WorshipCentral

NB...

I use the Para Acoustic D.I. by L.R. Baggs. My guitar is a Seagull which has an L.R. Baggs preamp/pickup in it as well. I went with it because I like the electronics in the guitar so well. I also wanted to be able to tweak the sound even more.

A couple of years ago our church had a husband and wife team minister one weekend. They both are session players in Nashville when they don't tour. He was setting up their stuff and saw my DI box on the floor and was blown away. He told me that was the first time he'd ever seen one in a church! We talked about it for awhile, and he said that sound engineers practically kiss his feet when he pulls out his L.R. Baggs DI box in a recording session.

Anyway, it's kinda pricey, but you definitely get what you pay for. The next best thing would be the Radial ones. But the Baggs is specifically made for acoustic instruments.

Hope this helps.

If your guitar has a nice built in preamp, or is active, you shouldn't need a fancy DI. One of the best standard DI's is the Countryman.

If you have a passive pickup, you need a DI with a preamp, in which case the Baggs is great, the Demeter VTDB-2, Avalon, etc.

Ok, a bit more info based upon the advice given, I have an Avalon with a fishman prefix pro blend!

Thanks for the advice so far!

FISHMAN also makes a DI box that is somewhat like the Baggs. It's a little clunkier though (bigger). The one thing that I have run across is with cheaper DI boxes (Behringer, etc.) you can get bleed in from radio stations. One week during worship, I could faintly hear a radio station coming through our system. Come to find out it was the Behringer DI. I went and got a Radial. Plugged it in and the problem was gone!

Coming in from a different perspective here, not really guitar specific but more general so I'm not sure how useful it'll be! But anyway...

I always took the "industry standard" active DI box so to speak to be the BSS AR133 - they cost about £100 (if you look around you can get them for a bit less) but they're very rugged, they don't buzz at all, very well shielded and they have a very nice transformer in them so the rolloff isn't noticeable at all at the bottom end. The EMO ones are also very nice from memory (passive rather than active though) but it's been so long since I've used one I'll discount them from my knowledge!

That said, I've always been a bit sceptical about shelling out for expensive DI's because I honestly don't think it's worth it! The Behringer DI100's do a nice job, as do the studiospares DI's. Both come in at a bit over £20.

The battery compartment in the Behringer is bad, but that's fine for me because I never put batteries in the things! I've never even tried in the studiospares one (haven't used it for a while.) Build quality is probably also not as good for the cheaper ones, though I've kicked a DI100 against the wall a few times (by accident not out of frustration!) and it's survived. Though I suspect it'd die before the AR133!

In terms of sound quality, the only difference that I can notice is at the very bottom end where you can hear the rolloff kicking in on the Behringer - you can't on the BSS. But I'm talking about the bottom end of a bass guitar there, so if you're just using accoustic I doubt you'd notice a difference at all.

Must admit I've never had any problems with radio stations with Behringer DI's - I did with some AKG blueline mics once (long story, but it actually made a very usable makeshift radio!)

Oh and I'm not sure what DI Darin is referring to on the Behringer front - if it's the DI20 I really wouldn't be surprised...

Horrible thing. If there's one DI box NOT to get, that'd be it!

I use Behringer Ultra DI 100's at most of the churches I do sound in - only on the very odd occasion that they aren't sufficient - though in a world of rough and tumble, expect the jack sockets to come loose from the circuit board inside eventually. Five minutes with a soldering iron to repair, but irritating if it happens during an important gig!

If you need something better sounding (and can genuinely tell the difference), I use the Klark Teknik DN100 when I'm working, especially for larger clients. Rugged, reliable and ridiculously clean and balanced. I tend to find the ARR-133 - as with so many BSS products have a certain sound to them, which although uncannily good for accoustic guitars, can not work out so well on say Keyboards or synths.

For Accoustic Guitars, in my opinion there is nothing better than an LR Baggs Para DI, it's just so handy for ironing out obvious pickup deficiancies before it gets to the sound board - and the notch filter is dead handy, as it has a much tighter Q than most analogue consoles out there - especially handy if you have feedback issues.

Ended up having to get some "emergency" Behringer DI 120's whilst in Spain a couple of years ago - and I have to agree with Michael, these are NOT good DI boxes!

If you mic the kick drum, God will come.

That's cool stuff guys! I was actually using the Behringer Ultra DI box that was stated above. It could be that a sodder (sp?) joint, etc. was bad or something like that. I didn't really check it. I just ended up using my own Radial DI box (It was for a keyboard) and there was no more radio in the system.

I have to agree with Angelbracket on the Baggs Para DI. There's just something different about it. I've switched back and forth a couple of times with the Radial DI, and I always end up going back to the Baggs!

definately go avalon if you want great quality.

Ha-ha! 400GBP worth of DI box - that's hilarious. It's amazing what people will buy. I'm guessing you then run it into your Allen & Heath / Mackie / Soundcraft mixer then?? >Snigger<

Not really something you'd want to tour with now is it??

I do own a valve DI box, which is different. It's a Ridge Farm Gas Cooker - as used by Richard Thompson! Oh, and it costs an arm and a leg - but makes a really good guitar with exceptional pick-ups sound amazing when played through a really good PA system. It's pretty much useless otherwise.

If you mic the kick drum, God will come.