Best approach for splitting a guitar signal.

[Random Guitarist]

Another thread here on printing effects has me wondering how best to split a guitar signal to record one dry and one effected path. I previously always recorded with a wet signal only, but feel I should try the approach of having a safety track.

Is a simple DI box at the front of the chain the best idea, or there other approaches I know not of?

Thx,

Grant.

[FastnBulbous]

I have plans to do exactly this for bass. I'm looking at getting one of these http://orchid-electronics.co.uk/classic_DI.htm recommended by folk in this forum.

Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

[Sam Spoons]

That is what I do for bass but I usually record guitar via a miked amp. You could record the guitar DI as well though giving you the opportunity to re-amp later.

The Orchid Classic is indeed a bargain.

[Wonks]

Indeed. You need an active DI box with a high impedance input, so that your guitar signal (if using passive pickups) isn't affected by not seeing too low an impedance. The Orchid one linked to is fine for that.

Passive DI boxes are fine for synths or other devices with low impedance active outputs, but the input impedance of these is too low for normal guitar use and will take a lot of treble out of the signal; both the signal off to the amp and the direct signal output.

[Jack Ruston]

I've always preferred to use a splitter for this - The GigRig one to be specific. It just seems to sound better to me than splitting with a typical DI box. I accept that that's not very scientific of me.

J

[Hugh Robjohns]

If you're talking about the Humdinger, it really is just a DI box, albeit maybe a nice sounding one. A normal DI box typically has one direct-connected unbalanced output for the amp and a second transformer-isolated output for the mixer. The 'direct' output in the Humdinger just happens to be electronically buffered as well, so that whatever you connect can't affect the loading on the guitar pickups (as it can in the more conventional arrangement).

The Orchid classic box doesn't use transformer isolation for the mixer output, which is electronically balanced with a ground lift instead, but the unbalanced Amp output is electronically buffered, same as the Humdinger.

Orchid's Muting DI box goes a step further, adding a second unbalanced buffered output (labelled Tuner) which is always live, while the mixer and amp outputs are mutable via the stomp button. I have one and find it very useful indeed!

H

[The Elf]

I have a few select DIs, but the ones that see the most use are my Radial J48, which seems to do something special for basses, and a Little Labs Red Eye 3D, which allows for rapid switching between DI and re-amping. Both are much more expensive than the Orchid offerings, though.

Whenever I can I will take a DI. Even if I don't actually use the DI audio itself it can be useful to assist with timing fixes - it can be impossible trying to find note attacks in a distorted guitar recording, but with a parallel DI it's simple. I will lock the DI and distorted tracks together, and edit using the DI as my reference.

[Drew Stephenson]

Whenever I can I will take a DI. Even if I don't actually use the DI audio itself it can be useful to assist with timing fixes - it can be impossible trying to find note attacks in a distorted guitar recording, but with a parallel DI it's simple. I will lock the DI and distorted tracks together, and edit using the DI as my reference.

::: makes mental note for future reference :::

[jaminem]

I have some nice DI's (including 2 of the Orchid ones) and always used the thru function to create a direct and mic'd signal, however I have often wanted to record multiple amps simultaneously, either for a 'choice of' a 'blend of' or just for convenience purposes.

In this situation you need more than the 2 'outs' that a typlical DI would provide so I use a Radial Shotgun

http://www.radialeng.com/product/shotgun

This gives you 4 outs, ground lift, phase flip and typical radial build/sound quality, and is the best solution I found for the money - its about £200-£250

I'd love a JD7 but £1200 is a LOT of money

You could also consider some of the ABY boxes that have a tuner out like this one

http://www.radialeng.com/product/bigshot-aby

that gives you 3 simulataneous outs for a bit cheaper

[paul tha other]

when i record electric guitar i do this most of the time..

i have a mic sound from the amp...i put a di from the guitar before the effects and then put another di after the effects.so my chain would look like this

guitar into di.link into pedal board\multi effects..from pedal board/multi effects into di.link to amp.

then i can re-amp till my hearts content with either di signal..or both...just cause i can