ABY pedals

[Mark HoldenParticipant]

Hello

I was thinking about using an ABY pedal to send a guitar to an amp for mic-ing up and the second output for a DI to record both at the same time. After reading and getting a little advice from guitar shop I'm lead to believe that this may not be a good idea as the switching of the pedal could damage speaker/headphones for the DI. Has anyone tried this or what do you do if not?

Mark

(guitar shop just msg back suggesting to check out the radial gear)

[Jeff MacdonaldModerator]

You'd be better off using a direct box for this. You'll get a low impedance signal for the mic pre and a hi-z for the amp. If you feed a hi-z into a preamp input your going to get some serious noise, and frankly a relatively unusable recording, unless you are going for effect. ABY are great for going to multiple effects chains or even guitar rigs, but for what you are describing a DI is the best solution.

I would take a look at the Countryman Type 85 Active DI, it's excellent. The Radial JDI and ProDI are excellent option in the passive realm. Both doe the same thing, and it really comes down to budget and whether or not you want to/have the ability to power the active unit.

There are some folks who swear by the method of passive pickups into active DIs, and vice versa, but I have had great results from using Passive with Passive. I don't particularly love how active pickups sound so I don't record them much.

[Mark HoldenParticipant]

Hello and thanks Jeff

I did get to the point of realising its the DI box route I need to go down, so my next question would of been Passive or Active so thanks again for clearing that up as well.

Mark

[Jeff MacdonaldModerator]

Hey Mark,

That's a really subjective and area of a lot of argument. I have heard arguments suggesting that passive instruments should always be run through active boxes, and vice versa. I use a Countryman type 85 pretty much for everything I DI. I have only had it distort once with an active bass that was putting out a really hot signal. Radial makes some really nice passive options.

[Mark HoldenParticipant]

Hello Jeff

The DI box I went with is active (art dualxdirect) and has an option for -30dB attenuator on each channel, also a ground lift which has been useful. The attenuator has been useful when using with active pickups again with a bass.

Thanks Jeff

Mark

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