Any benefit/need for a DI box/preamp with the AX FX III?

Miseria

Member
Probably a dumb question. I'm guessing the answer is no. BUT I'll ask anyways - is there any benefit to having a external preamp/di (sansamp, tonehammer etc) in front of the Axe FX III (passive bass). Or can the unit pretty much do anything they would do (except provide box specific color etc)

Thanks!
 
no. it is already a preamp. it has the same style of output signal that a DI would produce as well.

some people add any devices for any reason. but they are not "needed."
 
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The only reason that I would add something like Tone Hammer or Sans Amp in front or in the loop of the Axe-FXII is if I owned either of those units and didn't want to labor to replicate that sound in the Fractal unit.

Adding it in the loop gives you more flexibility to turn the Sans Amp or Tone Hammer on or off per scene, put a drive in front of it, put the input gate in front of it, put a wah in front of it, run the Sans Amp or Tone Hammer in parallel to amps in the Fractal unit, and even feed it signal from the crossover block.
 
The only reason that I would add something like Tone Hammer or Sans Amp in front or in the loop of the Axe-FXII is if I owned either of those units and didn't want to labor to replicate that sound in the Fractal unit.

Adding it in the loop gives you more flexibility to turn the Sans Amp or Tone Hammer on or off per scene, put a drive in front of it, put the input gate in front of it, put a wah in front of it, run the Sans Amp or Tone Hammer in parallel to amps in the Fractal unit, and even feed it signal from the crossover block.

But if one didn't own any of these DI boxes then purchasing one would be a bit of a waste?

Sorry for the ignorance - I primarily use the AxeFX for guitar but am doing some fill in bass duty. My bass rig consists of a couple bass guitars and the Axe FX.
 
But if one didn't own any of these DI boxes then purchasing one would be a bit of a waste?

Sorry for the ignorance - I primarily use the AxeFX for guitar but am doing some fill in bass duty. My bass rig consists of a couple bass guitars and the Axe FX.
Really most never need one of those, but if you really like the tone of a Sans Amp or Tone Hammer, then the quickest way to get the tone os to have one.

If either of those boxes don't spin your wheels, you definitely don't need them.
 
But if one didn't own any of these DI boxes then purchasing one would be a bit of a waste?

Sorry for the ignorance - I primarily use the AxeFX for guitar but am doing some fill in bass duty. My bass rig consists of a couple bass guitars and the Axe FX.
The Axe-Fx is designed to provide great tone with nothing else needed. So you don’t need those to make great recordings. If you specifically want those sounds from experience, adding the actual pedals/preamps is a fast way to get them since... you’d be using them.

But no, you don’t need anything else to make a “good” tone with the Axe.
 
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