competition is like and if theres other units in the same price range that I should be looking at?

I'm just waiting for a few new pieces to arrive which could give me options - a Joe Meek VC6Q, which may be interesting to DI Bass with but which I imagine will be a 'one sound pony', and a Mini Me which will probably be too clean to be useful every time.

Any suggestions are appreciated!

Regards,

Chris

[gimboid]

Doh - just spotted a thread a few posts down with some excellent suggestions!

Threads merged now - DrDeltaM

So I guess the question is - has anyone used the Sansamp RBI? Any opinions?

Chris

[KrisNY]

$500? This is perfect!

(This would be my dream)

Bass > SansAmp Bass Driver ($200) > Ampeg SVTDI ($300)

Ohhhh yah!

[Chucho]

I was wondering if anyone tracks anything else apart from bass through the bass driver ?
guitar?
drums?
thundersheet?
sleigh bells?

[league_of_james]

Originally Posted by Chucho

I was wondering if anyone tracks anything else apart from bass through the bass driver ?
guitar?
drums?
thundersheet?
sleigh bells?

This could be the opprotune time for a "More cowbell" joke, but you will not get that from me.

[shikawkee]

I spoke with Robert from Valvotronics yesterday and didn't know he had moved really upstate NY. He said because of the new DI/mic pre/EQ some of his dealers are bowing out his old tube DI's for under $300.!!!!!!
Now THAT'S steal.
What a great guy and super company.