Mar 10, 2010 11:06 PM
Direct Box with X3Live
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Hey guys,
I had a quick question for you. I'm trying to find a direct box that I can run the two 1/4 jacks out of my X3L into and have it combine the signal and send it to the mixer via XLR. Any suggestions? I keep finding DI boxes with two 1/4 and 1 XLR but they all say that the 1/4 are wired in parallel (as in one is an input and the other is a bypass that you run to your amp). Can I use those for the purpose of routing two 1/4 cords to one XLR?
"merging" the two live outs to a single XLR is effectively just sending out a mono signal (XLRs carry mono signals). You can do this by using any standard DI box of the type you mention, and taking just 1 of the 1/4" signals, as the X3L will send a mono signal when only one plug is inserted.
If the reason for your question is that you want to send out a mono balanced signal, that is the simplest way. I know of no DI box that also merges 2 signals, but in the configuration you described, that would not be needed.
Thanks tommasi!
I was trying to avoid having to set up my X3L using the XLR outs, but I see that is probably the best way to do it. I was trying to avoid taking up two channels on the board, but to hell with my sound guy. He'll just have to deal with it. =) Thanks again!
The Radial J48 (active), JDI(passive) can merge a stereo signal into an xlr mono. Buy two if you want real stereo (that is how most of the live soundguys do it).
But if you want stereo with your x3 then I'd suggest the Radial Pro D2.
This one looks cool as well: http://www.radialeng.com/re-duplex.htm. Seems very versatile.
All of these DI's have a somewhat high price tag, but they are recognized in the bussiness... In general you want to have the x3 electrically isolated from the mixer to avoid any ground loops that WILL occur when using non-battery powered stuff from an outlet different from the mixer.
In general active DI's are for passive devices that doesn' put out too much output like passive basses and such, otherwise they may distort with too high input. They will also need +48v of phantom power (som may be able to use batteries as well).
Passive DI's can be used by almost anything and doesn't require phantom power but have other drawbacks that the active doesn't have.
A DI can make or break your tone so make sure you test it (if it's very cheap and of dubious quality) and verify the low-end. This is what mostly seperates the good from the bad ones.
Roblof,
Thanks for your reply! That's the kind of info that I couldn't seem to get anywhere. Everyone is too busy trying to sell me their DI box instead of explaining how they work so I could decide if it would work for me or not. Thanks again!
I would never part with my DI's - They are lifesavers... ;-)
Last night I did the sound for Paul Di'Anno but the bass player refused to use my Reddi DI.
I didn't realize that his amp had an built-in DI (but usually they are crap anyway).
Good luck!
A couple extra thoughts, if you're going direct to the PA, in my experience, the XLR outs sound much better than the 1/4". I believe that's the way Line 6 designed it to be done, the 1/4" outs are designed to feed a guitar amp and are eq'ed accordingly. Also, if you're not using any stereo effects or panned dual tones, you only need one channel. I play with a single XLR feed to the PA quite often.
Actually, when in the output section the 1/4" are set to "match studio/direct", they will bear exactly the same signal as the XLRs out, albeit at a different level (also affected by the amp/line switch). They can be set to different EQ when using live modes, though.
Stay in the mix and in the know.
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