Going Direct In with Bass - Why, When, and How

[@davim.6073]

Can you have this dude do more videos please? This has been the most fun video from Sweetwater I’ve ever watched!

[@MBGA123]

Definitely!

[@pennywiseRJ]

@@MBGA123 maybe im wrong but he is alkaline trio bass tech

[@dennisdewinter1997]

This video may be three years old but it is wonderfully clear and to the point about bass pedals, signal chains and DI boxes. Thank you Sweetwater!

[@ShredShed]

"Betty in the front row does not like amps" that made me chuckle ; )

[@quattro4468]

And karen will want to talk to your manager.

[@matthewlunsford4351]

This video introduced several things that deserve their own video this length. Sounds like a series that Sweetwater should make! This guy is good! Thanks!

[@factchecker6674]

Yes, and I'm looking forward to his full discussion of ear rings.

[@quattro4468]

As a hobby electrician and after watching dozens of Bass di videos. This is tbe first video that correctly describes what a di is.

[@tiltil9442]

Chronologically or in your catalogue?

[@Hekkin]

This guy is the future of Sweetwaters KZbin channel.

[@ckaras100]

That’s my sales Engineer!!!!!

[@sweetwater]

Ayyyyyyy, that's my customer!! How's the new 4710D you just got working out so far? Kevin Spunde, Sweetwater Sales Engineer, [phone] ext. 1732, [e-mail]

[@ckaras100]

Sweetwater honestly one of the best purchases I made through you guys

[@LeeGee]

Now that's service. Love it!!

[@originalfallinggirl]

Jeff’s my guy. This guy is so cool though.

[@ckaras100]

@@originalfallinggirl All the sales engineers are pretty dope, but my guy Kevin rips on bass, and fixes cars aka badass lol

[@ivan_osorio]

I appreciate the lick being used for the examples immensely. Thank you. EDIT: Also Satie at the end there. Very nice.

[@slimbeaux]

What a great glimpse at some of the gear that is available to Bass players. I did DI for years at our church. It's not that amps were verboten it's just so easy for me to come in which my rack and just plug in to the board. I use the Shure GLXD4R which had the DI built in. I don't use any pedals or effect except for an old BBE Sonic Maximizer so that was great for me. I do have a good bass, Alembic, with the active electronics good sound was available to me. The key for me in this whole situation was to put in the work to make it work. I was lucky enough to have good sound engineer who I trusted. He also had the connections to borrow a bunch of monitor boxes so we could decide on which one I liked the best. A little tweaking with the monitor mix, add a bit of compression, and good to go. I trusted him for FOH and as long as the comments were as expected I was happy. And the audience was happy, sounded good to me and to them. If a once in a while situation, well, people might be stuck with what they have. In that case I would just remember, "if they're paying, I am playing." Love your playing and where IS that link to the article.

[@jondoe6062]

A REALLY helpful, compact synopsis of the D.I. (& other!) options available to all musicians - great stuff!

[@harrisondvargo72]

get this guy back to do more videos, what a talent

[@ZackSeifMusic]

Darkglass is at the forefront of modern rock and metal bass and I recommend it for those purposes. These were great options and a great video overall! Great work.

[@daolchang]

this absolute monster of a man straight up tested DIs with The Lick

[@derekthrasher1116]

SansAmp Bass Driver DI is the Corporate Standard for going Direct for Bass. You watch Rig Rundowns of Touring Bass Players and there's always a SansAmp (ie: Duff, Steve Harris, dUg Pinnick, Frank Bello, etc... )

[@EnergyChasms]

Great host, I'd love to see him more often.

[@PedroOliveira-wo6nm]

My salesman! Best Sweetwater guy ever!

[@Moonstruck2]

Excellent presentation. Thank you for the education. Perfecto. From a resurrected musician from 36 years ago being dormant.

[@justinorprecio3094]

Exactly what I need my bass player to figure out Thanks for uploading

[@kidcupid07]

I enjoyed this so much I watched it twice 😊

[@pretzeljon]

Nice Gymnopedie at the end

[@hoboroadie]

I tried running my guitar through a UA 610 and Little Labs Redeye then into my amplifier. Aside from the sounding better than anything I had ever heard before part, it was a remarkable simulation of having an effects loop so I could have pedals before and after the preamp. It was so profound that I shipped off my un-opened BAE DMP to a professional guitarist friend of mine. 🎸 I should give him a call and see how that is going.

[@zacklur]

Spunde is the best--my SSE for 4+ years now.

[@squirelova1815]

Of course, buying gear is mainly about the tone, like, fur sure. This guy here is more fun than a barrel of D.I. boxes!

[@Glass_Caskets]

Thank you for breaking this down. Learned a lot from it

[@romeou4965]

This type of presentation is great! Informative and relevant. Motivated to make a purchase decision. It’s about tone right? 😉

[@SamuelSamurai2074]

I’m so appreciative for this awesome info- this will finally help me complete my pedalboard setup.

[@ubermenschstream6765]

I miss when sweetwater is so informative like this.

[@jennlam]

This was a great overview! Appreciated the chains and how you set things up (what goes where, etc.).

[@rl-ub9hx]

The Duality!!! My favorite fuzz, never understood why they discontinued it.

[@cjuncosa]

Shoutout for the Erik Satie at the end there - nice.

[@theukuleledirectory3900]

Love the bass outro!!

[@RickyTehra]

I like the swag of this guy

[@philbrook6855]

Wow this was good education! I come from a classical music background, so this is all new to me! Thanks for posting =)

[@caseonfire]

really nice bass playing

[@daveslivesound3143]

"Addicted to gear": what everybody thinks but nobody says.... I love it!

[@zackperkins6107]

This is a great quality informational video

[@dwaynecarroll6098]

Thoughts on the good ol Sansamp Bass Driver? I use mine for everything.

[@originalfallinggirl]

You’re AWESOME! You’re better than Gene Simmons who did a demo at Sweetwater.

[@Wolf-r2b]

Can you do an update of this video? Helix stomp, Kemper, dark glass etc?! Thanks sweet water!!

[@tignytigny]

Gymnopedies sound great! Bravo!

[@andesneko]

Great taste. It all sounded amazing.

[@spoonerluv]

My man really hitting us with the lick over and over again 😭

[@fasttwitchmedia149]

You are playing Claude Debussy or is it Satie at the end, that was a mind blower. Great video!

[@markomarkovic8455]

Satie.

[@sandy1970ism]

Debería poner mi compresor antes o después de mi preamp cuando estoy tocando en vivo?

[@Rick-5728]

How important is it to have subs in your PA setup if you're going DI with the bass (assuming a small bar gig here, where the band is providing it's own sound).

[@PhoenixFlight94]

Licc No sansamp mentions?

[@ReeWebster]

Michael Romano but then he said he takes his BAE 1073 everywhere and credibility was re-earned.

[@josensototorres7070]

Thanks, really good video

[@kcrock2932]

I like your pretty little earrings 😂😆 Did u purchase them in a pawn shop ? 😂🤣

[@creepymccreepers]

if you have a preamp in your effects loop and use the xlr out to the pa do you still get all your other pedals to the pa? if you have a compression and a fuzz on your board?

[@AJbassist]

the demo riff its "the lick " i got 2 pre amp di , one straight from my bass other after-effects :)

[@jessica_video_projects]

Yes and Yes . Watch y’all’s DI boxes I have those stolen or accidentally lost at venues

[@JimBoom92]

great guy, great video

[@existentbeing9678]

Def learning that Erik Satie transcription

[@JohnJohn-xd8uj]

If i am going direct in with a bass, is it better to use an active bass or a passive bass?

[@sweetwater]

Hello! It's all about what kind of tone you are going for, and what basses you already own or are looking to purchase next. The DI/preamp is receiving an instrument level signal from both kinds of basses, so that's really more of a question of whether or not an active bass is right for you. It's fine either way if you only own a passive bass, or if you prefer the active EQ sculpting capabilities that you can get from an active bass. Thanks for the interest! Kevin Spunde, Sweetwater Sales Engineer, [phone] ext. 1732, [e-mail]

[@JohnJohn-xd8uj]

@@sweetwater Thank you, may i ask if an audio interface like ssl2 works great as a DI/Preamp in live situations? I don't know if that makes sense i'm just curious

[@kostas_mexis]

Thanks for this video! Late to the party here but I have a question. For rehearshal studio situations with a pedalboard, would you recommend going through specific monitor speakers?

[@rpomex]

So you don’t really need an 800watt bass amp, right? If you play through a PA system, you can just go from Bass through the DI box and into the PA? Is that right?

[@axehead33]

I play bass for my church but I'd love a fatter sound without being louder (because of Betty). If it helps, I love Tobymac's bass sound and I'd like to get a bit closer to it. Any suggestions?

[@brianbatie6650]

First a disclaimer, I am very old school here, like Cretaceous old school. Let me get that out there. I grew up in the 60s and 70s with amps like Sunn, then Ampeg V4B, then SVT, Randall, Fender, Peavey, etc. Played with Jazz and Rnb artists around the world. Still do. Amp sims just don't do it for me. I like my bass sound super "new-strings" clean, and I never use distortion or overdrive. I have tried hundreds of amp sims, both hardware and virtual, and they sound to me nothing like the amps they claim to simulate, and more important for me, they have no "feel" like playing into a real amp. Nowadays I go into a simple Thomann Millenium DI, split 1/4 inch to pedals, an envelope filter, and a compressor, octave box, and a chorus, and xlr into a QSC Touchmix 30 pro (Channel 1 clean, channel 2 effects) out to 2 Yamaha dxr-12 as wedges pointing back at me. I send my mains out to the house mixer, monitor outs to the Dxrs. Then, I have everyone else except me in the venue's bass monitor. For small venues, I take everything into the QSC, FOH into Yamaha DXR 15s, monitors still back to me, and auxes to everyone elses' monitors.

[@booshwireless]

Cool shirt dude!

[@CarlosKTCosta]

Using The Lick to test DIs, classy dude!

[@h1de]

Lol the man just dropped "the lick" on bass. Naice!

[@dxzebeats]

Noob question here: can you use a di box along with an amp head like Markbass little mark series?

[@sweetwater]

Hello, dxzebeats3769! Yes, you would run the bass directly into the DI box, and use the thru-put on the DI box to go into the front of the amp. Thanks for the interest! Spunde, Sweetwater Sales Engineer, [phone] ext. 1732, [e-mail]

[@AhtoRashied]

Very informative and precise. Thank you

[@tlb2732]

I have no need for a bass amp or a huge loaded pedalboard for bass guitar. I use a pedalboard of effects for guitar. Guitar is an expressive instrument. When I play bass, I view my job quite differently. It is to provide, in tandem with the kick drum, a solid and clean bottom sound and percussive foundation to the song. I find plenty of room for tasteful creativity within that approach without being distracting, focused on the song. My live bass rig consists of a Shure wireless system, an Electro-Harmonix Platform compressor pedal, and a Radial JDI mono direct box. That's it. And it works perfectly. For stage monitoring, I simply add the bass to the aux feed sent to my Yamaha powered wedge monitor. I don't use IEM's because I mix from stage and step out front from time to time to monitor FOH sound.

[@jonasweiss5817]

My DI only sends mic level, as do most. Good luck getting one that is line level.

[@380stroker]

I'm sure he meant mic level (low z).

[@tiltil9442]

either is fine

[@jsj8835]

this is fun to watch! i love this guy!!!! :'D

[@ericbrocious6047]

I’d like to see a full rundown of your board, please. 😬

[@crusoeishere4290]

I have a question, why is it when I plug a xlr out on my preamp/di box pedal, it only uses that pedal and not the others even if the di box is at the end of my chain

[@tiltil9442]

no. Just no.

[@crisrose521]

So can I literally go from just my bass thru a DI to the P.A. without anything in between? He was very vague on that

[@mikebryantky55]

You can.

[@tiltil9442]

Was he?

[@crisrose521]

@@tiltil9442 I guess so

[@umbertofurlan501]

hi mate, i have a dbx 286s mi preamp. Can i use it to process even my electric bass using a DI? does this make any sense in order to get a better bass sound for my home recording?

[@sweetwater]

Hello, Umberto! Yes, you could run your bass signal through that after it goes into the DI. I don't know if it will make your bass tone much better when recording, but it's worth trying out. Thanks for the interest! Spunde, Sweetwater Sales Engineer, [phone] ext. 1732, [e-mail]

[@umbertofurlan501]

@@sweetwater probably the DI alone directly connected to my audio interface would sound better. i don't know

[@mojoefelix]

What about a bass with active pickups? Mine is a Schecter. Is a di needed at all? If so, what one?

[@sweetwater]

Hello, Felix! Yep, you would still need a DI box, and generally any/all of the same options would work fine. I wouldn't worry as much about getting something with tone controls on it either, since an active bass would already have tone sculpting capabilities. Thanks for the interest! Spunde, Sweetwater Sales Engineer, [phone] ext. 1732, [e-mail]

[@lordtherion6876]

Hi I have a question for anybody who can help me: I have a gp100 with a ts410 and i use it for bass but it gives me really low volume when the plug in is set to line, and if i change it to mic, the sound goes up but gets distorted, if i use a direct box would i get the right volume?

[@LeeGee]

Nice playing

[@pjthomas3973]

"Betty does not like amps!!!" 😆😆😆 Betty needs to move back a few rows! 🤘🏼🔥🤘🏼

[@ChrisJohnsonChannel]

Just tell me why bass amps have effects loop inputs if nobody uses it?

[@Bflatest]

my question is... I like my Ampeg bass amp( rocket bass 112 new version) it has a XLR direct out but I think it has NO CAB IR SIM on that XLR OUT. How can I add one so the soundman gets my cab sim dir out???? I thought for sure there would be a cab sim pedal that has XLR in and XLR out but no I cant find one

[@tiltil9442]

You really really do not need that, because IRL PA speakers are bigger and also greater than cabs. The audience gets phat sound and feel from them.

[@djentcommunion2422]

being addicted to buying gear hahahah!! you got me

[@isaacramirez3729]

I dies when you played the lick 😂

[@AlbertoMartinezDelRio]

Good video and great background music.

[@kayceegeorge8486]

What are the best wireless transmitter for an active bass?

[@sweetwater]

Hello, Kaycee! I prefer digital wireless systems for bass guitars. Here are a couple systems at different price points that I feel comfortable recommending: www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/U2Blk--xvive-audio-u2-digital-wireless-guitar-system-black www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/XSWDPedalSet--sennheiser-xsw-d-pedalboard-set www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/GLXD16G--shure-glxd16-digital-wireless-guitar-pedal-system www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/QLXDBP-G50--shure-qlxd14-wireless-guitar-system-g50-band Thanks for the interest! Kevin Spunde, Sweetwater Sales Engineer, [phone] ext. 1732, [e-mail]

[@kayceegeorge8486]

@@sweetwater ohhh okay.... The reason why I asked because I heard a few persons told me that there are some wireless transmitter that doesn't work properly with active bass

[@seankent1807]

There is definitely a “Betty in the front row” at every church... 😂

[@cakecakeplaysgames]

ha ha that riff sounds so cool

[@teo1837]

I'm trying to record my bass and guitar in my daw without my family hearing, does this allow that?

[@sweetwater]

Hello, Teo! Yes, going direct in will allow you to record silently. Most interfaces have DI inputs, but getting a dedicated standalone DI can help your bass tone. For guitar, I'd recommend looking into some of the amp/cab sims/modelers. Guitar doesn't sound as good going just direct in. Thanks for the interest! Spunde, Sweetwater Sales Engineer, [phone] ext. 1732, [e-mail]

[@teo1837]

@@sweetwater that's good to know, thank you!

[@Empyrean55]

Was that sweden by c418 at the end there?

[@wheresallthezombies]

I’m a guitarist new to playing bass so I’m a little lost with some stuff. The pedals I have on the board are a sp compressor, boss blues driver, and the orange big muff (forgot what it’s called). I’ve seen other people with a radial j48 di box at the front of their chain where they split to the FOH then come out of the box into their pedals then the amp. Help. Lol. Is that something I should be doing? Or should I just run all the pedals into the di box then split the signal to FOH and my amp so they’re both seeing the effects. Maybe I’m over complicating it.

[@marvinbaptiste948]

Does the quality of your amp affect the sound going out when using A DI Box? I run into this issue where the tone of my bass sounds terrible and the volume levels no matter how much you play with it come out either to loud and distorted or too quiet and I can't hear myself play.

[@sweetwater]

Hello, marvinbaptiste948! You should be running the bass directly into the DI box, and use the thru-put on the DI box to go into the front of the amp. I wouldn’t recommend running it any other way. Thanks for the interest! Spunde, Sweetwater Sales Engineer, [phone] ext. 1732, [e-mail]

[@jackkovar7806]

I run from a tuner to a D.I. and put my faith in God and the sound people :D

[@brunotorres7332]

I’m using a Sterling SUb series active bass straight to my focusrite running on ableton don’t like the tone I’m getting should I use a DI box pre focusrite?

[@380stroker]

Yes

[@INeverWanted2010]

What's the name of the song played at the end? It sounds so familiar

[@ShinyPunkSam]

Debussy - Clair de Lune ik im 11 months late

[@CAGDESIGNDEVELOPMENT]

@@ShinyPunkSam Close. It's Gymnopédie No. 1 by Satie

[@jacobsaylor8088]

So could I just get a cord with the male mic part on one end and the jack on the other and just plug straight into the soundboard/pa system. Would it still work, and sound decent… and not mess up the microphones!! Lol any help would be greatly appreciated

[@Brainwave000]

It would work in the sense that it would make noise yes, would you want to do this, no. You want the jack cable from your guitar to run into a DI box/amp. You then want the DI output from that to be sent to the FOH system. whether or not it messes with anything after that is down to the mercy of your sound guy.

[@nichreynolds7712]

Your signal would be so weak and tone would be so sterile u would immediately unplug it and throw a di pedal in between.

[@ericpiil1518]

That song at the end sounds super familiar, but I can't place it. Anyone know?

[@KLRCAT]

I am currently having a Bass DI emergency where any time I try to turn up the bass in the PA there is this massive Whistle sound. I have checked literally EVERYTHING; Bass (Works), DI (Works), XLR (Works), Multicore channel (Works), Channel on desk (Works). But for some reason I still get this loud whistle sound when turning up the fader (and no, its not hum). Any ideas?

[@SebTheSaviour]

He definitely knows what he talks about.

[@angelsebas5422]

Quick question might be dumb but what ever...... I have a 6X10 fender neo cabinet cabinet with a fender bass man 500 head. I want to record the bass tone coming from the head so In the back of the head there is a XLR Hole so please correct me if I am wrong. I use the XLR cable going into the head going into my scarlet 3rd gen DAW. Is that still picking up the tone from just the bass head alone or is it just the picking up the sound from my bass pick ups directly into my scarlet.

[@sweetwater]

Hello! If you select "post" on the XLR output you'll get the tone from the amp. It's never going to sound exactly the same as the whole amp with cab in your room, but at least that way you're getting your signal after it goes through the preamp and tone adjustments on the amp. Thanks for the interest! Kevin Spunde, Sweetwater Sales Engineer, [phone] ext. 1732, [e-mail]

[@zamsuanmung]

very Good

[@gaz312]

I though the output from a D.I box was usually Mic level not line level.

[@MartenBunt]

Jep, let him do more please

[@pecos_music]

Going over some 'Bass-ics'.

[@RobertFisher1969]

Nice Gymnopede (I’m betting I butchered the spelling of that) outro!

[@bivotarshamble3672]

Could have touched on active/passive DI boxes. Good vid though

[@sethmwiese]

Did you just end the video with Unwed Sailor?