# Do I need a DI box for my guitar going into my focusrite scarlett?



## KATerpiller

Hi forum! My first post! 

I have a Focusrite scarlett 2i2 mkII and I'm plugging my guitar directly into it, and then using guitar rig 5 pro for sounds.

Should I also be using a DI box?? It sounds OK as it is, the level is OK but would the quality be tonnes better?


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## Divico

As long as you use the Instrument input it should be good enough.
Imo a DI Box isnt worth buying in this situation.


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## KATerpiller

Thanks for the reply! Good to know.

On a side note - (pls let me know if I should start a new thread ) what do people generally think of guitar rig? 

I have a Marshall valvestate amp which is about 15ish years old. It still sounds pretty good. I have an old boss gt6 guitar pedal (the big digital multi effects thing) Am I better off micing up my amp and getting different sounds from my gt6? Or is guitar rig comparable?


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## Divico

KATerpiller said:


> Thanks for the reply! Good to know.
> 
> On a side note - (pls let me know if I should start a new thread ) what do people generally think of guitar rig?
> 
> I have a Marshall valvestate amp which is about 15ish years old. It still sounds pretty good. I have an old boss gt6 guitar pedal (the big digital multi effects thing) Am I better off micing up my amp and getting different sounds from my gt6? Or is guitar rig comparable?


Hard to tell. Try it. 
Theres lots of people out there who claim that there is nothing better than a real amp.
If you go for Guitar Rig make sure to test out third party impulse responses. A lot of people propose this.
Disable the cabinet and load for example NADIR after guitar rig. GodsCab is among the best free IRs out there//.


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## KATerpiller

Interesting! Will look into that


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## Nick Batzdorf

Most project studio equipment made in the past 20+ years accepts instrument-, mic-, or line-level inputs. The Scarlett is included.

Direct boxes that have transformers can add a color, but the basic idea was always just to lower the impedance so you could plug an instrument into a console's mic input. They're usually designed to be as clean as possible, in other words - character generally comes from amps and other toys.


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## Nao Gam

@KATerpiller while I haven't yet opened my amp sims to test them, both from demos and other people's opinions guitar rig seems sub par at high gain high distortion stuff.
At some point I was interested in bias amp by positive grid, but after reading EvilDragon's opinion on the matter I got thermionik by kazrog. It's 50$ and has a free demo and a refund option. From what I've read (and heard) it might be the best sounding sim out there. Tho other good ones exist.
Guitar rig is not one of them, tho the clean stuff and the effects seem to work well


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## c t

Guitar Rig is decent. I have the Thermionik Suite and it's great. If you're your using Guitar Rig, disable cabs and use 3rd party IRs (lots of free ones, and cheaper ones as well, but it's a hell of a rabbit hole). There are also some free amps VSTs out there as well, which are surprisingly good.


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## thevisi0nary

You have zero need for a DI box, your interface has a Hi-Z input.


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## gtrwll

KATerpiller said:


> Should I also be using a DI box?? It sounds OK as it is, the level is OK but would the quality be tonnes better?



Welcome to the forum!

2i2 has a Hi-Z input, but the general consensus is that the preamps aren't that great and tend to clip especially with active pickups. I have mk1 myself and buying a DI box improved the sound a lot. The preamps on mk2 are better, I've heard, but you can easily determine this yourself: if it doesn't clip when you play and rhe gain isn't all the way down, I think you're good to go.


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## thevisi0nary

gtrwll said:


> Welcome to the forum!
> 
> 2i2 has a Hi-Z input, but the general consensus is that the preamps aren't that great and tend to clip especially with active pickups. I have mk1 myself and buying a DI box improved the sound a lot. The preamps on mk2 are better, I've heard, but you can easily determine this yourself: if it doesn't clip when you play and rhe gain isn't all the way down, I think you're good to go.



In that situation OP would be better served with a preamp with more headroom. Buying a D.I. box to improve sonic quality won't do anything.


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## pderbidge

Bias Amp is quite good and I own Bias Amp Standard and Bias FX standard. However, I think they are overpriced. If I were to do it again I would probably get Scuffham s-gear for bread and butter stuff and then Thermionik for that extra High Gain tone. The main reasons to go for Bias is if you want to Re-amp, which requires the pro version. I also have Amplitube 3 and Guitar Rig 5 and some great free ones and as said earlier the key to making any of these sound good are the impulse responses.


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## Chandler

I’d also recommend something other than guitar rig. S-gear is my favorite, but it might not be suitable if you’re doing mostly metal. I’d check out other software and definitely check out IRs as they can greatly improve your sound.


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## Nick Batzdorf

gtrwll said:


> Welcome to the forum!
> 
> 2i2 has a Hi-Z input, but the general consensus is that the preamps aren't that great and tend to clip especially with active pickups. I have mk1 myself and buying a DI box improved the sound a lot. The preamps on mk2 are better, I've heard, but you can easily determine this yourself: if it doesn't clip when you play and rhe gain isn't all the way down, I think you're good to go.



If the problem is with the basic sound - taking the criticism at face value - I'd suggest a better audio interface. DI boxes don't bypass bad electronics.


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## JTJohnson

Divico said:


> Hard to tell. Try it.
> Theres lots of people out there who claim that there is nothing better than a real amp.
> If you go for Guitar Rig make sure to test out third party impulse responses. A lot of people propose this.
> Disable the cabinet and load for example NADIR after guitar rig. GodsCab is among the best free IRs out there//.



Can you explain what a impulse response is and how it is used with GR5?

I use GR5 frequently and have never heard of this. My guitars plug directly into my scarlett and then i load up GR5. Apart from EQ/Comp i don’t have anything else on the channel really


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## gregh

Guitar Rig is fine, input on the Scarlett is fine. Everything else is a matter of taste as far as software goes. Explore Guitar Rig for at least 100 hours if not more and then maybe try other amp sims. But they really are just a matter of taste - which is fine, but you can end up spending a lot of money chasing preset sound when your original gear could get what you wanted if you only learned how to use it.

You could even ditch the guitar rig completely, go straight in via the Scarlett and use other non-guitar fx - it really depends on what you are wanting in terms of sound


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## Divico

JTJohnson said:


> Can you explain what a impulse response is and how it is used with GR5?


An impulse response is something like a screenshot of how a speaker or room or gear changes a signal going through. GR aswell as other sims use this to simulate for example guitar cabinets.


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## FourFour

The main thing would be the levels. As long as it isn't clipping, you should be able to get a good tone plugging straight into the Hi-Z input.


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## Divico

FourFour said:


> The main thing would be the levels. As long as it isn't clipping, you should be able to get a good tone plugging straight into the Hi-Z input.


+1. Problem is the level you are shown are not trustworthy if you drive the pre amp against the wall. That was the problem off the earlier Scarletts, so keep that in mind !


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## Dewdman42

I reccomend the motu zbox instead of typical hi-z on most audio interfaces but yes at a minimum use hi-z input or some kind of hi-z direct box

http://motu.com/products/guitar/zbox


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