Baggs Para Acoustic DI

[Don Grieser]

I'd be interested in hearing from anyone using this. What pickup/mandolin are you running through it? How hard is it to dial in your sound? Can you turn the volume down on it to tune or do you plug into a tuner on the floor to kill the sound in the house? Thanks.

[Fuzzyway]

Don,

I have been using the Baggs Para DI for several years now. Currently, on stage it alternates between a Rigel G5 and Santa Cruz 000-28 with Baggs pu. I have it mounted with velco on a clip on my mic stand. I just turn the volume on the Para Di off while I switch the instrument cable between the two instruments. No problem. I consider the Para DI a standard of the industry. Don't know what I would do without it...eq works great.

Best, fuzzy

[John Flynn]

I had one for about a year and performed with it every week. I sold to get a more expensive unit, but I wish I hadn't. I liked it better than what I traded-up to, a Boss AD-5. The only thing I didn't like about the PADI that it sucks 9V batteries dry in no time. I came to realize that the battery is just a backup. You need a power supply or phantom power.

[steve V. johnson]

I don't own one but several bandmates have, and/or have had, them and they have behaved wonderfully, for mandos and guitars.

It did wonderfully for a Breedlove Qtz OF with the Lopers.

stv

[Ray(T)]

Only problem I've had is that the phantom on the older AER Compact 60's isn't enough to power the PADI - needs 48 v - don't know about the newer ones.

[Richard H]

Bought the PADI some years ago to work with my Rigel A+ Deluxe but never got the results I wanted.
Mainly, I confess, because I've never figured it out.
I mean, there's a little knob which says ADGB and another with numbers from .8 to 1.6. I turn them hither and thither but with no noticeable effect.
Other knobs change but don't necessarily improve the tone.
So I've never used the Rigel on a gig and instead bought a Godin.
However, I've recently discovered my Yamaha A/E guitar sounds great through the PADI and I can push volume without crackling.
Sure wish I could get that Rigel to sound good amplified, though.
Using a Peavey Ecoustic 112 amp, BTW.

[Fred G]

I have used one for several years and I love it too. I don't seem to suffer battery problems though. I use a cable that has a volume switch on the plug. I just turn it down to tune.
I use a MacIntyre feather internal pickup but I actually think I liked the external MacIntyre pickup sound a little better, I just didn't like taking it on and off the mando.

[cwtwang]

I have had one for nearly 8 years now-very good unit-tough, quiet, reliable, and relatively easy to use, IMO. Parametric EQ is not that easy to dial in but it does have the power to notch out offending frequencies.

On my own system, I can use it well. I have used it on stage with many different systems and soundmen for the pickup on my guitar and some soundmen have no problem. A few soundmen have gotten nothing but a tubby sound out of it in the monitors regardless of how I adjusted it. A few have sworn it was broken (it was not) and could not get it to work at all so I just cut my loses and used my mic.

There are units such as Rane and Pendulum (SP?) that might work better for some players but for the price, the Baggs is close, IMO.

C

[David M.]

I have the Paracoustic DI and love it, though I'm not using it to its potential. Or, I should say, maybe it's not working as hard as w/a flattop guitar. The feedback controls, etc. I've never needed. Using it with my Flatiron F.

the pickup is the Baggs saddle pickup from First Quality.

Overall tone is real warm and strong. Not a thin tone. Gonna rig a pickup on my fiddle soon, and will still use the DI for it, too.

[david blair]

I'm using a Raven labs preamp used from e-bay.
It's great, it has two inputs which can be used separately or simultaneously, a dedicated tuner line out, and effects line out with blender, a phase reverse, mute button, and a dial to either boost or reduce the signal, an also can split the signal to go to the amp, house sound or both. The same two nine volt batteries have been in for over a
year. It works well with my Fishman.

http://www.raven-labs.com/mainframe.html

[John Flynn]

Sure wish I could get that Rigel to sound good amplified, though.

My A+ Deluxe sounds very good through a Crate AC-30 amp. I think it actually sounds better without the preamp, BTW. With the right EQ settings on the amp, I get a clear balanced tone, no distortion, plenty of volume, no pizeo "quack" etc. However, it is still an "electrified sound" to be sure. If I wanted a more "pure acoustic" sound, I would use a mike.

[earthsave]

I got one but since we went to a single mic years ago, have not really used it much. I bought it for it's good reviews and have heard nothing bad about it.

[Paul Hostetter]

I've used them for years with extremely good results in a lot of applications including, believe it or not, running normal mics through them. Hard to beat for simplicity, reliability and portability. The only better things are rack-mounted things that cost lots more.

The only whingeing I have heard is usually from either:

1) people who want to plug their squawky Takamine guitar into it and have it sound like an audiophile recording even though it's coming out of a low-budget rented sound system in their own garage or a school cafeteria, or

2) people who still get feedback and don't understand that feedback is an artifact of stage/room setup and speaker placement - in other words, that their problem is due entirely to pilot error and has nothing to do with gear.

[Yellowmandolin]

I am thinking of getting on of these at the famous Guitar Center Labor Day sale, but was wondering if anyone had used this with the Schertler? I really like the sound I am getting out of it now through my Genz Benz Shen 100 which already has para EQ, but will the Baggs make much difference?

[Paul Hostetter]

Borrow one from someone you know and try it and see what you think.

[generankin]

I'd be interested in hearing from anyone using this. What pickup/mandolin are you running through it? How hard is it to dial in your sound? Can you turn the volume down on it to tune or do you plug into a tuner on the floor to kill the sound in the house? Thanks.
Have had one for a short while, after trying the Gigpro (which has a scooped midrange, didn't like the sound). My Phoenix has a Feather pickup inside and, straight in to my Bad Cat Hotcat 30, it sounded thin. The PADI changed everything. Now it sounds like it does unplugged, except louder when put through the "clean" channel. Run through the "dirty" (high-gain) channel makes for some ... interesting ... effects.

I set the volume to an OK level on the PADI, then control overall level from the amp. You can adjust the PADI's volume to tune, but it is down there on the floor and a pain (for us older folks) to bend over to do it. So I use the A-B-Y box on the floor to kill input to the amp entirely, use a clip-on tuner (which goes back in my pocket).

[Don Grieser]

Hey Gene, what kind of settings are you using? I can't get anything decent out of mine. My AKG C411 contact mic sounds better than anything out of the Baggs.

[Mike Bunting]

Since I began using the C411, the PADI has sat on the shelf. I sometimes use an ART Tube Pre, but for the last year or so I've had an AER amp with phantom power and as often as not I'll just run the AKG straight through that. This summer we played a couple of festivals in Europe and I just travelled light with only the AKG, and ran directly through the board and it sounded fine. In the best situations I use a KSM 141 mic.

[Don Grieser]

I can't get rid of the piezo quack. Guess I'll have to try the Fishman Aura sometime. Mike, have you come up with any solution for the cord on the AKG C411? I wish it were short enough to attach the plug to the mandolin somehow. It's the only thing I don't like about the C411. I contacted AKG and they said there's some electronics in the XLR connector and not to cut it off and put another connector on it.

I guess I just hijacked my own thread. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[Mike Bunting]

There are two connectors for the C411, one ordinary 3-prong mic connector and one plug that provides power for the pickup. Mine is the simple one. I plug it directly into the amp (which has phantom power) or if I have to use a long regular cord, I just plug in and coil up a bunch of the thin cord to the joined plugs and stick it in my back pocket. Not real cool, I know, but if I wander too far I feel the tug of the cord before any harm to the pickup.

[Don Grieser]

That's the cord I have too. Sounds like you worked out a simple solution. I'll have to give that a try.

[Yellowmandolin]

Mike, thats exactly what I do with my Shertler... Works really well for me! I actually used a zip-tie to keep my coil together. It makes it easier to handle for me.

[michaelmag]

I am using the PARA DI on my MK. I love it , I use a Fishman pickup and phantom power from the board. It takes some time to dial in or at least it did me. I play in a Whorship band and I get great presence and the tones are really crisp. The output boost was critical to getting mine set up so I didnt clip in the main mix on the high end

[Blueglass]

to get rid of the pezio quack you'll have to upgrade to another preamp?
like sonic foundry or the acustic Q