DI box for guitars to mixer

[punkyfish]

Hi,

I gave a Yamaha MG16X 16-Channel Mixer and want to hook up a bass, electro acoustic and lead guitar. The manual says use a DI. What do I need, what does it do and recommendations - not too expensive, thankyou

[Martin Walker]

The simplest answer is that you need a DI (Direct Injection) box between the unbalanced outputs of your electric guitars and a balanced mic input on your Yamaha mixing desk, and also to provide the guitar with a high impedance input.

The most comprehensive answer to this would be to read the following sound on sound features:

Using DI Boxes: Choosing The Most Suitable Type: https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/using-di-boxes

Prepare to DI! Using DI Boxes On Stage:
https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/prepare-di

Martin

[Wonks]

I’m not convinced that the lead guitar should be DId unless either the amp has a speaker emulated output or if there is no amp, their pedal(s) of choice has an emulated output. If they’ve only got standard pedals into an amp, then you’ll need to mic the amp up or it will sound awful.

[ore_terra]

that's what you would do if you - for some reason - were to plug the electric guitar straight to the mixer. If there's an amp involved what you will do is mic the amp. If there's a multifx or amp emulator (helix, kemper, etc) you will take the DI out from the device and straight to the mixer.

[Chet Leeway]

I recently got a Sadowsky SBP-1, a preamp/DI for bass. Very happy with it.

For electric guitar, my Vox Valvestate amp has a lineout that can be plugged straight into the mixer, but if I were serious about it I would be looking at a better amp and run it through one of Two Notes' boxes. For a simple guitar > thing > mixer solution, I use a Line6 Helix Stomp.

For acoustic guitar, the brands Fishman and L.R. Baggs are the standard recommendations. I got a cheaper TC Electronic BodyRez pedal that improves the sound to a certain extent, but I wouldn't strongly recommend it.

[punkyfish]

that's what you would do if you - for some reason - were to plug the electric guitar straight to the mixer. If there's an amp involved what you will do is mic the amp. If there's a multifx or amp emulator (helix, kemper, etc) you will take the DI out from the device and straight to the mixer.

It’s all new to me, been given the equipment and trying to work out how to hook things up.nos if you plug an electric guitar straight into the mixer would it still come out of the powered speakers? I don’t know what you mean by multifaceted or amp emulator sorry

[punkyfish]

I recently got a Sadowsky SBP-1, a preamp/DI for bass. Very happy with it.

For electric guitar, my Vox Valvestate amp has a lineout that can be plugged straight into the mixer, but if I were serious about it I would be looking at a better amp and run it through one of Two Notes' boxes. For a simple guitar > thing > mixer solution, I use a Line6 Helix Stomp.

For acoustic guitar, the brands Fishman and L.R. Baggs are the standard recommendations. I got a cheaper TC Electronic BodyRez pedal that improves the sound to a certain extent, but I wouldn't strongly recommend it.

Okay so if I understand correctly, if there is a line out on guitar amp it can go straight into the mixer, if not I need one of those brands mentioned?

[punkyfish]

I’m not convinced that the lead guitar should be DId unless either the amp has a speaker emulated output or if there is no amp, their pedal(s) of choice has an emulated output. If they’ve only got standard pedals into an amp, then you’ll need to mic the amp up or it will sound awful.

What is an emulated output?

I think I’m confused because I have a focusrite audio thing that has pre amps on it so I can go straight into it without an amp.

[James Perrett]

What is an emulated output?

It is an output that has a filter on it with a response similar to the response of a guitar speaker. Guitar speakers produce very little real high end but can produce quite a bit of sound in the 2-3kHz area. When you use distortion, the raw distorted signal sounds very thin and fizzy because it relies on the speaker to smooth out the sound. If you don't want to use a real speaker then you have to use some kind of speaker emulator for distorted sounds.

If you had a mixer with more sophisticated eq you might be able to roughly emulate a speaker by rolling off the high end and maybe boosting the mid a bit.

I think I’m confused because I have a focusrite audio thing that has pre amps on it so I can go straight into it without an amp.

Yes, that will have the equivalent of a DI box built in. You can also use effects in the computer to emulate a speaker.

[Mike Stranks]

I used to have one of these:

https://www.thomann.de/gb/behringer_gi100_ultra-g.htm

in my DI collection as someone here had spoken approvingly of its emulation mode.

The guitarists who used it to DI their electric guitars also seemed happy with the sound produced.

Doubtless, there are many other 'emulation' DIs available...

NB. Not all Behringer DIs are the same. There are some that many of us here wouldn't touch with a barge-pole!

[Chet Leeway]

My response was built on the assumption that you wanted to use the mixer for practice, rehearsals, jams or small gigs.

For recording to a computer, I normally go straight into my audio interface, which has an input for that purpose, and run the sound through amp simulators or whatever "in the box". That's easiest to set up and most flexible.

The products I mentioned could still be useful if you want to establish your sound "out of the box" (for instance with your favourite pedal and amp settings) and avoid the temptation to go through gazillions of amp sim presets or otherwise waste time tweaking your sound after recording. In my case the Sadowski is a shortcut to a perfect sound for me, so I'll often use that going into the audio interface even though it's not strictly necessary.

[ef37a]

I’m not convinced that the lead guitar should be DId unless either the amp has a speaker emulated output or if there is no amp, their pedal(s) of choice has an emulated output. If they’ve only got standard pedals into an amp, then you’ll need to mic the amp up or it will sound awful.

What is an emulated output?

I think I’m confused because I have a focusrite audio thing that has pre amps on it so I can go straight into it without an amp.

I am not surprised at your confusion friend. Yes you do indeed need a high input impedance DI box for the lead* guitar and yes, 'flat' lead guitar does sound pretty dreadful through full range speakers but the mixer has 3 band EQ and I am sure you will be able to find a setting that gives you an approximation to a guitar speaker. That after all is what is being "emulated" and since they all differ, there is no one EM curve that is 'right'. You will probably need a bit of bass boost, a dip in the mids and a roll off starting around 5-6kHz. I could probably find you some dB numbers if you wanted but they would be only 'one man's' idea of one speaker's emulation. A good one shot solution would be a graphic EQ pedal. Got your hi-Z and EQ all in one box.

And of course, as you say you just fire straight into the Instru' input on your interface and that seems ok and I don't know of any AI that has emulated inputs?

*Bass I doubt will need any emulation anyway. In fact I would try it straight into a line in on the mixer, the only problem I foresee is perhaps a lack or gain? (Ooo! I could try my bass through my Berry 1202. Will do tom')
Acoustic guitar amplifiers are essentially 'flat' and use full range speakers. You should be able to go into a line input if it is an active guitar. If not you really need a much higher input impedance around 10meg Ohms, ten times the typical guitar amp. Such acoustic pre amps tend to be rather expensive but you could try a phantom powered active DI then EQ the **** out of it?

Dave.