Miking VS Direct?

[David Mullis]

Has anyone tried a thing called "The Red Box" by Hughes & Kettner or "The MicEliminator" by whirlwind? I've been thinking about trying one of those so I can run direct instead of miking my amps.

Thanks
David

[Darvin Willhoite]

I use a BBE DI-100 at the Church where I play. This has a Sonic Maximizer built in which can really enhance your sound. It is phantom powered so there is no batteries or wall warts to worry about. I go from the guitar to the pedal, to a Digitech 2112, to the BBE, the balanced line goes to the house and monitor system, then I run out of the high impedance output to a Peavey LA400 amp for a monitor. When I want to see how I am sounding through the stage monitors, I just turn the LA400 off. This works really well for me on Steel and Guitar.

[Jack Stoner]

I haven't tried those, but my Transtube Fex 600 ohm XLR output with the speaker emulation switch set to 2 12" speakers worked well on a recent session. I did the first day's tracks (5 songs) using my Nashville 400 preamp out into a D.I. box. The rest were done using the Transtube Fex into the board. I like the TT Fex so well, any other sessions I do, I'll do that way.

[Bill Rowlett]

David,

I usually use a Peavy EDI for a direct to the house. The other night I became a fine radio antenna. I think that a strong local broadcast feed was being picked up by my unshielded speaker cables and passed through to the EDI. I wish that I had had a mike with me that night.

I hear that the Red Box's are good for going direct.
Bill

[Dan Tyack]

The Pod by Line6 is the best direct sound I have used for steel. The redbox takes the power output from your amp and gives a line signal with equalization (basically, it rolls off the highs), but you still need to have the speaker plugged in. The Pod beats it.