DI advice

[ian hatch]

Hi all

I'm after a bit of advice.

The guitarist in the band I do sound for has just started using an acoustic guitar along side his normal electric one, but wants to use use just one guitar lead, just swapping guitars for different numbers.

So the way I set it up was to have the lead from the pedal board going into the DI, link cable to the cab, then still put a mic on the cab as well, and two separate channels going back to the desk.

The theory being, the DI would work best for the acoustic IE: clean signal, and a mic on the cab for the electric so covering both bases.

The problem I ran into was, when he was using the electric, I muted the channel for the acoustic so not to get two signals for one guitar, just the cab mic, but the signal on the acoustic channel went really hot and stayed in the red, but was normal when using the acoustic on that channel.

The electric channel stayed perfectly normal.

Both channel gains were set right, with the acoustic/DI'd one being the strongest.

Should I, NOT mute the acoustic channel when he is using the electric and have two different signals being sent to the desk?

Any other set up ideas welcome.

 

Cheers

Ian

PS: Mentioned to the guitarist about using two guitar leads but was not keen.

[mervaka]

what you can do is split the DI signal with a Y cable (female XLR to two male XLR) and take the DI signal into the desk twice, one set up for acoustic, one set up for electric. mute whichever one you aren't using, and mute both during instrument changeover.

[Wilflet]

The problem I ran into was, when he was using the electric, I muted the channel for the acoustic so not to get two signals for one guitar, just the cab mic, but the signal on the acoustic channel went really hot and stayed in the red, but was normal when using the acoustic on that channel.

 

PS: Mentioned to the guitarist about using two guitar leads but was not keen.

 

that just means the electric is louder at that point in the signal path. which depending on what guitars (mainly the acoustics pick up/pre amps) could well be the case. If your not using it probably nothing to worry about.

 

Is the guitarist instant on it going through his amp for the acoustic?

If he is then surely its in his interest too to make the acoustic sound good and of equal level to the electric on stage through his amp- at which point the mic is probably usable.

What I'd go for would be trying to keep the two completely separate, electric into amp miced, acoustic into di.

Then keep him happy with monitors.

youve then got your two channels for level/comps/channel eq. and he can leave both instruments plugged in, ready, one less thing to go wrong.

[ian hatch]

The problem I ran into was, when he was using the electric, I muted the channel for the acoustic so not to get two signals for one guitar, just the cab mic, but the signal on the acoustic channel went really hot and stayed in the red, but was normal when using the acoustic on that channel.

 

PS: Mentioned to the guitarist about using two guitar leads but was not keen.

 

that just means the electric is louder at that point in the signal path. which depending on what guitars (mainly the acoustics pick up/pre amps) could well be the case. If your not using it probably nothing to worry about.

 

Is the guitarist instant on it going through his amp for the acoustic?

If he is then surely its in his interest too to make the acoustic sound good and of equal level to the electric on stage through his amp- at which point the mic is probably usable.

What I'd go for would be trying to keep the two completely separate, electric into amp miced, acoustic into di.

Then keep him happy with monitors.

youve then got your two channels for level/comps/channel eq. and he can leave both instruments plugged in, ready, one less thing to go wrong.

The amp is used as a second monitor if you like when he's using the acoustic because there is no FX/cab sound being used on the acoustic, just a clean signal from the DI.

What I forgot to mention is, sometimes he uses a radio set up for the guitars, hense the use of only one guitar lead.

But, I feel the acoustic sounds far better DI'd, rather than running it through the amp, hense the problem of trying to use one DI and 2 guitars.

[wil_hob]

If I understand you're question properly you have a guitarist who wants to switch a wireless unit between an electric and an acoustic guitar and you want to use the backline as a monitor. What I would sugest is something like the muting DI box from orchid electronics (I think one of the orchid people is on this forum) so you're guitarist could mute the signal on stage while s/he switches guitars and you can switch between the mic and DI input on the desk , obviously you would have to make sure the input level was similar for each instrument so the backline level is constant . (edit for SPAG but I'm dyslexic so it'll still be bad)

[ian hatch]

If I understand you're question properly you have a guitarist who wants to switch a wireless unit between an electric and an acoustic guitar and you want to use the backline as a monitor. What I would sugest is something like the muting DI box from orchid electronics (I think one of the orchid people is on this forum) so you're guitarist could mute the signal on stage while s/he switches guitars and you can switch between the mic and DI input on the desk , obviously you would have to make sure the input level was similar for each instrument so the backline level is constant . (edit for SPAG but I'm dyslexic so it'll still be bad)

 

Hi

Cheers for the reply.

Yes I understand what you're suggesting, sounds a good idea.

My main problem is the difference in gain levels, acoustic being a lot stronger, which then clips the electric guitar channel on the desk.

I know it's not impacting on the sound because the electric guitar channel is muted when the acoustic is being used, but is it doing any damage to anything if a channel is permanently in the red?

Also the back line gets louder when the acoustic is being used.

 

Ian

[Mixermend]

Many thanks to Wil for the suggestion - indeed one of the Orchid people does enjoy the Blue Room (hey - there is only one - and that is me!).

 

The Muting DI Box has proved popular and is widely used on stage where it is necessary to change instruments, or just silently tune up. The muting is absolutely silent and clickless in operation.

 

Many variants have been produced such as A/B routing for use with multiple instrument/amplifier combinations.

 

Full details on my Web site.