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| Countryman DT85: considered by many to be the best active DI box for the money |
So why in a world the world would need just another DI box advice?
Well, the truth is that there are too few resources out there that focus on DI boxes for guitar home recording exclusively. And as in certain home studio setups DI boxes tend to be irreplaceable piece of signal chain gear for good quality guitar recording, I thought this particular topic deserves more coverage.
So let's build this tutorial from zero, just to make sure we don't skip any important information.
Are there DI boxes specially designed for home recording?
I know this question may sound a bit odd to most of you guys reading this, but that is the exact question I've got from my friend the other day. Of course, you'll understand my friend is home recording beginner. A level zero... so to say.Fortunately, DI boxes are designed for both recording and live performances purpose, meaning that you can use your DI box for home studio and professional studio recording but also at your gigs to connect your guitar to PA and your amp at the same time, for example.
DI boxes are universal piece of gear and there is no such thing as DI box designed exclusively for home recording purpose.
When do you need to use guitar DI box for home recording?
DI boxes are irreplaceable piece of gear in your home studio, but only if you are connecting your guitar to home recording mixer.There are several instances where the application of guitar DI box is recommended in your home studio, but there are two most demanding situations where DI box presence in signal chain is absolutely mandatory:
- If you need to plug your guitar to your home recording mixer either directly of after your pedal board, and from there to your computer audio or USB input. Unless you don't have mixer with guitar inputs, your guitar is going to sound awfully wrong without connecting it to DI box first, and then from DI box to the mixer.
- If for any reason your guitar cable length exceeds 15 feet. The electric impulse from guitar pickups is poor in strength and lengthy cables are killing it due to the level of electric resistance along the way. DI box is needed to recover the signal and send it over to your mixer, preamp or your audio interface.
Other than the situations mentioned above, DI boxes are not a must have piece of gear. However, remember that you can never go wrong using DI box "just in case" because DI boxes remove unwanted noise from guitar signal and that is of precious value for any recording process.
So if you can afford one, just go for it.
What is the best DI box for home recording?
Unfortunately, there is no single model of DI box to meet all your home recording needs unless you always record the same type of guitars. For example, if you always record guitars with passive pickups like Strat, Tele or Gibson LP, one active DI box is enough to cover all your recording demands.But what if the mix requires some background strumming on your, say... electro acoustic Takamine guitar with active pickups? Then you are going to need passive DI box as well.
In short, the best choice of DI box depends on the kind of guitar you record.
Therefore:
If you record electric guitar with passive pickups you should use active DI box.
If you record electric guitar with active pickups you should use passive DI box.
The same rule applies for electro acoustic guitars with active and passive pickups.
Bass guitars are not the exception to the rule, neither.
It's easy to remember, right?
I hope you are getting the point: the best DI box for home recording is not necessarily some particular DI box brand model.
The best DI box is the one that matches your guitar pickups type.
Recommended guitar DI boxes for home studio recording
Here I'll give you some examples of DI boxes you can use for your home studio recording. Also, in the description of each DI box you'll will find more details on their specific field od application.Please note: I'm not saying the following gear are the best DI boxes in the world, but all of them have already been established as the recording industry standards and all of them offer more than decent recording quality tone.
Important thing is to pick the type of DI box that would serve your recording interests the best, so try and read the description details with lot of attention.
Active DI boxes for electric guitar
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| Very popular active guitar DI box: Radial J48 |
When to use Radial J48?
According to the reviews, the best practice is to use Radial JDI with electric guitars with passive pickups. Also, you can't go wrong if you use this DI box on acoustic guitars with passive pickups as well.
The reviews are ambivalent when it comes to bass guitars. While some bass players give it high fives, the others say it's nothing special compared to DI that are boxes customized for bass guitars only (like Radial Tonebone Bassbone presented below). For the price and the detailed reviews please visit this Amazon link.
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| Countryman DT - electric guitar DI box with best reviews |
The main feature of this DI box is simplicity of usage, while the reviews say the sound from it is a killer.
When to use Countryman DT85?
The application of this DI box is pretty much similar to the previously presented Radial J48, but with single exception: the reviewers say that this box is perfect for bass guitar with passive pickups as well! This means that the Countryman DT85 is great DI box for electric, electro-acoustic and bass guitars with passive pickups.
Countryman manufactures rather affordable gear and for the current price of Countryman DT85 please visit this Amazon link.
Passive DI boxes for electric guitar
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| Best selling passive DI box: Radial JDI |
Current rating of this box is 4.9/5 stars, and without any intention to sound in spectacular way, I can only tell you that this DI box sells like crazy and of course: it's also Amazon's choice product.
When to use Radial JDI?
Being a passive DI box, Radial JDI is built to accept the signals from active instruments and electric powered gear. JDI is certainly the box of choice for electric guitars, electro-acoustic and bass guitars with with active pickups. Also, JDI is very popular within keyboard players circles.
Still, the most important role of JDI and other passive boxes is that you need to place it between your pedal board and the mixer. In that case, JDI works miracles for studio recording tone quality.
For the actual price of Radial JDI please check this Amazon link.
Active DI boxes for bass guitars
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| Radial Tonebone Bassbone: great active DI box for bass guitars |
I have picked Radial Tonebone Bassbone to be presented here for several good reasons.
First, it is cost friendly having in mind what you get for the money.
Second, it sounds really great. Bassbone features two channels: first channel may be used either clean or with additional filtering, while the second channel offers good quality bass EQ coloration.
Let's take a look now how Bassbone works with Stingray bass guitar with passive pickups:
For the reviews from previous customers and the price of Radial Tonebone Bassbone please check this Amazon link.
Tips for using DI boxes outside of home recording studio
As I have already said, DI boxes are by nature universal piece of gear with many applications, so that the money invested in DI box should not be regarded as studio investment only.As a matter of fact, DI boxes were originally invented for the needs of live performances. At the time of Rock'n'Roll revolution roots back in 1960's, the numbers of the audience at live venues started to grow rapidly and the instrument amps simply could not cope with the loudness of the crowd. Then, DI box came as a solution for connecting guitars to PA.
Here are some ideas how to use DI boxes at your live performances:
- Put passive DI box in between your pedal board and PA mixer. This is by far the best practice if you don't want to carry your heavy guitar/bass amp to the gigs.
- If you want to connect to PA but still want to keep your guitar/bass amp as a monitor, DI box can help you do that. All of the DI boxes have XLR and 1/4 outputs for mixer and guitar amp respectively
- If the mixer at your gig has inbuilt effects like reverb, delay, chorus... you can plug your guitar to mixer without pedal board using DI box only
- 15 feet/5 meters rule: whenever your guitar cable is longer than that, using DI box is recommended
For more tips on this topic please check my article about connecting guitar to PA.
DI boxes seem to be some kind of mystery for many of entry level home studio owners and if you feel that way I strongly recommend further reading so you don't have any doubts in the future DI box application instances.
DI box theory
So far in this tutorial we've been dealing with the practical side of choosing the best DI box for your home recording needs. Now it's time go in depth with DI boxes theoretical part which will back up the claims made in the above text.DI boxes seem to be some kind of mystery for many of entry level home studio owners and if you feel that way I strongly recommend further reading so you don't have any doubts in the future DI box application instances.
About DI boxes in general
The term DI box is derived from "direct insertion" or "direct injection" box and refers to the process of capturing audio signal without the use of the microphone. Skipping microphone in your signal recording chain has many advantages. The most important advantage is you don't transfer signal through the air, meaning you don't have signal degradation, you don't have background noise or any other external interference that may cause the problem later in the mix and you can't get rid of it.What does the DI box do and why do you need DI box?
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| XLR and jack connector |
DI box has three functions:
1. Connector matching: guitar cables with their 1/4 jack connectors are not compatible with recording mixer XLR inputs and you can't plug 1/4 to XLR.
1. Connector matching: guitar cables with their 1/4 jack connectors are not compatible with recording mixer XLR inputs and you can't plug 1/4 to XLR.
DI boxes are designed to have 1/4 input connectors for your guitar and XLR outputs so you can connect from DI box to mixer easily using XLR microphone cable.
2. Impedance matching: without getting overly technical, it is important to understand that all instruments, whether they be guitars or keyboards, they all have what is called "output impedance". In other words, it is the resistance of the electric circuit that is outputting electric signal from the instrument. Typically, guitar instruments with passive pickups such as Fender Stratocaster or Fender Jazz Bass have relatively high output impedance. High impedance is often called "Hi Z". If you plug those instruments directly to mixing console you'll experience high frequency loss due to the impedance mismatch. DI boxes are capable of accepting high impedance signals converting it to low impedance (Low Z) that match mixer inputs.
2. Impedance matching: without getting overly technical, it is important to understand that all instruments, whether they be guitars or keyboards, they all have what is called "output impedance". In other words, it is the resistance of the electric circuit that is outputting electric signal from the instrument. Typically, guitar instruments with passive pickups such as Fender Stratocaster or Fender Jazz Bass have relatively high output impedance. High impedance is often called "Hi Z". If you plug those instruments directly to mixing console you'll experience high frequency loss due to the impedance mismatch. DI boxes are capable of accepting high impedance signals converting it to low impedance (Low Z) that match mixer inputs.
3. Signal balancing: The third thing that DI box does is signal balancing. The difference between an unbalanced and balanced signal is that an unbalanced signal consists of only two legs: you have a hot and a ground. A balanced signal consists of three legs: you have a positive, a negative and a ground. A balanced signal can be transmitted to much longer distances without the risk of outside interference or signal degradation. An unbalanced signal such as that derived from passive guitar or bass can typically only be transmitted 15 feet before you're under the risk of the interference, hum, buzz, and in the extreme cases picking the local broadcast from tadi companies, radio stations and even the police force! 😄
Balanced signals on the other hand can be transmitted many hundreds of meters without the risk of outside interference or signal loss.
And that's why you need a DI box: to convert high impedance unbalanced signal from your instrument into low impedance balanced signal that can be transmitted long distance without suffering from signal degradation.Balanced signals on the other hand can be transmitted many hundreds of meters without the risk of outside interference or signal loss.
How to tell active from passive DI box?
The difference is not hard to guess and you can tell it by looking at the DI box design.Active DI boxes are powered boxes and have at least one of following things in design:
- LED lights on housing as the indicator of the power on/off
- Power switch (on/off), though some models have power switch integrated into the input connector, so when you plug into DI the circuit switches on automatically
- Battery compartment and/or DC adapter connector
The importance of having DI box in home recording studio
One of the most important things in recording process is setting the right level of instrument signal on the mixer LED indicator before hitting the red button. That's exactly what DI boxes do.- Low level signal from guitars with passive pickups will get enhanced by active DI boxes without noise to a mixer optimal input level.
- High level signal from guitars with active pickups will get attenuated by passive DI boxes without distortion or clipping to a mixer optimal input level.
Just remember this, stick to the recommended DI box models and you are good to go.
I really hope this article helped you choose the best DI box for your home recording sessions.
Cheers!
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