Which DI box?

hi,
I am going to record a rock band consisting of drums, bass, keys, el. guitar and a singer.
The plan is to record the guitars into two tracks - clean and amp signal recorded with a microphone.

What DI box would you recommend to use for this purpose?
I do not want to spend more than 100 USD.

Thanks

Let approx. 100 EUR be the upper limit I am willing to spend. But if I won a lottery, I would go for your solution. :)

My plan is as follows:

GTR----DI BOX---effect----AMP.
MIC----I/O

From DI to:
a)  AMP
b) I/O High-Z inut (see my signature)

I think, I need a DI box with a built-in pre-amp (?), because I must route the guitar directly through the DI because my Edirol does not have separate channel outs.

Like:
http://www.thomann.de/gb/bss_ar133.htm

or similar.
I do not know what specifications to look at.

What do you think?

.

There is a simpler way too. Think of the DI box as being a splitter. Connect the high impedance guitar straight to DI input.  Send the 600 ohm balanced out direct to your mixer or sound card mike input channel 1.  (You may need phantom power here to power the DI)

Although the guitar is a low level signal, there will always be enough gain in the Mic Pre to bring that level up. The high impedance input of the DI preserves the guitar sound. The 'Link' output of the DI then goes to the guitar amp input. You will always get a nice roar amp sound going direct from guitar to amp and in this case its through the DI. I like no FX between guitar an amp, it preserves the guitar sound a bit more and let the amp do the talking. But there are some great external guitar FX these days so I have to say they can be great too.

If there are guitar FX, then patch the 'Link' output from the DI to the input of the FX system, output of FX into amp input. I sometimes put a second DI in between the FX and guitar amp input. (captures direct FX sound but not amp or cabinet, needs a third guitar track though)

Then mike the amp cabinet with your fave Mike(s) and send that to the second channel of the audio interface. Shure 57 always goes well here.

My setup does not need any preamps prior to the guitar amp,  any preamp will be applying its sound permanantly over the guitar sound. (maybe thats good but it could be bad too) My signal flow captures the pure guitar sound which is handy for re amping or sending through any external effects processing or using plugins to change the sound later in the mix. Bass records this way very well, and the dry direct sound is very useful in terms of later signal shaping.

No, I have found from experience that most DI's do not colour the sound at all. That is what is good about them. They are designed to be transparent. But Mikes setup will colour the sound much more because of the pre amp that the guitar is being sent through first would have a much greater influence over the sound compared to a DI.

I bought one of these and I've not been disappointed with it so far.

I was referring to good quality DI units when I talked about them being transperant. Modern active DI's usually present at least the same 1 Meg impedance to the instrument on most better quality units as any high end preamp. Hence extracting maximum sound from the instrument. The 50 K input impedance is long gone on all but maybe cheaper units.  And many run on the 48 volt phantom supply which means better chips can be used with much better performance and a higher voltage swing. Using them on batteries is not preferred.

Mikes setup is nice but much more expensive than the simpler concept of just using a straight DI sound with a miked cab.  A good quality DI (or more than one) is a good investment and will be used for years to come. But so is also a nice preamp. High end analog products are going to have their day. The sound of these preamps will be so easily applied to any direct sound digitally but then that's another story!

This discussion has been interesting on the subject of DI's. In fact it has got me looking into quality units such as the Radial brand. The passive units look interesting too and the problem with passive units is they present a lower input impedance to the source and are only really good for signal sources that have a lower output impedance eg a synth etc..Its a pity they (Radial) do not make an active unit with the Jensen transformer on the output stage as well.

Mike is doing the right thing by using the best unit in his rack as the receiver of the guitar signal and sending it on for further processing. No doubt. There are DI's that are mains powered in racks etc and that could overcome the problem of power supplies not being strong enough etc.

But for those without any such preamp I am saying that a good quality active DI is capable of doing a fine job of doing the same thing. Presenting a high input impedance to the source and sending the signal out in a balanced 600 ohm format. What would be incorrect here is to say that any little active DI boxes with their tiny preamps in them are no good and color the signal to death and do a lousy job. I have been using active DI's for years in a live and studio studio situations and have never been unhappy with the quality of the signal I have been getting from them. In a studio situation if you think about what coloration if any the DI is going to do compared to the rest of the signal processing that comes after in the mix process, it could be argued that the contribution of a preamp or DI sound wise might end up being very small at the end of the day. Time to put things back into perspective.

One can get over carried away with how special or good a preamp may sound on the way into a DAW but what goes on inside that DAW is going to have a much more significant effect. Remember the sound of many quality preamps can be applied digitally.

Unless of course you are going for a pure transperant and hi fi type sound (with no DAW processing going on at all) and then we would be seriously considering the mic pres or any signal processing that is being applied anyway in which case Mikes preamp sounds like it still would be nice in that situation too. I think I need a preamp.

Some very interesting stuff there guys.

I looked at the OPs original 100 Euro choice from Thomann and quickly realised that it must be identical to their 'own brand' unit which is about a quarter of the price. Only thing that appears different is the thumb screw on the battery cover.

http://www.thomann.de/gb/millenium_di33.htm