Going Direct In with Bass — Why, When, and How

Sweetwater Sales Engineer Kevin Spunde explains when and why you would choose to send your bass signal direct to the sound system.

0:00 - Intro
0:30 - When and Why?
1:00 - Basic How To
2:34 - The Bare Minimum
3:22 - DI Boxes
3:50 - Preamps
5:30 - Preamp Pedals
6:18 - Using A Pedal Board
8:07 - In-Ear Monitors
9:00 - Thanks For Watching!

#Sweetwater

[davim.]

Can you have this dude do more videos please? This has been the most fun video from Sweetwater I’ve ever watched!

[dennisdewinter]

This video may be three years old but it is wonderfully clear and to the point about bass pedals, signal chains and DI boxes. Thank you Sweetwater!

[ShredShed]

"Betty in the front row does not like amps" that made me chuckle ; )

[matthewlunsford]

This video introduced several things that deserve their own video this length. Sounds like a series that Sweetwater should make! This guy is good! Thanks!

[quattro]

As a hobby electrician and after watching dozens of Bass di videos. This is tbe first video that correctly describes what a di is.

[Hekkin]

This guy is the future of Sweetwaters YouTube channel.

[ivan_osorio]

I appreciate the lick being used for the examples immensely. Thank you.
EDIT: Also Satie at the end there. Very nice.

[slimbeaux]

What a great glimpse at some of the gear that is available to Bass players. I did DI for years at our church. It's not that amps were verboten it's just so easy for me to come in which my rack and just plug in to the board. I use the Shure GLXD4R which had the DI built in. I don't use any pedals or effect except for an old BBE Sonic Maximizer so that was great for me. I do have a good bass, Alembic, with the active electronics good sound was available to me. The key for me in this whole situation was to put in the work to make it work. I was lucky enough to have good sound engineer who I trusted. He also had the connections to borrow a bunch of monitor boxes so we could decide on which one I liked the best. A little tweaking with the monitor mix, add a bit of compression, and good to go. I trusted him for FOH and as long as the comments were as expected I was happy. And the audience was happy, sounded good to me and to them. If a once in a while situation, well, people might be stuck with what they have. In that case I would just remember, "if they're paying, I am playing."


Love your playing and where IS that link to the article.

[harrisondvargo]

get this guy back to do more videos, what a talent

[ubermenschstream]

I miss when sweetwater is so informative like this.

[daolchang]

this absolute monster of a man straight up tested DIs with The Lick

[jondoe]

A REALLY helpful, compact synopsis of the D.I. (& other!) options available to all musicians - great stuff!

[justinorprecio]

Exactly what I need my bass player to figure out

Thanks for uploading

[Moonstruck]

Excellent presentation. Thank you for the education. Perfecto. From a resurrected musician from 36 years ago being dormant.

[ZackSeifMusic]

Darkglass is at the forefront of modern rock and metal bass and I recommend it for those purposes. These were great options and a great video overall! Great work.

[derekthrasher]

SansAmp Bass Driver DI is the Corporate Standard for going Direct for Bass. You watch Rig Rundowns of Touring Bass Players and there's always a SansAmp (ie: Duff, Steve Harris, dUg Pinnick, Frank Bello, etc... )

[EnergyChasms]

Great host, I'd love to see him more often.

[PedroOliveira-wonm]

My salesman! Best Sweetwater guy ever!

[hoboroadie]

I tried running my guitar through a UA 610 and Little Labs Redeye then into my amplifier. Aside from the sounding better than anything I had ever heard before part, it was a remarkable simulation of having an effects loop so I could have pedals before and after the preamp. It was so profound that I shipped off my un-opened BAE DMP to a professional guitarist friend of mine. 🎸
I should give him a call and see how that is going.

[Glass_Caskets]

Thank you for breaking this down. Learned a lot from it