Passive di box for acoustic

thomasw88 · August 2023

All my acoustics have active pickups. As such, don’t think I need an active di box. Using phantom power for pub gigs scares me as will undoubtedly do,something in the wrong order. As the pickups are active I shouldn’t need to use an active di box?
I have a couple of the studio spares di boxes and a sansom one as well. Is there really any benefit in getting a better one and if so what would people,suggest?

ICBM · August 2023

I’m not familiar with those exact ones but they’re probably fine. You’re right, if you have active pickups/preamps in the guitar, you don’t really need an active DI box.

That said, in my experience they do usually still sound better for acoustics. Don’t worry about phantom power, any properly designed DI box will either use it or ignore it.

TheMadMick · August 2023

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Exactly wot he said.

Danny1969 · August 2023

A passive DI box is basically a transformer in a box so even Behringer struggle to f#ck that up. You might experience a slight loss of high end with a passive DI but for live use this can be a blessing rather than a curse.

Phantom power is most dangerous when plugging in things like iPads and phones via the headphone ports. The phantom power can reverse bias the output coupling caps on the headphone output which shorts them and then the DC can destroy the headphone amp in the device.

So never use a device like this direct to a mixer, always use a DI box inline. With todays iPad control surfaceless mixers it's very easy to accidentally turn it on.

Soupman · August 2023

As I understand it, (I'm no expert and there are more knowledgeable people on here) :
if you're going straight into a PA system or mixer from an active pickup, using a normal length (20 ft or so) shielded cable with standard jack plugs you don't need the DI box.
If it's a bigger venue and you have to run a cable to the back of the hall, say to a sound man, then use a DI box. It allows longer cable runs with minimal signal degredation.

Danny1969 · August 2023

Soupman said:

As I understand it, (I'm no expert and there are more knowledgeable people on here) :
if you're going straight into a PA system or mixer from an active pickup, using a normal length (20 ft or so) shielded cable with standard jack plugs you don't need the DI box.
If it's a bigger venue and you have to run a cable to the back of the hall, say to a sound man, then use a DI box. It allows longer cable runs with minimal signal degredation.

That is still the case with a lot of venues although newer installs with generally have a digital stage box. With these the signal leaves the stage box in a digital multiplex using Cat 5 / 6 connections.

My band and a lot of other bands use digital stage boxes these days too. So everyone plugs in the stage box but there's only single cable cat 5 cable going to the mixer.

In this scenario you can view the desk as being on the stage and a Di is less important although it's still good practice to use a DI box

thomasw88 · August 2023

Danny1969 said:

A passive DI box is basically a transformer in a box so even Behringer struggle to f#ck that up. You might experience a slight loss of high end with a passive DI but for live use this can be a blessing rather than a curse.

Phantom power is most dangerous when plugging in things like iPads and phones via the headphone ports. The phantom power can reverse bias the output coupling caps on the headphone output which shorts them and then the DC can destroy the headphone amp in the device.

So never use a device like this direct to a mixer, always use a DI box inline. With todays iPad control surfaceless mixers it's very easy to accidentally turn it on.

Do use a phone for playing songs during breaks via an RCA input into the desk. Would that be at risk with phantom power?

Re phantom power I'm more concerned around someone else in the band plugging in/taking out a mic/input from the desk when the phantom power is on or forgetting to turn it off etc.

Danny1969 · August 2023

thomasw88 said:

Danny1969 said:

A passive DI box is basically a transformer in a box so even Behringer struggle to f#ck that up. You might experience a slight loss of high end with a passive DI but for live use this can be a blessing rather than a curse.

Phantom power is most dangerous when plugging in things like iPads and phones via the headphone ports. The phantom power can reverse bias the output coupling caps on the headphone output which shorts them and then the DC can destroy the headphone amp in the device.

So never use a device like this direct to a mixer, always use a DI box inline. With todays iPad control surfaceless mixers it's very easy to accidentally turn it on.

Do use a phone for playing songs during breaks via an RCA input into the desk. Would that be at risk with phantom power?

Re phantom power I'm more concerned around someone else in the band plugging in/taking out a mic/input from the desk when the phantom power is on or forgetting to turn it off etc.

No, there's no phantom power delivered to an RCA socket.

thomasw88 · August 2023

Spoke to Orchid electronics. Think the solution is to get his muting DI box and use a battery with it! He saiddaws around 4ma per hour so should last a long time.

thomasw88 · August 2023

Slight change of tack.. bagged a fishman pro eq on the bay. Going to pair that up with a Boss RV6 ( The modulated reverb with acoustic sounds glorious) and newly bagged TC flashback 2. That should do everything I’d want to with an acoustic I hope.

shufflebeat · September 2023

I love it when a plan disintegrates before your eyes and shoots off at a complete tangent.

Hope it works out for you.

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