hello again people, i have an audient id4 interface that handles >500k of impedace, in the other hand i have a samson mda1 direct box that handles 1Mohm of imput impedance. I read that the audient instrument input is good enough for recording guitar, but i want to verify that in this forum. should i use the direct box with the audient or the istrument input of the id4. thanks in advance

 

They will sound different.
BUT ID4 is enough by itself.

You will not clip input AND sound will be probably more neutral in ID4

 

My interface isn't that great but I manage just fine without a DI box but maybe it would take a lot of the hassle out for you, I don't know. I get by fine with ITB preamp/ampsims and cab loaders. I think about getting me a DI box too sometimes.

I want to say you should be fine!

 

exactly, i've compared the di's and audient sound with more bass frequencies compared to the mda, mda is a bit cristaline but lacks in bass freqs

 

No, but do an AB test and compare to see if you like the difference in the high end.

 

In practical terms, you NEED a DI box if you want to run your instrument through long distances without adding extra noise since the output will be a balanced signal. You may also need it if you want to record a direct signal but still be able to use the same signal for other things, like a guitar amp, at the same time.

So, unless you're doing any of that, you should really just go for the one that sounds better in the context of what you're doing.

 

The only one who can judge is you, yourself, if you are completely satisfied with whatever interface or DI you use then no one else's opinions should matter.

 

so... the di box will add color, it will not improve the sound?. thats my primary worry, to know if the jfet of the audient will be enough to handle a guitar with passive pickups

 

Passive pickups - you need an active DI.
Active pickups - passive DI will be great, and passive DIs usually colour the sound less than the active ones.

I'm not familiar with your Samson MDA DI, so it's hard to say what it does to your sound. I'm familiar with Klark Teknik ones, and they sound very good, especially the more expensive one [not made by Behringer, but those will do just fine,too].

Personally, I would always use a good quality DI according to pickups being passive or active, than just a plain unbalanced cable, unless it's like a metre long. You will always have less noise with a DI, you don't have to worry about the length of your cable, and if you can hear grounding noise, you can easily cut it out with a switch.

Cheers!

 

i've notice that using the di box with the audient preamp knob in zero gets a different result instead of usin the di box pad button and rising the preamp knob, but the sound is almost the same as jfet input with the difference tyhat audient jfet is a tiny bit brighter

 

Exactly. DI's were made to change the impedance/ballance of a signal, they will color and they will change your sound as a side effect, but wether it's an improvement or not it's really up to your perception and how it fits in the music. If you're worrying about the impedance thing, the rule of thumb is that the output impedance should be 10 times smaller than the input impedance. Output impedance of passive guitar pickups tend to be around 15k maximum (single coils tend to be way lower than that) so as you can see you're not even near any problematic values.

The noise part is a bit longer to explain but yeah, cable lenght is not something worth worrying about unless it's a big studio or a live performance scenario where distances are large enough to cause problems.