Opinions: DI or not for JP50

[troggg]

Hi, I am going to purchase either a Radial JDI (mono, for my acoustic guitar and bass) or the JDI Duplex which is stereo and would allow me to run the Jupiter through it. Primary purpose is home recording -- I know DI boxes are great in live situations with long cable runs and grounding issues and so on but that is a secondary concern at the moment.

Right now, I am not having any problems recording the Jupiter. Far from it! I ordered a custom-made balanced cable from Mogami and the sounds going into my interface are sterling. So there is no "problem" that the more expensive stereo DI would solve.

The question is could the DI's mythical Jensen transformers impart some extra mojo/magic to an already great sound that would justify spending extra money on it? Of course I'd also need to buy two more quality cables if I went that route.

Big surprise, my studio purchases are already over budget. Shocking, I know.

Opinions?

[PauloF]

Hi, I am going to purchase either a Radial JDI (mono, for my acoustic guitar and bass) or the JDI Duplex which is stereo and would allow me to run the Jupiter through it. Primary purpose is home recording -- I know DI boxes are great in live situations with long cable runs and grounding issues and so on but that is a secondary concern at the moment.

Right now, I am not having any problems recording the Jupiter. Far from it! I ordered a custom-made balanced cable from Mogami and the sounds going into my interface are sterling. So there is no "problem" that the more expensive stereo DI would solve.

The question is could the DI's mythical Jensen transformers impart some extra mojo/magic to an already great sound that would justify spending extra money on it? Of course I'd also need to buy two more quality cables if I went that route.

Big surprise, my studio purchases are already over budget. Shocking, I know.

Opinions?

Hi,
Why spending money on a DI box to be used with the JP-50 in the studio? it has already Balanced Outs, so you don't need the DI box for that.

[troggg]

Yeah, even Radial couldn't tell me there would be any definite improvement so I'm happy with the mono box that my acoustic guitar will appreciate.

[pacific202]

There are times when running through a preamp might "sweeten" the sound due to the circuitry involved, and if you like it then why not? Lots of people are using guitar delays and reverbs (such as the excellent Strymon units), distortion/overdrive, and modulars to process synth sounds before the mixer. If you view a preamp/DI as another one of those tone shaping tools then IMO you're on the right track.

I agree with the others in this thread that there's nothing to "fix" with the JP-50's balanced outputs that would require a DI box.

[Macska]

I suppose it would alter the sound a little due to you running it through more gear, but whether that is a good or bad thing would be up to your ears. I often run my JP 50 synth sounds through an analog mixer to give it a different sound. So if you are trying to alter the sound maybe look into a mixer, tube pre, or effects units.

Doesn't hurt to try if you like the sound.